Hot tip: it turns out if you drop everything you’re watching except for the really great shows, EVERY week in anime is a great week in anime! So it goes for this particular week, where my likely unsurprising decision to finally drop Angolmois means I’m only watching shows I really, really enjoy. Fortunately for you folks, the less I watch, the more I apparently have to say about it – My Hero Academia, Planet With, and Revue Starlight all left me with plenty to talk about, and I’m eager to get to it. Even without a dedicated character drama this season, both Planet With and Revue Starlight are doing their best to give me meaty drama and thematics to sink into, while My Hero Academia continues to offer a thoroughly engaging mix of sturdy fundamentals and creative embellishments. Let’s start out by exploring My Hero Academia’s uniquely clever adaptation choices, and run the highlights of these excellent shows down!
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Simoun – Episode 14
At long last, we’re returning to the high-flying Simoun! It’s been a little while on my end since we checked in on Chor Tempus, and I’m very eager to return to this strange, uneven, and endlessly compelling series. The show’s last episode was a roiling sea of emotional turns, upsetting the relationship between Neviril and Aaeru while also offering more dark hints at the true nature of Dominura. “Aaeru and Neviril can’t get along” has been one of Simoun’s most enduring conflicts, but the nature of the relationship is definitely different now – it’s no longer Neviril retreating into her shell that seems like the problem, it’s Aaeru trampling over Neviril’s feelings with her own fanatical desire to fly.
The end result of this miscommunication was Neviril’s unhappy realization that she’s actually afraid of Aaeru, which doesn’t surprise me at all. Most of these priestesses fly because they’ve always assumed this is what they’re supposed to do, because they genuinely believe in the sanctity of their mission, or because they’re not ready to visit the spring. Aaeru has stated she’s not ready to visit the spring, but her love of fighting goes beyond that, and seems to be something Neviril finds fundamentally disturbing. I imagine their disagreements will be approaching a head in this episode, if only for narrative spacing reasons; we’re over halfway through this series, and if anything regarding this society’s fundamental nature is going to actually be resolved, we kinda need to get the band back together soon. Either way, Simoun always finds a new way to surprise, so let’s see what episode fourteen brings!
Princess Tutu – Episode 3
More fragments of Drosselmeyer’s half-finished tale arrive as we begin Princess Tutu’s third episode. We learn that along with his heart, the prince had both his kindness and his memories stolen. We also learn that the shards of his heart found their way to people with voids in their own heart – a classic conceit of the magical girl genre, here applied to a tighter narrative frame where that choice directly ties into the story’s overarching themes. Princess Tutu is well aware of the power stories have to shape our own feelings, and even direct our own lives. As our narrator warns, among those who were possessed by the shards, many found their own tales twisting awry.
Growing Up With FLCL
Alright, let’s get to this. FLCL. Fooly Cooly. One of the original “but what is it all about?” anime icons of my generation, as well as just one of the defining cartoons of my generation in general. A show that lit up American screens back in the early ‘00s, standing alongside Cowboy Bebop and, uh, Inuyasha as the shows we stayed up Way Too Late for. And beyond its critical moment in western fandom, FLCL is both a terrific show in its own right and a monument to one of anime’s greatest studios. A story of adolescence so timeless and resonant that it’s inspired a hotly anticipated pair of sequels nearly two decades after its original release. FLCL is still vibrant and alive within fandom, and without it, I’m not sure I’d be writing about cartoons today.
Simoun – Episode 8
Let’s return to Simoun! We’re really in the thick of it now, with the last several episodes having firmly established Chor Tempest as a meaningful team. Key character-building episodes have built up Para, Kaimu, Limone, and Aaeru, and the overall volume of ensemble scenes have made sure we also have reasonably strong impressions of the team members who haven’t been specifically highlighted. The ultimate effect of all these episodes has moved Chor Tempest from our emotionally neutral vehicle into Simoun’s worldbuilding to a group I personally want to see succeed, just in time for Neviril’s father to threaten the team with total dissolution. I’m guessing this will be the point where Neviril herself returns to being an active part of the narrative, but the show has essentially cleared all its initial hoops of investment, so I’m happy to follow wherever this story leads. Let’s get right back to Simoun!
Simoun – Episode 5
Let’s dive right back into Simoun! Episode four featured a pretty dramatic turn for the series, as Aaeru and Limone found themselves coming face-to-face with the enemy. The show’s execution of that confrontation felt a little wonky, but the sequence did a solid job of bringing us closer to both Aaeru and Limone, and hopefully bringing the two of them closer as well. The episode ended pretty much as soon as the pair returned, so it’ll be up to this episode to reveal exactly how that experience shifted things for this crew. Aaeru was already the one most gung-ho about battling, so what will experiencing some of the true terror and ugliness of battle do for her mindset? Aaeru’s been pretty much carrying this narrative by herself for the past couple episodes, so I’m hoping the scars of this experience finally prompt Neviril or some of the other priestesses to take a more active role in the story. Let’s get right to it and find out!
March comes in like a lion – Episode 28
March comes in like a lion continued its phenomenal Hina-focused arc this week, offering plenty more compelling visual tricks, along with our closest look yet into Hina’s headspace. Rei is a great character, but it’s becoming clear that March’s ability to lean into the personal dramas of characters like Hina and Shimada is secretly one of the story’s greatest strengths. I’m guessing we’ll be nearing the end of this arc soon, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below.
Fall 2016 – Week 7 in Review
It was very clear this week that many of this season’s shows took careful notes based on my first half in review post, and adjusted their content accordingly. Normally it takes at least a few weeks for shows to shift gears based on my exact preferences, so I was happy to see the response time so accelerated here. Shows like Girlish Number and Sound! Euphonium clearly took my complaints to heart, and as we all know, being able to accept constructive criticism is an admirable quality. I’m glad we can all agree anime turns out better when it listens to me specifically.
Alright, impossibility of my writing affecting anime production in any way whatsoever aside, this week really did see many shows directly tackling some of my existing complaints. Girlish Number dug in to its cast, Euphonium emphasized the variables that had worked in the first season, Yuri on Ice offered its most well-earned and best-composed personal material yet, and Flip Flappers was just fantastic in all regards. The fall season continues to impress in new ways, so let’s start with those flip flaps and RUN ‘EM DOWN!
March comes in like a lion – Episode 6
This episode took place almost entirely in Rei’s head, making for one of the most powerful and difficult to watch episodes yet. There was some stirring imagery here, but also just plenty of well-articulated thoughts on adulthood and depression. March isn’t always a graceful show, but it is extremely good at depicting a few key emotional truths. Good luck Rei, it’s tough for all of us out there.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Girlish Number – Episode 5
Girlish Number seems to be experiencing some growing pains at the moment, as it expands beyond “Chitose is a jerk” to try and add some substance to the world around her. The show’s sometimes farcical tone and very simplified version of the industry can work against its attempts to add weight to its critiques, but I appreciated this episode’s attempts to tonally underline this increasingly disastrous production. It’s a messy show, but still a very interesting one.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.