We are well and truly in the thick of it now, folks. With five premieres on Friday, three more yesterday, and apparently four new ones coming today, I’m currently overwhelmed by cartoons to critique, and firing off reviews as fast as I can. Today I’ve got a fresh roundup of those ongoing reviews, along with some overall good news – so far, pretty much everything I was anticipating has actually turned out pretty great! You can check out the full list of shows and review links here, or scroll below for a list of my own rankings and individual page links. Let’s get to it!
Tag Archives: Anime
Summer 2019 – First Impressions, Part One
Well everybody, the summer season is well and truly here. We haven’t yet reached the full deluge of new arrivals (that delightful downpour will be arriving some time this weekend), but there have been a steady trickle of new premieres all through this week, and the time has come for my first review roundup. The opening to this season has actually been pretty gentle – not only has nothing been so bad that it tarnished my remaining faith in human nature, but we’ve actually already run through two shows I would genuinely recommend, and one I’m almost certainly going to be sticking with for the season. As usual, you can check out the full list of ANN previews right here, or scroll below for my quick ratings and links to individual reviews. Let’s get to it!
Why It Works: Meet the Staff of the Upcoming Fire Force!
Today on Why It Works, I dug into the key staff behind the new season’s Fire Force, because holy crap does this show have a great staff. The director Yuki Yase in particular has been a force at SHAFT for years now, and though it’s sad to see SHAFT losing so much key talent, I’m excited to see what he does with a major production like this. The wild card, as always, will be the writing – there’s plenty of strong studio talent here, but if the obnoxious comedy that knocked me off Soul Eater is prominent enough, none of that will matter. Here’s to hoping Fire Force is a story worthy of its excellent team!
Meet the Staff of the Upcoming Fire Force!
Scorching Ping Pong Girls – Episode 7
Settle in everybody, we’re watching more Scorching Ping Pong Girls! After a long run of match-filled episodes introducing the main team, Ping Pong Girls slowed down for the first time last episode, and used Hokuto’s family store to emphasize the importance of the unconditional friendships uniting our heroes. It was a charming episode that demonstrated Ping Pong Girls’ slice of life elements can be just as satisfying as its sports elements, while also clearly setting this show’s thematic axis on the importance of friends who love you for who you are. The use of color to illustrate how Hanabi’s presence impacted Hokuto’s life was an effective trick, and the villain Futamaru’s introduction was as wonderfully stupid as I might have hoped. On the whole, as always with this show, it was a very nice time.
That episode also left me more than eager to see these girls actually engage in some doubles matches. I’ve never seen a slice of life property pair up its characters quite this aggressively – every member of Agari and Koyori’s team has a specific partner they trust completely, and having spent so much time building up these relationships, I can’t wait to see those bonds paid off through thrilling acts of teamwork on the ping pong court. With only half a season left, my guess is that we’re about to witness a disastrous practice match that will both set up the threat of our opponents and serve as motivation to succeed in the actual tournament. But either way, I’m happy to be watching more of this consistently charming and often thrilling production. Let’s get to it!
Spring 2019 – Week 12 in Review
Anime was good again, folks! After a punishing drought, my seasonal contenders emerged with episodes that were, if not full returns to each of their strengths, at least indicative of their potential. Demon Slayer had one of its most visually astounding episodes yet, with the tight geometric confines and perspective-based conceit of its latest battle allowing ufotable’s team to pull off a truly astonishing spectacle. Carole & Tuesday finally felt like it was regaining some momentum, and gave us our first new song by its leads in three weeks. And JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure continued to center its drama on an extremely no-nonsense talking turtle, a choice which obviously justifies itself. There’s plenty more details to discuss, so let’s dive right into another Week in Review!
10 Anime to Inspire Your Summer Vacation!
Today on Why It Works, I’ve got another topical list for everyone, courtesy of the end-of-season drought of things to actually critique. This one’s a pretty fun list though, and runs down a pretty wide array of shows I’ve enjoyed over recent years, highlighting them for tonal strengths that are sometimes overshadowed by their overt premises. Here’s the list!
10 Anime to Inspire Your Summer Vacation!
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episode 11
Having most recently tasked our heroes with mastering Dance Dance Revolution in order to defeat an angel in a dance-off, followed by wrestling in a volcano while wearing a fat suit, it should be clear at this point that Evangelion’s reputation as a grim and self-serious production is perhaps a touch overstated. While we’ve already run through episodes that grapple frankly with topics like social isolation, anxiety, and depression, the arrival of Asuka has heralded our entrance into the middle act of Neon Genesis Evangelion, where it most closely resembles a conventional episodic giant robot show. Shinji has gained friends and allies, the full NERV team has been established, and the stage is properly set for a menagerie of bizarre angels to attack NERV. But all of that is not to say that this stretch of episodes is lacking in aesthetic craft or distinctive personality – on the contrary, episode eleven’s pacing and directorial style offer one of the most clearly defined and energetic personalities of the show so far.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s – Episode 8
Alright everyone, we’re diving back into Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. The show’s previous episode was a goddamn barn-burner, both illustrating Fate’s continued integration into a loving civilian life, and also pulling off some of the most technically impressive fights of the series so far. To be honest, that feels like the Nanoha A’s experience in a nutshell – a looping sequence of thinking “surely they can’t top THIS fight,” only for that fight to be dutifully topped by whatever clash happens next. And in episode seven’s case, the introduction of cartridge shells to both of our heroines’ staffs meant their attacks grew in both power and flexibility, leading to Vita almost getting nuked out of orbit.
Instead, our masked spoiler arrived, saving Vita and stabbing Fate in the back. Right now my money’s on that guy secretly being the old admiral, but I have no in-text reason for that suspicion – it’s solely a “well, they introduced this guy and haven’t done anything with him, so maybe he’s secretly evil” meta-textual assumption. Whether we receive some actual clues or focus on some other thread entirely, I’m very ready to continue this bombastic adventure. Let’s check out Nanoha A’s!
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 4
Folks, I’d say it’s well past time we settle down for another episode of Girls’ Last Tour. This production has been a charming and profoundly atmospheric show from episode one, with the sound design, use of color and space, and general pacing consistently elevating the show’s world from a narrative conceit to an immediate, tangible reality. From the start, the show has embraced the unique emotional appeal of the apocalyptic travelogue, contrasting a global situation that seems completely hopeless against a friendship that at least provides a light in the dark.
Last episode, the thematic subtext which tends to always underline this subgenre rose up into the actual text. The introduction of Kanazawa, an actual human in the wasteland, led the show to frame its thoughts on purpose and hope in the starkest of terms. While Chi and Yuu at least have each other, Kanazawa’s source of meaning was the map he was creating – in a world gone to ruin, he found hope through his dream of cataloging the fading city. But when his map blew away in the wind, Kanazawa was forced to ask himself why he really keeps moving, and what purpose he can actually serve in this world. Ultimately, Kanazawa was consoled by the unexpectedly profound words of Yuu: “you don’t need a reason. Good things happen sometimes.”
Yuu might not understand the gravity of those words, but “you don’t need a reason. Good things happen sometimes” is one of my favorite thematic arguments. Life is messy and unsatisfying, and we often won’t get the clean endings or earned payoffs we feel we deserve. Life is like people in that way, and just as I love shows about messy people, I love shows about messy lives, stories where our heroes just have each other, and ultimately discover that maybe that’s enough. In the realm of apocalyptic travelogue, “good things will happen sometimes” stands alongside “at least we have each other” as the defiant counterpoint to society’s wholesale collapse.
In shows like Sound of the Sky or Planetarian or even Kemono Friends, the world as we knew it isn’t coming back – the time for gallant heroes who set things right has passed, and all such heroes are dead and gone. But people live on past society’s end, and though we don’t need society, we do need hope. Yuu helped Kanazawa rediscover that hope, demonstrating the grounding kindness and common-sense, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other attitude that has likely kept Chi standing as well. It was a terrific episode, and though I suspect we’ll probably be heading back to more scattered vignettes this time, I’m eager to see what wonders this city still holds. Let’s dive into another episode of Girls’ Last Tour!
Spring 2019 – Week 11 in Review
The spring season just doesn’t seem to be ending that well, unfortunately. Though this week’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was hindered more by the inherent limitations of an exposition-focused episode, both Demon Slayer and Carole & Tuesday felt like they were running out of momentum, and too often lingering on their worst elements. Demon Slayer in particular is definitely hovering in the drop range at this point – the show’s writing is consistently terrible, and the reintroduction of the insufferable Zenitsu made it feel like the show was outright challenging me to keep watching. At this point, I’m pretty sure I’m only sticking with the show until the summer provides some new bright-eyed anime children to suffer my inevitable disappointment – but until then, I’ve got plenty of grievances to share with all of you. Let’s break down another resoundingly mediocre week in anime!