Today I wrote up Imaishi’s latest, which was very him and also potentially reflective of maybe a little emotional nuance coming somewhere down the line. Luluco was an extremely messy show, but its best bits were good in ways that make it pretty distinct, and at five minutes an episode, it certainly didn’t waste anybody’s time. A reasonable short all around.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
As Planetes’ seventh episode begins, Hachi explains how the moon is often used as a place of recuperation for those suffering from the effects of long-term space habitation. With his leg still broken from his prior adventures, Hachi has plenty of time with his own thoughts this week, and so we hear his internal voice for the very first time. Hachi meets a pair of new acquaintances during his time recovering, as well – an old astronaut named Harry Roland, who spent twenty years in space carving the way for the current era, and a young woman named Nono, who claims to have been on the moon for twelve years. Both of these are dramatic stretches of time; the human body isn’t naturally suited for space travel, and so both Harry and Nono are something of space oddities, stranded from humanity’s terrestrial home.
Halfway through this episode, Nitori arrives at her sister’s classroom in order to drop off a lunchbox. Her sister’s classmates stare at Nitori, noting how she’s cute and “looks like a girl,” and Nitori actually blushes in happiness at this. But Nitori’s sister is not impressed – she pushes Nitori out and then stomps to her desk. “Don’t take it out on your lunch,” a male friend gently chides her, at which Nitori’s sister only scowls, and then slams her lunch repeatedly into the table.
Welp, looks like it’s time for the second wave of new summer premieres. This one’s a pretty questionable crop, frankly – sweetness & lightning is fantastic and Cheer Boys!! is perfectly reasonable, but outside of that, we’re looking at a whole bunch of middling-to-poor genre pieces without all that much to distinguish them. There are still a fair number of premieres to come, but things are looking a little dire at the two-thirds point this time. But hey, you get to read my increasingly despairing reviews either way, so, good deal!
I mean, you and I know the answer to that. But The Lost Village’s style is awesome and unique and very worth digging into, and so today I’ve got a huge friggin’ article exploring the specific nature of The Lost Village’s charms. I loved this show, and I had a ton of fun talking about it here. The craft of comedy is just really fascinating in general, and I’m sure I’ll return to it again at some time. But for now, let’s just celebrate the glory of Lovepon and Friends one more time.
Is The Lost Village Actually A Comedy?
That’s pretty much the plot of Nana’s second episode. We’re in flashback territory now, as we learn about the end of Nana’s high school life and the beginning of her time at art school. She falls in love, is rejected, falls in love, is ignored, falls in love, is forgotten, and finally falls in love with someone who’s actually interested in her. Unfortunately, her eventual “boyfriend’s” interest is of a pretty limited and predatory type – the man she falls for is married, and he is only willing to meet with her for sex a few times a month. Nana is being used, but as a naive and love-struck high school student, she doesn’t have much recourse.
Preview week has begun in earnest, and I am dead. The season actually feels pretty frontloaded this time – Orange and Love Live Sunshine have already both confirmed my hype, and DAYS has shown up as an unexpected new challenger. There’s also the usual scattering of mediocre-to-abysmal shows out there, but hey, every medium is mostly crap. It already seems like this season will have a handful of shows worth keeping up with, and that’s good enough for me!
Today I went back to check out one of the very first shows I covered for ANN, Shonen Hollywood. The show definitely held up; Shohari is almost uniquely pointed in its approach to the idol industry, and even though its aesthetics are pretty crap all around, the writing is good enough that it’s still definitely worth a watch. I’m glad writing for ANN has given me the chance to branch out and discover shows like this, that I may never have found on my own time.
You can check out my full review over at ANN!
The spring season came to a full end this week, finishing off with a double helping of Flying Witch to help make up for our dearly departed Lost Village and Conrevo. Most of the other shows I’ve been watching have been pretty consistent, and this week confirmed that – Kiznaiver’s conclusion was the best it could be given the circumstances of its existing narrative, My Hero Academia finished a fairly simple arc with as much passion as it could muster, and Flying Witch charmed for every dang minute. Luluco was probably the biggest upset, as its fairly strong conclusion raised my overall impression of the show a tick. And heck, if I just pretend the cameo episodes never happened, it’s even better!
Anyway, enough preamble. Let’s sweep up the season’s loose ends and RUN ‘EM DOWN!
Funimation finally rereleased Hosoda’s first original film, so I got to take another look at one of my favorite movies. The film is still a bit awkward in its construction, rambling in the middle act and arriving at an awkwardly exposition-heavy conclusion, but it’s also full of so many charming scenes that it’s hard not to love. Makoto is just the best – her enthusiasm brings the whole film to life, and makes her adventures a joy to experience. How can you not like someone who expresses such genuine delight at learning she can use time travel to regain the pudding her sister stole? It may have some clear lows, but the energetic highs make The Girl Who Leapt Through Time a charming debut all the same.
You can check out my big review over at ANN, or my notes below!