Neon Genesis Evangelion’s first several episodes all essentially slot into their own two episode arcs, each centered on their own emotional conflict, and each with a unique Angel used to better illustrate those conflicts. The first two episodes centered on Shinji’s introduction to NERV, and being introduced to both his new caretakers and the threat he would be facing. The second pair center on his feelings of depression, and his slow process of coming to terms with living in Tokyo 3. And here in our third mini-arc, we at last find ourselves with enough grounding to expand our focus outside of Shinji Ikari. In this third arc, we focus for the first time on the mysterious Rei Ayanami.
Tag Archives: Anime
Fall 2018 – Week 9 in Review
At the three quarters marker of the overall season, this would normally be the point where shows start ramping up towards their final acts, and setting the pieces in place for whatever confrontation is likely to dominate their last couple episodes. However, with two of my shows continuing into winter and Tsurune so delayed in its broadcast, this turned out to mostly be just another week, as shows like Run with the Wind and JoJo turned in relatively workmanly episodes, and only Gridman truly swung for the fences. In truth, the big story this week was probably my continued efforts to catch up on Bloom Into You. I enjoyed the show’s first episode, but fell off it due to a combination of my already-full schedule and the fact that Bloom Into You wasn’t on Crunchyroll. That’s turned out to be a big mistake; four episodes in, Bloom Into You is already shaping up to be one of the best character dramas of the year, and a strong contender for my end-of-year list. It won’t make it on that list without a fight though, so let’s take a moment and see how all of its seasonal compatriots are holding together. It’s time to run down the Week in Review!
Giant Robots and Absent Friends: The Split Identity of SSSS.Gridman
Today on Why It Works, I explored a topic that’s been intriguing me all season – Gridman’s pronounced divide between its two principle genre modes. Obviously giant robots shows care about their characters in general, but Gridman seems to be making a genuine point of splitting its drama into categories defined by unique styles of direction, animation, and storytelling. It’s a neat trick that seems to genuinely reflect the show’s themes, and something I was very happy to talk about. Here’s the piece!
Giant Robots and Absent Friends: The Split Identity of SSSS.Gridman
Winter 2019 Season Preview
It’s a miracle, folks – for once, I can’t really say “how are we already approaching the winter season.” By all accounts, 2018 has been one of the longest years on record, spanning for actual decades and leaving us all withered and creaking. Remember Violet Evergarden? That actually came out this year. Hell, remember Planet With? That only ended a couple months ago! With each new day in the real world offering some fresh disaster and further hastening the End of History, it feels like I’ve lived fifty years over the last ten months, and 2018 still isn’t over. Fortunately, though the real world may be perpetually on fire at this point, anime seasons have maintained a welcome solidity, and given us all something to look forward to.
On that note, let’s get to the shows! Winter anime seasons seem to have a tendency to have the lightest schedule and fewest heavyweight releases, but this one’s actually looking pretty rich on potential pickups. And with both JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Run with the Wind continuing into the new year, we’re certainly not going to be having an anime shortage any time soon. As usual, I won’t run down every show of the new season here – you can check out anichart for a list like that. Instead, I’ll just be covering the shows I’ve got genuine expectations for, along with whatever tipped me off to their potential quality. Starting with my most anticipated new shows, let’s see what winter 2019 has to offer!
Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 40
Settle down kids, it’s Doremi time and that’s final. In our last episode, Ojamajo Doremi proved it can actually weave Onpu’s ongoing antagonism into the show’s usual classmate-focused mode, as she brainwashed a hapless upperclassman into briefly falling for our orb-haloed heroine. “Doremi in love” episodes are always a bunch of fun, and this one was no exception, while also benefiting from one of the strongest sets of layouts the show has put together yet. Between last episode’s love drama and the episode before’s kaiju shenanigans, it feels like Doremi’s visual mastery of its own drama is improving over time, which is almost frightening to me. If Doremi gets too much more visually appealing, I’m not sure any of us will have the power to stop it.
Beyond its own inherent appeal, last episode also ratcheted up the urgency of dealing with Onpu’s witch delinquency (witchlinquency?). She’s not casting constant illegal spells at Ruka’s command – she actually just is That Bitch, and even Ruka is totally unable to control her. She’s also made it perfectly clear that she feels no guilt or responsibility for her actions, so it’s probably going to take a disaster closer to home to make her realize what a turd she’s being. Whether this week sees us challenging Onpu directly or rambling through more classroom drama, I’m eager to see whatever’s in store. Let’s dive into another episode of Ojamajo Doremi!
Bloom Into You – Episode 3
Buckle up folks, it’s time for another episode of the altogether excellent Bloom Into You. The show’s first episode offered a poignant and consistently convincing glimpse into our heroine Yuu’s worldview, and the followup extended that grace of illustration to her “friend” Touko and the greater world around them. So far, director Makoto Katou’s fondness for rich colors and saturated lighting have aligned perfectly with Bloom Into You’s dramatic intentions, creating a world that can alternately feel lonely and claustrophobic or as fancifully beautiful as a shoujo confession scene. The careful execution of sequences like Touko kissing Yuu have created a consistent and fascinating tension between the world as Yuu experiences it, and the world as she’s been led to believe it’s supposed to be. The conflict playing out in Yuu’s thoughts is thus beautifully echoed by the world around her, resulting in a show whose visual style perfectly mirrors its dramatic priorities. When you couple that compelling aesthetic holism with the show’s generally strong dialogue and compassionate approach to its core conflict, you end up with an altogether excellent high school drama. If the show can keep this up, we’re in for a very rewarding journey. Let’s embark on our next episode!
Fall 2018 – Week 8 in Review
As we continue into the second half of the season, all my anime contenders seemed to have settled into themselves at this point, offering a variety of sturdy and compelling episodes. The highlight this week was Yamada’s star turn on Tsurune, but there was plenty to enjoy in Gridman as well, and Run with the Wind is still probably the most consistent new show of the season. I was sad to bid goodbye to the Mistress of Cruelty over in puppet theater country, but outside of that admittedly personal complaint, I really don’t have much to gripe about. It’s a good season, folks! Good dramas, good action, good anime all around. That might make for repetitive Week in Review intros, but it also makes for a very happy Nick. Let’s get right to it then, and see what we’ve got to celebrate as we break this week down!
Why It Works: It’s Time to Catch Up on the Thrilling Mob Psycho 100!
Today on Why It Works, I’ve got a big ol’ pitch for Mob Psycho 100, the terrific spectacle that I’d personally place as the best action show of the last five years. I loved Mob Psycho while it was airing, and I’m very excited to return to it this winter season. It’s nice to have at least one show you’re basically certain is going to kick ass, and Mob Psycho feels as sure a bet as basically anything. Here’s the piece!
It’s Time to Catch Up on the Thrilling Mob Psycho 100!
Ojamajo Doremi – Episode 39
Pack it in folks, it’s time for more Ojamajo Doremi. The show’s last episode featured a welcome return to the show’s most reliable and rewarding mode, as we were introduced to Doremi’s classmate Ryota and his profound love of giant monsters. Like many of Doremi’s best episodes, there was no clear moral hook to Ryota’s tale – it was simply a quiet story about the hurt we can cause each other as friends, the legitimacy of all our passions, and the need to forgive. Its conclusion may have been boosted a bit by the introduction of a magically summoned kaiju, but that didn’t make it any less of a sensitive human story.
That episode also demonstrated that the presence of Onpu and Majo Ruka won’t necessarily be dominating our ongoing narrative. Onpu is basically just another classmate now, and though Majo Ruka is obviously up to no good, whatever good she’s not getting up to is apparently transpiring somewhere else. I’d like to see some stories that rope Onpu more directly into Doremi and the others’ lives, but so far she’s been pretty much an entirely antagonistic figure, and I’m not sure the show is going to make her sympathetic before we formally clash with her and Ruka. In light of that, I’d be fine with basically any direction this episode could take – classic classmate drama, Onpu-centric story that humanizes her a bit more, or direct confrontation with Ruka that also gives Onpu more substance. As long as it’s not more witch frogs, I think I’m good.
Alright, that’s enough preamble. Let’s see what’s in store for Doremi and her long-suffering friends!
Bloom Into You – Episode 2
Today we return to the so-far excellent Bloom Into You, and take another stab at surviving the teenage experience! The show’s first episode demonstrated a variety of unique strengths, from its attractive backgrounds and purposeful direction to its fairly convincing characterization and dialogue. Yuu’s insecurities and overall personality already feel reasonably well established, though she’s still mostly been characterized in terms of her feelings towards romance. Touko is a bit further away from us, but that’s expected and intentional – episode one was largely from Yuu’s perspective, and Touko is a mystery to Yuu.
The show is also demonstrating an extremely welcome sensitivity when it comes to gay relationships. I’m used to the inherently salacious “this is such a scandal” approach of shows like Citrus or Love To-Lie Angle, but here, two girls potentially being in love is treated with genuine sensitivity. Not only are Yuu and Touko’s feelings treated with respect, but the show has already naturally illustrated the inherent social pressure to conform to your assumed sexuality. Scenes like Yuu’s friends lamenting that her lack of interest in boys means they “can’t have girl talk” demonstrate how young gay people aren’t just beset by out-and-out bullies and bigots; the base assumptions of a heteronormative society can leave us isolated even from our closest friends.
Finally, I’m also very intrigued by Bloom Into You’s fractured relationship with shoujo storytelling. The show opened with Yuu outright declaring her fascination with love as depicted in adolescent fiction, and the first episode constantly presented a negotiation between interrogating shoujo storytelling and outright embracing it for its own purposes (like for Yuu’s fairy tale introduction to Touko). I’m fascinated by the uneasy relationship between not just our lives and our expectations, but also reality and the fictions we make of it, so Bloom Into You’s restless dance with fantasy is also very compelling to me. With all that said, let’s dive into another episode!