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!
Why It Works: A Lifetime of Competition: Growing Up in Chihayafuru
With the spring season rapidly approaching, it felt like about time to write some sort of thematic wrap-up for this season of Chihayafuru. I’ve been thrilled by Chihayafuru’s expansion of its dramatic scope all throughout this season, and greatly enjoying its exploration of how your relationship with karuta naturally changes as you embrace the full responsibilities of adult life. Let’s get to it!
A Lifetime of Competition: Growing Up in Chihayafuru
Bodacious Space Pirates – Episode 3
Folks, I think it’s about time for more Bodacious Space Pirates. This show hasn’t really taught me anything about the meaning of life yet, and it’s actually been mostly my comment section that has been teaching me about the meaning of piracy, but Bodacious Space Pirates is a very entertaining time, and I’m happy to return to it. When last we left off, Marika was at last starting to crack through the emotional defenses of her new classmate Chiaki, as the pair of them prepared to fend off an electronic assault on their class ship-slash-pirate relic. Having already demonstrated her strong piloting skills in the first episode, it seems like it’s time to test her leadership, quick thinking, and courage under pressure all at once. Let’s get to the pirating!
Chihayafuru S3 – Episode 22
Strap yourselves in everyone, it’s time to WATCH CHIHAYAFURU and GET SAD. Last episode concluded on a brutal punchline, as Chihaya and Arata accepted first and second place tournament finishes, while Taichi was forced to return home after losing to Arata. While all three of these friends are now racing to surpass each other, Taichi has suffered from feelings of inferiority all through his karuta career, and both Chihaya and Arata recently securing “destined matches” against the Master and Queen likely hasn’t helped those feelings. As his two friends soar ahead, Taichi is likely feeling increasingly left behind, distant from them in both a professional and personal sense.
Fortunately, it seems like Suo might actually have taken an interest in Taichi’s destiny, and be willing to give him some training in Master-style karuta. Suo’s defensive karuta style, which depends so heavily on exploiting the psychology of the opponent, seems tailor made for Taichi – ever since Harada pointed out that Taichi is better-suited to defensive karuta, I’ve been waiting for him to study under the true master of the form. That’s my top hope for this episode, but whatever comes, I’m eager to explore another episode of Chihayafuru!
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – Episode 8
Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today we’re returning to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, after an episode that essentially served as Mizusaki’s dedicated statement of purpose. That episode opened on one of Eizouken’s most poignant sequences yet, as we learned that Mizusaki’s fascination with the human body was in large part inspired by her love of her grandmother, with her studies of human movement eventually helping to restore her grandmother’s own mobility. The roots of artistic inspiration are varied and personal, and for Mizusaki, conveying the fluid beauty of bodies in motion likely brings her back to those days with her grandmother.
At the same time, Mizusaki is clearly passionate about animation as a tool for self-expression, and eager to announce her existence through cuts intended to dazzle even fellow animators. Anime is one of those rare mediums where an individual artist can sear a blazing signature into the work – like a dazzling guitar solo, an inspired cut of animation reaches up out of a work and grabs you by the throat, demanding you acknowledge the passion and talent of its creator.
This, unfortunately, is all just bad news to Kanamori. She just wants to ensure the project actually gets finished – and with her lead animator rambling about animation for animation’s sake while her director dithers and refuses to delegate, that’s currently not looking too likely. With the fate of their giant robot anime hanging in the balance, let’s return to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Winter 2020 – Week 10 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Week in Review. I’ve got a varied assortment of new properties to explore with you today, including a genuine anime classic, along with films ranging from the ludicrously terrible to the actually pretty good. It turns out self-quarantining also gives you a whole lot of time for videogames, so I’ve also got some initial thoughts on Nioh 2, the latest Soulsborne-style release from Team Ninja. I’ve got plenty to say and this article is late enough as it is, so let’s not waste any more time on throat clearing, and dive right into the Week in Review!
Why It Works: Who Defines Justice in My Hero Academia?
This week’s Crunchyroll article returns us to My Hero Academia, as I explore the central question presented by Gentle Criminal’s addition to the narrative. Gentle’s actions aren’t legal, but they’re clearly pursuing a specific ideal of justice – so are heroes ultimately just super-powered shock troopers for the police, or genuine, independent heroes of the people? It’s a question that cape comics have explored all throughout comic history, and I’m delighted to see My Hero Academia expanding its moral scope through the defiantly ambiguous Gentle. Here’s the piece!
Who Defines Justice in My Hero Academia?
Pokemon Sun and Moon – Episode 6
Pack it in folks, we’re watching more friggin’ Pokemon. I’m currently stationed at the cold, wintery boundary line of 2019, watching this hell year come to a close with all the composure I can still muster, and I’m eager to watch something bright and joyous. Sun and Moon has turned out to be some incredibly tasty comfort food, bringing to mind many fond memories of my own childhood experiences with the Pokemon show and games, but also succeeding as a very well-executed children’s anime in its own right. Sun and Moon’s narrative pretensions aren’t particularly ambitious, and it’s not rife with diverse life lessons in the style of something like Ojamajo Doremi, but its aesthetic strengths, energetic pacing, alluring worldbuilding, and eminently likable characters all combine to make for a resoundingly pleasant, inviting, and relaxing experience. With my own Galar pokedex pushing towards the three hundred mark, I’m currently basking in Pokemon saturation, and couldn’t be happier about it. Let’s check out another episode of Sun and Moon!
Chihayafuru S3 – Episode 21
What the heck are we even doing now, folks? Following its initial tournament and the Chihaya-Taichi faceoff, basically all the rest of season three has so far been dedicated to the leadup and dramatic battles of the Master and Queen challenger matches – and now, those matches are over. Both Harada and Haruka proved themselves unable to defeat the defending champions, and the gauntlet has already been thrown down for Arata and Chihaya’s next-year challenge. But that challenge is still twelve friggin’ months away, and in the meantime, Chihayafuru’s stars will be navigating their last year of high school, and deciding where their lives go from here. After a long, long segment of purely tournament-focused drama, Chihayafuru is at last raising its head back out of the sand, and acknowledging a wider world once more. So where do its characters go from here?
For Taichi, the next step seems to be “reclaim confidence through seizing more tournament victories.” Taichi’s ideas of self-improvement all generally end up being some kind of self-flagellation, and with his mother now actively aware he’s been disobeying her, it surely won’t be long until he has to directly confront their differing perspectives on his future. For Chihaya, the end of this tournament means the questions she’s been delaying answering return to the foreground: what steps will she be taking to actually become a teacher, and how is she planning to answer Arata? And for Arata himself, well, he’s always been the wildcard – though having now challenged Suo directly, I imagine he’ll soon be consulting with Harada, or perhaps powering through more tournaments of his own. Whatever happens, the narrative gates have been opened wide, and I’m eager to see where this story now goes. Let’s get to it!
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – Episode 7
Hello folks, and welcome back to Why It Works. Today we’ll be continuing 2020’s brightest new anime star, the endlessly inventive Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, as Asakusa and her compatriots work to create their own giant robot anime. Last episode was all about plotting out the larger points regarding scenario and character design for this new project, so I expect the team to be in full production mode this time around, and am eager to see how they manage the increased needs for coordination presented by this ambitious collaboration. But either way, I’ve been putting off watching this episode for five whole days now, which makes me the art critic equivalent of a half-starved animal about to be set upon some artistically riveting domestic sheep. With that confusing image in your heads, let’s dive into the latest episode of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!