The season well and truly ended this week, offering conclusions to Orange, Mob Psycho, Love Live, Thunderbolt Fantasy, and… well, JoJo is apparently eternal, so Not JoJo. Oh wait, Thunderbolt Fantasy also didn’t end, it’s still got an episode left. So I guess this week was actually just a clusterfuck of endings and non-endings, and we’re not going to get a break between seasons after all, and we’re just going to have to live with that. Either way, I can conclusively say that episodes of anime did in fact air this week, and I had at least a couple things to say about several of them. SO LET’S DO THAT!
Tag Archives: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Why It Works: The Chromatic Battle of Koichi and Kira
I guess I just can’t help myself. I returned to the JoJo well once again this week, since Koichi and Kira’s fight offered such a handy demonstration of one more of the show’s myriad strengths. You could probably do some further writing on how JoJo manages the hues of its palette shifts to echo their emotional intent, but I stuck to the basics this time – most great comic/animation artists give their characters distinctive visual signatures, and JoJo is able to use those signatures combined with its own style tricks to create some profoundly impactful battles. Let’s get to it!
Why It Works: The Chromatic Battle of Koichi and Kira
Summer 2016 – Week 12 in Review
Oh god it’s happening. We’re already halfway through September, final episodes are beginning to broadcast, and the season is well and truly ending. While I’ve gotten somewhat used to the seasonal panic of the preview guide, I certainly haven’t gotten used to the fact that we’re all that much closer to death. Fortunately, that’s exactly what anime is good for – frittering away the idle hours with cartoon entertainment to avoid the lurking specter of our own inevitable mortality. So let’s set aside our dreary, perpetually fraying existence for a while, and RUN DOWN SOME SHOWS!
Summer 2016 – Week 11 in Review
Surprise surprise, another fine friggin’ week in anime. With this season leaning so heavily into pure entertainment shows over emotional or thematic blockbusters, it can be easy to take weeks like this for granted – I laughed and cheered throughout, but wasn’t truly surprised by anything. But as I said in this week’s Love Live editorial, the craft of fun should never be taken for granted. This season’s shows have worked hard to keep me entertained, and the fact that basically every show this season fits into the “goofy good time” slot doesn’t make it any less impressive of a collection. So let’s run down this season’s silly shows once more, as another strong season begins to come to a close!
Why It Works: A Eulogy for the Dogs of JoJo, Part Two
And so my retrospective of the dogs of JoJo concludes with a tribute to JoJo’s most noble hero: Iggy the Fool, who gave up his life so an asshole Frenchman may live. Us stalwart dog lovers salute you, Iggy. You did the best you could in a game you weren’t meant to win.
I’ve enjoyed writing these very silly articles, so I’ll probably think up more nonsense to cover soon enough. I hope you enjoyed them too!
Why It Works: A Eulogy for the Dogs of JoJo, Part Two
Summer 2016 – Week 10 in Review
Well heck dang it’s Wednesday again. Anime was pretty alright this week – a couple clear standouts, a couple weaker entries, an overall par performance. JoJo’s fundamentally great art design is unfortunately still trembling under the weight of several consecutive seasons, and Orange is beginning to lose me with its circular conflicts, but Love Live pulled off a spectacle that was just as funny as last week was successfully dramatic, and even if JoJo wasn’t prepared to be top JoJo, Thunderbolt Fantasy certainly was. It frankly makes me a little sad that I have to scroll all the way down the streaming titles page to reach Thunderbolt’s spot on Crunchyroll – I can kinda understand that its inherently camp nature makes it less appealing to many fans seeking action shows, but it’s seriously so, so much better than 9/10 of the shows in its genre. Surely one day the Thunderbolt Fantasies and Lost Villages of the world will get their due!
Anyway. LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME CARTOONS.
Why It Works: A Eulogy for the Dogs of JoJo, Part One
JoJo has been terribly and consistently unkind to its dogs, and I for one have had enough of it. Part of being a critic is accepting that sometimes you have a moral responsibility to write a two part article in memory of fictional animals. I didn’t choose this duty, but I will not shirk my responsibilities. Dear dogs of JoJo, please accept this offering in memory of your sacrifice.
Why It Works: A Eulogy for the Dogs of JoJo, Part One
Summer 2016 – Week 9 in Review
Alright, now we’re actually three quarters of the way through the season. That generally tends to align with shows’ second-to-last dramatic peaks, and this season was no exception – both Mob Psycho and Love Live had huge episodes this week, and the JoJo/Thunderbolt Fantasy pairing had pretty key turning points as well. Orange is starting to look a little long in the tooth at this point, but other than that, I’d say the season’s crop are holding together quite well. I’m perfectly happy to have two seasons in a row conclude with dignity intact!
Summer 2016 – Week 8 in Review
Dear lord it’s week eight. We are almost three quarters of the way through the summer season. August is practically over. What the hell is going on.
Well, anime is going on. Outside of our communal existential dread at somehow being yet another week older, things haven’t changed much in anime land – Aqours are still doing their best, Urobuchi’s puppets are still being delightfully ridiculous, and Tsumugi is still hungry for new snacks. This was another placeholder week in anime, with its various low points being balanced out by some unexpected highs. So let’s start with the good news then, and get right into Love Live Sunshine’s big episode!
Why It Works: Yukako’s Fairy Tale
I returned to JoJo again this week, unable to avoid the temptation of talking about a Yukako episode. Unfortunately, this article isn’t really about how Yukako herself is awesome – it’s more about the framing of her Cinderella story, and the influences it’s drawing on in both a narrative and visual sense. Hopefully that still sounds pretty entertaining!
Why It Works: Yukako’s Fairy Tale
