Today on Crunchyroll, I’m hyping up the new season of My Hero Academia by once again diving into the fragile self-image of its principle leads. I’m mid-preview week at the moment and have no time to chat, so you can check out the article below and I guess that’s it. I’m off!
Where Must the Members of Class 1-A Go From Here?
The spring season continues to barrel onward, and we’ve now arrived at some actual, genuine pickups! From the action-packed Megalo Box to the comfy as heck Comic Girls, we’re getting into the real contenders at this point, and even picking up some unexpected stars like the new SAO spinoff. As usual, you can check out the full ANN preview guide right here, or click below for a list of my new scores and links to individual rules. Let’s get right to it!
Let’s trample through another Chihayafuru! Our last episode was one of my favorites of the show to date, a terrific tournament episode that married an excellent team battle to some resonant emotional drama for Taichi. The conflict was essentially “Taichi as team general versus Taichi as individual player,” and he shined in both those roles, giving the audience some real payoff for his overarching role as leader. The balance of setup and payoff can feel a little more prominently visible in sports dramas than many other genres; the show essentially pays in emotional explication and tactical exposition, and then that work eventually pays off through the conflicts that grow out of our understanding of those variables. Last episode was basically all payoff for Taichi’s journey so far, and it was some glorious payoff indeed.
With the semifinals match having been totally consumed by Taichi’s struggles, I’m guessing that means we’ve saved a Chihaya episode for the last match. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Chihaya actually compete – her last defeat was to Yumin back in the first season, and since then we’ve been spectating Shinobu fights and building up the new recruits. This team tournament is essentially the only time in a year that the club gets to fight as a group, so I’m guessing they won’t lose to Retro and company in the regionals, but am interested in seeing what emotional spin they put on this match. And hey, if they for some reason want to give us two General Taichi Addresses His Troops matches in a row, I certainly wouldn’t complain. Let’s get right to it!
Let’s dive into the third episode of Kuuchuu Buranko! My relationship with this show is still a somewhat unsteady one, a fact that’s at least partially due to the show’s incredibly loud, garish color palette. A loud color scheme can certainly work for a show (see Kyousogiga, or even Nakamura’s own Gatchaman Crowds), but this show’s combination of abrasive neons seems designed to clash, and the integration of traditional animation and various other visual styles is a tough pill to swallow. Fortunately, the show’s second episode was able to direct all that visual madness towards a story that actually derived some benefit from it, even if the writing is still pretty so-so. There’s certainly a potentially fascinating show here, so I hope the stories continue to improve and the visual experimentation continues to find greater dramatic purpose. Let’s see what episode three brings!
The spring season has begun! As usual, I am pretty much booked solid on viewings and reviews and previews and all my other random projects at the moment, as I rush to offer the hottest of takes on the freshest of shows at the fastest pace I possibly can. As for this particular season, things are actually turning out pretty swimmingly so far – both Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Lupin III had very solid premieres, a few unexpected shows managed to surprise me, and pretty much nothing reduced me to sobbing in the fetal position. I’ve got thoughts and ratings for everything, so if you want to check out the full ANN list you can head right here (I’m Nick Creamer over there, incidentally), and if you’d like to see my own scores with links to each individual review, click through below!
The story has changed. No longer does Princess Tutu open with the tale of the prince and the raven, the tragic and unfinished final story by Drosselmeyer. Princess Tutu’s fourth episode instead introduces us to a “sad love that would never be requited.” But, the narrator tells us, “that alone does not make a story. The man with the task of spinning this tale of love was no longer of this world. The story lives on with its love forever sorrowful. Having lost its storyteller, the story is now wandering in search of its conclusion.”
Let’s check back in on Simoun! Episodes eight and nine represented the show’s first major turning point, as an attack on the ship prompted Neviril to finally redon her leadership mantel, and even choose Aaeru as her pair. Aaeru’s uncertainty seemed to be what ultimately tipped her hand, leaving Neviril resolved to embrace her own uncertainty about the world and society they inhabit.
Having finally returned to the skies, Neviril then brought that heretical uncertainty before the holy council, and was ultimately rewarded for her honesty by the shrine guardian Onashia. Chor Tempest live, but the resolution of episode nine also prompted a variety of new questions about how this society functions. Onashia seems to exist outside of the law – while those beneath her are traditional priests and politicians, Onashia appears to be an actual living embodiment of their religion. It’s clear that Simulacrum is hiding a variety of secrets from its own people, and if Onashia is who she appears to be, discovering her nature and motivation will be crucial to uncovering the truth of this world. That said, I’m not even sure right now if the “scale” of this show will involve challenging Simulacrum society – after all, we’re almost halfway through, and we’ve pretty much just spent this time dealing with Chor Tempest’s immediate personal problems. But with Neviril back in the saddle, I’m excited to see the whole team working together. Let’s see what’s next in Simoun!
I’m gonna watch more Chihayafuru and you can’t stop me! Having devoted the entirety of this morning to writing over three thousand friggin’ words for a different Current Projects article, this afternoon I’m cooling off with Chihayafuru, my designated comfort watch. So far, the show’s second season has mostly been dedicated to integrating Hanano and Tsukuba into the natural rhythm of the karuta club. It’s been a somewhat bumpy ride to get there; the second episode had to rely on some pretty contrived conceits to solidify Hanano’s membership, and Tsukuba’s personality has only really come into focus in the most recent episode. But that episode also effectively acted as the hard sell of their merger into the group, and at this point, they’re integrated well enough that the natural interactions of them and the other members going forward should finish the job.
With Hanano and Tsukuba-related club integration drama consuming the first day of the team tournament, I’m guessing we’ll now be returning to the original five players, and focusing on the actual tactical back-and-forth of them versus their day two opponents. I’m very excited for this; the previous year’s team tournament was utterly overshadowed by integrating Tsutomu into the group, and so this could be the first time we see our five leads compete together in a purely tactics-driven match, uninhibited by some character’s specific arc-related needs. Chihayafuru’s tactically focused matches often tend to be its biggest highlights, so I’m very ready for what today might bring. Let’s get right to it!
Today I dove into the first season of New Game!, which certainly offered plenty to talk about. New Game! succeeds well enough as a standard slice of life, but its choice of setting means it naturally comes off a little differently from its high school-situated compatriots, and often not in flattering ways. The softening of conflict and character that tends to come along with the genre meshed pretty awkwardly with the brutal realities of game design, leading to a unique overall production. Let’s get into it!
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Management: Here’s an updated/consolidated version of my Patreon info, since the old posts were years old and very confusing. I haven’t changed my system at all, but hopefully it’s a little more clear now!
Hey all! I’m Nick Creamer, also known as Bobduh (@B0bduh on twitter), and I write about anime, film, and basically anything else people will pay me for! I’m a staff critic at Anime News Network and a columnist at Crunchyroll, but the majority of my work comes from you, dear reader, and I’ll tell you how. Every month, I send out a message to my $5+ Patreon contributors, asking what critical projects they’d like me to work on. Every month, their choices push all those projects towards their funding goals (you can check out the current list and completed projects right here), at which point I get to work writing up the best reflection/article/etc I can on that topic. Some people single-handedly support major passion projects, while others group together to push me through whole seasons of shows like Hyouka and Madoka Magica. Some people even ask me just to send their donations to the projects that need them most, which I’m always happy to do. I know the process sounds a little strange, but it’s been running for years now, and you can check out my full list of reader-funded projects right here, with links to all the completed projects at the bottom. As for what those funding goals are, it varies by the scale of the project, so let’s break it down:
Episode Notes: $30
These began their life as the natural notes I take while watching a show for a future review, but have ballooned to essentially be a written watch-along, where I point out and discuss interesting craft elements in a loose format while actively watching the episode. You can check out examples of this style here (for a more serious and critique-focused piece) and here (for a more conversational piece on a lighter, long-term project).
Episode Article: $75
These are my traditional, formal episode writeups, full of meaty paragraphs and thematic analysis and all that good stuff. Different shows prompt different styles of articles, but you can check out a couple of these pieces here and here.
Outside of that split, my articles tend to stay pretty consistent, and prices mostly come down to the scale of the project. Here are the rest of those prices:
Manga Volume: $120
Film: $150
Book: $300
Full (12-13 episode) Show: $450
And of course, keep in mind, for projects people are enthusiastic about, I tend to get a bunch of people contributing who push them through these goals pretty darn quick. I also try to be as open as I can and fair as possible when it comes to other potential projects. Here are some pieces I’ve written about visual novels and videogames, which I’m also happy to write about, and which I’d price based on their length. I’m also available for personal proofreading projects and other commissions, and can be reached for such inquiries at nicreamer42 at gmail dot com. I love doing this work and would love to continue doing it, so if you enjoy my writing, have a favorite show you’d like to see explored, or want to see me branch out into something new, please consider chipping in. You can support me through Patreon, or if you’d like to make a single donation and get a project immediately on the board, you can also donate directly (be sure to also send an email stating what your donation is for). And whether you decide to chip in or not, I thank you all for reading, and hope you enjoy the work!