Fall 2016 – First Half in Review

The season’s halfway point has arrived! Normally this is the part where I’d comment on how quickly time seems to be passing, and probably make some offhand gesture towards our inescapable mortality, but given we just concluded one of the most horrific and dispiriting political contests in my country’s history, it really doesn’t seem like time’s been passing all that fast lately. But if you wanted fatigued political commentary, you’d check my twitter feed – in spite of all else, the world keeps turning, and that means talking about cartoons!

This season has been offering us a terrific bounty so far, presenting close to half the shows that will likely star in my year-end list. The better shows get, the more small-minded and useless it seems to rank them in any kind of reductive list, but what’s the point of a tradition if it’s not celebrated far past the point of reason? So let’s once more do that thing I always do, starting at the top and running down my favorites of the season so far!

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Aikatsu – Episodes 1-3

Hey everybody! Today I’ll be powering through the first few episodes of what’s become something of an odd favorite in my twitter circles, Aikatsu. Aikatsu is a long-running show based on an arcade card game, and is definitely far more Serious Idoldom than relative “crossover hits” like Idolmaster or Love Live. I’m not really expecting high-quality production or anything, but lots of people seem to find this show very charming, so hopefully I have a good time! I’ve also been stretching myself pretty thin for those megasized Nichijou notes writeups, so this one will be scaled back – I’ll point out interesting stuff when I find it, but I’m also gonna try to just enjoy the ride. Anyway, that’s enough preamble. Let’s get right into Aikatsu!

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Why It Works: Flip Flappers’ Unspoken Stories

I was back to Flip Flappers again this week, discussing how so much of Flip Flappers’ larger storytelling beats are mostly relegated to imagery and background noise. While I enjoyed Flip Flappers from the start, I’ve only been feeling more impressed by its storytelling as the episodes pile up. If its second half is as strong as its first, it could easily stand as one of this year’s lasting anime highlights.

Why It Works: Flip Flappers’ Unspoken Stories

Flip Flappers

Nichijou – Episode 15

And we’re back with more Nichijou! Last episode was a bit of a low ebb for the series – having to manage integrating Nano into the regular life of the other leads made for a somewhat uneven episode, light on jokes and awkwardly narrative-driven. Nichijou can certainly handle more sentimental material, but the demands of that episode’s structural transition were definitely felt in a variety of awkward ways. Fortunately, I assume the show will return to a stronger balance moving forward, now that Nano is already a member of the class. So let’s dispense with the doom and gloom and get right into more NICHIJOU!

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Don’t Get Jaded: Cynicism in Anime

Today I’ve got a new ANN editorial for all you lovely folks! This time I’m diving deep into questions of tone and authorial voice, discussing the difference between cynical characters and cynical productions, and offering my own very predictable take on this whole mess of concepts. I had a lot of fun with this one – authorial voice is an inherently thorny and fascinating concept, and character writing is something I’ll never get tired of talking about. I hope you enjoy the piece!

Don’t Get Jaded: Cynicism in Anime

Girlish Number

Kokoro Connect – Episode 3

Adolescent feelings continued to smash awkwardly together in the third episode of Kokoro Connect. This one opened right after the conclusion of the second, with Taichi challenging Inaba on her decision to declare his love for Iori while possessing his body. And so we got a long scene that was likely this episode’s best, but still demonstrated the extreme messiness of this production.

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Sound! Euphonium – Episode 6

Sound! Euphonium had a goofy cooldown episode this week, which was reasonable enough for what it is. As I discuss at length in my review, Euphonium’s second season has consistently suffered for its adaptive nature, and so I’m not really expecting it to match the self-contained greatness of the first season. It’s messier, and the drama emerges far less naturally from the fundamentals of the narrative, and that’s just what we gotta deal with. Anime is a tricky business!

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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Fall 2016 – Week 5 in Review

This was a perfectly respectable week in anime! In fact, it was more than respectable – Yuri on Ice managed to grab my interest in a way it never had before, Flip Flappers pulled off a stunning vignette that raised the bar for the show altogether, and Euphonium had possibly the best musical performance I’ve seen in anime. This season is just ridiculous, you guys – normally something like Yuri on Ice, Euphonium, or March comes in like a lion would be the bright spot in a largely weaker lineup, but this season’s crop basically starts at JoJo/Girlish Number and only goes up from there. Given I’m writing this prior to the election results, the world may literally be on fire by the time this gets posted (UPDATE: the world is literally on fire), but at least we’re going out with some pretty cool cartoons. Let’s RUN ‘EM DOWN!

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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – Review

My journey into KyoAni’s past has finally brought me to back to Haruhi Suzumiya, which was… well, not as friendly or endearing as it felt when I left it. Beyond the show itself aging like a sack of wet tomatoes in the sun, the fact is, I have aged too, and that means Haruhi herself is less enchanting than she is constantly abusive and a misery to be around. Still, it was a solidly rewarding experience running back through these episodes, seeing what things really do hold up and what things don’t work anymore. Haruhi was a pretty key show for me, so I didn’t mind stopping by to catch up.

You can check out my megasized review over at ANN, or my copious episode notes below!

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Mawaru Penguindrum – Episode 11

The contradictory pull of fate guides all actions in Penguindrum’s fatalistic eleventh episode. The theme is established quickly here, as Kanba heads to the estate of the red-haired woman in pursuit of the diary. Caught in the middle of painting Kanba’s portrait, his tormentor talks of how “the canvas doesn’t lie,” and that the Kanba she paints is more honest and true than the untrustworthy Kanba of the real world. Kanba’s current nature is capricious and mercenary, but by capturing him in painting, this woman can maintain the love she once felt for him like a perversion of Dorian Grey. While Momoka’s perfection is assured because of her absence, Kanba’s current presence undercuts his meaning for this woman, and thus she creates her own version. An object of adoration’s “true form” is the form which is most meaningful to us.

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