Tag Archives: Anime

ERASED – Episode 4

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ERASED remained relatively consistent this week, offering way too many cute moments with Hinazuki just in time to drop the hammer. I knew it was coming, but man, that birthday party was just a step too far. He gave her fuzzy mittens, ERASED. HE GAVE HER FUZZY MITTENS.

The rest of this episode was more dedicated to articulating the weaknesses of Satoru’s position, which I certainly appreciated. Though the show can get over-the-top in its overt dramatic peaks, the ways it’s reflecting on Satoru’s issues are actually quite subtle, and come through more in the overall context of the story than any overt lines. It’s a good place to be.

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

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Hyouka – Episode 13

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The festival is in full swing now, and each member of the Classics Club have their own giants to slay. With Chitanda on site procurement, Satoshi on promotion, Oreki on sales, and Mayaka dealing with her own manga club troubles, episode thirteen bounces back and forth across characters, portraying the individual dramas of each member across the course of the festival’s entire first day. But that doesn’t mean I have to bounce around. The episode’s structure is intelligent; by shifting continuously between characters, it keeps tension high, builds meta-narratives across multiple individual conflicts, and even results in cute scene transitions like Satoshi’s thoughts about Oreki leading to Oreki being up to no good. But I’m going to disregard all of that effort and take this character by character, starting right where the episode does, at Satoshi’s much-anticipated quiz competition.

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Winter 2016 – Week 3 in Review

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The season’s shows are still jostling at this point, jockeying for position and demonstrating which of their early strengths they can maintain and as-of-yet not quite imploding. Rakugo Shinju and ERASED are the easy top contenders, but beyond that, it’s a mixed field of shows that are either imbalanced, lacking in ambition, or somewhat inconsistent, but all still more or less worth watching. It’s probably not the generally strongest member of this pack, but Grimgar is actually the one I have the highest hopes for. The show’s weaknesses are loud and frustrating and obvious, but its strengths are very unique, and that appeals to me more than something like Dimension W’s straightforward but somewhat flavorless polish. But the overall crop still makes this easily the best season since last spring, so I’d say this is a good place to be. Let’s RUN ‘EM DOWN!

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Dagashi Kashi – Episode 3

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Dagashi Kashi’s third episode came and went with little fanfare or incident. This episode is very watchable, but that’s about it – the jokes aren’t generally that funny, and the structure’s a little samey. That said, I was very happy to see this episode’s second half actually start to make Hotaru feel like a real person. Shows about wacky comic instigators I could take or leave, but shows about awkward kids who inherently lead to funny situations through their weird passions? Yeah, that I can deal with. Hopefully this wasn’t just a one-off thing.

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

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Hyouka – Episode 12

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Well, it’s finally arrived. Hyouka’s first arc was in truth about Chitanda’s uncle, but its impetus was the creation of a club magazine for the cultural festival. The second movie arc took place over summer vacation, and concerned getting a different club’s project ready for the festival. And now, at the beginning of Hyouka’s second half, the stage is finally set for the show’s third and most ambitious arc, the festival itself.

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ERASED – Episode 3

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Man, this show sure does know what it’s about. Nearly every moment here works hard to facilitate drama, atmosphere, and beauty, creating just the strongest possible sense of a specific time and place. Anime is eternally hung up over nostalgic youth, but ERASED’s setting feels real, feels like the actual uncomfortable, seemingly endless procession of days that are childhood. Anime is also normally a compromise between adaptive vision and original work mediocrity, and that doesn’t seem to be a problem here either – this is a nearly flawless adaptation of a legitimately good story. I really hope ERASED stays this strong to the end.

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

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Active Raid – Episode 3

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Active Raid continues with an episode featuring annoying moe apps, nefarious hackers with willing harems, and dancing idol mechas. And yet, in spite of that, it’s apparently also trying to be some kind of political drama. I don’t really know how Active Raid’s many ridiculous and often contradictory variables will shake out, but so far I’m actually having a solid time with it. It has a sense of fun, which shouldn’t be underestimated – many of the jokes feel fresh or endearing, and the characters are building up well. It’s a mess of a show, but it’s an enjoyable mess.

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

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Parallel or Together in the Idolmaster

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It’d be easy for the Idolmaster movie to be a strict love letter to the fans, and barely a movie at all. The Love Live movie did that, which wasn’t really a surprise – Love Live’s always been a series in direct conversation with its fandom, and so the fact that its movie was basically just the cast doing their bits and then a bunch of cute performances seemed pretty appropriate. And The Idolmaster is a series with so many good moments that it’s essentially created its own robust vocabulary of character and narrative touchstones to reference. You could have a sequence of Iori and Yayoi being an awkward couple, an extended return to the Sunday game show, a bit where Hibiki and her dog conduct an interview with some grumpy antagonist, and there you go – ninety minutes achieved, checks are in the mail.

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Tamako Market – Review

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Having finished my K-On! run just a couple months ago, it was pretty convenient to have Yamada’s next series arrive just this January. Tamako Market is unfortunately not as strong as K-On!!, but that’s honestly a pretty high bar; as a general slice of life/drama, Tamako Market is a perfectly reasonable production. It’s annoying to have a show whose problems could be solved by taking out stuff, but that’s certainly the issue here – remove Dera and Dera’s whole “finding a bride” plot, and Tamako Market is actually a much better show. But I’ve heard that’s pretty much what the movie actually does, so hopefully that one gets a release over here soon as well.

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

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Winter 2016 – Week 2 in Review

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And with preview week firmly in the past, it’s time to return to our scheduled week in review. So far, this season is actually turning out better than I’d hoped – I didn’t really expect most of the shows in my own preview post to actually end up doing well, and having two legitimately excellent shows in a season is basically all I can hope for from any season. Between Erased and Genroku Rakugo, we’re already there – both of those shows impressed with strong premieres and followed through with consistent second episodes. And even beyond the highlights, there’s a reasonable crop of middle-tier shows as well, depending on your own genre tastes. The season is strong enough that I’m currently deciding to be truly ruthless, and cut off both Utawarerumono and Iron-Blooded Orphans until I feel compelled either personally or through general fan noise to pick them back up again. There are too many good shows in the world to waste time watching things I’m not enjoying.

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