With the season nearing its halfway point, basically all of my shows have settled into their mid-run neutral at this point, and continue to each offer their own steady charms. Thunderbolt Fantasy feels like it’s at last in full swing at this point, offering thrilling fights and meaty discussions between its thoroughly established cast. Run with the Wind is also demonstrating great confidence, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure seems to be harnessing everything Araki has learned so far. The only real weak point this week was SSSS.Gridman’s beach episode, but to be honest, I feel like a beach episode was basically a sunk cost for that show from the start. All in all, the fall season continues to offer plenty of excitement, and seems determined to end this year on a high note. Let’s run these shows down!
Category Archives: Week in Review
Fall 2018 – Week 4 in Review
I’m starting to think there may actually be fewer ways to say “the anime was good again” than there are to say “anime was a mistake.” While Run with the Wind experienced a little roughness in its integration of various genre influences, it still offered a strong episode on the whole, and both our other character-focused dramas knocked it out of the park. Gridman did a phenomenal job of humanizing its heroine Rikka, while Tsurune carried us through a bevy of tiny, well-observed scenes that demonstrated exactly what Kyoto Animation does best. We are getting absolutely spoiled this season, and I’m doing my best to savor every moment. Let’s run down all these worthy cartoons as we explore another week in anime!
Fall 2018 – Week 3 in Review
Why does the anime do this to me. I feel like Run with the Wind, Gridman, and Tsurune could all easily have claimed the top spot in either spring or summer – here in fall, having all three of them at once just seems excessive. I know you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but couldn’t we have parceled out these horses a little more consistently throughout the seasons? My cup runneth over with gift horses.
Anyway, complaints about Too Much Good Anime aside, there sure is a whole lot of good anime this season. Tsurune finally made its debut this week, and stunned from start to finish with its gorgeous color work, efficient characterization, and generally compelling art design. Run with the Wind maintained its cheerful general excellence, while Gridman demonstrated that its “default mode” is still a show well worth celebrating. With the action spectacles also holding steady, this is looking to quite possibly be the best season of the year overall. It feels almost certain that over half of my current watching schedule will end up in my top ten of the year, with only winter’s formidable Evergarden-After the Rain-Universe-Laid Back Camp block offering much competition. I am thrilled to be enjoying this much anime, and eager to share all my enthusiasm with you. Let’s start with our running boys and run this week down!
Fall 2018 – Week 2 in Review
Holy crap, it’s time for the Week in Review. Having just finished working on the preview guide this past weekend, I had to hustle to catch up on what I wanted for today, and still haven’t really gotten the chance to expand beyond my four must-see properties. Fortunately, those must-see properties are offering more than enough entertainment to sustain me, between the reliably ridiculous action of Thunderbolt/JoJo and the newfound pleasures of Run with the Wind and Gridman. Gridman in particular is really stunning me so far; the show is building on styles of characterization and shot composition that echo some of my all-time favorite anime, while effortlessly carving out its own identity all the while. Even with relatively limited overall animation, Gridman is able to sell its world at all times through its gorgeous scene setting and purposeful, highly active direction. Let’s dispense with the preamble, then, and get right to this week in anime!
Fall 2018 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective
Well folks, it’s that time again. With nearly every fall premiere now on the books, and me having also watched nearly all of those premieres, it’s time for me to break down what’s worth watching, what’s worth skipping, and what contains so much dark energy that merely glancing in its direction may scar your soul. It’s a serious duty, and I take it very seriously. Anime criticism is no joke!
As for this season in particular, I am thrilled to report that The Anime Is Good. After two straight seasons where I found myself having to stretch for a reasonable watch schedule, we are once again inundated with far too many good shows, in genres ranging from romance to drama to action to comedy and beyond. Several of this season’s premieres were genuinely stunning, far more offered sturdy entertainment from start to finish, and there were even some borderline efforts that still seemed like they might bloom into something wonderful. As usual, you can check out the full list of reviews over at ANN (check for Nick Creamer), or find quicker thoughts and my overall rankings below. Let’s celebrate some fresh new anime!
Fall 2018 – First Impressions, Part One
Somehow, some way, a new season has already begun. Though the new shows are more of a trickle than a flood at this point, we’ve already got some strong contenders for the fall, including highly anticipated returning favorites and a welcome number of total surprises. There’s also been some crap, but hey, there’s always crap, and part of the fun of preview week is getting to briefly wade through the swamp that is the full spectrum of modern anime (at least, that’s what I tell myself). As usual, you can check out the full list of previews over at ANN, or check below for my own scores and links to individual show pages. We’ve got a lot of cartoons to get through, so let’s get started!
Summer 2018 – Week 13 in Review
Welp, show’s over, folks. Planet With already finished up last week, and with our last two contenders having now handed in their final assignments, the building is pretty much empty. This wasn’t really the most fortuitous week in summer anime – My Hero Academia essentially ended on a transition point, while Revue Starlight’s last episode was quite likely also its worst episode. Still, there are points worth poking at, and as long as I’m here, we might as well do one last session. Starting with our tragic stage girls, let’s run the summer’s final week down!
Summer 2018 – Week 12 in Review
Hey all, and welcome back to the Week in Review. The summer season is basically over at this point, as Planet With turns in its final assignment and my other airing shows prep for their own finales. This season was ultimately, obviously pretty top-heavy, as the dropoff between what I actually stuck with and what I could have picked up pretty much always felt precipitous, but I still ended up with a fair amount to talk about, and I’m guessing all three of this season’s heavyweights will end up on my end-of-year list. Planet With’s presence on that list is basically assured – in fact, I’m guessing that one will be duking it out with Violet Evergarden and whatever the fall’s best show is for my top pick of the year. Revue Starlight and My Hero Academia are a little more iffy, but both of them have demonstrated great strengths throughout this season, and I’ll be sad to see them go. Starting with the season’s clear champion, let’s poke at the summer season one more time!
Summer 2018 – Week 11 in Review
The anime was dominated by titanic clashes this week, as all my shows galloped towards their endgames while offering some dramatic fireworks along the way. While My Hero Academia demonstrated that it had indeed been hoarding all its animation eggs in the Deku-Bakugo basket, Revue Starlight showed off with a two-on-two duel featuring some of its most convincing secondary character work so far. And over in Planet With land, this season’s most visually conservative star showed off in its own way, vividly demonstrating the richness of characterization and thoughtfulness of narrative structure that have elevated it all along the way. I had little to complain about and much to revel in this week, and I’m happy to share all my gushing with you folks. Let’s start with the showdown between everyone’s favorite rowdy boys as we run down one more week in anime!
Summer 2018 – Week 10 in Review
With the summer season entering its twilight hour, everything I’m watching began clearing its throat this week, mostly by taking care of various dramatic minibosses in order to prep for the finale. That resulted in a collection of episodes that weren’t really all that thrilling for their own sake, but still necessary in various ways, and littered with occasional small pleasures. Having each pulled off a sequence of jaw-dropping episodes in their recent history, both Revue Starlight and Planet With unfortunately ended up faltering in their most common ways this week; Revue Starlight through its sometimes shaky characterization and storytelling, and Planet With through its so-so visual execution. Neither of this season’s highlights are perfect shows, but they’re both relentlessly interesting shows, and even their missteps leave me with plenty to talk about. Let’s break down those complaints and more as we run down one more week in anime!