Category Archives: Episode Writeup

OreGairu – Episode 3

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This show is stressing me out.

With Crime Edge, I know it’ll be terrible, and that’s what I’m there for. With Aku no Hana, I’m fairly sure it’ll be great, but I’m not emotionally invested, so it doesn’t really matter to me if it spins off the wheels. With Gargantia, I trust Urobuchi enough to know he’s not gonna fuck up.

With OreGairu?

I love this show. I have love love loved those first two episodes. But I have no way of knowing if it’s going to fall apart. And as the hour approaches, I find myself praying, “Please be good. Please, please, please be good. I want you to be good so badly.” Because goddamn do we ever need more shows like this. So one last time, OreGairu, please – continue to be this smart, continue to be written this well, and continue to explore both the vicious truth of young insecurity and the heartwarming passion and humanity that lies beneath it.

Please. Give me this one, at least.

Episode 3

0:43 – I always feel weird praising this show for its incredibly believable inner monologue, because really, the reason I find it so believable is that it almost perfectly represents a Younger Me. Applauding yourself for the combination of variables you’ve combined to excuse yourself from effort while still appearing eager to participate? Yeah. I’ve been there.

1:35 – Once again, mere minutes into the episode, I ask myself, “Why was I worried?” “Walls are a part of youth.” Profound wisdom from Best MC

3:30 – A nice little humanizing moment for Hiki here, enjoying a moment to himself where he doesn’t have to be on the defensive. Of course, all his actions humanize him – his motives and insecurities are transparent in all of his actions (kind of like “wall of Jericho” Asuka in that way – another one of my favorite written characters). But it’s nice to see him get to relax

4:15 – Wow, she’s got her Yuki impression down

4:20 – I like how Yuki’s easily-provoked competitive streak fits in so well with her superiority complex. It’s nice when personality quirks and deeper insecurities mirror each other like that

5:33 – Car accident. Our second clue, to accompany that flashback when Hiki saw the dog last episode

6:07 – “You’re making me blush, EHEHEHE.” I love how when Hiki’s engaged in conversation in a positive way, he reverts to that, “More like hot AND humid, AMIRITE?” artificial positivity

8:46 – Yuki’s anger seems far more deeply felt than Hiki’s. I can’t wait to see more honesty out of her

9:35 – I think it was xRichard in the last thread who mentioned a fear this show would become too “problem of the week” to maintain its initial strength? I think that concern’s valid, but I also think that, even more so than last episode, this episode has been expanding our understanding of the main trio while also containing a side story. I don’t have a problem yet, but this could certainly happen

10:50 – I really like that they didn’t feel the need to reintroduce our Chuuni friend – he just happened to be around, so he hung out with them for a while, and it wasn’t a big thing

12:00 – Hiki’s fighting back! I suppose he feels more confident with a few people already on his side

15:10 – “Worst case scenario: I’ll have to get serious.” Yeah, you don’t have any Chuuni instincts whatsoever, Hiki

15:42 – “I guess self-deprecation creeps people out if you don’t know them well enough.” Yep! That one took me a little while too

16:46 – “Though a certain someone calls me ‘The Ice Queen’… not like I care or anything.” Ah, youth

18:10 – “RAZE THEM TO THE GROUND!” I think I’m gonna like having this guy around

19:22 – “Lunch break will be over soon… usually I’d be in my favorite spot.” That same ocean breeze rustles his hair, and he smiles. See, this episode wasn’t about the side arc at all – it used that to create a concise little narrative arc about Hiki, and further develop the relationships between the main characters.

This is also just a well-crafted trick – the callback makes sense, along with the wind he unreservedly appreciates revealing his ultimately more optimistic nature.

And Done

Welp, it’s still doing it. At this point, the initial shock of a high school romantic comedy that treats smart, negative people as human beings has somewhat worn off, and I’m just enjoying how well these characters are written, how nicely they bounce off each other, and Hiki’s all-star narration. I like the various tones his narration took this episode – there was his default “I know high school sucks, but whatever” shield tone, there was his unshielded mini-ode to his favorite spot, there was the heightened, chuuni-recalling “high school sucks, and I’m a hero for surviving it” when he actually got passionate about the game and let his guard down, and there were his bitter, unguarded remarks towards the perfectly reasonable guy he was using as a stand-in for all the people who never thought to include him. This show knows this guy, and cares about him, but it never romanticizes him. And it’s smart enough to make sure that all comes through.

Maybe next week I won’t be so terrified it’ll all fall apart.

Kakumeiki Valvrave – Episode 2

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I don’t always (in fact, I don’t often) agree with them, but I think Cart Driver[1] pretty much had Valvrave’s number regarding that first episode. The most blandly anime anime in the anime kingdom. I ain’t doing a real writeup for this, but you might as well know beforehand that my current expectations won’t be tough to exceed.

Episode 2

1:30 – Wow, I am impressed. Shooting a gun out of your subordinate’s hands… without looking at him… from behind your back… while lying prone on the ground.

Fuck, I said I wasn’t going to do a real writeup. Well, I still won’t. Starting now.

2:04 – I love those custom anime guns that only graze people’s noses, and never actually scar or, god forbid, kill them.

Goddamnit I’m doing it again.

2:09 – Goddamn this fucking gun! Why will it perfectly disarm an opponent when fired behind the back while lying down, but only graze my target’s shoulder when I hold it in both hands while looking straight at him??!!

2:41 – AHAHAHAHAH THEY SWITCHED BODIES?!?! Oh my god that’s beautiful

3:42 – This generic-ass OP. At least Geass had, “I CON-TIN-UE TO FIGHT! I CON-TIN-UE TO FIGHT!” to entertain me

4:04 – It is at this moment, watching a parade of color-coded neon robots present their glowing phallic symbol-weapons, that I realize this show is Not Going To Be For Me. But hey, I’m already sitting in this chair, can’t stop now.

4:27 – Gawd, so many fucking characters in this OP. There’s definitely a specific audience type this sort of thing caters to – it’s like a lesser version of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, where the sheer volume of data the world contains is for some reason very compelling to a certain audience. It’s not my thing, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with it – it just makes tight storytelling and pacing/emotional beats that much harder (but not impossible) to pull off.

5:10 – “I’m the boss in this school, shitheads” – he’s exaggerating, but it wouldn’t actually surprise me for the superintendent of their school system to be a fourteen year old loli.

5:15 – Finally, someone discovers a use for those goddamn pistols – just hit people in the head with them

…as I typed “them” in that sentence, OpenOffice auto-corrected to “thematically.” Not sure how I feel about that

5:53 – Using his rocks-paper-scissor skills to test his identity is actually a pretty cute gag. That writer has earned their salary

6:26 – “The body doesn’t forget how to fight” – so it’s Bourne Identity – Bishie Edition.

7:30 – Is the show expecting any of this political nonsense to resonate in any way? Oh! That’s another issue I have with the “raw data” worldbuilding style – unless you set your conflicts in personal or thematically resonant terms, they have a tendency to be emotionally sterile. I don’t inherently care whether the Jibberjabbians successfully defeat the Zamafloovians – either your points have to resonate with something real, or your characters have to be people I care about

7:55 – So this guy’s Geass power is… shooting people with a gun

On the other hand, it’s actually pretty intense that a default wishy-washy high school protagonist just straight-up murdered two people and justified it as necessary casualties of war. Perhaps this guy is more entertainingly crazy than I thought

8:52 – Okay, who’s got the gif of Our Hero belly-diving the scientists from a helicopter and landing with his foot in that guy’s face?

10:18 – Alright, that actually is a pretty sweet Geass, I have to admit. I’d be more excited with the narrative possibilities if the OP weren’t so dedicated to robots fighting pew pew, but I guess that’s the kind of things OPs naturally highlight, so maybe this will actually be more fun than I thought

13:07 – Blitzendegen… so these guys are literally space Germans.

…fine.

15:50 – Isn’t there like, an entire armada watching as these teenagers deal with their hormonal betrayal issues? Do they have any thoughts on these proceedings?

16:07 – Oh FUCKING REALLY? SHE’S ALIVE? As if giant robot shows didn’t have low enough stakes already

18:26 – L-Elf was so moved by Hero’s tears for his lady love that he decided to actually help him defeat his own cause? I… guess that makes as much sense as anything else that’s happened

21:45 – And he sidesteps the love confession. Welp, that completes my anime cliché bingo sheet. In fact, that completes the entire fucking grid. I’m done. Episode paused, episode closed. Packing up. Going home.

Finally Done

Final thoughts: Why.

Okay, so I gotta think about this show that way, then. In that case, I’d say this show is actually a lot less enjoyable than Crime Edge – although it’s equally terrible, it’s terrible in a much more routine, polished way, and not in the delightfully weird and sex-obsessed way Crime Edge happens to be. This show is just like the Platonian ideal of highly budgeted generic bullshit. It is anime as written by fairly stupid robots

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 3

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Hataraku Maou-sama!

I get the feeling this will be the last episode of setup for this very smartly written comedy. So far we’ve established our base conceit, we’ve grounded our four characters in their world, and we’ve begun to explore the various dynamics between them. The foundations of a classic sitcom are all there – the animosity and begrudging respect between Maou and Yusa, the seemingly obvious rivalry between Asriel and Yusa, the constant shifting between hero-worship subservience and mother hen disapproval between Asriel and Maou, and the fawning respect Sasaki shows Maou. Based on that info, the only dynamics really left to establish are those between Sasaki and the rest of the cast – and would you look at that, the preview for this episode implied Maou and Sasaki are going on some kind of date. That promises some comedy, as Maou’s dead-serious commitment to his new life always does – but the other classic side of this weathered sitcom chestnut is the group of friends sneaking along “for his own good.” Will we get Asriel and Yusa bonding over how Sasaki isn’t good enough for their precious/hated Maou?

See, that’s the thing – a lot of the jokes and situations here are pretty reliable standards, but the characters are written so wittily and affectionately, and the execution of the jokes is so top-notch, that it just doesn’t matter. It’s like a jazz riff on a classic progression – we’re not here for the melody, we’re to watch excellent artists show us their take on it. Let’s get to it.

Episode 3

1:25 – Those action cutaways of Maou putting on his MgRonald’s hat and apron are a pretty great elevator pitch for this entire show.

2:12 – I kind of appreciate the fact that the whole OP being reused show footage means they put every single goddamn dollar into the actual production.

2:30 – Eva trick turned industry standard #754 – bad memories always find people in the bath

3:39 – “Sure, I don’t have a shift. Let’s talk!” Normally this kind of plucky male obliviousness is a symptom of bad writing, but considering Maou still believes capitalism allows for class mobility, from him I can believe it

5:46 – Welp, her certainty it’s a demon makes me pretty certain it’s our wayward Head Priest. A priest wanting to erase both the hero and the demon king… wait, could this show actually be about something?

8:00 – See, you’d think this show is a one-note joke, but it just keeps finding new ways to play with that concept. The main trick is grounding their theatrics in a variety of modern mundanities (meddle with the epic hero… by forcing her to bail them out. Insult Alsiel’s skills at a general… by mocking his inability to maintain a well-stocked refrigerator), but the way the two sides of this coin both bounce so naturally off each other and come up so naturally as part of their conversations and characters is just really nice stuff

8:30 – Acting tsundere about her right to kill Maou before anyone else does. I think someone invented that harem comedy in a thread here…

9:20 – Omigod we get a fashion montage of Alsiel dressing up Maou for his date. GET OUT OF MY HEAD, SHOW

11:54 – And here we finally are. Yusa runs into Alsiel shadowing them on the date – perhaps the entire point of this episode. Savor it

12:46 – Goddamn this dynamic is great. Yusa immediately goes from blistering rage at what evil deeds her nemesis may be planning, to resigned disappointment that his plans include no evil deeds whatsoever

14:33 – “No, waaaait…” as she defiantly… walks through an automatic door.

20:32 – A lot of this isn’t particularly great, but that’s mainly because they’re for some reason using this last quarter for a huge infodump of plot catalysts, as well as to set up the Yusa/Sasaki dynamic. However, I did like the dialogue both in their fight and in Yusa’s light prodding afterwards – which makes sense, since a show that can write characters well enough to make personality-based jokes work should definitely be able to make personality-based drama work too

And Done

Ooh, I really like that twist at the end. Perhaps three episodes in is a little too soon for Maou to get his powers back, but not his old personality – but they’ve skipped months already, and that’s just not what this show is about anyway – it’s about their current selves, not the transition to their current selves, and that’s honestly how I prefer it.

The infodump stuff about trans-world sonar and earthquake magic and blah blah blah was honestly pretty lackluster, but I guess if one artless, humorless exposition-spiel was required to set the board for the rest of the show, I’m fine with that.

Otherwise, the episode was fine. I don’t think it was quite as funny as either of the first two, but I think that’s mainly because Yusa and Sasaki just aren’t as funny as Maou or Asriel, and this episode foregrounded both of them. Hopefully, now that all four leads have been properly introduced, as well as the larger conflict established, the show can settle into a more comfortable groove and fall back on its excellent writing and humor

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – Episode 3

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Maaan, I had plans for this episode. Seriously, this comedy routine thing is freaking me out. I thought being insightfulwas hard… fuck, being entertaining is a lot of responsibility! So yes, I have a number of more or less entertaining full-episode conceits in the pipeline, and yes, I probably have spent a little too much time prioritizing the entertainment of you, you unappreciative rabble, over admittedly fairly relevant concerns like maintaining employment and striking some semi-artistic mark on the world. But you know what? I’m sorry. Tonight, I visited some new friends in the area, and perhaps partook of an unwise number of questionable beverages. Tonight, I got a little bit selfish, and my much-vaunted objectivity will perhaps suffer as a result. Tonight, I am drunk, and motherfucker this is what you’re getting, like it or not. Give me some fucking

Crime Edge: Episode 3

0:11 – Dear god did I miss this show. If conflating hair maintenance with sex is wrong, I don’t want to be right. And frankly, what kind of callous, coal-hearted man would deny their own proclivity towards sexy grooming? Their hypocrisy has no place in my hair-centric world

0:45 – I have to admit, I’m kind of awed by how well they maintain this hair-sex thing. The fact that my body is conflicted about how sexy this is is proof enough (I hope? I mean, we’re all friends here, right?) that they have some pretty solid understanding of how direction can affect emotional tone

1:59 – This OP makes me wonder if all OPs are this absurd. She stands aloft, stranded on a fern-strewn precipice within a… field of battleaxes? I guess? I don’t know where this joke is going, but fortunately our resident Rei/Asuka-antiheroes are here to present Rei licking Asuka’s arm in a sexy, sexy way, and that’s humor enough for the both of us

2:10 – Just realized Hair Queen is naked during this scene. Can’t wait to get some context on this one

3:05 – I just realized the Hair Queen’s tragic curse exists partially to allow the writers to dress their precious hair-muse in a new hairstyle every week. Honestly, I’m less annoyed with the obviousness of how blatantly pandering this is than the fact that it doesn’t pander to me

3:35 – It’s funny because she was happy before! It’s always encouraging when this show reminds us that it has no idea how to actually be intentionally funny

4:23 – Goddamnit are this show’s unintentional parodies wonderful. Right here, we have the classic “my talent isn’t that great, don’t make a big deal out of it” statement by some secondary character, followed by the “don’t sell yourself short, I think you’re amazing!” statement by our secretly not so secretly godly protagonist. But because this is Crime Edge, the talent they’re comparing is motherfucking hair. Don’t sell yourself short, secondary love interest – your ability to continue growing the hair that inevitably vomits out of your scalp is super fucking impressive! Clearly I have a great deal left to learn!

5:36 – Alright, cut the bullshit Kiri. That hair is nuts and I need to know the truth

6:00 – I’m sorry, but how can I make fun of these scenes? “Her hair is so shiny, like a baby’s… does she have some kind of disease?” This is inherently hilarious. It’s like pointing and laughing at a clown’s red nose and oversized shoes. This show is so ridiculous it is making my job virtually impossible

7:24 – “His Goods is that of a hammer.” Is it the original writer, screenwriter, or translator that is responsible for crimes against humanity like that sentence? Who precisely do I have to kill to make sure that kind of tense disagreement never occurs again?

7:33 – Well, now we’re fucked. If it’d merely been the Sledgehammer of Indiscriminate Maiming, or perhaps the Sledgehammer of Delightfully Ironic Massaging, we’d have been golden. But the Sledgehammer of Crushing Disintegration…

8:33 – Could someone please remind me what any of these fucking Killing Goods have to do with the Hair Queen in the first place?

8:50 – Awww, Junkie Rei’s on their side after all. How heartwarmingly predicable

10:47 – Credit where credit’s due – “her change of clothes” followed by a dramatic bolt of lightning was a pretty effective gag. The less said about the sexytimes horn accompaniment, the better

12:00 – You seem tense. Let me tell you about my terrifying lineage of murder-happy ancestors

13:06 – WTF? Straight-up naked girls? I certainly don’t see how this appeals to my blindingly pure hair fetish. Way to demean your audience, Crime Edge

13:45 – Hair AND nudity? Now THIS is more like it

13:55 – “So this is how it grows – in a series of five Gaussian-blurred frames. Obviously…”

14:47 – On this day, fourteen minutes and forty-seven seconds into the third episode of Crime Edge, the show itself finally realizes hair-cutting is a metaphor for sex. Let this day live in infamy and regret for all of eternity

15:43 – Dear christ, I better close all these doors or the man who obliterated an entire wall of our house will be able to get to us

20:00 – Well goddamn. Alright, I’ll admit it – at its best, this show is the Gurren Lagann of barber empowerment fantasies. That fight scene was hot to death, Crime Edge. Trade off between that and the super-weird, super-intimate hair-sex stuff, and we might really have something here

And Done

Against all odds, this show relentlessly continuous to be Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge. I had my doubts, but they were proven unfounded and frankly predicated on cowardice. At this point, anyone who doubts this show will continue to be Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge should be tried, shot, and hung, preferably simultaneously. If your hair isn’t quivering by now, get your traitorous ass the fuck out of here

HenNeko – Episode 1 (BLOG EXCLUSIVE)

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So I actually did watch HenNeko last night, and even did a full writeup… but then I looked at the discussion thread, and realized this just isn’t the sort of thing anyone there is going to be happy about. So, in lieu of raining on their parade for pretty much no reason, I’ll at least put up my thoughts here. For your consideration:

 

Alright. HenNeko. I…

Well…

Alright. Me and Sakurasou had… disagreements. This is well documented. And honestly, the only JC Staff show I’ve ever been impressed by is Toradora!, and I assume that was basically because the source material was good. But there was good within Sakurasou, and there are clearly talented people working at JC Staff – sure, I’m entering this with some bias, but there is hope as well. And, perhaps most importantly, this season also has OreGairu – I don’t desperately, soul-achingly need another incredible romantic comedy, and so I won’t automatically damn this one for failing to be that thing. I promise to do my best to take what I can get, and accept what this show is actually trying to do.

But I’m still not pulling any punches.

Episode 1

0:35 – Well this is off to a roaring start.

0:58 – Oh dear god the protagonist is Ouma Shu

2:45 – I’ll say this: this show is far more honest in its intentions than Sakurasou was. And with that, it’s looking like I’ll only have two shows to cover on Saturdays. Which is actually kind of a relief.

4:10 – “There are such things as facades and true feelings.” Yes, both of those things do exist. Do you have anything to add, HenNeko? Because OreGairu actually- oh. Oh, that was just a setup to a sex joke. Fair enough

4:52 – I admit, I kinda smiled at “Don’t you remember the promise we made on that day?!”

5:53 – Also, “A dutch wife that was just sitting collecting dust” is good. What a criminal waste!

6:22 – So this is actually “Liar Liar, ecchi romcom edition,” I guess

6:58 – The Benny Hill soundtrack helps make this… well… no, actually, it doesn’t help anything. Nevermind

8:40 – Welp, this show has already exceeded the rapport Sakurasou built between its romantic leads over 24 fucking episodes. Good job I guess

9:45 – So this girl is going to actually magic herself into a kuudere. Well, I guess that’s more realistic than that personality type normally comes across…

11:27 – I guess you can never have enough ___deres

16:40 – I was literally moving to pause and note “Oh wow, it looks like they’re not only using this premise for cheap gags” when he began tickling her. But either way, it does seem like the premise will actually make things happen, and not just be a wacky gimmick entirely. But it’s already pretty clear at this point that this show is pretty much a straight harem comedy, and so it doesn’t actually matter whether anything does anything for the “plot” anyway

18:48 – Okay, if those are the terms we talk about this show on, so be it. A couple of my major problems with this entire genre: the jokes are all ones we’ve heard a million times before, and the characters are all obvious stereotypes, meaning you can’t really care about them, meaning there’s no emotional connection that goes along with the humor. I’m getting all of that here.

20:14 – Why would she even be mad if they did have a relationship? Oh, right, because this is one of those genres where everyone is immediately in love with the protagonist for no reason

And Done

Look, don’t get mad. I was just checking. This show’s a lot more honest than Sakurasou. I can appreciate that. I won’t be taking up any more of your time.

Red Data Girl – Episode 2

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This one isn’t my full writeup format, so I was a little hesitant to put it up. Let me know if it’s worth it to include things like this:

 

Man! I think this episode definitely maintained the “developed by smart people who know how to tell stories” promise of the first episode. A whole lot of information was revealed, and the scale of the world is coming into a bit sharper focus.

I like the general creepy mood that the various elements establish. There was the physical presence of the shadow creatures, the way they played with technology and lighting to heighten the powerlessness of the protagonists, the general music and cinematography, and particularly that big reveal conceit – being held as a vessel for possession is just not a fun concept, and throws her relationship with everyone around her into an extremely uncomfortable light.

I like that while the various concepts of their world are becoming more clear, the actual motivations of the various characters certainly aren’t. Whether her family, her original caretakers, Yukimasa, or Wamiya are friends or enemies is all unclear at this point, though at least our main two wear their hearts on their sleeves.

Another thing I liked is the way they introduced so much of the fantastical stuff from Izumiko’s perspective. I like that we were introduced to this girl who lives in sheltered fear for some reason, and then slowly we are introduced to the world around her as she deals with it. This way it’s not an exposition dump of fantasy rules and ideas – it’s a person whose nature was crafted by that world, and every element of it is just an exhausting but accepted piece of her world already. The stuff at the end was much more direct, but the fact that we were given that much information makes me think there’s a great deal more left to explore.

This isn’t exactly my kind of show (it’s really heavy on mood and mystery, and character/theme has been downplayed), but I think it’s doing its thing quite well. It remains to be seen whether it can maintain intrigue while drawing us closer to the characters – I think the next couple episodes will show whether they can define these protagonists as unique people worth caring about, or merely devices in the story they wish to tell.

Attack on Titan – Episode 2

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Attack on Titan! So.

I’m probably gonna be cutting down my posts on this one, because frankly I suck at describing why action works or doesn’t work, since I’m more a story/character guy. Plus, this show is basically all about pure, visceral entertainment, and where’s the fun in picking that apart? But I’ll keep it together for this episode, just to see how it goes.

I thought the first episode was entertaining, but this director’s tendency towards melodrama basically turned any moments that should have been tragic or harrowing (the mother learning her son is dead, the other mother becoming titanfood) accidentally hilarious. I don’t think he’s going to get better at that, but I do think the show might just start being more about action and less about drama, and so I hope the nature of this story downplays this director’s weaknesses as a storyteller. Let’s see!

Episode 2

0:32 – They’re making it extremely overt in this prologue, but I feel like, in general, the contrast between the vivid backgrounds and the very sharply defined, stylized characters results in the characters looking almost noticeably two-dimensional within their own world. I actually really like this effect – I don’t know if it does anything for the story or mood, but it certainly looks pretty cool

2:13 – Man, this OP is so much fun. Someone in one of the other threads mentioned it reminded them of old 90s action OPs, and I agree completely. More JoJo-esque OPs plz

2:54 – The Titans have that exact same creeping dread that zombies provoke. They’re slow, and they’re not smart… but they never stop coming. Wherever you run, wherever you hide… they will get you.

3:49 – Maybe I underestimated this director. This whole sequence of flight was much more effectively handled than the SUPER BRUTAL scenes from last episode – maybe he really can add some tact and pathos to these totally metal proceedings

8:37 – Not wanting to let them breach a second gate and devour at least a third of all remaining humans? Yeah, personally, I’d argue that’s a perfectly reasonable excuse for letting people die right before your eyes

13:38 – Man, the drama is being handled so much better in this episode. Fewer epic screams with frantic action lines, fewer hysterical musical accompaniments, a lot more enraged brooding. This episode is proving better than the first one in the way I least expected but can most appreciate

14:45 – Wow, that flashback was intense. Not only was that really well-done as a single scene, but I think it also shows an improvement in the storytelling over the manga. Foreshadowing this stuff only improves the overall structure, and makes some plot twists later on less “where the fuck did that come from?” than “oh, that’s what they were doing!”

18:20 – Thank you, Mikasa, for setting this fool of a Took straight

And Done

Damn! At least for me personally, that was a huge improvement over the first episode. I thought the pacing was solid throughout, the visuals and action stuff still compelling as ever, and, critically, this episode added both a great deal more practical world and scenario-building (mainly through framing the Titan attack from the perspective of refugees), as well as some well-directed drama. There was much less of the “Oh my god this is so intense RAAAH!” melodramatic sound/visual/voice-acting problems that undercut last episode’s drama for me – this was much more understated and much more personal, and the one major universal dramatic setpiece (that first series of shots as the Titans attacked and that preacher rambled) was given a feeling of inevitable, pointless tragedy, not RAAAH THIS IS SO TRAGIC RAAAH.

I really liked this episode, and it definitely improved my hopes for the show in general. If it keeps up like this, this show is going to be pretty damn good.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 2

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Dear lord. Four hours late, and the thread is already this huge. Clearly the cost of maintaining any social connections whatsoever is far too high.

Why would they do this to me, anyway? Why would they put two of the most hotly anticipated shows of the season (and also HenNeko) up on Saturday night? Just to prove my commitment, I guess.

Welp, I’m here now. Beer in hand, episode at the ready. I guess I’ll just have to apologize in the only way I know how.

Episode 2

1:59 – Now this is interesting. Chamber deliberately lying to Ledo?

3:57 – Just realized her eyes are supposed to be the color of that sea/sky horizon. Ermahgerd it’s almost like his future connection with her will represent his breaking away from faith with his rigid hierarchical society or something. Also, this is the most un-Urobuchi opening I’ve ever seen.

(That was a lie. The camera still respects the female characters, it could definitely be less Urobuchi)

3:26 – Aw yeah. Thought my visual symbolism stab was reaching? Check out the exact shot this OP closes with.

4:25 – I like that the Earthlings have their own prebuilt vocabulary for mechs that they refer to Chamber with. One of the thousand nice touches writers can use to imply a world and a history without wasting narrative space

5:46 – Another nice parallel here, though I don’t yet know what it will amount to, is that even on earth itself, humanity has been reduced to scattered peoples only kept alive by their fabricated mini-worlds. I don’t know how that will become thematically relevant, but I doubt it’s a meaningless choice

6:20 – “Conditionally agreed.” Does that mean Chamber has the authority to override Ledo if he disagrees? It would make sense – in a society that treats humans as worker bees, there’s no better worker bee than an actual programmed machine

6:25 – Goddamnit does Urobuchi load his dialogue well. “We thought the sun’s unusual activity had turned it to a frozen wasteland, but look around us.” That sentence both explains the Alliance’s position and the current state of the earth while also furthering the immediate conversation.

7:00 – I like his little physical gestures explaining how his weapon works (clicking through settings to weaken the beam) while Chamber attempts to convince him to cede control of the situation by reentering hibernation. I think, if anything, Urobuchi is only becoming better and better as a storyteller. He really is on another level from most people in the industry – even if other people make great things, the finesse of craft and economy of storytelling on display here is remarkable

13:17 – There’s something really funny about Chamber describing himself as “super strong.”

Also, I really hope they remain as dedicated to the language barrier between Ledo and the Earthlings as they’ve been so far. Both the compromises of understanding that forces, as well as the potential for conflict when Ledo’s motives possibly begin to diverge from his only interpreter, are rich veins for drama.

14:20 – We’re probably gonna need an Amy “AI’s are awesome” dance gif

17:24 – “Extensive contact with the abnormal is profitable to no-one.” I don’t know this guy yet, but it sounds weird hearing such a direct reflection of Chamber’s likely soon-to-be position coming from the other side.

21:25 – That is one weird-ass propulsion system. Some kind of energy source that continuously draws the mech towards itself?

22:00 – Holy shit, they just killed so many people.

And Done

Promising first episode justified! Not that I doubted it would, what with Urobuchi and all, but still, the craft and care of each element of this show certainly outdoes Pyscho-Pass on a moment-to-moment basis, both in being more distinctive and accomplishing more at once, plus the characters are a little sharper. Not only that, this show exists in a world far removed from his usual sensibilities – though those last few moments prove he’s still not the most cheery of guys. But yeah, this episode did great work in establishing characters, relationships, and a variety of potential conflicts – Ledo versus Chamber, Amy versus the whims of the Gargantian command, Ledo/Chamber’s efficient problem-solving versus the idea of mercy as a thing that should exist… etc. It was also beautiful, and there were tons of moments that accomplished one neat thing visually while adding another narratively. Much like Madoka, this seems like it’s going to be a show I can look at and marvel at the beauty of a gifted writer at the height of his powers.

Aku no Hana – Episode 2

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You ready, shitheads?

That first episode was fantastic. Great direction, incredibly organic dialogue, sweet visual style, great “music,” great pacing. Everything worked together to create a massively unsettling and somehow very raw and off-putting atmosphere. I haven’t read much of the manga, so at this point I just have to hope that the story is as smart as this adaptation team is – or that, failing that, they were smart enough to make something great out of its raw ingredients.

Aku no Hana – Episode 2

2:58 – Man, the music in this show is so good! So much tension from the sound alone, though the pacing and our “hero’s” acting certainly help

5:41 – I like how they keep coming back to the same location shots to establish scene changes – they act as touchstones to localize you to whatever else happened at that location, which helps keep you grounded with what the characters themselves must be considering.

6:38 – Wow, this lingering shot of his jaw tightening as he sees Saeki enter is fantastic. There are so many ways this show grounds you in the characters’ emotions and enhances the creepy, uncomfortably intimate mood at the same time.

7:34 – It’s funny to me that the right-hand window seat furthest to the back is actually just missing. Sorry fellas, it ain’t that kind of show!

18:32 – Her face is terrifying.

Sorry I’m not commenting. My comments are: everything perfect. Jesus christ. Unpausing now.

And Done

JESUS CHRIST. My shoulders are tense, my teeth are grinding involuntarily… that was so stressful! I didn’t know shows could do that!

This show’s mastery of tone is just, just, I can’t even talk about it. They are so far beyond my ability to analyze and quantify all the ways the music, the cinematography, the rotoscoping (and this is, at this point, easily far and away the best use of rotoscoping I’ve ever seen – it doesn’t seem like it was just an artistic choice, it seems like the showcould not have worked any other way), the pacing, the running nervous monologue…

This show is incredible, but I’m glad there aren’t any others that are that good at this. My heart couldn’t take the stress.

OreGairu – Episode 2

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I loved the first episode. Its characters rang absurdly true for me, and good character writing/dialogue is pretty much my kryptonite. Let’s get right to it.

OreGairu – Episode 2

2:24 – I said this last time, but I think what separates this guy from other “I’m above it all, high school is for fools” loner characters is that the author has completely thought through his philosophy. It’s not just an anime-only front, it’s a fully articulated, though extremely narrow-minded and naïve, worldview. For instance, I really loved Hyouka, but Oreki’s initial “low energy philosophy” never really felt like something a real person would articulate – he’s certainly characterized well beyond that, but the disconnect between anime-reality and reality-reality there was somewhat off-putting to me initially. But this guy I can believe in completely.

3:03 – Hopefully this episode mirrors the last, in that its worst moment is a dumb cliched spinster joke that we can get out of the way in the first five minutes.

4:55 – Oh my god, that feeling – waiting for a pause in the conversation, not having the social clout to actually steer the conversation towards your needs, standing awkwardly off to one side. This shoooow.

6:52 – Hah! Yesss. I was a little worried our protagonist would actually be effective here. Nope!

10:05 – I guess this is the kinda stuff (“You could tell me if you thought my laugh was gross” – “No, I don’t like talking to you when you’re gross”) people were comparing to Monogatari? I don’t really agree with that one – Monogatari is all word games, dancing around your meaning, highly stylized vocal affections, and a hint of sadism. This is just two abrasive, over-analytical people having a conversation

10:20 – This is a great ending to this confrontation. Her friend uses the power dynamic to her advantage when she knows Yui is too upset to fight back, and demands she speak frankly. But now, when the dynamic has shifted and Yui is able to speak frankly, her friend immediately gets on her phone, pretends to only half-listen, and is only able to reaffirm their friendship with a “yeah, whatever.” Shields all around

13:14 – The direction and soundtrack didn’t really add anything in that first episode, but they’re doing a lot of work as Chuunibyou-enabling accomplices here.

15:06 – That notebook is amazing. “Called me gross 15 times today. Treated me like some sex predator. Tried making a joke, but she ignored me.”

16:58 – Wow, the Gungnir Hammer, eh? Man, they’re not being subtle about this one. Although I did like the “What’s Chuunibyou?” –show cuts away, because everybody in the fucking audience knows what Chuunibyou is–

18:22 – “Kill the bitch yada yada” – I can understand people not wanting to be friends with this asshole; I mean, obviously. He’s an insecure, dickish, narcissistic high school student. But not all good characters have to be either a version of you or a version of your best friend, and it’s refreshing to me to see a character the show is unafraid to paint as petty and dickish but still fundamentally empathetic and human.

18:33 – Okay, now I know this show is pandering to me specifically. A storytelling critiquing session within my romantic comedy? I don’t know who loves me up there, but thanks

20:55 – “Will you read my writing again?” Yeah, this show is just absurd. There was a little bit about this topic in the last episode with the “people use excuses like not having talent to give up without the effort needed to succeed at anything,” and here it comes up again – the core requirement for success in any art form is never, never, never talent. It’s perseverance. You’re going to suck. You’re going to suck for a long time – years, frankly, regardless of your rate of improvement. If it’s writing you’re attempting, you will suck for at least a thousand pages. But it’s the only way, and the only thing that separates a writer from an amateur is the willpower, self-hatred, or lunacy necessary to shove through them all

And Done

I can understand people not liking this show all that much. If you’re not interested in these very specific character portraits, in the way it goes deep on social dynamics and insecurity, and in a kind of snarky awareness of storytelling form (this show constantly plays bait-and-switch in small ways while still maintaining a classic narrative), then there isn’t that much else there. The romance is non-existent so far, the characters are nearly all somewhat unlikeable (because they’re, you know, insecure self-righteous teenagers, who are never fully realized people in the way most anime likes to pretend they are), the issues are mundane, the jokes are kind of mean-spirited, and the visuals are middling.

But I’m pretty sure this is going to end up being one of my favorite shows of all time.

It’s honest, it’s smart, it’s viciously true to life, and it actually does have a lot of heart and passion: for these characters, for the trials of youth, and for, apparently, writing as an art form. If it can keep it up, this will be the romantic comedy I’ve been waiting for.