Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Owarimonogatari – Episode 4

Posted on by

Owarimonogatari continues in an episode that was basically 50% Ougi being sinister and 50% Hanekawa kicking ass. So, essentially a perfect episode.

Alright, maybe not a perfect episode. In spite of this week’s adventure foregrounding my favorite character in anime period, it wasn’t nearly as visually interesting as the stuff at Oikura’s old home. And we’re clearly in a build-up stage at the moment, with all the various conflicts just sort of simmering as things move back towards Oikura. Hanekawa was great, and some of the ways the show articulated the spell Ougi casts over Araragi were great, but I’m definitely ready for the show to hurry up and get to the next Oikura confrontation. This was a great idea for an episode, but in execution not exactly a highlight.

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

Continue reading →

The Perfect Insider – Episode 3

Posted on by

The Perfect Insider returns, and this week we finally dive into some actual mystery meat. That was poorly phrased. Not in the cafeteria lunch terms, but in… well, you get it.

Anyway, this was a fine episode all around. Magata’s alleged death kind of throws a wrench in my ideas about where the story was going – I figured it’d end up being more about the dynamic between Moe and Magata, but unless Magata really is performing quite an impressive magic trick here (perhaps involving her “sister”), it’ll likely be more focused on revealing both Moe and Magata’s past. In spite of losing that thread, I enjoyed where this episode went – the dynamic between Moe and Souhei felt more equal this time, and the mystery stuff never overwhelmed either the character material or the atmosphere. The show still feels very confident in what it’s doing.

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

Continue reading →

Beautiful Bones – Episode 3

Posted on by

Beautiful Bones has returned! And it’s still garbage, don’t watch it.

Seriously, it’s just garbage. Not even interesting garbage. Just a bad show.

Here’s my writeup of the third episode. Notes below, somehow.

Now to sleep off the headache I get from writing about writing this bad.

Continue reading →

Owarimonogatari – Episodes 1-3

Posted on by

We’re in the thick of a new Monogatari season now, and this one’s shaping up to be a fine followup to Second Season. A whole bunch of that comes down to Ougi – Ougi both forces Araragi to consistently confront his own deepest fears and just possesses a great deal of charisma in her own right. This Araragi-Oikura story also has plenty of momentum so far, and seems to be pushing Araragi’s character forward far more consistently than Tsukimonogatari did. What do you know, when you replace Yotsugi lolicon shenanigans with Ougi’s mockery and psychological battles, you can actually make a damn good Araragi arc.

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

Continue reading →

The Perfect Insider – Episodes 1-2

Posted on by

And here’s my first writeup on the season’s most interesting new prospect, The Perfect Insider. This show’s definitely keeping its cards pretty close to the vest so far, but there’s a lot to like in its winding conversations and carefully drawn characters. It’s interesting to see a show where one of the central characters is so frankly unlikable, and even framed as such by the narrative. We’re kept pretty close to Moe’s perspective, meaning there’s basically no way the professor could come off as sympathetic. I’ll be very interested in seeing how the doctor and Moe interact once Magata escapes from her cage, and also interested in seeing how the show’s tone changes once it shifts from establishing pieces to actually playing out some kind of central mystery. Either way, the show seems confident as hell so far, so I’m on board.

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

Continue reading →

Beautiful Bones – Episode 1-2

Posted on by

My first episodic review of the season is up! Don’t get excited though, it’s just Beautiful Bones. I end this review by calling Beautiful Bones “watchable,” and that’s exactly what it is – not good, not egregiously terrible, just twenty minutes of fairly bland mystery shenanigans and occasionally really bad dialogue. So far it’s the anime equivalent of white bread soaked in water – I’d like for it to improve and be something actually worth talking about, but we’ll have to see. Hope springs eternal!

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

Continue reading →

Owarimonogatari – Episode 1

Posted on by

Monogatari is back, again (again). This new arc already seems far more compelling than Tsukimonogatari though, so I’m very ready to see where it leads. I already wrote a full piece on this episode over at ANN, but I also took a pile of episodic notes, and figured someone might get some use out of those. So here we go!

Continue reading →

Paranoia Agent – Episode 13

Posted on by

Yeah, this is how you end a series. Paranoia Agent’s finale completely discarded any ambiguity regarding the reality-versus-fantasy questions of the series proper, instead just directly embracing its fantasy leanings in order to create one of the most dramatically satisfying conclusions I’ve ever seen. Pretty much everything in this finale was perfect, from the gorgeous, heartrending conclusion to Keichi’s arc to the thematically thunderous finale of Sagi’s story. This was the ambiguous but optimistic closer Paranoia Agent needed, broadcasting Kon’s anger and desire to make people embrace the hard knocks of life as loud as it possibly could. Kon fucking hates artifice, and through this finale, Paranoia Agent established itself as a screeching ode to truth and sincerity. God damn. What a great show.

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

Continue reading →

Paranoia Agent – Episode 12

Posted on by

We had another stellar episode of Paranoia Agent this week, one that pulled together three of the show’s central characters, along with the private realities they’re each inhabiting, building up towards a dramatic faceoff with the demons they share. Mitsuhiro was an excellent choice of primary focus character for this sequence; his combined old-detective profession and willingness to go along with the fantasies of the younger generation mean he’s essentially the sole invested bridge character, the only person who can bring all these elements together. And it was also nice to bring Sagi back into the focus again; in contrast to Mitsuhiro’s conviction, she feels more overwhelmed than anyone by the events going on around her, meaning the scenes stuck in her head felt even more frightening than they would otherwise. Just one more great episode of a truly fantastic series.

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

Continue reading →

Gatchaman Crowds insight – Episode 12

Posted on by

G-G-G-GATCHAMANNNNN is over 🙁

I can’t really feel that sad, though. This was an excellent conclusion to an excellent series, tying up the show’s existing ideas and character journeys well while giving us a few final standout conversations to remember it by. That melancholy conversation between Tsubasa and Gelsadra in the first half had to be one of my favorite sequences of either season, and the actual battle with Hajime wasn’t far behind. The show really pulled out all the visual stops for that one – Hajime finally got to have a Big Damn Hero moment, and it was glorious. insight has challenged the messages of the first season and swept in more ideas besides, and its thoughts on group culture could not be more relevant to our modern world. Even if this show is aimed specifically at Japanese culture, anyone who uses the internet could probably learn something from this show’s example. HURRAY FOR LEARNING AND EMPATHY AND STUFF.

Anyway, you can check out my huge-ass review over at ANN, or my notes below!

Continue reading →