Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Serial Experiments Lain – Episode 5

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Episode 5

2:19 – “If you can hear it, it is speaking to you. And if you can see it, it is your…” Implying the Wired is willfully choosing specific people to bridge the gap with?

2:37 – “Mankind is a creature that no longer evolves, is it not?” Boom, we’re into the singularity-speak.

3:50 – “We can escape that existence… I am God.” Yep, singularity. On the one hand, hey, go me, all my assumptions were more or less correct. On the other hand, well, where does the show go from here?

4:19 – Not sure of the significance of the pedestrian walk sign yet. I mean, I could invent some, if you’d like… like how it’s a symbol of the way electronic systems already control and direct the flow of humanity, or maybe how it’s a metaphor for all of humanity waiting for the signal from a monitor screen to rush forth in a new tide, or yada yada bullshit bullshit Deep Thinking.

5:32 – Oh man, is this a flashback to pre-lobotomy Lain? It seems like she was aware of these ghosts at a pretty young age…

6:25 – Ooh, I like this. Robotics;Notes dealt with this a bit, too, though it wasn’t all that graceful – the ways our interactions with the modern world are already mediated by technology, and our powerlessness when we’ve lost control of that technology, both physically and intellectually. I really like this “events come into existence as soon as they are prophesied” bit contrasted against it – in an age where information is king, and all information is mediated by the internet, the internet essentially has the power to define truth however it wishes

8:04 – “The other side is crowded. The dead will have no place to go.” When hell is full the dead will walk the earth? Is that the explanation for the ghosts – that the Wired is overcrowded? Seems a little odd

9:43 – “History is not merely a linear set of points that we pass through on a timeline.” Man, they are just throwingeverything at the wall here, aren’t they? So now, for all we know socialite Lain could have appeared at that club just because we live in a big ball of timey-wimey stuff where anything can happen any time

10:44 – Okay, we’re back to Lain #1. And it looks like the various personas aren’t aware of each other’s activities – or at least blank slate Lain isn’t

13:14 – “The real world is nothing but a hologram, a visual representation of elements of the Wired.” So now we’re in the Matrix, too.

Her mother appearing as one of these persona ghosts might mean something, but this episode is just throwing way too many ideas together to really propose any coherent point. The pacing is also dragged down by how esoteric all these monologues are, as well – I’m not a fan of how fully we’ve been detached from an actual narrative. It comes off like a series of philosophical lectures – and I don’t want to have a bunch of interesting ideas exposited at me, I want to follow a story that through its telling provokes interesting ideas. Granted, this show does that successfully most of the time, but this episode in particular is not very graceful

13:43 – “Are you really my mom?” Finally a question I actually want answered, and she freaking evaporates on us. Goddamnit ghost mom

14:16 – I like how every meal scene just has Lain spinning her soup in purposeful circles

14:46 – Lines of visibility and eye contact seem pretty important in this show. Characters so often look away when speaking to each other, or have their connection blocked by some outside element – her father’s monitors, the parent’s hands

16:05 – I like the idea of this episode, where you’re getting a view of Lain’s rise into Godhood or whatever through the eyes of her sister, who’s basically getting hit by constant shrapnel of this merging process. Sure makes for a weird-ass narrative structure, though, since we don’t know how real anything is

19:32 – Interesting idea. If the Wired is a world created of information, what defines one thing there as real and another as unreal? Currently, it’s our ability to verify from own world – but if our own world is being replaced, then an electronic God of pure information has every right to exist

These sermons still aren’t doing that much for me, though. The show is basically telling me all the things it’s been about the whole time – it’s already shown me these concepts in action, it doesn’t need to explain them as well

The fact that both parents are here lecturing, and that that is contrasted against the sister basically being witch-hunted by the Wired, is very interesting, though. Have they already both been replaced by personas (or just lost their agency into the Wired) the way Lain sometimes seems to be? And is the Wired now attempting to do the same to Lain’s sister – to remove another of the pillars of empathy still remaining to her in her original world?

21:15 – OSHIT IT’S TRUE. THEY’VE REPLACED HER WHOLE GODDAMN FAMILY WITH LOBOTIMIZED WIRED DOPPELGANGERS

21:50 – And her sister fades away. So those ghosts are the original personalities, now consumed by the Wired? Fuuuuuuu

And Done

HOT DAMN that ending was crazy. The plot’s definitely coming into focus here, I think. I still don’t know what makes Lain valuable, but it seems like the God of the Wired is determined to have her, and is trying (successfully) to isolate her in order to achieve that goal. The stuff with her sister was incredibly intense and very well done – I thought the lecture stuff on Lain’s side was a lot less graceful, and the episode was weirdly paced as a result (with scenes of high tension undercut by scenes of Lain being philosophized at by a series of ghosts), but honestly the sister stuff was so great that overall I’m fine with it. Maybe this show felt it was necessary to explain itself a little more – maybe it’s not wrong. Either way, it appears that Lain is now living in a house of corpses, being occasionally overtaken by the will of a handful of hostile personas. That’s a pretty sticky situation!

Serial Experiments Lain – Episode 4

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All thriller no filler this time. Let’s get right to it.

Episode 4

2:22 – “I don’t need parents. Humans are all alone. They’re not connected to anyone at all.” I guess we’re starting to drag the elements of the real world towards their thematic point here

2:36 – Oh how I missed you, wires and hum

3:33 – What does her father know? Was he always aware she’d begin to enter this world? He seems to treat her almost like an experiment to be kept at arm’s length – and her mother wants nothing to do with her at all. They know something

Also, is the clear/opaque thing with his glasses meaningful as well? Goddamnit, I’m pretty sure everything is meaningful, but that means everything could basically mean anything – there’s too much goddamn room for interpretation right now

4:47 – Okay, so we get a moment of concern from all three other family members here. Perhaps everyone in this family is just super weird and pensive and reticent, but aside from Lain they all actually are ordinary people

6:02 – Goddamnit, how… do… KEYS WORK?!?!

Having a lot of trouble there. So is this guy being haunted by another ghost of the Wired?

7:13 – Lots more info. So it seems people are giving up their bodies both willingly and unwillingly at this point. Also, Lain’s personality has definitely shifted

7:54 – “You’ve changed… but I can’t put my finger on it.” Gee, could it be her entirely new personality?

9:29 – Aaand now ghost girl appears as a “real” person. And Lain is using her newly acquired personality to successfully interact in the “real” world as well. And I have no idea what anything means anymore

I have suspicions, though – my current one being that the Wired world is beginning to overlap with the real world in more ways now – through personas appearing in person (the little girl) and through Lain adopting her (I assume) online persona as her current real one

But who knows

9:45 – Where did she get all this hardware?

10:41 – I like how the invention of terms like “Wired” and “Navi” keep this show from being dated – they’re just meant to be catch-alls for terminals and connections, things that are relevant regardless of the platform

11:15 – Lain asking the DJ a question without being there – more evidence for the overlap theory. It also sounded like she was using a third persona here – I assume the one that the Cyberia patrons know her by

16:07 – Dem corridors. I’m getting Goldeneye flashbacks

This whole sequence also seemed to explain a lot about the sci-fi stuff going on – though it’s interesting that he seemed to actually kill that girl with the weapon from his game. I figured everyone else had just run down a corridor that happened to correlate to running off a building in the real world – but it seems like you can actually kill people by killing their persona using the tools of the Wired. And then her body actually appeared in the sheet? Or her persona’s body did?

Either way, just seems like there are a few loose ends to clear up there. The real mystery we have remaining is Lain herself

Also, that sequence employed some nice visual tricks, and I really liked the effect of the invisible gun – but we’ve covered how visually interesting this show is

18:19 – “Don’t worry. I’m still me.” What does that even mean, Lain?

So her and her father are basically outlining everything we’ve figured out so far (“It’s not real” “The lines aren’t actually that clear – and I’ll enter it soon”). Meaning the show wants everyone to be up to the same page… meaning the show probably has a lot more to say, since we’re only a third of the way in. Exciting stuff

19:33 – “The Knights are a religion that is spreading through the wired.” And they’re the ones responsible for bridging the games – more shades of singularity here, or at least full interconnectedness, and the distinction between the two is pretty precarious 

And Done

Shit! Lain #2 doesn’t give a fuck about the G-Men – she’ll get so pissed off she’ll hack their tracers with a stern voice alone.

So, whatever she used to be (well, that’s my current guess), she’s becoming it again. My current theory – Lain at some point suffered some kind of persona lobotomy, resulting in the character we see for the first three episodes. However, upon reconnecting to the Wired, her personas are returning to her – because they never really died, they were just living separately from her as data in the Wired (which can itself take material form now – thus the alternate Lain at Cyberia). Why she has these powers, and why she’s so prone to having her actual body jump between personas, I don’t think we have the evidence to guess at yet

Structurally, the show’s plan seems to be to shift from psychological horror/mystery to sci-fi thriller, which it handled quite well this episode. Good stuff

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru – Episode 6

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OreGairu time! Goddamn! Well come on now, there’s no time for dilly-dallying, lets get right ahahaha just kidding, time for another fucking essay.

Please, feel free to skip this if you’re not into this aspect of my shtick. This one’s honestly pretty skippable – it’s more a general media analysis piece than actual required reading for my writeup. In fact, I’ll even go ahead and mark the tangent with some kind of

Delightful Bobduh Semi-Related Tangent Time

I don’t quite understand myself. It’s something I’m working on, but it’s obviously a work in progress. However, one pattern, something I’m confident enough in to even consider a theme, is my artistic preference for passion over perfection.

I love stories that try really hard and fail; hell, I love people who try really hard and fail. Or that succeed, but with a huge asterisk. Or that triumph, but do so by making their original goal kind of a moot point. I think this kind of ties in with that “optimism in the face of tragedy” attitude I talked about a couple weeks ago – telling personal, relatable stories is damn hard, and I see great humanity in stories where both a person’s passion and flaws are clearly visible. While I always look to feel empathy for the characters within a story, I also try and extend this empathy towards the creator as well.

I bring this up because I don’t think OreGairu is a flawless work, or even all that close to one. In fact, on some level I agree with many of the complaints that are leveled against it here – it doesn’t always rise above the tropes it’s lampooning, it’s oddly speckled with jokes undeserving of its sensitivity and intelligence, its visual aesthetics are never more than serviceable. Maybe, in the absence of these flaws, I would enjoy it even more. But honestly, I don’t think the amount of empathy and understanding this show contains could impress me to a greater extent that it currently does – as far as my appreciation of this show is concerned, I doubt it could be all that meaningfully improved.

I can certainly appreciate more or less perfect things. For instance, I think Madoka’s only artistic flaw is Shaft’s unwillingness to curb their self-indulgent love of melodramatic pans and head tilts – other than that, I think it’s basically absurdly polished, aesthetically perfect, and thematically/narratively sound in every possible way. And hell, it’s actually one of my favorite shows. But for me, honesty and acuity of intent are miles away the most important factor in any work – for example, Evangelion is much more “artistically flawed” than Madoka, and whole elements of its production (its’ plot for example) are borderline incoherent. But there is so much honesty, passion, and truth in that production that aesthetic complaints strike me as hilariously misguided – for me, that’s like disputing whether it’s a 13 or 13.5 out of 10. In situations like this I always feel tempted to ask, “Yes, but what was your impression of the things the show cares about?”

I’m aware there’s some pretty silly hypocrisy in someone as wedded to the nature and value of craft as I am talking about how some times elements of craft just aren’t relevant. And I think there’s something to that – I try to judge a show according to how well it fulfills its goals, but in my mind, not all goals are created equal. For instance, last season, I heard from many people that GJ-bu was essentially the ideal version of a plotless slice-of-life comedy, and pretty much dropped the mic as far as that genre is concerned. Meanwhile, in my personal estimation, Maoyuu was an extremely flawed but absurdly ambitious attempt to deconstruct the high fantasy genre in a way that meaningfully reflected on the historical course and ultimate potential of our actual human nature, while simultaneously acting as a coherent story in its own right. If both these statements are true, I would rate GJ-bu a solid 7/10 and Maoyuu (as I did) a 9/10, and I would not feel any less justified in those ratings because GJ-bu has fewer “flaws” relative to its genre and goals than Maoyuu did. Please keep in mind, I’m not trying to establish an objective system of worth here – I am saying that, to me personally, some ambitions are just more valuable and meaningful than others, and reveal a creator passion and humanity that is one of the things most poignant to me in art. Whether or not they succeed, they are trying to connect and say something powerful, and that’s amazing, goddamnit. That’s what art is all about.

And I think OreGairu is aiming straight at the pain and hardship and insecurity of adolescent identity, a rich and universally poignant topic. And I think that, in every way that matters to achieving that goal, it is killing it.

End of Bobduh’s Delightful Tangent

So now that I’ve finally cleared out any illusion of objectivity for well and good, let’s get on with critically evaluating this week’s episode!

Episode 6

0:48 – I already like this episode. Normally, the bubbly love interest doesn’t get an interior monologue – but goddamnit, Yui’s thoughts are just as valuable as anyone else’s. The characterization here is good enough that I’d welcome a full episode from either Yui or Yuki’s perspective

2:38 – Damnit OreGairu these awkward polite silences still infest my life stop being so insightful

3:35 – A pretty great bit of scene setting here, with Yuki and Hikki’s non-Yui-influenced dynamic being each of them seated at opposite ends of the conference table, books out, leaning away from each other

3:53 – Another moment where I question the Bakemonogatari comparisons. Yuki knows she’s getting further and further away from the truth here – her guesses at the conflict aren’t insightful, they’re self-indulgent. She’s having almost Chuuni-esque fun with the situation, and the joke is kind of at her expense. She knows this, Hikki knows this. Their dynamic is very good

6:10 – These two have such good… not-rapport. Unrapport. They’re far too spiky to have an honest conversation, but they are so close to being the same exact person. It’s fantastic

7:20 – Dat twintails. Do what you must, OreGairu. I won’t judge

7:48 – Hikki’s sister is a very crafty matchmaker. I approve; these two would never get anywhere on their own

Also, thanks for your input, Commie. I certainly needed an OreImo joke right about now, lest any of us forget how witty and attractive you are

10:22 – Jesus christ, I thought Aku no HANA was uncomfortable. In the absence of proles to act superior to, these two just fall into the most awkward patterns of ego brinkmanship imaginable

It’s fucking adorable

10:43 – Yui really ought to invest in a new leash

11:07 – Goddamnit this writing is good. Simultaneously make a great joke about how Yuki can only judge clothes according to their relative durability and slip in a personal acknowledgment that she was never personally relating to Yui in the first place. Why not?

11:50 – “How does it look?” “How am I supposed to respond… it looks great on you, I guess? Although I think Yui would like something more dumb-looking.” “Sadly, I have to agree.” I should probably just stop commenting, because I think I could watch these two spend afternoons together for literally any amount of time and be perfectly entertained

14:25 – … What can I even say. This is… this is my episode. Of anything. These two are so adorable. Goddamnit. They’ve built these characters perfectly, and at this point they have no fear, no need to act defensively towards each other. Stop, OreGairu. Stop this thing you are doing to me

16:09 – This episode is such a (welcome) shift from the series so far that it’s difficult to even judge. The show sat in a status quo of solidifying character relationships for five straight episodes – now, when those relationships are challenged, all three protagonists are forced to abandon the comfortable facades that have sustained them for this long. I think it’s being handled incredibly well and very honestly, and the deftness of character shifting here is honestly just more agile than my ability to critique it. I think I recall having doubts about this show at some point?

20:30 – Kinda funny that in a show so concerned with social fronts, this reconciliation between Hikki and Yui contains more emotional honesty than most shows manage in their entire run time.

And Done

Well GOD FUCKING DAMN. This one’s a tricky episode for me to evaluate, because… well, mainly because a couple of the Yuki-Hikki conversations in this episode are already my favorite conversations between fictional characters that I’ve ever witnessed. So that’s tough! It’s tough to see dialogue and character writing I’ve already been so impressed by used to such devastatingly endearing effect, and it’s tough to haughblahgagaha I just can’t be objective anymore. Goddamnit you guys this show is so good. So fucking good. Jesus tapdancing christ. Goddamn.

Yeah. Not only did this episode have no actual flaws, but… guh. Master class in character writing, and in organic dialogue, and in acuity of psychological understanding. What else is left to say? This was my favorite episode of my favorite show of the past six mo… no. Fuck it. Past several years. Thank you, OreGairu. Thank you for existing.

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 6

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So. Maou-sama!

We’ve introduced our cast. We’ve resolved our opening conflict. We’ve even established a kind of status quo, an uneasy peace between our protagonists.

What the fuck do we do now?

The obvious answer is “end the book.” And I guess that’s what they did.

But it sold well.

Hm.

What the fuck do we do now?

I’m eager to find out! The first arc gave us a brief sketch of Emilia’s past – but she’s the only one with any background so far. We’ve certainly had development of our other characters, but up till now it’s mainly been used for humor – the first major conflict was outside interference, not a natural evolution of their characters. Plus, there were all those vague swipes at capitalism and the social order – that has to go somewhere eventually, right?

I don’t know what they’ll focus on now. But this writer is damn good at what he does, so I think I’ll be happy with wherever he leads us.

Episode 6

0:12 – “You will burn to sustain me…” Alright, what’s he cooking

0:57 – Classic scenario. Why does it work? Because Alsiel’s so goddamn adorable, that’s why

2:47 – Hm. New girl in the OP. Not to immediately be incredibly cynical or anything, but I hope they’re not planning on maintaining momentum by just throwing new characters into the mix when needed – I think the core characters have more than enough potential for development bouncing off each other. Granted, another show I could mentiondoes generally manage to use its side characters to illuminate new things about the central cast, but…

4:32 – Damnit Maou-sama, I know when you’re just pandering to me – don’t think making casual asides about religion’s self-deceiving hypocrisies will win you any favors!

5:05 – And now Maou/Alsiel have an ungrateful teenage son. Finally Lucifer’s haircut makes sense

6:27 – Maou’s cocky smile as he humbly downplays the impressiveness of his shift manager promotion. My god I love this show

7:25 – Their conflict doesn’t really seem that unsolvable any more – don’t they just have to just chase ambulances or hang out at hospitals and funeral homes and juice themselves up on despair and sadness?

7:51 – Wow, both sides of this argument are so great. Maou takes Lucifer in because the evil priest who tried to kill them both can no longer babysit him, and Emilia’s bothered by the logistics of the apartment. Awesome

11:08 – “His roommate?!?!” Man, whole lotta fujoshi jokes lately! Kids these days…

12:24 – “A student disappeared from that room like they’d been spirited away.” That could be a whole lot more than a throwaway line

12:45 – Ahahaha. “I’m not scared if you’re with me…” “’Kay.”

13:58 – There’s something particularly great about Alsiel comforting the Great Lord Satan about a high school ghost story

14:15 – “Gate opened in the past.” There we go. I wonder who was sent to Maou’s world? If it’s someone who now works in the church, we might already have the foundation of this book’s arc in place

18:30 – Seriously Emilia, that damn sword’s gonna put an eye out

20:25 – “Urushihara’s one cheeky cunt.” I can’t believe I’m putting up with Commie subs just to be in time for the discussion. Bleeeh.

And Done

Well, that was alright. It didn’t really do very much, but I guess it makes sense as the beginning of a new book – it’s basically reintroducing these characters and their dynamics, and sending them on a haunted house adventure. Plenty of solid jokes throughout (I really, really loved how disappointed Maou and Alsiel were with Emilia over the anatomical statue), and Alsiel continues to be Best General, but it was definitely a lesser Maou episode – at its best, this show combines that humor with sharp satire (like in four) or very effective action/drama (like in five). But obviously they can’t all be standouts, and this was still a solid episode that at least established Lucifer in Maou’s dysfunctional little family. And with the Inquisitor finally arriving, hopefully next week we’ll be diving into the church!

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – Episode 6

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Shit, I forgot to do today’s prep work. Well, maybe we can make it a group activity, then. How about…

Take 1 drink every time hair is used as a sex metaphor.

Take 1 drink every time the spooky organs/strings come in.

Take 1 drink every time a romcom cliché is applied to a story about Hair Queens and Killing Goods.

Take 1 drink every time the show tries to tell an actual joke, proving it’s only funny when it’s not trying to be.

Take 2 drinks every time the show implies violent sex.

Finish your drink every time the show doesn’t just imply, but straight-up includes violent sexy times.

That should cover us!

Episode 6

0:44 – “I hear a voice from somewhere… it’s telling me to assault girls.” Goddamnit Crime Edge. Two drinks before I even reach the minute marker? Fuck you.

0:49 – It’s good to see Iwai is observing responsible scissor-holding posture while fleeing the zombies

2:08 – Does a camera shot aiming down her thighs as she runs count as anything? …nope, just generally weird, and if “generally weird” were a category, I really wouldn’t be getting out of this alive

3:17 – “It should have been a fun night after dinner… instead we’re here condemning Bobduh to death by alcohol poisoning.” Two more!

4:33 – “Pet Whip of Submissive Butchery.” How is everyone not watching this show? Anyway, I actually do appreciate that she’s the dominant one; but then, for as weird as all its sex stuff is, and as uncomfortable as all this sexual assault stuff makes me, the show doesn’t really seem all that backwards in its gender roles. So I guess we can now official declare Crime Edge as “more progressive in gender politics than Clannad, at least”

5:12 – Does… does this all count as one violent sex metaphor? I’m going with that, for my health

5:57 – Goddamnit, just finish your slow-walk villain monologue so Kiri can get on with unexpectedly blocking the whip

It’s weird to go directly from critiquing a show like Serial Experiments Lain to one where every single plot contrivance is the first one listed in the Anime Bible of Storytelling Cliches

6:40 – I like the doctor’s rakish grin/cigarette/literature combo. He clearly knows how to mug for the camera

7:42 – Their cries of ‘Monster’ cut deep… her hair insecurities paralyze her with shame and regret

8:00 – Nice, once again they’re forcing Iwai to be strong for her own sake. Can we now confidently declare that Crime Edge is also “more progressive in gender politics than HenNeko?”

8:08 – Oooh, hair as adultery metaphor – I like it! Still only one drink though

10:30 – “If you don’t say what you mean, I won’t understand.” See, now they’re applying classic adolescent emotional moments to the action parts of the show, which is a whole different, but still humorously effective, kind of parallel. Could this… could this show actually know what it’s doing?

11:26 – So wait, does the Crime Edge have like a Stun setting or something? Or is he just giving all of them such satisfying trims that they immediately collapse in exhaustion and delight? …or is he just murdering all these dudes?

I’m just gonna guess he’s only hitting them with the flat of his shears

12:43 – JESUS CHRIST did he give that guy a clipping. Scissors right through the cheek… Senjougahara[1] would approve

13:34 – Oshit it’s Sharktooth

15:00 – Wait, wouldn’t the rope not have killed him anyway? Is his hang-worthiness a plot development, or his hang-unworthiness a plot hole?

Dear god, it just occurred to me that things might actually happen in this show without any coherent reason. I think I need a drink to steady myself

15:20 – ‘Me, a loser? The… the gall! And yet… oh god… he’s right!‘

16:08 – Kiri, unimpressed by the Pet Whip’s emotional breakdown, casually spins his scissors like a boss

16:24 – Oh dear god. As soon as that white flash started I thought, ‘please, no, not a trite emotional flashback,’ and then of course the first line is ‘I was sad I didn’t get to play the princess in the school play’

17:01 – Wait… that’s it? I thought that school play was going to start a downward spiral, or, or something, but… her backstory is actually “one time I didn’t get to play the princess, and that’s when I knew that I was born to kill”?

18:05 – “I’ve always loved your wavy red hair… your semi-insane entitlement issues, I could take or leave.”

20:18 – “You said I was only a convenience for cutting your hair… I was kinda upset.” Welp, it looks like Crime Edge has more capacity for emotional honesty than… er, every single harem?

21:30 – No complaints here – this is an adorable and well-executed idea for a credit transition

And Done

Goddamnit Crime Edge, this isn’t Pokemon – you can’t go and immediately become best pals with everyone who tries to kill you. Well, I guess technically you can, because you’re living in a world that’s simultaneously a teen romcom, psychological sex thriller, and shounen battle adventure, but… that doesn’t make it any part of this less nonsensical.

I love you Crime Edge. Don’t ever change.

Serial Experiments Lain – Episodes 1-3

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So, now that the viewing club has actually moved on to a show I both haven’t seen and am very interested in watching, I suddenly realize I’ve successfully doubled the number of episodes I’ve assigned myself to commit serious thought to every week. And I was already barely hanging on in the first place. So we’ll see how this goes – I might keep this looser and more brief throughout, and then try to collect my thoughts at the end, or something. Anyway. Roll tape.

Actually, one more thing. It occurs to me, upon beginning yet another series that I’m going to talk about for likely far too long, that someone might very well ask, “Why are you wasting your time with this?” And that’s a fine question! So gimme a second here.

Brief, Optional Tangent on Media Appreciation/Analysis

First, this is how I enjoy media, and this is also how I enjoy conversation. I like the craft, power, and potential of art, and I like discussing these things with other interested people, and these writeups are the best way I’ve found to have my cake and dissect it too.

Secondly, and this is purely personal, I really like that some people seem to appreciate my doing this. It’s a lot of work, and it eats a good number of free hours, but unless I’m working on my own creative projects, one of the best ways I can think of to spend my free time is in doing something that other people find worthwhile and meaningful. So that helps a lot.

Finally, I really do think there is something to this kind of stuff. I don’t think analysis kills art, or kills enjoyment – I think it deepens and broadens it, and gives it both personal resonance and larger context. I’ll close this little prologue with a quotation I just read in Italo Calvino’s “If on a winter’s night a traveler,” which, while ostensibly about the process of translation, I think also digs pretty well at what I and hopefully other people out there get out of the process of continuous reflection and unpacking.

“Furthermore, Professor Uzzi-Tuzii had begun his oral translation as if he were not quite sure he could make his words hang together, going back over every sentence to iron out the syntactical creases, manipulating the phrases until they were not completely rumpled, smoothing them, clipping them, stopping at every word to illustrate its idiomatic uses and its connotations, accompanying himself with inclusive gestures as if inviting you to be content with approximate equivalents, breaking off to state grammatical rules, etymological derivations, quoting the classics. But just when you are convinced that for the professor philology and erudition mean more than what the story is telling, you realize the opposite is true: that academic envelope serves only to protect everything the story says and does not say, an inner afflatus always on the verge of being dispersed at contact with the air, the echo of a vanished knowledge revealed in the penumbra and in tacit illusions.”

End Tangent

Sorry. I’ll stop now. Let’s watch some cartoons.

Episode 1

0:50 – I already like this sketchy, angular, un-idealized art style.

2:00 – Wow, I know I’m in for a good ride when even the OP seems heavy with thematic weight. These images of Lain observing life going on as mediated through a variety of screens makes me think this’ll be about some extremely relevant themes; the stuff writers like Anno and Urobuchi have yet to convince their audiences to believe in

3:19 – Okay, so it seems likely this show will have a lot of scattered thematic puzzle pieces, making a play-by-play a kind of tricky proposition. But I’ll bite! First three puzzle pieces: Lain in the screens [a pretty obvious-seeming metaphor], “Why won’t you come? I wish you could come here” [here as in outside?] and “Why you should do that is something you should discover for yourself” [these messages seem like meta-comments to the reader, which means that whether they’re meant to scream the themes or mislead, they’re not part of the narrative]. The puzzle I currently see is one about guiding people trapped in mediated lives to experience the real world. Let’s see what else we got

4:34 – More hints, and a clarification. The “I don’t need to stay in a place like this” seems to represent her final whisper or final thoughts – so perhaps those block texts are actually within the narrative, at least mentally. Also, both in the OP and contrasted against her death we have the figures kissing in very un-romanticized ways. My first thought there is that “honesty/dishonesty of human connection” is also key

5:05 – “If you stay in a place like this, you might not be able to connect.” Okay, so that one’s already been made overt.

Unrelated, I really, really like this visual design. The darker scenes with neon highlights reminded me of Blade Runner, and now this incredibly high-contrast daytime creates a whole different kind of stylized dream world. Very distinctive choice, and appropriate for a show that I assume will be handling the validity of various realities

8:18 – “She killed herself last week – come on, the teacher told everybody!” Tidy bit of storytelling there, with a line that both establishes the prologue for our protagonist while also revealing more about her disconnection and lack of engagement with the world around her

9:01 – Wait, is their lesson all code in some programming language?

9:39 – “What’s it like when you die?” Ooh, so perhaps all that text represents the emails

10:00 – Those constant phone lines, connecting everyone. Also, the soundtrack being just a mechanical hum both increases the fuzziness of her worldview and simulates the hum of a computer

12:46 – “I’ve only given up my body.” Okay, now the actual plot is starting to catch up to the themes that every other element of the show is articulating. Here we go!

13:46 – “Why did you die?” “God is here.” Man, was instrumentality/singularity such a big concern in the late 90s/onset of the internet age? Does this relate to all that Bowling Alone stuff about the loss of communal societies, a concern that I think was pretty much swept away by the supremacy of internet community/culture? It’s weird to try and think about what poignancy these ideas might have had in their own moment in history

14:30 – That bearsuit’s adorable. Also, that dinner conversation kept up the Bowling Alone view of community, even within the family unit

17:04 – Her father only speaks to her from behind a wall of computers, his face always obscured from her view

18:10 – What are these visions she keeps seeing? Her classmates blurred, her fingers emitting steam, the wires dripping blood… oh, goddamnit, I was about to say “I see no connection between them,” and then I realized all three of them work as separate visual metaphors – she can’t fully interact with her classmates, her fingers will be the keys to her new reality, the wires contain the life of her dead friend.

Still don’t know if they’re meant to just mean she has an overactive imagination or something more fantastical, though

20:36 – Not sure what to make of that train vision/nightmare yet. Not enough information. The train is key, though, we’ve had too many scenes of Lain on the train, standing at the door, staring out at the wires

21:00 – Again, I’m still not sure how sane we’re supposed to believe Lain is, and whether things are actually crazy or she’s just really good at day-visions and conflating memories with reality

22:36 – Her friend smiles and disappears, leaving her alone on the street, stranded between the endless wires

And Done

Oof! Great first episode, rich in thematic imagery, riding a fun, ambiguous line between fantasy and reality, and maintaining a great, creepy mood throughout. I can’t wait till next… oh wait.

…this is gonna be a long night.

By the way, I’m sticking with my writeup structure for now purely because it’s easier for me than first noting all my thoughts, and then straightening them into a paragraph-based impression at the end. I just don’t have enough time to do the full essay routine – hopefully nobody minds too much. Anyway.

Episode 2

0:31 – So I assume there’s a dialogue to be constructed of all these prologue lines. “I want you to come out here.” “What are you scared of, I just want you to try it for a bit.”

3:25 – Well! A lot happened in that club, but I don’t think I have quite enough fragments of chaos to see where that end of the plot is going yet. But that was supposed to be Lain at the end there, right?

4:22 – And her sister looks at the ceiling when talking with her. Man, connecting is hard!

5:15 – But this man, almost merged with the telephone pole, makes direct eye contact as she passes

8:02 – Jeez, remember when characters actually had personalities, and weren’t just tired tropes? Yeah, I got a pretty distinct and separate impression of all three of these girls here, and then of course there’s a bit of “identity is something you can construct” going on, but it’s basically just a hint

8:48 – Wait, so that lecture on the drug was just the show itself telling us, the audience, about it? That’s kind of weird. I do like the idea of a drug that accelerates your perception of experience in the context of a show that’ll clearly be about the internet age, though

9:35 – Again, the storytelling is understated and great. Lain gets excited when she receives a text, which I assume is because her lack of friends makes her assume it’s from her internet friend – but it’s actually the girl who befriended her that morning, which disappoints her, so she cancels the trip so she can wait for her “real” friend instead

13:02 – Another one of those awkward kissing embraces, this time beside Lain’s new computer. Still not sure what they represent, I’m just noting them for now

14:54 – Hm. Her sister waiting at the door. Another piece… goddamnit, there’s a lot of chaos to sift through here

16:01 – Aw yeah, all dolled up for clubbin’ in my little felt hat

19:00 – “You’re that scattered god’s…” Big clue here.

And Done

What the hell? Did he imagine her saying that? Lain definitely looks like someone at the club – both he and the other girls saw that person. But he seems to think she’s some harbinger of the internet leaking into the real world, which is something foretold by Lain’s own maybe-visions, maybe-delusions. Is this other Lain only relevant in his mind? And did she actually say those things, in that voice – was that also in his mind, or is she really more than she herself realizes? I guess until I definitely know whether this show’s primarily interested in sci-fi, psychological horror, allegory, or some/all of these things, I can’t make any definitive calls here. The themes are still consistent, but what their delivery vehicle actually consists of… very ambiguous

Okay. Gah. Once more into the breach

Episode 3

0:14 – Once again starting with those same city shots. There’s actually a lot that reminds me of Aku no Hana here – the repeated visual markers, the menacing, droning soundtrack, the long periods of silence, the unreliability of the narrator, the jagged, kind of unsettling character designs, the general claustrophobic tone. It’s intriguing to see these various tangible markers of this slow-building psychological horror style of storytelling be used for such different purposes

1:00 – “I called your house, but no-one picked up.” How unreliable is this narrator?

2:05 – Lain’s such a mentally removed character that it’s hard to tell where the post-traumatic stress ends and the personality begins

2:23 – God, I’m so loving the stark color contrasts and angles of this visual design. Shades of Bakemonogatari here, and that’s a good thing for your show to be reminding me of

3:12 – Her parents sleep in separate beds, her family is completely silent at dinner, and her sister can’t make eye contact with her. If connecting with people in the real world is this hard, why bother?

6:59 – Alright, so all this “Lain is some strange bringer of a new integrated reality” stuff seems to indicate this series doesn’t entirely take place in her crazy headspace. There’s the creepy G-Men following her, her doppelganger, the drugged-up dude who “recognized” her, her own alter-ego response to that guy, her consistent visions of a world verging on her own… my current assumption is “actually a sci-fi story, but thematically relevant to our impersonal real-world order”

9:56 – “I’m saying it’s strange we can’t take his death serious- IS THAT A LOVE LETTER???”

Also, I guess they’re implying that Lain is herself becoming a receiver for signals from the internet?

13:22 – “Do you know what this is?” She extends the gift to her father, who stands distant in the doorway. He leans slightly forward, barely closing the gap between them, and then turns away

14:18 – What is with this embrace/kissing motif? I’m sure it’ll make sense eventually, but they’re really laying it on thick

15:05 – Okay, so now the associates of her doppelganger are actually referring to her as Lain. Multiple personalities? Memory issues? Versions of herself are the first net intruders into actual reality?

Goddamnit, I’m feeling really stupid here… it normally doesn’t take this long for me to figure out a plot. Let me…

Hm…

Okay, if I’m going to draw any conclusions, I can’t assume everything is ambiguous. So for this conjecture, I’ll just assume that Lain’s reality is at least real according to her. Then…

Alright, she’s already under guard by the G-Men. This implies she has either always been important, has recently become important, or was important at some point in the past, and they’re making sure she doesn’t become that important person again. Her family seems incredibly distant, and barely treats her like a human being, outside of her father’s assistance in getting her Wired. She’s distant from everyone at school, though Arisa is making efforts to be her friend. We have seen no other hobbies, and she expressed no interest in technology prior to this point.

Recently, due the encouragement of a dead girl who’s apparently both real (she remembered walking home with Lain once, though that could have been observed) and alive within the internet, she has begun ingratiating herself into internet culture. Concurrently with this, she has begun seeing visions of internet wraiths, as well as hearing voices that seem to come from the internet.

Very recently, a version of her with an entirely separate persona was observed at a club, and various people at that club seem to know her by name. In fact, one man was incredibly distressed by her presence, saying she’s related to a “scattered god” – which is relevant to her dead friend, who said that “god is here” within the internet. When confronting this man, her voice changed, and she authoritatively told the man that we are all always connected, which caused him to commit suicide.

So what do we have here? Internet-based singularity story, with Lain as the fulcrum, for some reason? Seems likely. I can’t think of any clues that hint at how she’s already known, why she’s receiving these visions, or why she’s being watched. Perhaps we’re actually only seeing the second half of a story… but it’s too early to know. We’re not there yet.

19:02 – “You never saw us. We’re not here, you see.” Here’s another big clue. Now we know for sure they’re real, and also they seem to be hinting that projection from the net is already possible, which might explain alternate-Lain as well. Still not there yet.

Also, I’m not really commenting on thematic/imagery stuff any more because it’s all pretty damn consistent throughout the show (eye contact, the wires, etc), and it all seems to point towards the same themes. This mystery’s interesting, so I’ma figure it out

19:24 – “Are you listening, Mom?” Their mother is completely emotionally absent – she avoids all interaction with her daughters whenever possible, and never seems to address them directly. Again, another file for the drawer

20:15 – And now we have another new Lain saying welcome home to her sister. This is also the second time her sister has tried to connect with her – her success or failure in this will probably continue to gain relevance

And Done

Interesting stuff so far. The thematic concerns seem pretty obvious, but I’m enjoying figuring out exactly how this world works, and the aesthetics are great. This is a very entertaining show

…“Looser and more brief.” Good joke.

…damnit. That actually got so long that now I feel obligated to coherently format it. Alright, screw you all. Summary time.

TL;DR:

I’m very much enjoying it so far, and it simultaneously feels like a very carefully and wildly written series – in that there are a lot of ideas at the same time, but the direction and visual storytelling is always very sharp.

Visually, I’m greatly enjoying it. The visual aesthetic is very distinctive; the blurred, neon cityscapes remind me of Blade Runner, and the stark, angular, high-contrast, nearly abandoned suburbs remind me of a cross between Bakemonogatari’s visual design and Aku no Hana’s mood. The constant blurring and repeated visual motifs (the telephone wires, two figures embracing in a kiss, the various repeated backgrounds of Lain’s world) all contribute to the dreamlike atmosphere and question of how much we can trust this reality – which is perfect, because this seems to be a show specifically about the validity of identities and realities.

I love the sound design, which is another of the many elements that reminds me of Aku no Hana. The droning sound sets an uncomfortable, creepy tone, further contributes to the hazy, distorted reality, and mimics the sound of a computer’s hum. All relevant things.

The writing is generally solid and the dialogue is great, though I’m not sold on the way the show seems to sometimes directly tell the viewer things without associating that knowledge with any specific character – the biggest specific example of this is when the show explained that drug to us. Maybe there’s another layer there in that our perception is more full than Lain’s, but stuff like that tends to remove me from the story as it’s happening.

Thematically, it seems pretty obviously to be about the ways our society has begun to disconnect physically, the replacement of that connection with connections of the online variety, and whether these new realities are as legitimate or “real” as the original one. It attacks this theme from a variety of angles – first, there’s all the visual stuff drawing attention to the dreamlike world, as well as Lain continuously observing the world through a variety of frames, as well as that motif of the telephone wires outlining her world. Secondly, there’s Lain’s actual relationship to the world around her; she seems disconnected even before being contacted by the dead girl, and the scenes with her family constantly emphasize the distance and lack of connection between them. Finally, there’s the central mystery of the show, wherein it seems that Lain’s own personal reality is being invaded by elements of the internet, and that this connection has also spread to the point where alternate, potentially fabricated personas of Lain are being witnessed by other people in the real world. This idea of the relative validity of realities is transposed against ideas of the subjective and potentially self-created nature of identity, or at least persona. It hasn’t been fully explored yet, but the show seems to be trending towards that idea.

…as a side note, it always bears mentioning that this show came out in freaking 1998. So, even if its themes don’t really come across as revelatory to us, I’m guessing they were pretty damn prescient at the time. No piece of art exists outside of a larger context.

Finally, the actual plot of the show is pretty interesting too. It’s been keeping things pretty ambiguous so far, though Lain’s sister’s interaction with the G-Men seems to indicate that a lot of Lain’s reality isn’t actually just in her head. Her visions and sudden, random leaps into other personas (in the club, greeting her sister) are clearly linked to the creation of online identities in some way, and her relationship to this “scattered god” is likely the reason the G-Men are so interested in her, but it’s all very ambiguous still. I think they’re spacing out hints very well so far, and I’m certainly interested in whatever happens next.

TL;DR to the TL;DR:

Bob like Lain.

Aku no Hana – Episode 5

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Why am I watching this. I hate uncomfortable things. I generally watch painful-looking scenes through my fingers, and empathize too much with well-written characters to ever enjoy seeing them squirm. And this is probably gonna be the least comfortable half hour of television I’ve ever endured.

…fuck it. Let’s go on a date.

Episode 5

1:00 – Nothing’s even happened and it’s already so uncomfortable I hate this I hate you people Why am I watching this Nooo…

2:05 – I was about to type, “Wow, these distant shots really increase the sense of creepy voyeurism here,” and then Nakamura’s head actually pops into the frame

2:42 – I also really like the way the limited features and fill-ins of more distant characters dehumanizes them, making this world feel even more dead and lonely

3:24 – Wow, never thought I’d describe Nakamura as adorable, but her airplane-secret agent run here is great

4:04 – You’re both middle schoolers, Kasuga. You don’t understand yourselves, much less each other

6:44 – I had to pause and go back to confirm the bookseller did indeed have two mustaches. Badass

7:50 – Was all this dialogue in the original? It’s fantastic – it’s really conveying his passion as a laudable, fully articulated thing. It’s almost improbable that someone so young could articulate the way they love something in a way that makes it so understandable to an outside audience

8:59 – Oh shit, his mustache is just so intense that it curls back over itself. Double badass

11:30 – “Admit you’re a crazy deviant… or I’ll fuck stuff up for you.” Yeah, that’s not exactly how this works, Nakamura. It’s a shame Kasuga only reads poetry, or he might have learned a thing or two about projection

12:32 – That’s quite an evil smile[1]  

15:10 – THIS SCENE AH GOD FUCK I CANT WATCH THIS. I was actually saying, “No, don’t, stop, nooo” at the screen. Gah this show

15:45 – Nakamura is killing it this episode. Her “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” face is great as well

And Done

AHHHHH FUCK FUCKING FUCK IT. GodDAMNIT, this show is bad for my heart. Jesus that episode was intense, and uncomfortable, and just… well, just really fucking fantastic, actually. I was worried last episode that more overt plot would weaken the atmosphere – this episode demolished those concerns with the most focused and uncomfortable set of unbearable minutes yet. The concept of a classic “spiral into temptation” story where the antagonist is just a screwed-up, confused, very malicious teenager who wants to either destroy someone or at least prove she’s not alone is a great one, Kasuga has a rich and painful interior life that carries a lot of weight on its own, and all the aesthetic stuff is still ridiculously effective. I think this was the best episode yet, and probably my favorite episode of any show this week.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 5

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Five episodes in, I am ashamed to admit that this is the first time I’ve realized “Ledo” is probably named Red to directly contrast against the blue of the water/Amy’s eyes/doctor’s brooch visual motif. Goddamnit.

Anyway, let’s get to it.

Episode 5

1:05 – “Agreement: It is early in the morning.” These Chamber bits are great, even moreso for how rare they are

And yeah, we’re getting right back into that “work as source of pride and personal fulfillment/identity” stuff, but if it’s all overt I don’t really have to point it out

1:48 – “Not useful” – actually, I do think it’s a kind of nice, subtle shift here, where Ledo still can’t really translate their value system, but has reached the point where he wants to be useful for his own sake, even if he can’t yet understand the meaning they derive from their lives

2:57 – I have to keep my impression of this show’s ambition in check. But I really do like how explaining their economy and world, and the personal desires it stems from, in such a step-by-step way lends itself to highlighting the dehumanizing structural stuff that separates their society from Ledos’ or our own

9:45 – Whew. I was worried the show wouldn’t have a matching gratuitous pan for Ledo, but fortunately it did. Equal opportunity ogling here.

12:25 – Putting on lotion and talking about men. Bechdel would have a field day with this one

13:57 – …really?

15:52 – What is this episode dooooing

18:04 – I hope those gay panic guys hanging off the stairs got down okay

21:50 – This is pretty great – we’re getting back to the point here, with Ledo feeling the satisfaction of still being a part of something greater than himself, but working towards specific goals for specific people that are meaningful to him.

And Done

Well, that… happened.

In theory, I actually like (or at least am not against) a lot of the things this episode was trying to do. Between episode three and this one, a clear fantastical, lighthearted streak has been pretty well established, though I’m not sure how that tone will be managed if more conflict gets introduced – you only have the breathing room to pull off stuff like this early on in most series.

I like the idea of dedicating a full episode to that “life with meaning even in the absence of orders” concept, and I like how fully the episode committed to just enjoying time spent with these characters – for a show that’s normally so tightly written, I think it was an intentional and effective choice. The scenes at the grill supported my feeling that this is basically the closest to “healing-type” shows I’ll ever enjoy, and the race/chase stuff once again made me feel that this is Urobuchi’s version of a Ghibli movie.

But I could certainly live without both that embarrassing gay panic stuff (I’m not even going into anime’s horrific track record there), as well as the more gratuitous bathing suit stuff.

It’s a weird line to walk, because a lot of the swimsuit scenes came off as natural, and the rest of it was mostly played for humor, but it’s hard for these things not to end up voyeuristic. I’m (as always) taking this pretty seriously, but this show generally takes its characters seriously as well, and respects them, so I’m not a fan of moments where it seems like they’re being put on display for us, the viewer.

So yeah. Overall I think it achieved the goals it wanted to, and I actually liked the pacing and idea, but some specific choices definitely dragged it down for me. I don’t think this is a new norm or anything – as I said, unless there truly is no larger conflict brewing at all, the further we get into the series, the less feasible it is to pull off something like this. But it’s definitely the first time something in this show has disappointed me.

Attack on Titan – Episode 5

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HOLY SHITTING FUCK THERE’S A TITAN AT THE GATES WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO NOW.

Episode 5

3:57 – Wow, they did an awesome job conveying a sense of momentum, scale, and speed in that encounter. I think they were going for something like how we must appear to flies, and it certainly worked – the slow but unimaginable power of the titan, the constant whiplash of the three dimensional cords… good stuff

5:07 – The lone doll in the street, pretty much the required marker of an abandoned town. We lose more dolls that way…

5:48 – Nooo Franz and Hannah, don’t let the camera catch you solemnly swearing to protect each other! Noooo…

6:45 – Goddamnit Armin. Wait in the fucking car if you have to.

9:42 – This scene is pretty vintage samurai fare, right down to the holding back in order to let your lord maintain his ego. But it’s executed well enough, which I guess is kind of the point of all of this – it’s taking some classic shounen ideas, some classic war film ideas, some classic samurai film ideas, etc etc, and just making a well-executed riff on them with a fun core concept. Nothing wrong with that

10:30 – It seems like this whole army really likes the idea of keeping their most useful soldiers in the least useful/dangerous locations. I guess according to traditional warfare, this makes sense, since highly valued skills are generally about a soldier’s use as a tactical/strategic thinker or leader, and you’d rather have your grunts kill their grunts than your best be mowed down in a melee. But here the “best soldiers” are just the best fighters, plus the titans have no hierarchy, do not know to focus on targets of opportunity, etc… you’d think it’d be better to use the best soldiers wisely throughout the battlefield, not just have them guard the rear.

Although, considering that scene with the lord and Pixis, this could very well become a plot point, where our brave and talented recruits lead to some structural changes in their “lose as slowly as possible” focused military

12:21 – I like that this whole episode is just Eren walking around and Kamina-ing people into shape

13:05 – Holy shit he even headbutted her.

13:45 – “I couldn’t die even if I were killed here.” Well, I’m not above saying it. Hate to tell you, Eren – people die if they are killed

15:00 – Eren just sitting politely in class, mouth agape in his silent horror face.

The pacing of this episode is pretty weird – a minute of frenetic action, titans start attacking the city, and now we’ve found time to introduce some new characters, run through three separate pep talks, and have a biology class flashback. Not sure about it

15:16 – Why did historic guards wear wizard hats? Wait, fuck that, why don’t current guards wear wizard hats?

16:08 – Ah, I get it. I’d already read past this point, so I’d forgotten we hadn’t fully established how their battles work yet. That’s certainly something the show needed to do before we got into the action

16:45 – And now with this fourth pep talk, along with thinking about the skill analysis from last episode, I’m actually pretty content with the work here – they’re not just hitting classic scenes or buffing our impression of the leader, they’re clearly indicating “leadership potential.” Which hopefully means this show will get pretty damn tactical about the various roles our heroes play within the squad, which I am all for

17:15 – Yesss, these close cam shots are awesome. I love the sense of speed they’re creating here

And Done

WELL SHIT. Squad crushed, main character devoured, mankind is doomed. I think I’m gonna go sit down for a while.

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru – Episode 5

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Welp, you all know how I feel and I’m late enough as it is. Let’s do this.

Episode 5

1:03 – Panty joke. I guess it’s kind of a tradition now for this show to start with a dumb anime-ism joke.

4:14 – Hikki’s surprisingly diligent about his studies… although now that I think about it, what with his ego being based on a sense of superiority towards high school things, it makes sense that he’s focusing on how awesome he’ll be once he isn’t surrounded by nattering fools.

4:51 – Sis is sure she’s seen her before, somewhere…

6:55 – A lingering shot and reaction face from Hikki is a lot of hinting, so it’s likely that Yuki’s home situation might be relevant to her own persecution complex.

7:29 – “So, what are you going to do with my cat?” I love how often Yuki’s high-minded explanations have to cover for fundamentally pretty stupid ideas. The distance between self-image and actual experience/understanding is so clear here… I’d assume anyone would get that, but I’ve heard of people dropping this show because they’re “tired of cynical genius characters,” which is kind of the opposite of the point

7:51 – Also, this convoluted scheme with dedicated roles makes me think Yuki has a bit of a Chuuni streak herself. Man, that period between a childhood of un-self-consciously accepting your love of drama and creativity, and an adulthood of self-awarely realizing you don’t have to give a shit about the opinions of everyone around you, really sucks

8:05 – My god that’s adorable

9:51 – Nooo, that conversation was going so well, too. Why does Japan find these stale-ass spinster jokes so goddamn hilarious?

10:40 – Ahaha, using Hayama like a guided VN adaptation protagonist missile. Cunning work

11:08 – When they say something like “there are only two places that fit that name,” I have to assume they’ve started with the wrong one, and it’s gonna result in a wacky misunderstanding. Let’s see how they handle this one

12:10 – “Girls welcome.” Oh god are we really doing this

12:57 – Alright, scene finally over. We shall never speak of this again

13:15 – Actually, that scene is retroactively almost worth it for the contrast between Hikki’s blasé attitude towards the pet-fetish stuff and immediately getting flustered when he sees them in actually classy, non-demeaning attire. You’re ahead of the class, Hikki. Also your hair looks ridiculous

16:18 – Holy shit, sounds like this girl has actually been dealt some shitty cards. She’s way out of their naïve little league

16:46 – WacNordo. That’s a new one!

And Done

Oof, Hikki fucks up royally in the end. I’m surprised I didn’t expect his reaction – his self-loathing is definitely strong enough, and his awareness of others’ motives and emotions poor enough, that he’d interpret things this way. This is how character dramas of this kind should be written – not based on random outward conflicts, but on the inherent ways different people bounce off each other and eventually come to some understanding. And I appreciate the more honest articulation of his viewpoint at the end there – to someone with few friends, the lightly intended kindness of acquaintances can certainly create some brutal expectations.

My feelings on the actual conflict of this episode kinda mirror the ones I had for this week’s Maou – it was one of the funnier episodes, and it used the side characters to great effect, but it wasn’t that focused on the things that make this show incredibly smart and unique. While the episode did finally push Hikki out of his new stasis, and resolve the dog thing in very solid fashion that leaves room for great dramatic possibilities, I don’t think it used Silver’s conflict to really illuminate all that much – the points about siblings just weren’t that insightful, and while there were a number of hints at Yuki’s family problems throughout (her discomfort at the study meeting, knocking over the glass, her ‘that I understand’ response to Hikki’s ‘siblings are like closest strangers’ line), they were mainly just setting the groundwork for dramatic turns to come. Like Maou, I think this episode just had too much larger storytelling work to do to stand perfectly straight on its own – but I also think we’re really in it now. The status quo of the first act has been broken; things are gonna start moving faster for our lovable misanthropes.

So yeah, not my favorite episode, but I think it was a necessary one plot-wise, and I get the feeling this was the last of the character-building, semi-autonomous weekly conflicts. It’s kind of funny, because at this point, the things I’m picking at are more flaws that might prevent it from being the best possible high school romantic comedy, and less things that impress me – the status quo is me being incredibly impressed at all times, and that’s a pretty great place to be.