Yuri Kuma Arashi – Episode 1

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Hey guys! So, this isn’t exactly a classic time stamp writeup, but I took a whole damn lot of pictures during the first episode of Bear Storm, and plenty of notes besides, and so I figured I might as well assemble what I do have. What writeups I eventually settle on is still an open question – I might actually be covering this show for ANN (you can check out my more structured thoughts on this episode over there), I might do my own writeups, or I might collapse in a heap if I try to do any more work than I’m currently doing. We live in a world of uncertainty.

I will say I loved this first episode, and that there’s plenty of rich stuff to dig into already, and that it’s clear that Ikuhara hasn’t given up on any of the stuff that makes his work so compelling. Watching an Ikuhara show feels like some kind of thematic symphony – different repeating refrains and meaning-infused symbols all flow past each other and reflect on one another, the variant ideas charging all of his points with the depth of interconnectedness that only narrative can achieve. It’s a hell of a ride. Let’s run this first episode down!

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Parasyte – Episode 13

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And we’re back, with a real sad-sack episode for Shinichi. Kana’s dead, his girlfriend doesn’t trust him, Tamiya is sending private investigators after him… things aren’t going so great for our hero right now. We also got some pretty interesting developments on the parasite side, which I end up spending most of this episode’s article rambling about. Doing a lot of rambling in general at the moment – preview week’s in full swing, I’m alternating between sleeping, doing ten hour shifts, and writing about cartoons, and the weather outside is approaching the opposite of livable degrees. I might be hallucinating, because I’m pretty sure I also watched a show about lesbian bears. G’bye everybody…

Here’s my full post on ANN. Hopefully lucid notes below!

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Sword Art Online Extra Edition – Review

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Pretty happy with this one. Not the show itself – Extra Edition’s a hot sack of garbage, there’s no reason to watch it. But I think the review itself gave me a pretty cathartic opportunity to give one last goodbye to SAO… at least until season three comes out. Or until I have to review season two’s blurays. Or until…

Alright, maybe SAO isn’t actually done with me at all. Still, I had fun with this review, and I have to say I’ve really developed a fondness for the show in spite of it all. Until we meet again, Sword Art Online.

My full ANN review is available here. My copious fanservice special notes are below!

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Chaika the Coffin Princess: Avenging Battle – Review

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Another review is out! This time I hit Chaika’s second half, which entertained me plenty in spite of its problems. Chaika definitely remained reliably entertaining this season, but it’s a shame it didn’t get the extra couple episodes it needed to really nail the dismount. Maybe a little rejiggering of the Gaz’s Island arc could have also made space for a proper conclusion… but who knows. Either way, at least we’ll always have all those wonderful Chaika gifs.

You can check out the full ANN review here!

Chaika

Fall 2014 – Week 13 in Review

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We got a few show endings this week, which were scattered between great and mediocre. Amagi’s real ending was last week, which allowed this episode to be… well, a kind of lukewarm one-off. But Bahamut ended well, and Fate Stay Night at least had good scenes within a weaker overall episode. So I guess what I’m saying is Shirobako saved Christmas, like we always knew it would. Let’s run ’em down!

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Top Ten Anime of 2014

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I had to stretch to get a top 10 this year. I’m ready to admit that. Last year, it was easy – in fact, it was too easy, and I ended up expanding my list to twelve shows basically by necessity. But this year didn’t have quite the top shelf of 2013, and so concessions had to be made. There are certainly a couple notable absences here, with I’m guessing the biggest ones being Kill la Kill, Space Dandy, and maybe Nozaki-kun. The reason for those absences is simple – I didn’t like any of those shows very much. If you’re looking for a general “all the shows that enjoyed positive appraisal among the kinds of people who make a point of appraising shows,” I’m guessing all three of those would be included, but this is my list, and I’m gonna talk about what I wanna. (Incidentally, if you are looking for a list like that, my fellow critics at ANN all contributed their own top five lists to this recent retrospective – and that’s all shows that started in 2014, so even my list over there is pretty different). My list may be a little shorter this year, but it’s still got some real gems, and considering three of the year’s best shows aren’t included simply because they aren’t finished (Shirobako, KimiUso, and Parasyte), I’d say we made off okay. Let’s run it down!

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Log Horizon II – Episode 13

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Today’s episode was a derpy Valentine’s Day thing. Not much you can really say about it – sometimes Log Horizon has silly episodes, this was one of those days. The most notable thing this week was Serara’s adorable outfit – I guess there was also some plot-relevant stuff with Nureha, but that story hasn’t gotten interesting yet, so I’ll just pay attention to the main characters eating cake.

My full ANN post is here, and notes (such as they are) are below!

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Parasyte – Episode 12

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Not the best episode this week – Kana’s story just didn’t feel that well-integrated into the rest of the narrative, and this episode in particular was not that gracefully constructed. The Shinichi-Migi material was stellar, though, and the ending was quite good. I’m certainly excited to see the larger-scale questions of the parasite politician and the government response come into focus again.

Here’s my full ANN piece. Notes are below!

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12 Days of Anime, #1: Wenge’s Christmas Song

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There were a lot of lovely moments in anime this year, but my very favorite comes from my favorite new show. Ping Pong was already a tremendous show before episode five – its characters, storytelling, and aesthetics were just demolishing the competition, and Wenge himself was already its most poignant character. Cast out alone into Japan, he’d been forced to come to grips with the limits of his own talents, and his false pride could no longer make up for the fundamental loneliness of his situation. And yet Wenge rose above – instead of retreating into himself, he reached out to the teammates around him, and ended up making a new home of his exile.

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Fall 2014 – Week 12 in Review

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We’re nearing the end of the year, and I’ve got presents to wrap, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I keep this brief. Not many surprises to speak of this week, outside of SAO somehow ending on… uh, maybe the highest note it’s ever reached? Normally when SAO is okay, it’s because it leans totally on its fight animation – but this week didn’t even have a fight. Instead, it just ended the arc in a way that satisfyingly ties up the thematic lines and character journeys of this story. Huh. Funny thing. Maybe try that more often next time, SAO!

Anyway, enough praise for my nemesis. Let’s run ‘em all down!

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