Tag Archives: Anime

Gankutsuou – Episode 1

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There are a number of angles you could use to approach Gankutsuou. You could talk about the studio, Gonzo, although that conversation would end roughly where it begins – Gonzo have barely created a handful of noteworthy shows over their career, and Gankutsuou’s director isn’t particularly tied to that studio. You could talk about that director, Mahiro Maeda, whose career has spanned early Studio Ghibli, a variety of guest positions on shows as varied as Giant Robo and Kill la Kill, and who has seemingly joined many frustratingly talented creators at that great Studio Khara in the sky.

Or you could talk about the fact that Gankutsuou actually has source material.

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Flying Witch – Episode 8

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Flying Witch really made the most of its new setting this week, letting a sequence of unexpected cafe patrons import all the charm and whimsy an episode could need. I think the first sequence with the ladybugs must have been my favorite – the combination of Anzu’s nonplussed “oh yeah, they come here on dates a lot” and her mother’s greeting being returned with little wing-waves was just perfectly understated comedy material. But the vast majority of the material here landed well, so all I can really complain about are a couple moments of oversold jokes. Flying Witch is good stuff.

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

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Kiznaiver – Episode 8

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Kiznaiver’s eighth episode couldn’t match the ridiculous highs of the seventh, but I wasn’t really expecting it to. It was still a very respectable episode suffused with a strong sense of atmosphere, elevated by Kiznaiver’s reliably terrific direction and sound design. The show would be in classic territory if its writing were just a bit sharper, but as is, it’s still a very respectable character drama with a variety of noteworthy strengths. I continue to be thrilled with the prospect of this director having a long career ahead of him.

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

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The Lost Village – Episode 9

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The Lost Village continues to be hoeing the difficult road of simultaneously working as a weird self-destructive comedy and actual narrative, but I’d say it held the course pretty effectively this week. I was actually thinking Hayato was going to become something of the audience surrogate in the episode’s first half, and then suddenly his backstory knocked him straight over onto the Lovepon track. The unfortunate thing about horror mysteries is they eventually have to resolve, and making sense would only make The Lost Village worse, but I think its resolution is still keeping things funny enough to be a lot of fun. What a weird show this is.

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

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Planetes – Episode 3

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Early on in this episode, Tanabe challenges Hachimaki on his dreams of finding love, asking “why are all your fantasies like something out of a comic book?” It’s a funny line coming from her, considering their usual relationship – while Hachi is fundamentally a dreamer, he buries that nature under years of defensive cynicism. Tanabe, on the other hand, is all optimism and love and roses – she might think she’s more practical and mature than her lazy teammate, but her confidence and drive lack the tempering of experience. She is in Optimism Stage One, optimism untested by the harshness of the adult vacuum. And in this episode, that optimism runs up against one more frank reality of adult living – the fact that everyone dies.

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Space Battleship Yamato 2199 – Episode 1

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I don’t really have any personal experience with Space Battleship Yamato, but that doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge its influence. The original show came out in the mid-70s, and is credited for at least partially heralding a new anime boom, where shows specifically aimed at children were now joined by dramatic, long-form sci-fi epics courting an older audience. Its true influence might be somewhat disputed (Jonathan Clements, for example, theorizes its influence is so heralded partially because it happened to be in the right genre space to catch the eye of people writing the anime history books, a very reasonable critique), but it’s undeniable that many future creators were inspired by the adventures of the Yamato. Even Hideaki Anno states that the original Space Battleship Yamato is his favorite show, and the reason he initially pursued anime.

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Spring 2016 – Week 8 in Review

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Anime was good this week! Anime was extremely good this week! ANIME WAS RIDICULOUSLY GOOD THIS WEEK. Kiznaiver and JoJo each had their best episodes of the season, with Kiznaiver offering probably my favorite episode of any of these shows, and JoJo basically just synthesizing all of the things that have made Diamond is Unbreakable great. Concrete Revolutio was right up there as well, as Urobuchi penned one of the most pointed episodes the show has ever seen. And the rest of the lineup was not far behind – only The Lost Village and Luluco had weaker episodes this week, and I’m sure they’ll both survive. That’s enough summary! Let’s get right to it!!!

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Flying Witch – Episode 7

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Flying Witch upped the ante a bit this week. The episode’s first half was pretty much exactly the sort of competent, easy-going rural adventures I’ve come to expect, but the second half leaned into the show’s magical premise in a way that conveyed a far more textured and ambiguous tone. There were elements of mystery, danger, and wonder in Makoto and her friends’ exploration of the very strange cafe, sub-threads that made it hard not to compare to Miyazaki’s stuff. I’d really like to see more of that going forward, but I’m happy enough with this episode as it is.

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

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Kiznaiver – Episode 7

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Kiznaiver had its strongest episode of the season this week… in fact, Kiznaiver aside, I think this was just the strongest episode of anything I’ve watched this season. The show has often been a little clumsy in its emotional beats, but you wouldn’t have guessed that from this episode – this one was understated and beautiful and full of smart visual metaphors and purely tone-focused segments. Maki’s story turned out to be a lot more relatable than I’d expected; her fears and resultant feelings of guilt were totally understandable, and the episode did a great job of visually conveying the world she occupied. I was legit tearing up a bit by the end of this one – this kind of beautifully realized melancholy and slight emotional catharsis is exactly the kind of thing I love. Even if the rest of the show stays a little sketchy, I’m happy we got this.

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

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The Lost Village – Episode 8

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This was sadly a fairly normal episode of The Lost Village – not in that it was an average episode of this particular show, but in that it was a believable episode of an ordinary horror story. Well, as long as you discount the weird, self-destructive genre-awareness expressed during the Masaki interrogation. Aside from that, basically everything that happened here could really have happened in an ordinary show, which is pretty disappointing relative to what I generally expect from The Lost Village. Well, you can’t win ’em all.

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

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