So I guess there are a lot of tragic backstories to go around. Akihito with his hands all bloodied up, Mirai with her murderings… life ain’t easy in this neighborhood. I’m hopeful the story continues to press forward at this pace – I think the first two episodes did a great job of setting up the central world and cast, and I’d hate to see a Free-like situation where one single thread of drama gets dragged out over twelve episodes. Granted, we already have much more going on than Free’s narrative ever did – we’ve got two separate lines of tragic backstory, we’ve got the romantic drama surrounding the central cast, we’ve got Mitsuki’s warnings about Mirai (which may just be related to Mirai’s past, granted), and we’ve got literal dark clouds on the horizon. So yeah, I think we’ve got a solid stew brewing. Let’s see what bubbles to the surface today.
Attack on Titan – Final Review
Welp, guess I better review the heavyweight.
Attack on Titan arrived at the head of quite the hype train this spring, based on both praise from manga readers and this impressive PV. Its OP inspired countless parodies, its sales were enormous, its cultural penetration extended far beyond the reach most anime could dream of. With good reason – most anime essentially self-marginalize themselves through overt anime-ism aesthetic choices that cut off significant potential markets. Titan does not do this – it’s an unapologetic action blockbuster with an evocative western aesthetic and a fundamentally compelling premise. Humans live in a massive renaissance-era walled city, titans try to break in, humans fight using sweet spiderman-esque maneuvering gear, action ensues. Let’s start with those strengths.
Monogatari S2 – Episode 15
Man. I’ve always thought Monogatari was an extremely interesting and generally compelling show, but this season…this season you guys. Absurd jump in quality. Neko Shiro is probably my favorite arc of anything in the series, Zombies versus Vampires From the Future Past was one of the most entertaining, and this one’s keeping up the hits. Great direction, a powerful portrayal and subsequent breakdown of Nadeko’s personality, and HanaKana going all pissed-off delinquent on us. And now here we are at the showdown – Nadeko’s been caught red-handed with a personality and desires of her own, something she’s only been moderately successful at hiding so far. We kind of already know how this discussion ends, but I’m game to see how we get there.
Nagi no Asukara – Episode 2
First episode was solid, excited for more. Without further ado,
Kill la Kill – Episode 2
Well here we are again, fuckers. First episode really did it, huh? Great visual aesthetic, tons of fun tricks of direction, stupidly fast-paced, unabashedly in love with its ridiculous self. Everything promised was delivered – the aesthetic, the intensity, the extremely ridiculous-looking uniform. As I said last week, this show basically outraces my method of breakdown, so the format might have to bend a bit to accomodate. Stay tuned.
Fall 2013 – Week 1 in Review
Dear lord. Alright, let’s… let’s try to do this.
Kyoukai no Kanata – Episode 2
Oh man. Get hyped. Loved the first episode – it was as gorgeous as always, rife with KyoAni’s trademark animation (applied both to small character gestures and actual action sequences) and once again making use of a blooming, nostalgic purple-pink color scheme. But there was actually a lot else there, too. We’ve got self-aware banter lightly poking at storytelling in general (a clear weakness of mine). We’ve got those very distinct shots of Mitsuki trying to use her sexuality against Akihito, both echoing Monogatari in framing style and gracefully establishing some relationship dynamics. We’ve the well-integrated exposition, sandwiched in jokes and patter, establishing a world without dictating that world to the audience. We have that interesting world itself, leaning towards dark fantasy but focused on character drama. We’ve got all those great horror-movie shots, setting this show in a tonal place very distinct from KyoAni’s general aesthetic. And of course we’ve still got derpy moe, for better or for worse – though Mirai has seemed more just inept than truly blobbish so far, which is definitely a good sign.
And there’s the timer. Alright, I’m excited. Let’s do this.
Monogatari S2 – Episode 14
Alright, time for another pretty, piercing episode of Monogatari. This arc has certainly not been a light-hearted one – pretty much the entire running time has been split between Nadeko being told off for acting passive and playing the victim and Nadeko secretly agreeing with her snake-shaped other self’s assessment of everyone else being the problem. As always, the apparition is just an unwanted, unacknowledged, or unaddressable part of your true self, and I’m really interested in seeing how they resolve this. Outside of Nadeko’s passivity, what is there to her? Well, the resentment towards others and possible underlying guilt, represented through the snake. Her childlike obsession with Araragi, who’s probably only appealing as a caretaker anyway. Her adolescent need to belong, and equally adolescent faux-sophisticated love of retro media. When you make her address her false self, who’s she even going to be?
Let’s get to it.
Uchouten Kazoku and the Meaning of Life
Management: Reviews are inherently an act of attempting to paint the personal as the universal, but this piece in particular is overtly meant to share my personal experience of this show. I hope you enjoy it.
“Coming of age stories” generally have a very specific connotation, particularly when it comes to anime. They tend to focus on adolescence – on the discarding of our youthful conceptions of self, and the beginning stages of establishing a true mature identity. But the reality is life is not nearly that simple. You do not simply discover yourself at some arbitrary point in your teen years, and from then on no longer feel existential dread about self or purpose. You don’t wake up one morning and suddenly realize it’s time to Do Your Best for the rest of forever, and somehow find yourself continuously fulfilled by that one measly resolution.
Uchouten Kazoku understands this. It understands life and self-actualization are never so convenient as most stories’ linear narratives would like to pretend. It understands that living is not a coherent progression – living is what you’re already doing while you try and make sense of it all. And Uchouten Kazoku embraces this; the small lessons, warm friendships, and tiny moments that seem may inconsequential from an outside perspective, but that make up life itself, and when fully embraced, fully lived in, can swell to be heart-seizing moments on a monumental scale.
Uchouten Kazoku is likely the best anime of the year.
Nagi no Asukara – Episode 1
Doin’ a test writeup here. Not the biggest Okada fan, but Kill la Kill may prove to be too fun to watch for me to want to write up, and I’ve gotta waste my time overanalyzing something. So let’s see.