Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Log Horizon II – Episode 21

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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!

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Rolling Girls – Episode 8

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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!

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Parasyte – Episode 20

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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.

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Yuri Kuma Arashi – Episode 8

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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.

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Rolling Girls – Episode 7

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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!

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Log Horizon II – Episode 20

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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!

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Rolling Girls – Episode 6

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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.

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Yuri Kuma Arashi – Episode 7

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So Ginko really is a criminal-bear after all. I’m definitely a fan of how knowing she watched Sumika die (or “die”) complicates her character. It was a heartless act, and clearly reflective of how selfish her interpretation of love is, but it’s far from an irredeemable action. Ikuhara shows are full of characters with selfish or violent streaks that are nonetheless also full of humanity, and it wouldn’t be satisfying to see characters triumph if they didn’t start off in positions of great personal weakness. Ginko and Kureha each have their own forms of weakness, and with so much of Yuri Kuma’s worldbuilding secrets already revealed, I’m hoping the second half will spend some time building each of them back up. Let’s get to the gao gao.

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Log Horizon II – Episode 19

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The kids are killing it! This week’s episode easily topped last week’s already great conversations, with Tohya’s feelings on his place in Elder Tale being sharply highlighted by the fatalistic philosophy of the Odyssey Knights. Grim revelations and big character shifts and at least four contrasting parties (the kids, the knights, the Minami faction, and Roe 2) made for a heavy and solidly rewarding episode. My writeup ran long without even really digging into a full contrast of Log Horizon’s competing philosophies on the value of gaming and validity of this world in a personal sense – this show is now competing directly on SAO’s turf, and that’s always an interesting conversation. Much that was built up was resolved this week, but I’m still excited to see whatever next episode brings. We might even get some actual animation!

Nah, just kidding. But there’s definitely plenty to look forward to anyway.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

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Parasyte – Episode 18

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And Tamiya’s story comes to an end. This episode was somewhat hampered by the aesthetic neutrality that’s weakened Parasyte all along, but its conclusion was strong enough narrative-wise that I couldn’t really complain about that. The anime is making me want to reread the manga – apparently we’re losing a lot of character texture, and the strongest thing here is the base material. But a great source adapted poorly can still be a pretty good show, and that’s where we’re at now.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

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