Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Owarimonogatari – Episode 10

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This was a reasonable episode of Owarimonogatari, notable mostly in that it succeeded in a way I think Monogatari rarely does – it went heavy on the pervert banter, and was actually really successfully funny for it. I think a lot of this came down to the fact that Araragi and Kanbaru’s relationship is a really solid one in spite of their perversions; they’re very comfortable with each other, and so there’s less of the gropiness and more trading barbs back and forth. But that wouldn’t work if the gags weren’t just inherently funny, and many of the individual lines this week were excellent. Or maybe I’m just always up for more jokes at light novels’ expense, who knows.

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

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The Perfect Insider – Episode 9

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The Perfect Insider had a fine episode this week, though not a spectacular one. Some of that admittedly comes down to storytelling preference – while I was all about the evocative flashbacks and nice character moments of the last two weeks, an episode wholly focused on mystery plot is almost guaranteed not to thrill me. But even though this mystery is completely ridiculous, this episode had solid pacing and enough coherent reveals to keep things interesting. Plus reviewing it gave me a chance to talk about mystery storytelling in general, which is always fun

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

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Strike Witches – Episode 1

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You guys are assholes.

I hope you know that. I open up my viewing schedule for anything you all want to support, and what happens? You fund The Room and God Damn Strike Witches. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. You got me to watch Strike Witches. You got me to make despairing jokes on twitter about Strike Witches. The first episode of Strike Witches now exists in my past. When Saint Peter scans down my MAL at the pearly gates, he’ll take a momentary pause at the S section, glance at me with one raised eyebrow, and then continue without a word.

So, how was the first episode of Strike Witches?

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Casshern Sins – Episode 3

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The third Casshern Sins contained a slower, smaller story than the second, more reminiscent of the first episode’s long walk on the beach. Though it wasn’t as rich in character or narrative, it did fill in gaps in the story so far; Casshern met his first human, and that experience lent a necessary warmth to counterbalance the show’s usual solemnity. We’re still wandering through archetypal vignettes in a desolate wasteland, but Casshern’s cumulative experiences are slowly building him into a person worth following on this journey.

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Casshern Sins – Episode 2

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In my first writeup on Casshern Sins, I worried that the show’s distant and deliberately mythic tone might prevent it from succeeding on a personal, emotional level. That issue remains a possibility, but this episode certainly didn’t reflect it; it was sad and intimate and remarkably successful, maintaining the sense of inevitability the show consistently demonstrates while offering up enough personal moments to make the Ruin succeed as small-scale tragedy. Things are still progressing as an intentionally archetypal epic story, but intimacy of telling and strong execution could make that work as well here as it does in something like Madoka Magica.

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Owarimonogatari – Episode 9

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Monogatari returned to top-tier form this week, with an episode whose visual theatrics were somewhat reminiscent of Shinobu Time’s gorgeous full-episode tapestry. And in fact, the visual tricks here were even more diverse than that, with shots mirroring that tapestry sharing space with some cut-paper images, creepy black and white interpretive shots, and great visual compositions done in Monogatari’s house style. Plus this episode featured a mix of Araragi and Shinobu bantering and Gaen just totally dominating everybody, so the narrative end was solid too. We’re not really in anything approaching the emotional turmoil of Sodachi’s material, but this was a fantastic episode on the visual end, and that’s more than enough to satisfy me for now. It even ended with a genuinely thrilling cliffhanger, implying a number of eerie possibilities regarding the nature of Shinobu’s old friend. We’ll have to see where it goes from here.

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

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The Perfect Insider – Episode 8

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The Perfect Insider pulled out another great episode this week, cementing the rally it began in last week’s episode. Instead of working to push the overt narrative forward or give us lots of new information, this one instead honed in on the relationship between Moe and Souhei, offering up some of their most compelling exchanges since the very first episode. Between last week’s reveals and this week’s behavior, Souhei is actually somehow coming into his own as a character, coming across as pretentious for sure, but also legitimately dedicated to Moe in a familial way. Now that it seems clear there’s never going to be any romance there, and for a very good and understandable reason, their relationship is much more engaging. I hope the show can keep this up through the ending.

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

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Beautiful Bones – Episode 8

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I am incapable of expending any more energy writing about this incredibly, tediously mediocre show. Instead here is a gif of Mugi, who is much better than this boring anime.

Mugi

Much better. If you’re still interested in Beautiful Bones for some reason, you can check out my writeup over on ANN or my notes below.

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Casshern Sins – Episode 1

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Casshern Sins is a weird one. Coming out in 2008, it got in at the front end of our recent “heavier reinterpretation of classic cartoon” trend, which has more recently given us Gatchaman Crowds and Yatterman Night. Casshern Sins takes off a ‘70s anime about the android Casshern, who fights evil robots; this new version seems more focused on ambiguity and melancholy than justice. The writer, Yasuko Kobayashi, has a resume that mixes a bunch of tokusatsu shows and recent hits like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Attack on Titan (as well as 2014’s Garo, which splits the difference). The director Shigeyasu Yamauchi’s credits are more scattered – he’s handled a number of DBZ and Saint Seiya movies, but beyond that it’s mostly episodic directorial work, including the, er, Ami/Mami Detectives episode of Idolmaster. Perhaps his most notable credits I’m familiar with are two of the most visually compelling episodes of Shinsekai Yori – the controversial fifth episode, where people originally complained about the divergent visual style, and the transcendent tenth, where his evocative interpretation of Saki and Shun’s conversation represented one of the clear highlights of the series overall.

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Owarimonogatari – Episode 8

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Owari picked up to some extent this week, with this episode at least having some nice reflections on Araragi’s journey so far. It’s not like we really need more reflections on Araragi’s journey so far, but if they’re illustrated in the way they were in this episode, where a couple offhand lines are just totally loaded with subtext, I can accept that. Araragi and Yotsugi interacted pretty much like Araragi and Yotsugi always do, and Gaen got to steal the show with a couple infinitely smug lines to Araragi. And we finally arrived at Shinobu near the end, which is definitely a good sign. If you’re going to have an Araragi arc, adding Shinobu to the mix is one of the best ways to make it interesting – their relationship is funny and endearing and legitimately tragic, and the two of them make each other more compelling by their presence. Here’s hoping the arc’s second half makes the most of that.

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

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