This was a workhorse week in anime. We’re several weeks out from the premieres, meaning most of this season’s shows have more or less established their tone and structure, but we’re still also some distance from the sort of narrative shakeups that often mark the midpoint of one season productions. That point in the season means many shows are entering a bit of a lean period at the moment – demonstrating their fundamental quality, but not really dazzling with any new talents. Yuri on Ice and Flip Flappers have largely settled into their genre spaces, Girlish Number and Euphonium each hit some mid-sized dramatic turns, and JoJo just kept chugging along. Weeks like this put the onus on me to come up with new stuff to talk about, so thanks a fuckin’ lot, anime. Fortunately, after possibly more than a hundred of these Week in Reviews, I’ve learned how to spend a lot of time talking about basically nothing. So if that sounds like fun to you, pull up a chair and take a seat as we RUN THESE SHOWS DOWN!
Tag Archives: Girlish Number
Girlish Number – Episode 3
The shoe at least partially dropped in this week’s Girlish Number, forcing Chitose to… well, quickly learn how to act at a light novel-ready level and thus avoid much personal growth altogether. I was still happy to see this episode challenging Chitose, even if its resolution was pretty convenient, and I assume this means things will hopefully get tougher for her going forward. Chitose is a jerk, and jerks who are unchallenged by the world don’t make for the best protagonists. As long as Girlish Number doesn’t let her get away with being herself, it’ll continue to be a very entertaining show.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Fall 2016 – Week 3 in Review
Anime is so friggin’ good this season. I thought I was lucky last season, given my sturdy crop of half a dozen reliably entertaining shows, but this one is offering a solid handful of shows that could easily be the best anime of a normal season. Yuri!!! On ICE is consistently funny and extremely propulsive, Sound! Euphonium is every bit the equal of its predecessor, Girlish Number is giving Watari Wataru an easy canvas to riff on, and March comes in like a lion might still be my favorite thing I’m watching. With Flip Flappers and Izetta each offering their own very different strengths, pretty much every kind of show I like is solidly represented here. I remember noting in the spring season that all I was lacking was a strong character-focused story – well, I may not be getting a Conrevo-style themey-wemey show this time, but I think I can be content with this embarrassment of character-focused riches. Anime is being very good to me, so let’s stop with the rambling and RUN THESE SHOWS DOWN!
Girlish Number – Episode 2
Girlish Number’s second episode wasn’t quite as entertaining as the first, but it had a lot more structural work to do, so I’m happy to be forgiving. My main concern now is exactly how farcically the show will present its take on the industry – too much absurdity and incompetence, and it just won’t feel like a world at all. But the dialogue is still very strong, and that does a lot of work by itself.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Fall 2016 – Week 2 in Review
Preview week has finally concluded, and most shows are already past their second or even third episodes. This season turned out to be even more bountiful than I’d expected, meaning I’ve had to make some ruthless cuts to make the absolutely most efficient usage of my cartoon consumption experience. Magical Girl Raising Project’s second episode killed the sleepy magical girl, so it’s off the list. Keijo’s second episode only had me intermittently laughing through its first half, so it’s gone. With roughly forty or fifty weekly articles to write, I’ve been forced to cut down my list of “leisure anime” to only the fiercest, boldest, most ruthless entertainment machines on the market. It’s brutal work watching all these cartoons, but I can take solace in compressing the painstaking work of dozens of artists and animators into an offhand paragraph for your lunch break consumption. Let’s grit our teeth, clench our bowels, and RUN THIS DOWN!
Girlish Number – Episode 1
Girlish Number has begun, and it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from Wataru Watari versus the industry. The characters and dialogue in this one are already terrific, and I was happy to see those strengths matched with some great expression work all throughout. Hopefully this one keeps it together!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.