Katanagatari – Episodes 1/2

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Okay, I’m gonna keep this reasonably sized if at all possible. Briefly…

Katanagatari! I’m actually pretty excited this one was picked, mainly because it’s always sort of hung on the borderline of shows I should probably get to, but ehhh the new Hunter x Hunter is out and I’m kinda tired anyway and etc etc etc. I really love what I’ve seen of the visual style, and the adaptation’s by White Fox, who’ve brought us both Steins;Gate and Hataraku Maou-sama! Both of those adaptations have significantly impressed me – I feel Steins;Gate deftly managed the herculean feat of adopting a VN with multiple routes in a way that actually made sense as a single central narrative, and Maou-sama has regularly juggled written humor, animation, and storytelling in a way that constantly reveals how much they’re refining the source material. So I’m guessing this show is in good hands studio-wise.

And then, of course, they’re adapting a work by Nisio Isin.

Honestly, I’m not the biggest Isin fan. I do like how much of his individual voice and personality goes into his work – the characters in Monogatari speak like characters in no other shows. But a part of that is because they speak in a way no human beings ever would – he stylizes his dialogue to the point of near self-parody, and often uses his characters’ mouths as faucets for his own insane ramblings, adding very little to the narrative or characterization.

And of course, that’s his style, and that’s what a lot of people like about Monogatari. And it might seem weird for me to be so critical of Isin, what with the amount of ink I’ve spilled covering Bake and Nise – but honestly, almost everything that impresses me about that series can be attributed directly to Akiyuki Shinbo. His visual flare makes scenes that would be tedious vibrant, and his precise and goal-oriented direction makes a series that on paper would come across as pretty sketchily focused on the questionable sex drive of its writer actually rise as a fairly progressive and scarily ahead-of-its-class comment on sexuality and the medium. Isin himself is creative and driven, but what I get out of Monogatari exists largely in spite of him.

That’s not to say I generally dislike his stuff – I think his storytelling fundamentals are solid (the base concept of Monogatari is excellent, regardless of my feelings on his dialogue), I think he has occasional moments of dialogue or character-writing brilliance (the stars episode of Bake, every scene with Kaiki in Nise), and I pretty much have to respect such a distinctive and uncompromising voice. But without the counterweight of someone as talented as Shinbo, I can’t help but be a little worried this will end up being twelve episodes of Isin stand-ins bantering about nothing while holding swords.

Alright, that’s enough prologue. Let’s get right to it.

Episode 1

2:12 – Worries about direction so far unfounded. Excellent first scene

6:14 – Fears about Isin seem unfounded as well. These characters seem much more grounded than anyone in Monogatari

7:48 – …yeah, it’s still definitely Isin, though

9:01 – I like her soldier-appropriate bluntness, and I like his offhand confidence. This will probably be a good pair

13:45 – “You said no?” Great gag there. For a strategist, she’s not particularly adaptable – repeatedly going ahead with her preplanned strategy for situations regardless of actual circumstances

23:40 – I like these characters, but there is a bit of that problem I was anticipating – Isin just lets himself go entirely when it comes to dialogue, and without a very dynamic visual style (though I do like the character designs), it makes scenes drag on. But this is the first, establishing episode, so they’re dumping a lot of exposition and establishing the initial character rapports. Hopefully their relationship itself will be dynamic and interesting enough to maintain momentum in the future

24:40 – “Does everyone from the mainland talk as much as this?” I’m really liking this guy

29:00 – The ninja insulting his father’s style prompts maybe his first unreserved display of emotion… no, wait, that was when the ninja damaged “the house his father built.” So yeah, pretty clear where our protagonist’s priorities lie

36:51 – Right in the gut! Welp, glad they didn’t drag out that tired trick

37:23 – “Can’t recognize faces that quickly.” That’s pretty great

40:31 – Hahahaha. Trying to turn him against her by explaining how all her actions stem from reverence for her father? Yeah, that’ll sway him

And Done

Very nice! That episode cleaned up nicely in the second half, and that last speech was excellent. Shichika’s motivation and respect for Togame are abundantly justified, though her own feelings towards him will take some more explaining/expanding (plus, so far her status as a strategist has mostly been played for laughs – it’ll be nice to see she isn’t entirely terrible at her job). The visual design is great, and both protagonists have strong, distinctive personalities. Their epic quest is suitably epic and questy. Isin’s tendencies towards endless wordiness haven’t been stifled entirely, but they’re certainly more controlled than in Monogatari, particularly in the second half, and Shichika’s personality seems like it will act as a natural buffer against the banter. More, please!

Episode 2

1:43 – Jeez, complaining about him sticking out, Togame? You’ve got main character written all over you

2:44 – I really do like this art style for the characters, with each of them being defined by such distinctive repeating colors and symbols. Shichika’s new outfit maintains the brown leaf visual motif of his prior one, which also matches the actual shape and color of his hair – he’s perfectly recognizable even in silhouette

4:23 – “I can’t kill them? Is that a mainland custom?” Man, basically everything Shichika does makes me like his character more. He doesn’t really have anything resembling a default sense of morality – he just has specific things he values, and otherwise acts in the most direct and unassuming manner possible. Togame’s certainly a solid articulation of her style of character, but Shichika seems to actually be pretty damn unique

7:31 – What do you even call a scene like this? Togame’s too proud and Shichika too blunt and unconcerned with standard customs for this to actually read as very tense – it’s like they’re already an old married couple. Isin certainly has some ideas about intimacy

10:31 – I like how he takes one step for every three of hers, as well as how well their personalities are portrayed in their walking body language alone

12:11 – “No matter how I worded it, that ninja stood out more than you.” C’mon Togame, surely you can appreciate the novelty of a protagonist who gives this few fucks.

Also pretty typical of Isin to draw attention to how interesting his protagonist is

13:15 – “There’s a ninja who always speaks backwards.” “What’s the point of that?” “He’s trying his hardest not to be boring.” Are we still talking about ninjas, or are we referring to shitty writers at this point? Like how so many films after Pulp Fiction thought unorthodox structure and witty banter were the key to success – no, it’s mainly just making something that’s good

13:45 – “The readers will come to understand you better.” Curse you Isin, who told you I was weak to meta storytelling humor?!?

15:40 – Yeah, Isin’s pun-based nonsense from Bake just tends to bore me, but if his banter is going to be about the annoying hoops crappy writers set for themselves, I am totally on board with this

19:18 – I like how they don’t even need an interior monologue for him anymore, I can still hear “Why won’t she stop talking. Why won’t she stop talking.”

19:47 – Who’s this grandmotherly narrator, anyway?

30:58 – “I’d be the laughing stock of my dead fathers.” Man, sins of the fathers left and right up in this show!

Also some nicely underplayed jokes throughout, like her justifying her elaborate outfit by musing on how it protected her from the sword

31:40 – “I am most definitely a swordsman.” I wonder if they’re doing something with the implications of that term. I’ll keep an eye on it

43:00 – “I just wanted to protect something.” More parallels with Shichika. I like where these ideas are going

17:15 – This whole speech about the importance of final words is giving me a baaad feeling

And Done

Again, fun stuff. The style is great, the characters are excellent, and I’m interested in seeing where they take these themes of family, legacy, and impermanence. I get the feeling I’m probably missing a decent bit of cultural relevance, what with my only passing familiarity with the spiritual side of classical Japanese swordsmanship, bushido, and the tenor of the warring states period, but it’s such a vivid and interesting setting regardless that I can’t feel too bad about that. It also can’t be an accident that three of the four developed characters (our main two and this second episode opponent) are trapped in cycles brought on by their family – that plus the fact that Shichika and Togame ought to be born enemies makes me think there’s pretty much no way this series will end happily. I know it’s an odd comparison, but this show is kinda reminding me of Cowboy Bebop – the snappy protagonists, the distinctive and comprehensive style, the distinct but thematically linked episodic adventures, and that base theme of living in the inescapable shadow of your past…

Anyway. Starting to ramble at this point. These episodes were really interesting, and I’m looking forward to more.

Fundamental Biases and Art Evaluation

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Management: This one was a really excellent question, and this topic is definitely something that critics need to be more willing to engage with and admit to. Hopefully this little confession won’t invalidate all my future criticism or anything.

You’ve previously talked about the distinction between personal enjoyment and artistic evaluation, and how what you like isn’t necessarily the most artistically impressive anime. Could you talk a bit about any fundamental biases you’ve noticed in your own anime appreciation/evaluation?

Oh, I’ve got a ton, in both the positive and negative directions.

On the positive side, I’ll definitely slant towards introspective and character-focused works over narrative or theme-based ones, though obviously this can change based on my perception of how well they accomplish what they try to do (Madoka’s all narrative and theme, and I absolutely love it). It generally goes Character->Theme->Narrative for me. I’m also a sucker for great or even decently well-articulated romance, and can follow one well-written and intriguing character through a generally mediocre show. I think pretty much the only things Ano Natsu had going for it were okay dialogue and decent chemistry between the main romantic pair, and that was all I needed to finish it. I also highly value snappy dialogue, and interesting narrative or pacing tricks and experiments (like the mini-arcs Gargantia builds out of various thematic points). I also really like imperfect shows that reveal a very distinctive creative vision, or, at the opposite end, shows that reveal a great mastery of storytelling craft fundamentals.

On the negative end, I could not care much less about setting and worldbuilding – they’re close to irrelevant to the way I evaluate art, and while I prefer a nice background world to a generic one, either way it’s window dressing for me. A character whose personality seems designed to make the audience happy, or moderate general fanservice, will rapidly sink a show for me. Leaden dialogue will sink a show even if the visual design is great and the story fairly well plotted. Narrative or dramatic cheating will often sink a show, particularly if that show wants you to invest in the reality of its world. Visual design in general is secondary to what I like about anime – again, if it’s got it, great, but it’s not what I’m there for and it won’t save a show. Sound design is also gravy – I’m in shows for characters, themes, and storytelling, and while everything outside of the writing can do great things to supplement or raise up those elements, they will pretty much always be supplementary, not central to my appreciation. Some shows do rise above this – KyoAni, the Monogatari franchise, and recently Brain’s Base have done a great deal of their character-building and storytelling through visual cues. This I really appreciate, and would like to see more of.

That’s all I can think of at the moment, but everyone has a million of them, and it’s a really interesting topic.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 9

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Last week’s episode was great, and time is now running out – if this show wants to make any thoughtful and unrushed points, it’s going to have to make extremely good use of the Flange-Gargantia separation. Considering the slow pacing of the show so far, I’m very interested in seeing how we’ll reach a satisfying conclusion in the episodes we have left. Let’s get to it.

Episode 9

0:34 – Well, I guess that answers that question. No wasting time here – directly from the separation to the moment of truth. I like this – last week already gave us all of Amy’s and Ledo’s reservations, we don’t need to repeat that. It’s time to see the consequences of their choices

1:04 – The glow of the whalesquids makes it seem very likely that the theory of them being critical to the glowing waters is correct, especially since this show actually is pretty careful about what that turquoise blue represents thematically

5:45 – Well, that explains that – both Pinion’s personal feelings towards the whalesquid, and his conviction that disturbing their territory is valuable. Seriously, if I didn’t have the meta genre awareness to know these sorts of decisions always turn out badly in media (arguments based on visual thematics don’t really translate well to the real world… “obviously attacking the whalesquids is a bad idea, their glow is the same color as Amy’s eyes!”), I’d be completely on board with Ledo, Pinion, and Flange – their decisions are completely reasonable

8:54 – “Look at all those lightbugs! That spray of water was glowing!” Chances of whalesquid being critical to current earth ecosystem has risen to 78%

9:32 – Oh jeez, what kind of horrific industrial plant will this be? Are we gonna find out how humans created whalesquids, or how they destroyed the original earth? Or will this just be a big explosive deathtrap waiting to happen

11:37 – I actually like Pinion well enough as a character, but I kind of wish they’d seeded this brother stuff a little more consistently throughout. I know the main focus here is more the battle of ideals between Gargantia and Ledo, but I think they could have complicated that a bit more with Pinion’s personal grudge without devaluing his general argument – for instance, if that flashback had come earlier in pieces, people probably would have had less complaints about Pinion’s mission being based too much on conjecture. I get the feeling this is another consequence of the show having multiple writers – it’s difficult to micromanage the distribution of narrative strains like that when you’re not writing the whole story yourself

13:43 – Classified Information. Beautiful. So yeah, that likely confirms a vast chunk of the hypothesized connections – humanity’s own culpability in the state of the earth and creation of the hideauze, a set of information that would only make for less dedicated soldiers, resulting in it being conveniently classified.

17:10 – HOLY SHIT

18:48 – HOLY SHIT

And Done

Ahahahaha. Oh man, slice of life indeed.

So I guess the “humanity created the hideauze” hypothesis was, uh, correct. In a fashion. And it certainly makes sense why the Alliance would classify that information! Also, Ledo basically just single-handedly committed genocide. Are these evolvers actually sentient? The last one seemed to be, but the others didn’t really try to communicate in any way – are they basically saying the original evolvers have shifted to being more primal organisms, or has the show just withheld any hints of sentience for the sake of this reveal?

At the moment, I can’t fully sort out how I feel about this turn. I didn’t really want the show to demonize the Alliance, and I still think Ledo’s actions are reasonable from the position of the life he’s lead, but I feel like literally humanizing the hideauze is too easy of an answer. One thing that is very interesting to me is that Ledo felt absolutely no remorse about murdering all those obviously human pirates earlier on, but is completely devastated by this development – I think we can either chalk that up to character development or to his loss of faith in the great guiding light of the Alliance, or both.

Hm… yeah, overall, I think this works. There’s really no way anyone involved in Flange’s crew could have predicted they be wrong in this way – their actions are all still reasonable, and this basically just makes the larger space conflict one more in a series of conflicts where central powers dehumanize an Other to make for more committed soldiers. The other themes are still intact. We’re good to go.

With that cleared up… holy shit! Ledo just murdered like a thousand post-humans! And learned his life mission has been to murder thousands more! I think the show was basically completely neutral on the idea of the evolvers in the first place, which is awesome – I hate it when shows just pull out “meddling with nature is bad, fuck science,” and here it was obviously not the research itself, but humanity’s own gut reactions to things they don’t understand, as well as just the general fear of the times, that caused the current horrific conflicts in space. That’s awesome. The flashback itself told its story very well, and that scene where Ledo was absentmindedly incinerating the larva was chilling in its own right. And yes, of course, we finally got to that dark, cynical center at the core of every Urobuchi truffle – I honestly wasn’t sure if this show was going to go there, but, well, it went there. I also think we’ve resolved the separation in about as clean a way as possible – at this point, Ledo is clearly through. No possible outcome here could have been more devastating than this – I don’t know how he’ll recover. I am desperately hoping his reunion with Amy comes next episode, because it seems pretty obvious he’s not gonna get over this one alone.

Goddamn you guys. Goddamn.

Attack on Titan – Episode 9

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So! Lotta questions this week. Eren’s back, and was either controlling or actually became the fabulous-haired Titan. He’s apparently regenerated, as well. Where are they going with this?

Well, we certainly have clues – in particular, the foreshadowing from the first couple episodes is looking to finally become relevant. That shot of the syringe, his father talking about showing Eren whatever craziness goes on in their basement… obviously they didn’t include those moments for shits and giggles. Some crazy science has been done to Eren, and I’m guessing in the semi-near future that will likely be investigated. I can’t remember if we know what happened to Eren’s father, either – as I recall, he was last reported missing, right? So that and the basement itself are two valid threads to follow, and the idea of our squad performing a stealth investigative mission deep into Titan-controlled territory sounds pretty awesome.

But first our heroes should probably deal with all those fucking Titans wobbling around. Let’s get to it!

Episode 9

2:57 – Another flashback? Jeez.

It must be tough figuring out how to balance a show with this much exposition – one full episode of backstory, Titan attack. Two full episodes of training and character-introducing, Titan attack. Etc. I’m not sure this show (or manga, I guess, depending on how loyal they’re being to the source) has quite gotten the balance right yet – I’d like to see more of the information we receive portrayed in a more organic way, and not through direct monologues or flashbacks

3:14 – I guess we’ve found Sasha’s big sister?

4:26 – Haha, damn, this guy gets his own theme song? Looks like we got a badass here

6:00 – Man, this episode’s like an AMV of itself

7:15 – Damn! I mean, doing spinning flips and killing titans to J-rock is cool and all, but that was an actually nice little “you did good, soldier” speech he whipped out! I might actually like this character

8:25 – Now here’s the flashback we’ve been waiting for…

8:48 – That’s pretty brutal – any soldier who gets swallowed whole gets to die in digestive fluids, surrounded by dead friends serving as reminders of how hopeless their fight is. Cheery!

9:19 – The mystical flashback within a flashback. We need to go deeper

10:06 – “I’ll kill them with my own hands!” With your own hand, Eren. Let’s not lose sight of the important things, like dismemberment

11:35 – So it seems like he is pretty berserky in Titan mode. Probably for the best, story-wise

Also, is it just me, or is this Armin’s default expression?  Your face is gonna get stuck like that, Armin

12:49 – Again, that exposition pacing… I like how the end of the flashback immediately jumps to the next relevant moment in the story, but, I mean, how valuable was that Eren flashback in the first place? We learned Eren became a titan. Which we already knew. I guess we learned that he still kinda consciously controls it? That doesn’t seem worth a full flashback for, though. Most of the flashback was dedicated to Eren’s despair in the titan – maybe that’s key because him becoming a titan is dependent on an incredibly desperate emotional state, or something? I guess that could justify it…

14:50 – I guess I might also be misinterpreting the pacing of this episode because I assumed the last episode wasn’t actually the all-clear sign for the battle of Trost… but yeah, actually, the only conflict propelling the last couple episodes was the need for fuel to retreat to safety, so I guess they figured this cooldown phase is the best time to both introduce characters and get flashbacks/exposition out of the way. It still feels kinda uneven to me

15:12 – Man, you don’t have to tell us the balance between Mikasa, Eren, and Armin. Give the audience a littlecredit here

16:08 – “Don’t understand the question? That’s just what a titan would say!” Fuckin’ bureaucracy man

17:58 – It’s nice that someone actually acknowledges picking fights with Mikasa probably won’t end well for humanity in general

19:18 – “ARE YOU AN EOTEN.” Come on, Eren, you KNOW this one!

20:17 – Bam, there we go. Basement mission established

And Done

Whew! What a finale! Man, that whole episode I was pretty lukewarm on the pacing and heavy exposition, and then that last scene combines a high-tension action scene with a critical flashback that furthers the central mystery of the show and the journey of the main character at once, as if to prove to me the show just didn’t feel like being fast-paced earlier.

Eren displayed some pretty crazy control over his titanification at the end there, basically making just enough of a titan to be a shield for Armin/Mikasa. Once again, I’ll be interested to see how well they can maintain stakes now that Eren essentially has a superpower, and what limits they might impose to keep up the tension. Next week should be pretty interesting.

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru – Episode 9

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Alright. With the camping arc over, we now have five episodes left to develop our main characters. I’m told our current LN-eating trajectory is leading towards some kind of festival finale, and the show has been alluding to Yuki’s problems too often for her situation not to play a pivotal role in the episodes to come. That’s awesome – she’s a great character and clearly has the most strongly built defenses, and since the camera follows Hikki so closely, any development of her pretty much implies he’s going to learn more about her home situation. Over these past several episodes, they’ve clearly become something resembling friends, but I doubt Yuki will take his learning more about her hangups willingly – there is infinite potential for really awesome drama there. Let’s see it through.

Episode 9

3:10 – Oh man, that slanted half-acknowledging stance when you really don’t want to be added to the conversation but also don’t want to come across as entirely rude, so you split the difference and just look ridiculous.

4:08 – I love Hikki’s sister’s incredibly obvious schemes

5:09 – Jeez, Hikki uses that defensive sideways stance all the time. Adorable, and again indicative of how you can convey a lot of personality through subtle visual cues alone. This show isn’t visually ostentatious, but it’s pretty carefully directed

6:08 – “Trying to find meaning behind pure coincidences or random events is a bad habit unpopular guys have.” This is both true and possibly aimed at every other goddamn romantic comedy.

6:58 – Yui just waiting for him to haltingly act like a normal human being and suggest wandering around. All these characters bounce off each other so well

7:20 – A nice trick, contrasting Hikki’s verbal philosophizing of himself with Yui’s visual appreciation of the world around her. Again, solid direction

7:56 – Also amused by the thought that if he were with Yuki instead, they’d be in total agreement on analyzing and selecting the most temperature-appropriate activity for this juncture

9:25 – I could listen to Hikki monologue all day. It’s such a poignant stage of maturity – he’s confident in his total assessment of the little status games the people around him are playing, but he lacks the confidence, drive, or maturity to rise above them. He’s perfectly content just stating the rules aren’t fair and thus he doesn’t want to play – meanwhile, Yui might not be able to articulate the rules that well, but she’s perfectly capable of enjoying the evening on its own merits. Hikki’s confidence and sense of self are based on his ability to analyze the systems, but ultimately that’s just another way of being trapped by those systems

11:10 – “Can’t take honest complement without undercutting it.” Check check check

13:00 – Oh man, Yuki’s not gonna like this. Her sister’s giving out some pretty key info about their home life, and I’m guessing that in her mind, this will change the power dynamic between her and Hikki in a pretty intolerable way

13:19 – “That means Yuki’s not gonna be chosen again.” Jeez, so she knows about Yuki’s feelings… and she pitiesher. That’s gotta sting

14:27 – It’s kind of fitting that with a character as guarded as Yuki, we actually learn far more about her when she isn’t even there

15:18 – Silly of me to hope for an awkward response from Hikki. Of course he’s already rationalized a prepared deflection for a question as dangerous as “do you like her”

15:34 – Genre awareness is making me wonder when the scene where we finally see Yuki in her yukata is gonna happen, but they might actually omit that trope. I do like how this show doesn’t just blanket attack tropes, and instead has a knowing love-hate relationship with them

16:28 – “Not looking back at the past is sort of my policy.” Hikki, your whole life philosophy is based on idolizing the simplistic “lessons” you’ve learned from the past

18:10 – “The more you know, the more problems you have.” Can’t really deny that one

18:43 – They are foreshadowing some upcoming Yuki conflict really hard here. I can’t imagine Hikki’s heroic rescue going well for anyone

19:22 – It’s nice that they’re bookending this episode with Hikki’s declaration of disbelief in fate and Yui’s confidence that they were fated to meet someday. Writing!

And Done

Oh man, that ending was brutal! So much good stuff in this episode – even at the very end, there was the nice parallel where Hikki himself interrupted both Yui and Yuki as they were likely about to tell the truth and damage his cynical view of the world, drawing a nice portrait of how self-generated his system really is. Great, charming moments between Hikki and Yui, a whole lot of perspective on Yuki’s situation, and man, that last speech… gah, I can’t fucking wait for next week. This show.

-edit- Still thinking about that ending, and I didn’t really go deeply into it originally, so I might as well add an actual comment. The conflict they’re brewing here is pretty much perfect, not just because it pulls in all the actual dramatic strands they’ve established so far, but also because it acts as a direct attack on both Hikki and Yuki’s philosophies. Hikki himself admits the standards he was holding Yuki to are ridiculous – his ability to forgive her for betraying his illusions is going to require some kind of acknowledgment that his pessimism about human nature is unsustainable. And on the other side, the standards Yuki holds herself to are absurd, and yeah, she’s basically been betraying her own philosophy from the moment she pretended not to know Hikki. They both know their perspectives can’t last, but they’re both proud and defensive, and so the situation will probably only get worse. I think Yui’s going to have to break the ice on this conflict, and however it resolves, something’s going to have to change.

This is going to be a long week…

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 9

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Last week was awesome – in my opinion it was the funniest week yet, it pushed a couple plot threads forward in a very satisfying way (I particularly liked Chiho and Maou’s mature conversation about their feelings – lesser shows would stretch that kind of artificial drama out across full seasons), and it was the first episode where I really felt Suzuno added something wholly new and worthwhile to the cast. Hopefully that episode signaled an end to the kind of aimlessness 6 and 7 suffered from, and the start of more momentum-gathering leading towards the climax of this second arc. Let’s find out.

Episode 9

0:01 – On a tangential note, as I wait for the damn episode… after both having conversations on here and checking a variety of subs against others on my own time, I’ve switched to Commie on pretty much all applicable shows. As far as I can see, although they’re definitely somewhat liberal, their priority is maintaining the spirit of the original line while offering a translation that flows naturally in English. Though this does mean I have to suffer through occasional ostentatious Commie-isms (randomly colorful language, bullshit like Eotens), I feel that’s a price worth paying for the focus on those other priorities, and their general ability to construct conversations in an organic way. Just so you know!

3:13 – Man, I’ve worked retail. This sketchy fuck making manager is the least realistic thing in this show

4:13 – “Divided opinions, I see.” Man, the deadpan is so good

4:34 – So this is working on, what, three levels of misunderstandings? Her friend misinterpreting their relationship, Suzuno misinterpreting Emi’s motivations, Emi misinterpreting her own motivations, looping back around to the point where her friend is right, but for the wrong reasons?

Nice

4:51 – Yes Alsiel my god this scene just got so much better

I wonder if any scene in any show would not be improved by the addition of Alsiel. It seems difficult to imagine

5:20 – “We don’t have the financial leeway to fill the coffers of our enemies.” Alsiel, master strategist

7:00 – Maou stop it I can’t breath[1]  . Also love this scene of desperate strategizing, hearkening back to the Great Frier Catastrophe of episode 1

9:46 – “Primarily a real estate and personnel placement agency.” This is like a fucking OreGairu episode. It’s knocking down every pin the last one set up so perfectly that I have nothing to add

12:07 – Alsiel did not need to go on a hilarious, rambling three minute speech to continue being Best General. Was that… gasp! Was that for me?

13:05 – Goddamnit Rika, don’t go making those doe eyes at my Alsiel

14:04 – That creeper is like a third the size of Emi

14:45 – So, yeah, if I want to get all story-craft analytical on this absurdly perfect episode, obviously they’ve been highlighting the Sentucky manager far too consistently for him to be a one-off gag. It’s not guaranteed he’s either the villain or oshit you thought he was the villain but secretly he’s an ally of this arc, but there’s a very solid chance of it

20:52 – “He met the old man while doing community service earlier.” This show’s style of humor is so fucking good. Set up a classic dramatic reveal explanation scenario like this, and then just layer in ludicrous sappy ideas like Maou making friends with the elderly while he just happened to be doing some community service. So good

And Done

Fuck, it worked! They built up a perfect collision of all the central players, and then played them off each other to amazing effect within the confines of a tidy, well-established dramatic arc. Great jokes, great craft, plenty of Alsiel.

If anything did bug me, it’s that Maou and Emi’s relationship seems to have actually regressed over time – they were much more confrontational this episode than they’ve been from even the earliest episodes. Am I imagining this? It could just be in line with the LN writer realizing he had an actual series on his hands – they had pretty genuine camaraderie by the end of the first arc, but that seems to have largely dissipated, and that could be because losing their antagonism basically kills the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Either way, this episode was awesome. Looking forward to next week!

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – Episode 9

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Briefly:

I was reading Slaughterhouse Five earlier today.

No, that doesn’t mean I’m a high school freshman – I read the goddamn thing ten years ago already, and I don’t know why they assign that book in high school anyway. I don’t really know what you’ll get out of Slaughterhouse Five before you learn you’re actually going to die one day, and I’ve never met a high schooler who was fully aware they were going to die. Which is good in some ways, and bad in others – good in that everyone deserves their nostalgia, and bad in that I sure wish someone had told me prior to college that I was gonna die pretty soon, and I didn’t actually get unlimited chances to spend four years hopefully becoming a well-rounded, educated, and articulate adult human being.

Which brings me back around to this present day, where I am slumped in a booth on lunch break eating a slice of pizza and reading Slaughterhouse Five and listening to some drooling, sterilized pop-country dribble through the speakers and thinking about the hopelessness of human nature and how me writing irreverent takedowns of an ineptly written Japanese cartoon probably doesn’t do a whole lot to further our collective struggle for a just and humane future where we no longer spend all our energy killing and oppressing each other or trying to avoid being killed and oppressed.

Story over! No moral. Time for anime!

Episode 9

0:01 – Ahahaha that felt great. Seriously though, connecting through art is sweet and rewarding and absolutely valuable, I just wanted to coldcock you guys with that one. <3

0:55 – Did someone just throw that key through his leg? That was… exceeding helpful of them!

2:36 – Man, screw you guys. I was just sitting here all politely nursing a glass of water, trying to get over Con Plague from Anime Boston… but utter sobriety will clearly hamper my aesthetic, and so I’m going to get a beer instead. I damage myself for you

3:02 – “Lyrical Night Fright.” – HAH! They don’t make actual puns for the title every episode either! I’m off the hook!

Wait, that could just be a shitty translation. Fuck

3:31 – Iwai. What. Iwai. There’s a fucking… you see the key, right? The key. In front of you. Iwai, please. Iwai

3:51 – Iwai, this isn’t the Pokemon movie, your tears ain’t doing shit. Just – look, just take the key, and… Goddamnit Iwai

3:57 – Hurray, he’s alive! Incompetence wins again!

5:45 – “You disappoint us, sharkteeth.” Fortunately for him, if this show’s general methods of brutal assassination are anything to go by (throw a girl in a lake, rescue her, attempt to hypnotize her boyfriend into killing her… invite the target to a fancy gala, put him in a fursuit and his girlfriend in a cage, attempt to strangle him in an elaborately staged supernatural battle), I assume this poison will actually just temporarily turn him into a fish or something

6:10 – Nevermind, they’ve learned! If you want to kill someone in this show, double kill them

6:50 – “Man, these fifty daggers sure do sting… good thing that poison’s dulling the pain. cough It’s a shame they didn’t… triple kill me…”

7:13 – Wait, one of the Killing Goods is just A THOUSAND KNIVES? That’s, like, an ACTUAL weapon! Isn’t there a ruleagainst that? Sharktooth, check your rule… oh. You’re dying

8:14 – Kiri bites his tongue, his mind awash in regret. Sure, they had had their disagreements… like when they met, and sharkteeth tried to kill him. Or the next time they met, and sharkteeth tried to kill him. Or this, their third and final meeting, where sharkteeth tried to kill him. But goddamnit, this was no time for squabbling! He was gonna remember the good times!

8:26 – Apparently Violet Witches wave hello with their boobs

9:30 – Is it just me, or did that explanation not fucking explain anything?

11:12 – Man, you know you’ve got some good worldbuilding on your hands when the more they explain, the less sense anything makes

11:36 – “…and shot by a gun.” Oh, so the key just flew out of his robes, not through him. Also, apparently Iwai figured out what keys do some time during all that exposition

12:09 – Wait, there are actual crime scenes in this world? I thought the police shtick was just to add a sexy uniform to the strangling stuff

12:42 – …see, now that they’ve introduced actual police, I’m just thinking how Gossip is probably the least effective and most obvious criminal organization of all time. Like, what would happen if the police busted them? SWAT team busts in! Authors bust out gardening shears and featherdusters and back-scratchers! “THEY’RE RESISTING ARREST!” BAM BAM BAM.

13:42 – “I thought of him as a troublesome little brother… who I got off on being strangled by.”

16:23 – Why do I think this scene of them discussing the murder scene is, like, basking in sexual tension? What has this show done.

And Done

HOT DAMN. Well. Jeez. I, uh, hope you guys will forgive me for failing to commentate that last scene there! Apparently my prediction was not wrong. Nope. Can’t say that it was.

Cough

Well! Anyway. About halfway through that, I was planning to pause and say “Once again, this show proves it’s at its legitimate best when it’s just the main two together.” But after that…

Yeah, fuck it, this show is at it’s legitimate best when it’s just the main two together. That totally worked. It was weird and awkward and intimate and pretty much the core of the one meaningful thing this show has been thematically striking at the whole time. Nice work! I hope their relationship actually continues to progress and be articulated this honestly and distinctly!

The rest of the episode was textbook Crime Edge, so I have no complaints. That’s kind of the unique pleasure of watching bad but distinctive shows – sure, this guy might not be able to write a competent shonen battler, but he can certainly nail the occasional fumblingly romantic teenage gesture!

Anyway, I’m gonna take a cold shower. Cya guys next week.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 8

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Gargantia!

In my opinion, this is a really good show. I love the environmental design and general visual aesthetic, I love the subtle but persistent themes regarding identity and society, and I love the confidence and experimentation displayed through these linked but semi-episodic slices of life. I don’t think it’s the most consistent show I’m watching (probably Aku no Hana), nor the best (OreGairu), but I think it’s regularly excellent, and I would happily watch many more like it.

But there are persistent complaints against it, and some of them are well-founded – unwelcome fanservice, uneven pacing, and, in particular, the accusation of moral simplicity.

I don’t think this is Dances with Waterwolves. I think it has a lot more to say than “war is bad, natives are good, Ledo is wrong.” And I’m hoping these next couple episodes will vindicate my faith in this show.

Let’s get right to it.

Episode 8

2:16 – “I can’t go home.” Interesting. I like that they’re closing the book on that particular plot thread (I don’t think involving the space conflict would really contribute anything to this show’s ideas, and we don’t have enough episodes for that to be effective anyway), and this will force Ledo to actually find a permanent role in his new society. For him, the war has actually reached that “if you don’t have any more orders, what then?” point – but of course, for now he won’t see it that way, and will probably all the more fervently latch onto attacking the whalesquids to maintain some sense of purpose now that his center has been taken from him

3:03 – Thinking about that also made me kinda realize the likely futility of proving this show’s thematic purpose. While I see the conflict with the whalesquids as a stand-in for his hierarchical and single-minded society, anyone who wants to could even more easily just see it as a stand-in for the idea of war itself. Phooey

5:55 – “A fleet commander with lax regulations is a ripe target for pirates.” See? SEE? Man, I could go over a line like this all day. First, they’re drawing a direct comparison between strictness of government rule and success or failure as a society – the Flange/Gargantia split wasn’t being paralleled to the Ledo/Gargantia disagreement as far as societal structure went before, but it sure as hell is now. Because of this, the likely failure of Flange’s separation will point to the idea of mutual co-prosperity being preferable to a singular goal-oriented society, not just “war is bad.” Finally, Flange is actually right, and like Ledo’s reaction to the whalesquids being born of a frank and believable reaction to the circumstances of his life, his opinion here is practical and with strong merit – nobody is fully right in this situation, and a prosperous yet humane society requires more of a balance between pragmatism and idealism than either side is yet willing to accept.

8:13 – “I’m glad we shared this journey together.” I really like that they’re spending this much time to humanize Flange. The problems here are legitimate differences of ideas, and characterizing any of these people as villains would destroy the legitimacy of any points they’re trying to make (in addition to just being bad writing)

13:04 – “What you have to think about is who to rely on, and for what.” Which ties directly into Amy’s decision to abide by her commitment to her brother – this episode’s riding one thematic point pretty strongly, though I guess we’re just getting to the point where the pieces start fitting together. This Ridget stuff is also the most clearly directed towards young, uncertain graduates. Growing up is hard to do

13:13 – “You make good use of the things I salvage for the fleet.” Your own commitment to our society gives my contributions meaning – that’s why you deserve to be a leader. This episode’s fucking great

13:51 – Great, expressive animation of Amy here

17:12 – “A child who cannot fight cannot survive… I do not want Gargantia to become like the Alliance. I still have to fight.” Ledo’s motivation has shifted, but the song remains the same

And Done

Fucking bam. That episode was everything I love about this show, wrapped up in a fantastically structured mini-arc regarding the mourning of the fleet commander. That last scene with Ridget, the commander, and the Gargantians was built to perfectly, the most interesting ideas were more or less directly addressed, Ledo’s position was made even more clear and understandable, Amy’s feelings were more directly expressed than ever before… really, not a single complaint about anything. That was great. Screw the haters. Long live Gargantia.

Attack on Titan – Episode 8

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Last episode was pretty damn great. I thought Mikasa’s “regaining her resolve” scene was probably the best paced and best directed scene of the show so far, and the appearance of this sexy-haired titan definitely complicates their world in a possibly interesting way. I could see this turning the show in a more shonen and less tactical squad-based combat direction, which would make me unhappy, but we just don’t know enough to make a call like that this early. So let’s find out.

Episode 8

1:01 – It looks like they might be helping to manage the budget demands of a show like this by replacing cold opens with little recaps prior to the OP. I honestly didn’t think there were super-visible slips in quality earlier on, but I’m the story guy, so I’d probably be ignorant to this stuff even if it were fairly obvious. Either way, I don’t have much of a problem with this choice either – if they think it will better maintain the quality of the show, that’s a fine stance to take

3:04 – Okay, maybe recapping and then actually playing the last minute of the previous episode straight through is a little excessive. But I guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do

3:55 – Aw yeah, Armin using that big strategic brain of his. Good to see any of the characters exhibiting their individual strengths. That post-OP replay also kinda makes sense in retrospect, since it led directly into the pacing of the first new scene

6:02 – Also great to see Jean figuring his shit out – he’s one of the few characters that have really defined themselves outside of a single trait or two at this point, and the one I most want to see get more development going forward. They seem to be setting him up as another leader with a very separate style from the one Eren used, which I’m a fan of – blandly positive and hotheaded leaders are less interesting than caustic ones fighting through their own doubts and own personality to pull people together

Yeah, now that I think about it, Jean’s easily my favorite character in this show

6:33 – Goddamn is that titan’s hair ever lustrous

8:20 – “How many casualties did I cause… defending it is your goddamn job!” See, this shit is great. He’s an inherently antagonistic person, and he’s never had anything close to this level of responsibility, so he keeps veering between competent leader and the worst kind of team-breaking troublemaker

9:04 – We’re so proud of you son 

14:09 – The gang’s first tactical operation! Good, they’re doing this the way I’d hoped – no Mikasa-style crazy groundless showboating, and instead a specific plan using the squad in the best way they can think of. They even fit in a little time for banter between all the main squadmates. I’ll be interested in seeing how they concurrently develop the… what is it, nine or ten core characters of their squad?

Well, I guess they could always just kill a bunch of them off…

15:43 – KAWAIITAN LIVES

17:36 – Man, this show is just doing every single thing I wanted it to. I like how Freckles assumed squad leadership and stayed strong for the less capable squadmates during the operation, and I like him helping Jean through his doubts as well – it’s furthering Jean’s character arc while simultaneously establishing his own personality and role in the squad. Excellent

21:17 – Another well-directed scene here, with that slowly building song doing a lot of work

And Done

Nice, I like ending on such a quiet tone for once.

But more importantly, yeah, Eren’s back. We’re finally up the point I’d read to, so I can finally stop acting like a genre-blind idiot in these writeups and say, yeah, that was definitely happening. The huge Mikasa flashback kind of gave it away – placing a flashback like that directly after killing one of the two characters it develops just doesn’t happen, and with both Mikasa and Jean they directly combined that sense of general hope and purpose Eren instills in people with appearances by the shiny-haired titan.

How do I actually feel about this development?

Conflicted. I don’t know if this story really needed Eren, and the idea of a shonen where the standard “we can do it guys!” protagonist gets himself killed within the first arc is a pretty compelling one, and also pretty damn appropriate for this show. Having a story where everyone just has to pick up the pieces in his absence would be fairly interesting… but not all the characters were that invested in Eren in the first place, and as we saw this episode, they can pick up the pieces pretty damn well, so maybe there’s less to mine there than I figured. I do like how his presence means we have three very different styles of leadership between him, Jean, and Freckles, though I’m kind of worried about this becoming-a-titan development. Clearly that syringe from before is going to come into play… if Eren can actually control what he just did, it will be hard for them to maintain really harrowing stakes going forward – squad combat is a lot more interesting and fraught with peril than titan boxing. And of course, calling takebacks on a protagonist death always comes with the inherent risk of devaluing all the stakes of your story, so hopefully this isn’t a bad sign in that direction either

That said, I really liked this episode! It finally pulled the whole team together and started developing them as a unit and diverse set of internal relationships, and pushed forward a bunch of the individual characters. I find that stuff really compelling and one of the best ways to add some substance to action shows, so hopefully the focus stays on that going forward, and having Eren back doesn’t center the perspective too much around him.

Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 8

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Maou-sama!

I dunno, Maou-sama. You have a great deal of potential here. You’re a sharply written comedy with an endearing cast of characters, some subdued but poignant themes regarding capitalism and class awareness, and a lovely, expressive visual aesthetic. But these last two episodes, Maou-sama. I’m gonna be frank here: your performance has not been stellar. And I know, we’re amigos, and I appreciate all the times we’ve had. Please understand that I tell you this as a friend. But frankly… your themes have been abandoned, your character writing has been stagnant, and your humor… even your humor has been somewhat lacking. I’m sorry.

But I believe in you, Maou-sama! I know you can rise above these follies, and I tell you these things out of love. So please, do not take this as an attack. All my criticism is expressed with the warmest possible regard for your strengths – hell, I wouldn’t be saying any of this if you hadn’t impressed me time and time again.

But it’s time to step it up, Maou-sama.

So let’s get to work.

Episode 8

0:47 – Well there’s another Chiho face[1]   for the archives

2:48 – Man, every face she makes in another one for the archives…

3:57 – “Where’s the fried chicken?” I like it when comedies are confident enough to not highlight every joke, and I like how the shot of all their chopsticks grabbing the fried chicken kind of becomes a joke itself in retrospect

4:24 – Another face. You can get so much personality out of animation alone… it’s nice to see a studio outside of KyoAni or Trigger realizing this

8:30 – Niiice. It’s great to see them not dragging the Chiho/Maou misunderstandings out any longer, or trying to get any false drama out of it. And this is a pretty damn mature stance from Chiho, as well. Good stuff

9:22 – And now we get Maou’s honest feelings on the situation? Awesome. I hope this and OreGairu start a trend of characters actually talking about stuff, and not dragging out nonsense romance

9:48 – It’s also awesome to see a male MC having people fall in love with him because he’s, you know, mature and thoughtful and confident, not just because he’s the MC

10:45 – And again, instead of mining this Emi/Suzuno misunderstanding for diminishing comedy returns, they use it only for that one deadpan scene last episode and then a set-em-up/knock-em-down double-take here, keeping the plot moving while getting the best value out of the misunderstanding. I freaking love smart comedy writing – it’s got so much craft specific to it, and it’s great to see it done well

12:17 – Man, I love this show’s style of humor – just extending this ridiculous conversation, and continuously framing the shots so we keep focusing on the fact that they’re in this dingy subway terminal, so it becomes more absurd by the moment

13:47 – And then it bounces to a bunch of far more direct physical and visual comedy gags. Wow, this episode is so much better than the last one

14:48 – …and then they do a bizarre sort of un-joke with those annoying little cream capsules. I know it’s a very different style of show, but I find it funny that a gag Lucky Star would probably extend over like seven minutes is here used during exposition without even being acknowledged by the characters

16:35 – I was kinda hoping Emi would actually have to address how ridiculous her current stance towards Maou is here, but I guess that’s kind of the driving tension of the show at this point, so we don’t get to resolve all the things

17:43 – This fucking show[2]  

20:56 – I think it’d take a long time for scenes of Suzuno yelling at machines to get old

And Done

Awesome! Great episode. The plot’s finally in full gear again, we resolved a few of our lingering dramatic threads, the comedy was constant and really diverse, and I think this was the first episode where Suzuno really sold herself as a great addition to the cast. They’ve set up a great house of cards for next week as well, and I can’t wait to see however this turf war ends.