Tag Archives: Anime

Parasyte – Episode 20

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Yeah, I’m running out of steam. Blame Shirobako for demonstrating that good two-cours can feel just as energetic at episode 20 as at episode one. Or blame Parasyte, because it actually is Parasyte’s fault – the show dragged, the show somewhat recovered, and now the show’s just indulging in an arc with absolutely no coherent plotting at all. The police plan was dumb, the way too on-the-nose theme declarations are dumb… man, this all makes me pretty sad. Parasyte was a good show.

Here’s my full ANN post. Head-shaking notes below.

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Yuri Kuma Arashi – Episode 8

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It’s bear o’clock once again! Kureha seems to have finally remembered her old friend, but most fairy-tale friends don’t sit there and watch as your lover is murdered, so I dunno how well this will turn out for anyone. I’m currently suffering through some hellish stomach virus, so this week’s post might be a little more brief than most, but I can’t let sickness keep me from what I do best!

-cough-

-cough-

-dies-

Alright, yeah, this sucks. My body is a festival of pain. FIGHTIN’ THROUGH IT.

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Log Horizon Collection Two – Review

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There’s always time for more Log Horizon! That said, I think I might be ready to take a slight break from Log Horizon. Pretty happy with this review, though – I think I covered the compelling stuff more gracefully than I did in the first one, and even got in a bit about Log Horizon’s politics. Having just rewatched all of season one, I think can solidly confirm that season two has just been a step up for the series – the original had highlights, but it also had plenty of slow stretches, and Log Horizon 2 has been stellar for a long time now. But who knows – we’re still in 2’s hot streak, so I might just be misremembering how interminable the Akatsuki arc in the first half was.

Anyway. My full review is available here. Notes below!

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Rolling Girls – Episode 7

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Fun times in Kyoto this week! The show seems very comfortably in its groove at this point, with each new episodes major highlights generally being the tiny details. And this week had plenty of great tiny details, along with some lovely animation, backgrounds, and a more consistent sense of humor. I kinda wish I’d been a little faster getting on the “the main characters are barely going to do anything, and that’s okay” train, because the show itself seems to be having a lot of fun with that state of affairs – their limp attempt to rescue the Rockers captain was one of the episode’s best moments. Rolling Girls has turned out to be a pretty cozy ride.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

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Log Horizon II – Episode 20

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Another rich and exciting episode of Log Horizon this week, as Nyanta confronted a boss rush’s worth of opponents and ideologies while the kids fought to keep the town standing. The contrasting perspectives of Londark and Mizufa offered a nice microcosm of how this show engages with both specific gamer identity and larger political ideology, and the fights that accompanied them gave Nyanta a welcome chance to show off both his skills and personal convictions. I wasn’t expecting the magic bag adventure to climax in a lengthy swordfight-slash-philosophical-battle atop a moving train, but I’m not complaining. Log Horizon’s apparently decided to absolutely make sure we all miss it when it’s gone.

My full ANN review is here. Notes below!

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Rolling Girls – Episode 6

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Rolling Girls’ second side-arc ends… reasonably, I guess. It’s hard to point to any one specific reason this arc didn’t really do anything for me emotionally, but it just didn’t seem deeply felt. The character arcs were all very obvious and standard, and there just weren’t enough small character moments to make this feel like its own story, and not just Rolling Girls riffing on an established template. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, and the fact that the show has clearly forfeited its animation highlights almost makes me wish it’d never misled us with them in the first place.

Anyway. My full ANN post is available here, and you can check out my kind of conflicted notes below.

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Winter 2015 – First Half in Review

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Dear god, it’s somehow that time again. The time when we all get together to celebrate the cartoons we love by putting them in a meaningless ranking system that denies the very purpose of storytelling altogether. The halfway point rankings feel even more meaningless than usual this season, as the current season is both very good and also full of shows that I’m enjoying all around the same level, but trifling problems like that won’t stand in the way of tradition. Let’s run ’em down!

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Yuri Kuma Arashi – Episode 7

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So Ginko really is a criminal-bear after all. I’m definitely a fan of how knowing she watched Sumika die (or “die”) complicates her character. It was a heartless act, and clearly reflective of how selfish her interpretation of love is, but it’s far from an irredeemable action. Ikuhara shows are full of characters with selfish or violent streaks that are nonetheless also full of humanity, and it wouldn’t be satisfying to see characters triumph if they didn’t start off in positions of great personal weakness. Ginko and Kureha each have their own forms of weakness, and with so much of Yuri Kuma’s worldbuilding secrets already revealed, I’m hoping the second half will spend some time building each of them back up. Let’s get to the gao gao.

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Log Horizon II – Episode 19

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The kids are killing it! This week’s episode easily topped last week’s already great conversations, with Tohya’s feelings on his place in Elder Tale being sharply highlighted by the fatalistic philosophy of the Odyssey Knights. Grim revelations and big character shifts and at least four contrasting parties (the kids, the knights, the Minami faction, and Roe 2) made for a heavy and solidly rewarding episode. My writeup ran long without even really digging into a full contrast of Log Horizon’s competing philosophies on the value of gaming and validity of this world in a personal sense – this show is now competing directly on SAO’s turf, and that’s always an interesting conversation. Much that was built up was resolved this week, but I’m still excited to see whatever next episode brings. We might even get some actual animation!

Nah, just kidding. But there’s definitely plenty to look forward to anyway.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

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Parasyte – Episode 18

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And Tamiya’s story comes to an end. This episode was somewhat hampered by the aesthetic neutrality that’s weakened Parasyte all along, but its conclusion was strong enough narrative-wise that I couldn’t really complain about that. The anime is making me want to reread the manga – apparently we’re losing a lot of character texture, and the strongest thing here is the base material. But a great source adapted poorly can still be a pretty good show, and that’s where we’re at now.

My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!

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