It’s a strange thing, how the process of describing history seems to fundamentally transform it. Fitting the events of Evangelion’s first half into a historical record lends its battles clarity, coherency, perhaps even a sense of purpose. New trials are announced through stark title cards, and their resolutions are conveyed just as cleanly, twenty minutes of hardship transformed into thirty seconds of recap. The picture that emerges depicts an inexperienced but talented team, rushing to improve their defensive capabilities, but handling each new challenge with absolute professionalism.
Why It Works: Sing “Yesterday” For Me is this Season’s Must-Watch Drama!
The title for this one pretty much covers it – Yesterday’s premiere was fantastic, and also happened to be on Crunchyroll, so today I wrote an expanded article breaking down the show’s excellent staff and apparent strengths so far. I’ll definitely be keeping up with this one, though my seasonal schedule beyond that is currently an open question. Anyway, here’s the piece!
Sing “Yesterday” For Me is this Season’s Must-Watch Drama!
Spring 2020 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective
Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you – this is looking to be a pretty light season in the land of anime. Even in the lead-up to this season, it was already clear that most of the larger hits would be long-running sequels, and series like Re:Zero and Food Wars lost my interest years ago. Then, of course, the coronavirus started sweeping the globe, leading to a number of entirely justified and frankly welcome delays for some of the season’s key properties. Between those extenuating factors and the season’s inherently limited number of high-profile productions, this is turning out to be a light season on the whole, and a fine time to dig into your backlog.
That said, most anime being crap hasn’t stopped me before, and it certainly didn’t stop me this time. I have successfully waded through this season’s mountain of garbage with my mouth wide open, and having sampled all of its sweetly molding flavors, I am now prepared to spit out the choicest morsels for your collective enjoyment. My list here will run from the season’s top contenders down to its worst offenders, with handy tiers and links to longer reviews over at ANN’s preview guide. Let’s review some cartoons!
Oh shit, right, I always do some gimmicky naming scheme for the quality tiers. Uh, let’s do… tiers based on… colors? I guess? Fuck it.
My Hero Academia, Volume 22 – Review
My reviews of the My Hero Academia manga continue today, though I’m personally far more occupied dealing with the final challenges of preview week. To be honest, I’m mostly linking this review here as an excuse for a general check-in; it’s currently looking like new premieres will be more or less concluded by Sunday, so you can expect my Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective the Monday after that. That’s right, I am TIMELY motherfuckers, and will be back on the Current Projects circuit right after that. In the meantime, this volume of My Hero Academia was great, and I hope you enjoy my review!
Spring 2020 First Impressions – Part One
The spring season has already begun unloading its cargo, and I’ve got a fresh pile of hot takes on everything that’s been screened so far! The season is actually looking pretty reasonable at the moment – there’s been nothing that’s truly surprised me, but Listeners’ premiere turned out to be just as good as I was hoping, and Kakushigoto’s aesthetic strengths really surprised me. You can check out the full list of reviews over at ANN, or scroll below for my scores and links to individual reviews. Let’s anime!
Winter 2020 – Week 12 in Review
Way to fucking go, Nick. Normally, the loosely defined Week 12s and 13s of a given season are the point where most of my watch schedule has already concluded, and I can thus get away with only writing a couple paragraphs for the Week in Review. Of course, now that I’ve transitioned over to writing about all the films and games I’ve consumed, rather than just the streaming anime, I’ve got a whole damn pile of crap to talk about, even though the anime season has largely ended. I am persistently excellent at giving myself more work than I really ought to, but fortunately, these new Week in Reviews have actually turned into one of the highlights of my weekly routine, and I’m frankly only complaining here because I will use literally any available narrative device to fill the space of these openings paragraphs. And with that space now fully occupied (nice going, me), let’s dive into the actual Week in Review!
Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 7
Folks, it has been altogether too long since we visited the shores of Alola, and I’m very happy to be returning. When last we left off, Ash and Sophocles had just survived their own electric adventure, wherein the two of them got trapped in a locked-down mall courtesy of a fairly dubious plan by Team Rocket. As usual, the narrative itself was mostly just an excuse for rambling escapades and Pokemon-centric competitions across the main cast, and though it was a fun episode on the whole, its mall setting meant it really didn’t get to fully embrace Sun and Moon’s usual visual charm. I can go to a mall any old time – it’s the beaches and forests of Alola that I’m here for, and I’m guessing we’ll be visiting them soon. Let’s explore episode seven of Pokemon Sun and Moon!
Chihayafuru S3 – Episode 23
Hello again, everyone. You all ready for Taichi’s Birthday Party Tournament? I know I certainly am – frankly, I wasn’t aware quite how much stress I was carrying for the sake of these mixed-up kids, until Chihaya suddenly announced it was time for a birthday party.
Though the friction of misunderstandings and hidden romantic longing has always been a key element of Chihaya and Taichi’s relationship, Taichi’s increasing feelings of inadequacy as a player, as well as his insecurity regarding Chihaya and Arata’s relationship, have recently made it so they can barely even communicate with each other. Taichi is a tightly wound ball of anxiety and inferiority, and by throwing this party tournament, Chihaya will hopefully prove to him that he is loved regardless of what he chooses to do, and that he can still play karuta just for the fun of it, and not only to prove his value. We are fixing your headspace whether you like it or not, Taichi. Let’s get to it!
Simoun – Episode 22
Let’s return to the tempestuous drama of Simoun! Last episode served as a crucial turn for the series, as a massive number of secrets were revealed all at once. Most crucially, Onashia revealed the true nature of the spring: it is a conduit between worlds, or rather, a channel for traveling through time within the same world. The Emerald Ri Majoon turned out to be the key to this process, leading into the further reveal that Dominura and Limone are technically “alive,” but have been sent to a far-distant point in the past. On top of that, we further learned that both Dominura and Aaeru’s grandfather were both members of Chor Dextra, the choir intended to master the Emerald Ri Majoon, and the reason Dominura feels personally responsible for the violence of the present timeline. That is a ridiculous bounty of information!
Given all these time travel-focused reveals, it was no surprise to see Neviril immediately ask if Amuria could still be alive. Having just recently mended her relationship with Aaeru, I’m really hoping Neviril doesn’t backslide into false hope and depression – her grieving process has been the primary narrative of this entire series, and I was happy to see her seemingly recovering at last. With that in mind, let’s dive into the next episode of Simoun!
Winter 2020 – Week 11 in Review
Alright folks, it’s Wednesday again, and you should hopefully all know the drill by now. This week I burned through a couple of classic ‘60s films, along with the usual scattering of horror selections, and I’m eager to share my findings with all of you. The spoils were frankly excellent this week; Ghostwatch felt similar to Noroi in terms of its understated yet incendiary assault on the found footage genre, and the ‘60s films were an unrelenting buffet of great performances both straight-laced and satirical. Let’s run it all down in the Week in Review!