Sword Art Online – Episode 4

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Alright, back for more SAO. No big preamble this time – I thought the last episode was pretty solid, and I’d like to see them build on it. I mentioned at the start of that episode that I hoped they offered some context for Kirito’s choices, and I mentioned in the middle of the first episode that I wanted him to have more motivation, and last episode went a long way towards answering those complaints – his feeling responsible for Sachi’s death, and her final wish for him to survive and win, seem like pretty solid motivation. I’m guessing he won’t actually swear off human contact, considering both Sachi’s admonishment to not blame himself and the simple fact that a show where Kirito interacts with no one would be pretty damn boring, but I would like to see the show more effectively and meaningfully portray his alleged anxiety. So far, it’s been limited to him looking nervous for a minute or two before proceeding to be charming and commanding for the rest of any given episode, and if it’s actually supposed to be a character flaw, it has to have, you know, meaningful repercussions.

Alright, I guess that’s my Nice Job and Needs Improvement breakdown for last episode. Let’s Sword Art Online!

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Critical Evaluation, Part Two: One Given Perspective

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Hey guys, back for Part Two of my critical evaluation piece. In Part One I argued, briefly, that art is valuable insofar as it imparts value upon the observer, and that in the collision between personal values and systems of aesthetic interpretation, we all have our own biases in such matters. Now, with that all said, it’s time to dive right in to my own stupid biases that make my evaluations crap that nobody should listen to. What kind of critic am I? Well, I’m actually pretty transparent.

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Sekai Seifuku – Episode 9

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Conquest time! Once again, probably gonna keep these notes pretty brief. Depends on the episode, though – if this turns into an incisive exploration of the intersection of family, youthful idealism, and reality, that might not be the case. Anyway. On with the show!

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Kill la Kill – Episode 21

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Well I was planning on saving this episode for tomorrow (I’ve done my posts for tonight), but friggin’ twitter won’t shut up about whatever nonsense happens, so I might as well run through it before all my actual reactions are spoiled. Ryuuko’s gone Ryuuserker™ for the seventeenth time, and is now wearing Junketsu of all things. Satsuki’s countering with Senketsu, though her ability to counter Life Fiber-synchronized Ryuuko will likely be more dependent on Sister Power than any, you know, actual power. But that’s pretty much how it’s always gone in this show – fights occur at random and are resolved however the show feels like resolving them. So now that we’ve established once again that analysis is useless in the context of this ridiculous show, let’s Kill la Kill.

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Sword Art Online – Episode 3

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Back on the Sword Art Train! Last episode was, well, pretty messy. Not only did it seem bizarrely dedicated to proving the wretchedness of the non-beta characters (for multiple definitions of beta even OH SHIT SWOOSH sorry), its ending had pretty much the same issues the first episode did – a combination of awkward narrative leaps to get the story where it’s supposed to go and a theatrical flair that turned drama into self-parody. And at this point, one of the central complaints generally leveled at SAO is becoming clear – the show really, really wants you to identify with Kirito, and some of the choices it’s making on that front are, well, pretty silly from a non-Kirito-aligned perspective. The one-man-army fight, the Batman speech, the trenchcoat. And this all gets back to things I’ve always said about how characters are defined.

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Winter 2014 – Week 9 in Review

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With the season nearing its end, we’re beginning to get the expected ramp-up from most relevant shows. Which I’m actually excited for – I’ve obviously had pretty negative feelings about this season overall, but it’s not like I want the shows I’m watching to disappoint. Samurai Flamenco, Nagi no Asukara, and Kill la Kill all had very good weeks, and pretty much everything had at least a respectable episode. Except… well…

Alright, this first one is a little ranty.

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Critical Evaluation, Part One: The Human Element

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So, I recently decided I’ve watched maybe enough shows to put together a useful Top Shows list, and in light of that, also decided it’s probably time to lay out a few of my own evaluative patterns and biases. I’ve talked about evaluation before – I covered it briefly in this piece, where my three main points were that people seek many different things in media, that evaluating shows requires taking their own goals into account, and that I believe not all goals are equally artistically valuable. But all of that doesn’t really tell you much about me – it’s just about systems in general, and if you’re going to get much use out of a “top anime list,” you really need more context than “these shows are great because I say so.” Who am I to say so? Well, the person who wrote all those essays on the right, at least. But can I offer a little more clarity than that?

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Sekai Seifuku – Episode 8

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Alright, guess we’re meeting Asuta’s sister? In a normal show, the fact that she’s clearly a member of White Light would reflect back on the show’s central theme of family in a thoughtful, generally coherent way. But this is Sekai Seifuku, so who knows what the fuck is gonna happen. Let’s get to it!

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Sword Art Online – Episode 2

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And we’re back for more Sword Art Online. The first episode was… alright. I like the visual aesthetic, and some of the game elements were nicely portrayed, but the characters didn’t grab me and the plot seemed pretty contrived. The villain in particular killed my suspension of disbelief pretty much immediately – it seemed like it was supposed to play as serious drama, but his theatrics were just very silly. You don’t need blood rain to sell a crisis! “I’m going to kill all of you” is actually more scary coming from someone not dressed in a robe and wizard hat.

But that’s all peanuts if they use the setup as a platform to actually talk about something. So let’s see where we go from here!

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Kill la Kill – Episode 20

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A little behind on this one, meaning my impressions have already been somewhat infected with a tide of “RYUUUKO ;_____;” on my twitter feed, but I’LL TRY TO IGNORE THAT. Currently, I’m actually kinda pissed with Ryuuko – I’m hoping last week’s ending was a false cliffhanger, because if not, this’ll be the fourth time Kill la Kill has trotted out the “Ryuuko has to learn to trust Senketsu” conflict. Which doesn’t really work for me – not only does bringing this back up kind of invalidate the character growth of the prior conflicts, it also just makes Ryuuko seem like a pretty unsympathetic character. Which is fine, if that’s what they’re going for, but I didn’t get that impression – I assume I’m supposed to actually be invested here, not just exasperated. Ryuuko’s always been kinda one-note (Satsuki is far and away the most interesting character in this show), but having that note be “a belligerent jerk” is, well, pretty bold.

But apparently this episode is RYUUUUKO ;____; so I guess I’ll be eating those words soon enough.

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