Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Rolling Girls – Episode 9

Posted on by

Rolling Girls took a turn towards character drama this week, which unfortunately meant we had to grapple with the fact that the show has spent this entire season ignoring its main cast in order to futz around with side characters. Futzing around with side characters is fine, but if the show was going to eventually turn to this, it really needed to do more meaningful work humanizing its main cast – as is, this came off as a turn I wish worked, but just wasn’t supported by the show. A shame.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

Continue reading →

Log Horizon II – Episode 22

Posted on by

In addition to just being another one of those slow-ass episodes full of cake and gags that Log Horizon occasionally stumbles through, this episode also featured what felt like the show’s first potential narrative misstep, in the “woooo aliens did it” explanation for Elder Tale’s genesis. The show’s obviously built up enough trust that I’m hopeful it will turn out in an interesting way, but Roe 2’s initial explanation struck me as one of the least interesting ways this show could have resolved its underlying issues.

On the plus side, while I didn’t really like this episode, I’m quite happy with my explanation of why I didn’t like this episode. So here’s that full writeup! Notes below, as always…

Continue reading →

Parasyte – Episode 21

Posted on by

Alright, back on steadier ground. This wasn’t a great episode, but there was good material here, and after last week’s episode I’m just happy to see the show isn’t falling apart altogether. The Hirakawa material reflected fairly well on the show’s progress so far, the big Gotou fight was actually pretty engaging outside of the stupid shounen dialogue, and I’m still enjoying seeing a far less mopey Shinichi. Looks like we’ll be getting out of this with dignity intact!

My full ANN post is available here. Took a bunch of notes this time, and they’re all below!

Continue reading →

Log Horizon II – Episode 21

Posted on by

Well, the kids’ arc ended, and with it Log Horizon’s recent insane hot streak. This was a cooldown episode, full of little end-tyings and new beginnings and small character moments. It was fine enough at that, though it is always a little sad when Log Horizon gears down out of one of its peaks. If only all the episodes were that good!

It’s also a shame to think we won’t get another arc like that for literally years, given that Log Horizon has more or less run out of source material, but there’s still plenty of story to tell, and we’ve still got a few episodes left regardless. Gotta stay positive.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

Continue reading →

Rolling Girls – Episode 8

Posted on by

Definitely one of the better episodes of Rolling Girls this week, sold almost entirely on the strength of that last, fantastic sequence. The rest of the episode actually kinda dragged and repeated itself at times, but the resolution to Chiyo’s conflict was graceful enough, and we’re still getting endearing offhand jokes from the Rolling Girls here and there. The show’s doing okay.

My full ANN post is here. Notes below!

Continue reading →

Parasyte – Episode 20

Posted on by

Yeah, I’m running out of steam. Blame Shirobako for demonstrating that good two-cours can feel just as energetic at episode 20 as at episode one. Or blame Parasyte, because it actually is Parasyte’s fault – the show dragged, the show somewhat recovered, and now the show’s just indulging in an arc with absolutely no coherent plotting at all. The police plan was dumb, the way too on-the-nose theme declarations are dumb… man, this all makes me pretty sad. Parasyte was a good show.

Here’s my full ANN post. Head-shaking notes below.

Continue reading →

Yuri Kuma Arashi – Episode 8

Posted on by

It’s bear o’clock once again! Kureha seems to have finally remembered her old friend, but most fairy-tale friends don’t sit there and watch as your lover is murdered, so I dunno how well this will turn out for anyone. I’m currently suffering through some hellish stomach virus, so this week’s post might be a little more brief than most, but I can’t let sickness keep me from what I do best!

-cough-

-cough-

-dies-

Alright, yeah, this sucks. My body is a festival of pain. FIGHTIN’ THROUGH IT.

Continue reading →

Rolling Girls – Episode 7

Posted on by

Fun times in Kyoto this week! The show seems very comfortably in its groove at this point, with each new episodes major highlights generally being the tiny details. And this week had plenty of great tiny details, along with some lovely animation, backgrounds, and a more consistent sense of humor. I kinda wish I’d been a little faster getting on the “the main characters are barely going to do anything, and that’s okay” train, because the show itself seems to be having a lot of fun with that state of affairs – their limp attempt to rescue the Rockers captain was one of the episode’s best moments. Rolling Girls has turned out to be a pretty cozy ride.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

Continue reading →

Log Horizon II – Episode 20

Posted on by

Another rich and exciting episode of Log Horizon this week, as Nyanta confronted a boss rush’s worth of opponents and ideologies while the kids fought to keep the town standing. The contrasting perspectives of Londark and Mizufa offered a nice microcosm of how this show engages with both specific gamer identity and larger political ideology, and the fights that accompanied them gave Nyanta a welcome chance to show off both his skills and personal convictions. I wasn’t expecting the magic bag adventure to climax in a lengthy swordfight-slash-philosophical-battle atop a moving train, but I’m not complaining. Log Horizon’s apparently decided to absolutely make sure we all miss it when it’s gone.

My full ANN review is here. Notes below!

Continue reading →

Rolling Girls – Episode 6

Posted on by

Rolling Girls’ second side-arc ends… reasonably, I guess. It’s hard to point to any one specific reason this arc didn’t really do anything for me emotionally, but it just didn’t seem deeply felt. The character arcs were all very obvious and standard, and there just weren’t enough small character moments to make this feel like its own story, and not just Rolling Girls riffing on an established template. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, and the fact that the show has clearly forfeited its animation highlights almost makes me wish it’d never misled us with them in the first place.

Anyway. My full ANN post is available here, and you can check out my kind of conflicted notes below.

Continue reading →