Category Archives: Episode Writeup

Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 48

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Folks, it has been far too long since we hung out with Doremi and the gang. Our last adventure took us through one more harrowing Aiko-centric story, as Aiko was forced to sort out her feelings regarding her father potentially remarrying. As with the previous Aiko episode, there was no one clear moral here, and no obvious goal Aiko had to achieve in order to preserve her happiness. Growing up with divorced parents is just hard; there’s no “resolving” it, and all you can hope to do is honestly connect and communicate with the people who still love you. I really appreciate how this show gives characters time simply to pause and consider their own feelings; it feels like a natural acknowledgment that many of the trials of youth and life more generally cannot be resolved through succeeding in some defined goal. We must learn to live with injustice, learn to live with loss, learn to live with sorrow – accepting that our power to change the world is limited, and that we must find our joy in incomplete happiness, is one of the great projects of growing up.

Given all that heaviness, I’m kinda expecting this episode to be a bunch of nonsensical madness, with Doremi potentially turning back into a dog or a horse or something. But regardless of what’s coming, I’m always thrilled to return to this relentlessly big-hearted, visually engaging, and often painfully acute production. Let’s dive into another episode of Ojamajo Doremi!

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The Tatami Galaxy – Episode 2

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After a rambling, almost stream-of-consciousness first episode, The Tatami Galaxy follows up with one that essentially gives the game away. We soon learn that our protagonist Watashi is stuck in some kind of loop, a Groundhog Day-esque cycle that keeps him forever repeating the first two years of college. This is bad news for Watashi, but likely a necessary conceit from our perspective; after all, in a story this scattershot, fast-paced, and circuitous, it’s necessary to have some structure for the audience to hold onto. And so we find ourselves hanging desperately from Watashi’s shoulder, as he moves from the tennis club and prank-related infamy to his school’s illustrious film club.

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Princess Tutu – Episode 20

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Though Princess Tutu is a story about the nature of narratives, and how stories sculpt our lives, its sympathy has mostly been limited to the players within those stories. While characters like Rue and Ahiru try their best to write their own stories, they are ultimately constrained by the whims of their author – and Drosselmeyer himself isn’t sympathetic at all. Drosselmeyer has never hesitated in inflicting hardship upon his characters; he seems to believe they exist entirely for his amusement, and that he has no responsibility to respect their feelings or dreams. But here in its twentieth episode, Princess Tutu at last reveals that it fully understands the plight of the author, and the heavy responsibility of holding characters’ lives in your hands. Princess Tutu’s characters struggle even to choose their own paths, but if they are to succeed, they will have to embrace the power of authorship, and the responsibility of writing a happier future.

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Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Episode 12

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No time for lollygagging folks, we’re at the final battle! Nanoha’s uniquely meditative pacing and familial focus have offered me plenty of interesting stuff to talk about throughout these writeups, but it’s finally time to kick Fate’s mom’s ass, and I am very here for that. Last episode saw Nanoha and Fate clashing in a battle that was just as satisfying as I’d hoped, leading into the reveal that Fate was never truly Precia’s daughter at all. Designed as a substitute for Precia’s actual daughter Alicia, Fate basically never had a shot at earning Precia’s love – she was pining for a past that didn’t even apply to her, an emphatic underlining of how trying to meet your abuser’s demands will never truly satisfy them. And now, just having watched this terrible woman mock Fate to her face, it’s time for Nanoha to kick some ass. My only real regret at this point is that unlike her spiritual successor Hibiki, Nanoha fights with laser attacks and not fists – I’d seriously like to see Nanoha personally deck this woman. But that’s a minor quibble, and on the whole, I’m very excited to see this unusual and very compelling show come to a close. Let’s burn down another episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha!

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Bloom Into You – Episode 7

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Gosh, episode six sure was a mess, wasn’t it? It was one of this production’s crowning achievements so far, but all of its aesthetic beauty and psychological inquiry were in service of buoying up one of the most proudly unhealthy relationships I’ve seen. Framed as a joyous meeting of the minds in the most romantic possible setting, last episode’s climax was perhaps the single strongest scene of Bloom Into You, and also the most harrowing.

What was initially planned to be the moment where Yuu and Touko finally engage honestly, and Yuu actually helps Touko with her emotional hangups, turned instead into an emphatic affirmation of all the lies this relationship is built on. Touko promises to love Yuu, while thinking to herself that if Yuu were to change, she’d discard her in a moment. Yuu promises to respect Touko’s facade, while secretly praying both she and Touko grow out of their current situation. The two seem genuinely codependent at this point, and yet each of them also cannot respect the other’s most deeply held wishes, or respect all aspects of their personality at once. More than anything, they are unified by their dislike for fundamental elements of their own selves, and the fear that if they don’t have each other, they don’t have anyone. But with Touko loving Yuu for the lack of romantic feeling she hopes to outgrow, and Yuu loving Touko for the vulnerability she refuses to embrace, each of them end up reinforcing the very qualities they’re hoping to escape.

Currently, Yuu would be best off if she broke off this relationship entirely – it’s very unequal, she actively wants to change, and Touko is preventing her from embracing that change. Of course, if it were that easy to escape an unhealthy relationship, this drama wouldn’t be so deliciously messy. Having clearly stated just how bad for each other they are, I’m eager to see what tumbles down next. Let’s explore another episode of Bloom Into You!

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Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Episode 11

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We’re deep in it now, folks. With our hero having made her final goodbyes to her family and settled accounts with basically all other lingering threads, it’s time for Nanoha and Fate to square off for what Nanoha herself described as the “first and final time.” Literally the entirety of this narrative has been building to this; while Nanoha has at times focused on more specific family drama, or on elaborating its wild worldbuilding, all of these smaller pieces have always existed in service of Nanoha and Fate’s relationship. The show may have started off with a more traditional magical girl quest, but at this point, even the jewel shards are only important insofar as they lend tangible stakes to Nanoha and Fate’s emotional/thematic battle.

Speaking of, I suppose a brief breakdown of our thematic narrative so far would probably be appropriate. Nanoha is a show about family and human connection above all else; Nanoha’s own family has been illustrated with uncommon specificity, while all of Fate’s problems stem from her inability to escape her mother’s reach. Nanoha the show understands that familial bonds aren’t inherently positive, but they are inherently powerful; for Nanoha, that power manifests as a great sense of self-assurance and concern for the people around her, while for Fate, that power keeps her from seeking to escape a deeply abusive relationship. The power and ambiguity of families is a theme that underlines many of my favorite works, from the restless Monogatari to the poignant Eccentric Family, and Nanoha is doing an excellent job of illustrating that complex and inescapable concept. I’ve seen few shows that handle familial abuse this well, and few shows that illustrate how a stable home can grant you true strength with Nanoha’s subtlety and focus. However this plays out, I’m confident the show will be steering this grand thematic clash to a satisfying end. Let’s get right to the battle of Fate and Nanoha!

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Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 47

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Folks, it is absolutely time for more Ojamajo Doremi. Having just finished contributing to one more season of the ANN preview guide, I find myself thankful anew for how charming and consistently, fundamentally excellent this show is. There are creative trends within this industry that worry me deeply, but there are also shows so earnest and compassionate that they give me hope we’re all gonna make it through. And while I may feel more and more distant from seasonal late night anime trends over time, there are also shows whose appeal feels utterly timeless, and that only resonate with me more as I become an old and grumpy cartoon curmudgeon. Ojamajo Doremi is no less relevant today than the day it was produced, and its empathetic stories are a welcome reminder of the poignancy and creativity of this medium at its best. Let’s all take a moment to appreciate what anime can be, as we explore one more episode of Ojamajo Doremi.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 6

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Neon Genesis Evangelion’s fifth and sixth episodes collectively form a neatly contained arc, as the battle against the show’s third angelic antagonist is contrasted against Rei Ayanami’s formal introduction. In spite of being present and even dramatically central throughout all of Evangelion’s early episodes, our understanding of this girl has mirrored Shinji’s – that is to say, we have no clue. She has been a cipher, with even sequences like Shinji’s intrusion into her apartment only enhancing her sense of mystery. In a show that’s so fully and thoughtfully attuned to the emotional experiences of its characters, Rei has stood as a strange outlier, accepting her duties with a blank stare at every turn.

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Hugtto! Precure – Episode 5

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Folks, it has been far too long since we watched Precure, and that ends right now. I’ve been greatly enjoying our journey through this latest Pretty Cure production so far, with the show’s most recent episode standing as the clear and dazzling standout. The first segment of Homare’s introduction to the team was a stunning display of evocative direction, fluid animation, and poignant storytelling, conveying Homare’s fears with engaging visual direction and welcome understatement. Sequences like the basketball match were elevated through both energetic action cuts and a close focus on character acting, while scenes of Homare intentionally distancing herself from potential suffering were given visual gravitas through their careful staging. That episode rose up to a finale that excelled in both narrative and visual execution, balancing action cuts that really conveyed the weight and scale of this battle with Homare’s painful and deeply held fear of failure. I’m not expecting another episode quite that good so soon, but Homare’s story has been told with grace so far, and I’m excited to see how it ends. Let’s get right to it!

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Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 46

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Pack it in folks, you know it’s time for more Ojamajo Doremi. Though every episode of Doremi seems to be special in its own way (excepting those witch frogs, fuck those witch frogs), our last episode was special for a very specific reason – it was lucky enough to have Ojamajo Doremi’s character design Yoshihiko Umakoshi on board as animation director. In Umakoshi’s hands, the vivid expressiveness of these characters felt even more apparent than usual, as all number of incidental moments were elevated through flavorful details of movement and character acting. It was a beautiful episode that demonstrated the unique power of simplified designs, and how the details that make characters come across as human aren’t contained in the specificity or detail of their design, but the fluidity, sense of weight, and underlying personality that brings them to life.

That episode also served as Doremi’s first Christmas special, meaning we’ve likely now moved on into the new year. With that shift comes also a pretty significant turn in Onpu’s attitude – from a position of complete self-obsessed antagonism, she’s now demonstrated a sense of loneliness in her home life, as well as a willingness to help others. Whether Onpu’s shift or something else entirely is the focus this week, I’m excited to get to it. Let’s find out what Doremi and the gang fumble their way through next!

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