Summer 2017 – Week 12 in Review

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With Tsuredure Children having already ended, there really wasn’t all that much anime to sift through this week. We’re entering the seasonal Dead Zone now, where our only comforts are the shows that started awkwardly late, a procession of extended goodbyes that can sometimes stumble all the way into the following season. I’m certainly ready for this unfortunate season to end, but now that we’re at the brink, it’s tough to think that I’ll no longer be getting new weekly installments of My Hero Academia. The show’s second season has been a revelation after the somewhat questionable first act, consistently elevating inherently great material and just generally demonstrating how fun a good shounen adventure can be. With JoJo Part Five nowhere in sight and Hunter x Hunter far in the rear view, my weeks will be cloudier for lacking a great punch-stuff story. Symphogear, please rescue us soon.

Anyway, enough lamenting. Let’s start with the dregs and run this week down!

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Mawaru Penguindrum – Episode 20

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Penguindrum’s twentieth episode (directed by talented key animator and Gainax mainstay Akemi Hayashi, who also gave us this terrific Space Dandy episode) centers on a new location and an old memory, at the forbidding Penguin Force Hideout. The hideout is located in a vast, colorless condominium, a structure that seems to underline our collective anonymity. Rows after rows of identical doors promise homes for everyone and no one, infinite potentially wrong paths. The young Shoma is dwarfed by this place, lost in long stairwells and ensconced behind railing bars. This is truly a frozen world.

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Platinum End, Volume 2 – Review

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Platinum End starts to find its rhythm in its second volume, with the interplay of angelic powers offering a reasonable platform for Ohba’s standard thriller shenanigans. This volume also formally introduces the story’s main love interest, who is… well, she’s the same demure girl Ohba framed as the ultimate object of adoration in Bakuman, so I guess there’s no surprises there. Platinum End continues to work as a trashy but consistently entertaining page-turner, even if Ohba’s fundamental Ohbaness can sometimes be a bit much.

You can check out my full review over at ANN.

Why It Works: Taking Love Seriously in Tsuredure Children

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Today I return to Tsuredure Children for one more Crunchyroll article, this time diving into its thoughtful take on the messier side of romance. I really enjoyed how even in a fairly farcical comedy, Tsuredure Children still managed to clearly respect the feelings and boundaries of its leads. Kana and Chiaki’s breakup fit cleanly within the show’s general atmosphere while never minimizing the serious nature of their actions. It was an impressively articulated arc, and I’m happy to celebrate it today.

Taking Love Seriously in Tsuredure Children

Simoun – Episode 1

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Alright, let’s get started on Simoun! I don’t actually know all that much about this series, but I know enough to have it placed on my internal shortlist of must-see anime. By reputation alone, Simoun seems to be one of those fragmented classics that end up on a lot of personal lists but never really receive all that much public recognition. Mari Okada seems very good at creating those kind of “this messy show is my ENTIRE SOUL” stories, and that plus an interesting aesthetic and a story that apparently takes a very unique approach to gender identity seems like a very fine recipe. I’ve tried to keep myself relatively ignorant of Simoun’s twists, and I’m excited to see where this adventure goes. Let’s get to it!

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Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 21

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Let’s get back to Ojamajo Doremi! Last episode saw Doremi and the gang experiencing a bit of a paradigm shift, as Majo Rika’s gambling ways resulted in her losing ownership of her own shop to her nemesis. At this point, Majo Rika is been reduced to living out of a van that also double as the gang’s new store. It’s actually a pretty cozy place, so I wouldn’t mind the show sort of idling here (no pun intended) as the new normal before actually resolving this whole Majo Rika plot. It’s been a little while since we’ve had a classmate-focused episode, so I’d be happy to see one of those as well. Either way, change is afoot in Ojamajo Doremi. Let’s get right to it!

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Classroom of the Elite – Episode 11

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Classroom of the Elite’s final arc had its second major misstep this week, as it attempted to pull off a structural trick that really stretched the limits of its aesthetic capabilities. Visual storytelling isn’t just garnish – your show’s ability to convey information outside of dialogue inherently dictates your dramatic range, and “slowly building pressure cooker” is well outside Classroom’s tool set. Still, I guess I have to give the show props for trying something different.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.

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Tsuredure Children – Episode 12

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We finally bid goodbye to Tsuredure Children this week, at least for the moment. This episode wasn’t much of a conclusion, but it was still a fine episode of Tsuredure Children, and that’s a very good thing to be. I’ll pick up the manga if I have to, but I do hope we get a second season eventually – there are few romantic comedies out there as funny, charming, or genuinely incisive as Tsuredure Children. See you next time, you incredible dorks.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.

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Summer 2017 – Week 11 in Review

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It’s time again for the week in review! This week in anime was… acceptable, I guess? When you’re only really hanging any hopes on three shows, the caliber of your week is pretty easy to diagnose. And this particular week, all the things I’m caring about pulled off episodes that were reasonable, but not exceptional. On the plus side, Rick and Morty’s third season continued to impress, offering a replacement for interdimensional cable that easily eclipsed that tradition’s lukewarm reprise. And hey, we’re basically at the end of the season anyway. If this fart of a season wants to go quietly into the night, I won’t complain. Either way, let’s start with the anime frontrunners and run this week down!

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The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya – Review

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After weathering a rewatch of the very inconsistent Haruhi Suzumiya TV series, it was wonderful to learn that Disappearance was actually even better than I remembered. Takemoto is a terrific director, and Disappearance is easily one of the most compelling stories in the franchise so far. I had a whole bunch to say about this film’s visual storytelling, and watching it just made me even more eager to get to High Speed. Haruhi Suzumiya may not be as great a franchise as I remembered, but Disappearance is a tremendous sendoff to one of the 00s’ stranger phenomenons.

You can check out my full review over at ANN.