Today I’ve got a review of Saga of Tanya the Evil, one of my unexpected highlights from the winter season. Tanya’s first impression was the trashiest of all trashy trash, and though the ultimate show wasn’t exactly great literature, it turned out to be both a very good kind of trash and also a legitimately sharp show. It’s always nice when an anime surprises you, and I enjoyed writing about this one. Hope you like the piece!
Let’s get right back to Ojamajo Doremi! I recently watched a couple episodes of Aikatsu, and frankly was so unimpressed that it actually made me appreciate Doremi all the more. An upbeat sensibility is one thing, but Doremi’s mix of strong characters, great aesthetic strengths, and consistently thoughtful messages make it a legitimately excellent show by any standards. Doremi isn’t “great for a kid’s show,” it’s just good television. Let’s see whatever new adventures this episode brings!
This week on Why It Works, I took the opportunity to rep this season’s terrific Tsuredure Children. The show’s consistently excellent dialogue allows it to get away with sequences that would almost certainly feel sterile in a lesser show, and I’m happy to have a chance to show it some support. Anime shorts tend to get ignored by a lot of the community (myself included), but Tsuredure Children is just as strong as any full-length I’m currently watching. I hope you enjoy the piece!
Terminal Fuzzy Wuzzies in Tsuredure Children
Let’s keep on riding this Aikatsu train! The last couple episodes have both been a very fun time, so it seems like we may have finally shrugged off those early episode blues. Aikatsu #6 turned out to be almost as silly as I’d hoped from this show, while #7 had an oddly sharp take on twitter. I don’t really expect this show to have much to say regularly, but if it can maintain the last two episodes’ combination of reasonable storytelling and general charm, I’ll be more than content. Let’s see what today’s Aikatsu brings!
Let’s gather round for some Casshern Sins! Last episode was a pretty crucial one for the series – not only did it basically set Casshern on a direct, overt quest to save this world, it also provided critical context for Leda’s character. Leda is no longer the show’s most threadbare central pillar, and now actually feels like a pretty reasonable person. I’m still not really sold on Dio’s conflict, but everything else here is resolving Casshern Sins’ apocalyptic storytelling in suitably mythic fashion. The old man has received the key, and now Casshern must journey to find the truth about Luna. Let’s head out!
We’re starting off this season’s ANN weeklies with Classroom of the Elite, which offered a pretty intriguing opening pair of episodes. I’m kinda guessing this show will get weaker as it goes along, but a strong start with a whole lot of social relevance is still a fine thing. My review ended up sprawling out in order to touch on all of this one’s various thematic parallels, so you guys get plenty of Fresh Content today. Hope you enjoy the piece!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode two notes below.
Hey all, and welcome to the Week in Review. It’s time to get ruthless this week – with preview week having finished and all of the new shows starting to demonstrate their actual stamina, we now enter the time where we learn what truly survives, and what hits the seasonal chopping block. If abandoning all these new shows wasn’t enough, the density of preview week meant I also had to take some time off from last season’s continuing shows, meaning it’s also time to reassess which of those I really care about. Long story short, Re:Creators is getting the boot, and I’ll have to think about whether I’m catching up on Sakura Quest. This is going to be a lean, lean season, but I’m trying to make the most of it. Let’s run this week’s contenders down!
Let’s get back to Chihayafuru! When we last left off, Chihaya and Taichi had successfully rekindled Arata’s passion for karuta, meaning it might be time to actually compete again! But I’m guessing the first order of business will be establishing Chihaya and Taichi’s school club, which means it’s also likely time to introduce some new characters. I’m totally cool with that – Chihaya’s been great, but Taichi and Arata both often feel like they’re stuck in her shadow, and I’d appreciate some characters who are less clearly infatuated with our admittedly charming lead. Either way, let’s get right to it!
Today on Why It Works, it’s time for my regularly-scheduled Crunchyroll recommendations for the season. Amazon picking up the season’s actual highlights did make this one a bit tougher to write, but my tastes are very specific anyway, so it’s not too hard to find shows other people might enjoy. Here’s the piece!
Alright, let’s get back on the Doremi train. I’ve recently been playing a whole bunch of Nier in order to get context for Automata, and I could really use some happiness to counterbalance all of the sads. Doremi’s cast certainly experience their share of problems, but the show is so suffused with optimism and love of its characters that pretty much every episode is an inherent pleasure. The world could definitely use more unabashedly joyful things!
Last episode saw us learning about two members of Doremi’s class at once, in an episode where Doremi, Hadzuki, and Ai had almost nothing to do. I’m totally cool with that style of story; our three leads are entertaining enough that I enjoy just watching them act as commentators, and it’s important for the show to demonstrate how people solve problems without magic. Let’s see what our clumsy witches get up to this time!