It’s sink or swim time this week, and fortunately for my own sanity, a whole lot of shows are obligingly gurgling their way to the bottom. This tendency for the chaff to vote itself off the island is being nicely counterbalanced by solid episodes from all the shows I give a damn about, so right now I couldn’t be happier about this season. At this point, it’s looking like I’ll cut down to between six and eight shows that are all roughly as good or better than my top two from last season – last season was weak, but that’s still a fantastic place to be. Running them down…
Tag Archives: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei – Episode 2
Management: I didn’t really intend this to be so brutal, but now that it’s finished and I’m looking over it… yeah. This one’s kinda merciless, and posting it makes me a little nervous. I don’t mean to directly attack anyone with this piece – it’s mainly about being aware of the subtext of media, and not letting things that appeal to our base needs trick us into bad attitudes. I wrote it both because I find the psychology of media interesting and because I think Mahouka is a perfect representation of some of media’s more questionable powers. If you like Mahouka, that’s totally cool, I’m not saying you’re wrong to enjoy it. If you’d rather have something more positive, please enjoy this delightful gif and check back next time.
There are a number of different ways to approach criticizing a text. You can criticize the beauty of the execution itself – how it obeys certain agreed-upon rules of aesthetic execution, and how it exists purely as an object to marvel at. You can try to put it in a given historical or social context, or explore the life of the creator to see what demons the text may be working to exorcise. You can isolate certain details, or try to fit the overarching structure into a certain aesthetic or psychological framework. You can talk about themes, both intended and unintended. You can work off your gut, your training, or some arbitrary ideal of perfect beauty.
Normally, I try to come to shows open to however they may strike me. If a show strikes me as entertaining, I’ll try to critique it as entertainment. If it strikes me as insightful, I’ll try to engage with its insight. All of this is deeply colored, of course, by my own priorities – I wouldn’t recommend myself as the premier source for critiques of action shows, for example. But Mahouka already seems like it will reward one specific, fairly compelling exploration, and so that’s what I’m probably going to focus on here.
Spring 2014 Season Preview
Well, we’re into the back half of winter, meaning it’s high time to stop suffering through whatever we’re currently watching and starting figuring out if next season will melt our jaded hearts. I’m pretty sure it will, in this case – even if this winter weren’t already awful, next season looks fantastic. I’m sure you’re all excited too, which is why I’m here to demonstrate the Correct shows to be excited about, with no exceptions, additions, or substitutions. And by that I mean the opposite of that – this list is basically just what I already know I have reasons to be excited about, and every season has its own surprises. It’s not like I expected to be looking forward to friggin’ Witch Craft Works. Anyway, let’s run down next season’s extremely impressive list.
Well, actually, before that, I should probably explain what this list is even about. I’m pretty much not going to list shows based on premise – personally, I think premise is almost entirely disconnected from quality, and will only bring it up if it seems unusual enough to warrant mention. Instead, my list is largely based on things I think actually do correlate with quality – talented creators, strong source material, and studios I’ve come to trust. Will I miss some shows? Obviously, but listing premises and hypothesizing on how they might not turn out poorly doesn’t sound like a particularly useful exercise. As always, the full list up upcoming shows is available at anichart.net. Anyway!