Well, this episode sure sucked. It was basically a steady parade of the laziest jokes available to anime, punctuated by occasional silly faces. But hey, at least that makes one show I’m watching easy to write about…
My extremely dry review is available here. Notes below!
We had another top tier episode this week, as the show’s focus honed in on what felt like one full 24-hour day in the life of Kumiko (I know there was a timeskip after the first half, but still). The show moved from midday gags to sweltering afternoon heat to melancholy goodbyes and all the way back to morning, capturing arrestingly lived-in moments all the while. I really can’t say enough good things about this show’s control of tone – we’ll have to see how that works through what I assume will be a more dramatic second half, but so far, the show is making all the right moves.
Here’s my oversized ANN review. Notes below!
The student council arc resolved in an uneasy peace this week, with Hachiman convincing Isshiki to rescind her own club request. Of course, this solution isn’t actually great either for Hachiman’s group or for the school overall – once again, he chose a slash and burn solution that only solves the most immediate problem. Joining the student council probably would have been the best thing for all three of our protagonists, but that’s the kind of thing Hikki can only realize once he’s already been told. Life is tough for our brittle little teenagers!
My full episode review is here. Notes below!
I wasn’t as big of a fan of this episode as the last several, but this is still a very good show, and now I at least can actually see how this show might end within a single season. Kumiko remains great, Taki got another standout episode, and everything’s still pretty and well-written and at least reasonably composed. Sound! Euphonium continues apace.
Here’s my full ANN writeup. Notes below!
Yeah, Oregairu is brilliant. I’ve already written a couple thousand words about it today, so I don’t really have much left for this blurb besides: damn. This sequel is doing everything I could have hoped for, focusing on the show’s strengths, highlighting its strongest characters, and generally executing at a higher level than the original. We are very lucky to have it.
My full ANN post is here. Notes below!
Haruhi continued her invasion of Nagato’s show this week, almost accidentally stealing Kyon as Nagato derped about working on Valentine’s Day chocolate. I didn’t feel like this heightened drama was a great fit for this show, and said as much in the review, but it certainly is an interesting experience to see the assumptions of one show acting as the “villain” in another one. Still, I think cute scenes with Kyon and Nagato are basically this show at its best. We’ll see how this wacky misunderstanding plays out next time.
My full ANN review is available here. Notes below!
We’re doing it. I think we’re doing it. Sound! Euphonium just keeps holding steady, demonstrating remarkable control in its direction and storytelling. KyoAni are pulling off a top-tier version of exactly the kind of show they do best, and it is damn satisfying to see it in action. At this point, it seems strange to me that the evidence is pointing to this being a one-cour show – the pace of character work and plotting here just seems much more appropriate for a twenty-something episode show. But there haven’t been any missteps yet, so I’ll trust they know where they’re going, and keep enjoying it as long as it stays this good.
Here’s my full ANN post. Notes below!
My first Oregairu S2 post is up! Don’t have much to say here that I didn’t already say in the piece – I love Oregairu, the new season is so far even better than the old one, and I wish we got more shows that were nearly this sharp in their character writing. I really hope it stays this good!
My full ANN writeups is available here. Notes below!
And my second episode writeup of the season is up! This one’s a little less intense, because, well, Nagato Yuki-chan is a pretty derp show. Silly faces and eating turkey and hoping Haruhi doesn’t completely overwhelm everything. Kyon and Haruhi are already falling back into their old relationship pattern, so I guess it’s time for Nagato to fight back, but I can’t see current Nagato doing much but mope and accept things if Haruhi ends up Stealing Her Man. I’d honestly really prefer more cute near-relationship scenes than an overt drama triangle, but I guess we’ll see.
My full writeup is available here. Notes (such as they are for a show like Nagato Yuki-chan) below!
Jeez, am I going to be able to do a full season of posts like this? I’m guessing tackling single episodes at a time will prompt me to switch to a more conventional breakdown style, but it was nice to do almost a tiny essay in the format of my KimiUso piece or whatnot for these episodes. I think I’m slowly getting better at achieving a balance of flow and analysis in the ANN pieces.
Oh, right, Euphonium. Euphonium is very good! Really liked these first two episodes, and since I didn’t cover it in the actual piece, I should say that I like the way is handling its establishment of a real ensemble so far. I don’t expect this to be Shirobako or anything, but it does seem like the show wants a bunch of characters to be recognizable people, and I also like that it’s taking pains to bring us in on basically the ground floor of this music group. Even though this really seems like Kumiko’s story, we need to be invested in the group if we’re going to believe in her eventual investment.
Here’s my full ANN writeup. Notes below!