Food Wars! The Third Plate - Episode 16 [Review]

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Food Wars! The Third Plate - Episode 16 [Review]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w7xdMzspCI

Oh, Evil Akira. Not only did you get a CLAMP-style makeover, but your eyes are now perpetually narrow and droopy, and you've gotten much more handsy to boot. Okay, that last bit was just the one scene toward the end of the episode, but I seriously thought that Evil Akira was going to kiss Soma's hand for a second there. Also, smelling the ingredients someone is using by sniffing their hands is very creepy unless you're a dog.

Once again, we have an episode that's intent on cramming in a few chapters from the source material, but it works decently well this time. The return of Dojima as the impartial judge for this particular exam does give the whole thing more of an air of legitimacy than previous stages, because we know that he's much more likely to actually be impartial than many of his brethren. He wouldn't stoop to Azami's level any more than he'd insult Soma by favoring him, so that's a definite good start. While there are still places where Azami's tentacles can reach – the supposedly random selection of bear meat for the topic could favor Akira – we're starting this challenge on much more even ground, especially since Akira's still got a shred of decency left in him.

We see that when he refuses the fancy appliances and assistants that Central has arranged for him to use, which would have been yet another blatant misuse of their power. It's not clear whether it's Akira's former self speaking up when he says no thanks or if it's simply his pride, but I'm inclined to think he wants a more level playing field for his fight against Soma. He keeps repeating how much better he is than the last time they fought, and while that's doubtlessly true (it would be odd if he hadn't kept growing as a chef), he also really cares about this rematch. It's a test of his own worth, since Soma's come close to beating him in spice-based dishes before and if he can win this one, not only will it finally determine that Soma's not worth his apron, it will also confirm that Akira made the right decision in becoming Azami's minion. While we don't know much about why he did this yet, we can infer that it was not an easy choice, given how devoted he was to Jun and her kitchen. Azami hasn't played fair yet, so whatever's behind Akira's choice, there's doubtless some emotional conflict for him.

That's not really an excuse for deliberately pissing Soma off like this, though. (I mean, has that ever worked out for anyone?) If nothing else, it's likely to make Soma suspicious of Akira's motivations and fire him up to make the best damn bear meat he possibly can. That could be what Akira is hoping for, but frankly I feel like this is going to bite him in the rear. Everyone who goes up against Soma makes the critical mistake of underestimating him, and in this case, Azami doesn't fully understand Soma's determination and the full brunt of the support standing behind him. Sure Yuga has his own ulterior motives for helping out, but at the end of the day he's lending his stooges to Soma and helping out personally because he likes the guy. Potentially bringing down Central in the process is just icing on the cake.

Soma's not the only one who might be in trouble, of course. Megumi and Takumi have been taken away by Rindo for their test, and their fate is still unknown at the end of the episode. Rindo herself is the biggest wildcard here, because I feel like she may be playing Clue while everyone else is playing Monopoly. Her motives seem to just be stirring the pot, and I suspect that her only real allegiance is to herself. How that will pan out for Megumi and Takumi is uncertain; it probably depends on how useful she thinks they'll be in the future. We'll hopefully find out next week, as the bear meat cook-off comes to a head. In the meantime, we'll just have to ask ourselves one important question: who would win if this was a bear meat cooking contest between Soma, Akira, and Golden Kamuy's Asirpa?

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Tokyo Ghoul:re - Episode 5 [Review]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiyDkD02F1Q

The battle at the auction house rages on, with the blood of ghouls and humans alike getting spilled by the gallon. And who's that entering the fray? Why it's out good pal Takizawa! Only now he's a big scary ghoul named Owl, of course. (Not to be confused with the One-Eyed Owl, Eto.)

Who is Takizawa? You'll be forgiven for not remembering, since he was a pretty minor member of the CCG. He stuck to the background working under Amon, but the anime did highlight him more in the second season by focusing on his struggle to write a last will and testament before the big final battle against Anteiku. It was classic Tokyo Ghoul character work, revealing the hidden depths of a person, their dreams and fears, just before their brutal and untimely death. But death is a nebulous concept in the Tokyo Ghoul universe, and Takizawa is actually alive and well (by ghoul standards anyway). He's a one-eyed ghoul himself now, just working under Aogiri instead of with Sasaki and the Quinxes, but the details behind his resurrection remain anybody's guess for now. The boy really seems to love jam though.

Takizawa's sudden appearance and radically altered behavior set the tone for this entire episode, which leans hard into Tokyo Ghoul's propensity for gory camp. There's no room for subtlety when Takizawa, reunited with one of his former students, punches straight through her torso as punishment for not paying attention during his lectures. These aren't delicate moments, but they can be fun. I got a kick out of Kanae stopping Mutsuki in his tracks by throwing a projectile rose into the ground, Tuxedo Mask style. Later, one of the investigators shouts “damn you and your sexy body!”, which is an impossible line to take seriously on its own, but doubly so when directed at a woman called Nutcracker as she flies through the air, boobs a-jiggling. Then one of the last scenes is a still shot of Madam with Urie's body half-stuffed in her gigantic gob. These parts are funny, and I'm perfectly okay with Tokyo Ghoul flexing its B-movie sensibilities now and then.

The big problem is that this is yet another messy action-focused episode that lacks the visual pop needed to carry its ambitions. The first two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul weren't animation powerhouses, but they frequently caught my eye with creative staging and composition. By contrast, Tokyo Ghoul:re has been far more conservative and utilitarian. As it jumps from battle to battle, it comes across more like a jumble of scenes haphazardly stitched together than a cohesive whole. This approach makes everything more difficult to follow or care about, especially when watched in weekly installments with no conclusion in sight. A lot happens, but it doesn't feel like it matters yet.

Of course, that's probably because it's all been setup for future conflicts. On the Quinx side, Mutsuki finally reunites with the rest of his family, and they all force Kanae to retreat. Sasaki, ever the caring leader and dad figure, has the injured Mutsuki retreat with Urie, but since Urie's still hungry for recognition, he purposefully takes the long way out of the building and “accidentally” stumbles upon the ghouls' escape route. Urie's not a bad person, but his ambition blinds him to the concerns of anybody else, and he doesn't think twice about possibly putting Mutsuki in graver danger. Fittingly, Urie soon finds himself in too deep (specifically too deep inside Madam's mouth), so now it's up to Mutsuki to save him instead. Meanwhile, Sasaki pursues Nutcracker with the remainder of the Quinxes but soon finds himself locked in battle with fellow half-ghoul Takizawa.

The rest of the CCG fares pretty damn poorly against the multiple ghoul threats. Takizawa mows down everyone, laughing all the way, until he gets to Sasaki. Nutcracker takes down an entire squad by herself, punctuating the battle with her titular move. Juzo is evenly matched with Ayato, so both of them retreat simultaneously. Ayato runs to help fellow Aogiri member Naki, who's not doing too hot against Akira and her dad's old patented spine whip. Then Juzo meets up with Urie and attacks the ghouls escaping from the auction. The Clowns battle another squad of investigators, who hold their ground despite Uta's manipulative face-shifting powers. Oh, and all of this is being manipulated by Washu, who's still overseeing everything from the safety of his monitors. Did you get all that?

Cramming all of this ensemble action into the episode leaves no room for even a pinch of reflection. Takizawa's reveal should be a big deal, but the revelation comes and goes with little fanfare. Naki is portrayed rather sympathetically as somebody who has fallen behind this war's arms race and built a family for himself that he's rapidly losing, but we just don't get enough time to explore these parts of his character. I also expected more to be made of Urie and Juzo indiscriminately slaughtering the ghouls attempting to escape. Obviously, all ghouls are monsters to them, and it's hard for me to feel bad for ghouls who had no qualms buying people too, but Tokyo Ghoul is notorious for refusing to dehumanize either side of the conflict, so this feels like a missed opportunity for nuance.

I'm sure these concerns will be addressed later, and that's fine. But as a discrete unit of storytelling, this episode does a heck of a lot without saying much. In an action-driven episode, I need the action to be impressive on its own, or I'm going to need something else to chew on. Historically, Tokyo Ghoul has always redeemed its shortcomings with strong and thoughtful character work, but episodes like this one leave no room to focus on anything interesting. Nevertheless, the battle rages on into next week.

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My Hero Academia - Episode 42 [Review]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdgI0zUVvBE

Since we've been easing into a new story arc, it was a pleasant surprise for me to learn that one of My Hero Academia's Big Exciting Moments(tm) was already just around the corner. The Vanguard Action Squad's attack on the training grounds commences, but it quickly becomes apparent that the story is mostly about Kota and Midoriya's fight with a single member of the villain group who arrives on the scene unceremoniously.

The member in question is a tall and strong-looking guy who Kota immediately recognizes as the murderer of his parents. This mystery man appears to be using the League of Villains as a means to an end, because he likes using his Quirk to kill people, which will tie into the episode's themes of heroes and villains wonderfully. The Quirk in question is super strength, not unlike Midoriya and All Might's, but his particular power involves all the gross sinewy fibers of his muscles exploding from his body, making for a much more threatening display than One For All that forces Midoriya to push himself harder than we've ever seen before.

I think season three is when I've really started to appreciate MHA's hero theming. I've never been especially drawn to the superhero aesthetic or ethos; as a playground for stories about chasing your dreams, I've always preferred the anarchy of One Piece's pirate world. But episodes like this do an incredible job of finding the beauty in what it means to be a hero, and MHA digs much deeper than anything I've personally seen from Western media. "I just wanted to kill, and those two wanted to stop me. It was a result of all of us doing what we wanted," is how the villain explains to Kota that there should be no hard feelings about the whole dead parents thing. Comparing this again to One Piece—a series whose protagonist is openly ambivalent about being seen as a hero—this sounds exactly like the kind of logic a villain would use to justify their misdeeds just before Luffy punches them in the face, not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he's got to stand up for his friends.

I believe the common prevalence of this protagonist-antagonist dichotomy in Shonen Jump is what allows My Hero Academia to find a new angle on it. We've already established that our main characters harbor some insecurity about being "fake heroes", which is a weakness just waiting to be exploited by villains like Stain or Shigaraki. Making "Number One Hero" a dream that characters can compete for does implicitly remove the sense of duty and responsibility that heroism ought to be about, and while heroes are often depicted as petty in this world, they're never been portrayed as unreliable beyond the understandable limits of their fragility. You can be the Pirate King and owe the world nothing, but if you want to call yourself a Hero, you have to put your money where your mouth is at some point and make sacrifices for others. This conflict feels especially organic this week by focusing on Kota, a kid who's lost faith in the concept of heroism. Because of his parents' deaths, he can only see the imminent pain that comes with a hero's broken promise, so if someone like Midoriya's ever going to restore that faith, he has to step up in ways that others haven't.

The big finisher where Midoriya nearly blows his own arm off three times trying to use One For All at full power against a relentless villain gets so insanely messy that it's almost avant-garde in terms of visuals. This enemy's muscle quirk allows for an intense and scrambled fight, and Midoriya's final stand is a remarkable experience of sight and sound. If you remember his fight with Todoroki, where he had to strategically sacrifice his own body, destroying each of his fingers over and over, this feels like an evolution of that idea that now uses his full arm, as he delivers successive punches that meld his own flesh with his opponent's.

This fight is going to be the one that gets everybody talking again, and for good reason. However, as a full episode it also highlights the series' occasionally limp structural instincts. This villain really feels like he comes out of nowhere, and if you told me last week that we'd immediately be jumping to such a massive emotional high involving a character we'd never met, I would have been shocked. Maybe that's just the speedier pace of the show, since it does allow a major conflict to be contained within a single episode, but it still doesn't feel quite right. It takes about half the episode to get into the fight in the first place, yet the time spent with the side characters fighting the other League members doesn't serve as build-up to this conflict either. It's really weird.

But that's such a minor nitpick in the face of an otherwise extraordinary episode. We're three for three on new MHA episodes really knocking my socks off, and this is easily the most I've ever been invested in the world and characters of this story so far. The title of this episode is "My Hero," and it fittingly manages to lend new meaning to the series' title. Kota has someone to look up to now in Midoriya, and that last shot of our broken and exhausted green son roaring with victory hits hard. Winning the battle isn't the part that feels good this time, it's hearing the word "hero".

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One Piece - Episode 834 [Review]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM0cG1k8yZU

As of last week's episode, the Big Mom assassination plot's first main goal was accomplished when Brook snuck up on the framed picture of Mother Carmel and smashed it. The intended effect was for her to see the broken picture and enter her terrifying shriek mode, which is the tiny window of time where she would be vulnerable enough to hit with Caesar's rocket launchers. What the Straw Hats and Firetanks failed to predict was the exact effect that all of the encompassing chaos would have on her, so she spends most of the episode acting like a dizzied fighting game character, still unkillable because she hasn't decided where to focus her rage between the broken picture, the busted wedding cake, and all the treason. The alliance's next goal is to grab the pieces of the Mother Carmel picture and show them to Big Mom once again to ensure she panics in the exact way that they based their plan around.

But in order to do that, they have a much bigger fight on their hands as Big Mom's various children spring into action. For an episode that easily could have been a breather for the animation staff given the more significant story episodes ahead, the action looks fantastic. I think Sanji ends up getting the best stuff between casually dodging Pudding's bullets (he may have found her emotional sore spot, but she's not willing to concede just yet) and facing off with her older brother, Charlotte Daifuku. Daifuku's Devil Fruit summons a big genie from his belt that he commands like a JoJo Stand, though he brings it forth by rubbing his stomach in a provocative way, and that belt rests a little too south of his border for comfort. Penile genie smoke aside, the sense of energy and impact coming from Sanji's fights this week is really commendable. It looks great.

We're still hanging on to a chapter-per-episode pace to my delight, though this episode takes the chance to really expound on what was going on in the source material. The fights that ensue with the lower-tier Big Mom pirates leaves a much bigger impression, though I know most of these crazy-looking side characters, especially on Luffy and Jimbei's side of the fight, aren't going to be sticking around much longer. While the Straw Hats and Firetanks buy time to figure out how to get their plan back on track, Capone has to play the villain so that he doesn't raise the family's suspicions. Unfortunately, that can't last long because he's dealing with Katakuri and his Future Sight Haki, and by the end of the episode he's openly antagonizing Big Mom's scariest kid. "Even if we can't see it, we all have the right to change the future!" is a pretty cool way to confront a dude with clairvoyance. There's also the mention of Katakuri looking pale because he sees something disastrous on the horizon that nobody can stop.

Beyond the fights that the Straw Hats find themselves in, this is also a major turning point for Judge and the Vinsmokes, now that they're being forced to see the trap that's been set for them. Perospero has the whole family glued to their seats with candy, and all they can do is watch while the fighting happens around them and their imminent death is promised. The emotional position that the story puts us in with the Vinsmokes is pretty weird. This arc has finally wrapped up in the manga, so I can look back with hindsight and say that a further exploration into the backstory of Germa 66 isn't in the cards for Whole Cake Island, which is sort of necessary to understand what their overarching journey is meant to be.

It's been pretty clear that Sanji's motivation for saving his family has nothing to do with their value as people, but rather a simple instinctual obligation. He's working his own feelings out by taking action. The Vinsmokes can work as both the secondary antagonists and the damsels in distress at the wedding, but this scene has us facing a weeping, humiliated Judge who screams about his lost dreams as he faces the consequences of his thirst for power. He's confused as to why his sons are so calm and ready to accept their deaths, and Reiju promptly reminds us that he removed their ability to feel emotions in an attempt to make them super soldiers. There's an intimacy to this scene that makes it feel like more than a "Ha! Take that!" moment for the audience to get emotional revenge on Judge, but what that extra something is, I couldn't tell you. Based on my knowledge of what's coming, he's not on the verge of a traditional redemption arc, but there also feels like a deliberate juxtaposition between his dreams and Big Mom's that has yet to be explored to my satisfaction.

There's a lot of movement as we push on through Big Mom's tea party this week, but it's mostly trying to get us back to the point we thought we already arrived at last week with the Mother Carmel picture. I was surprised at how much mileage this adaptation managed to get out of what could have easily been an unexceptional episode, so I I have nothing but kudos on that front. Weeks like this start to give me hope for what's to come, because I'm getting exactly the saturated craziness that I've been asking for, despite the pacing only marginally improving. So let's see what happens next!

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Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - Episode 3 [Review]

 

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - Episode 3 [Review]

As a comedy about otaku, Wotakoi is contractually obligated to include at least one Comiket episode, and here it is! (However, since it technically lasts only half of the episode, don't be too surprised if they return in the winter.)

Narumi moonlights as a BL artist of some renown, so naturally Comiket is a big deal for her. This was alluded to in episode one, but it's nice to see that passion of hers in action—the frazzled, sleepless passion of a woman with only two weeks to prepare for the biggest nerd gathering of the year. I just spent the month of March using most of my free time to prepare a panel for Sakura-con, so I felt her pain quite acutely. Anime conventions are serious business! Luckily for Narumi, Hirotaka is a good boyfriend, filling in her screentones and providing moral support over his gaming headset. It's the kind of uniquely cute bonding activity we should expect from a show about otaku love, and the rest of their time at Comiket is full of fun little moments like this.

I really appreciated that Hirotaka never once expressed discomfort over helping his girlfriend write and sell her smutty BL doujin. I was honestly waiting for that lame comedic plot to show up, dreading the inevitable gay panic or fujoshi denigration, but I'm so glad Wotakoi didn't go for this low-hanging fruit. Amusingly, what does prompt Hirotaka to take a break from Narumi's stand is not discomfort, but jealousy over all the attention she gets from her customers and fans. In a similar fashion, Kabakura's only minor hangup about Hana's drag cosplay is all of the attention she gets from fangirls. To be fair, she's stunningly handsome when crossdressing, so I was right there with Narumi as Hana reduced her to a swooning and sobbing mess. Neither of the boys seem to share their partners' particular passions, but that's okay! Relationships aren't built on identical sets of interest; they're build on support and understanding, and that's what Hirotaka and Kabakura do well.

The episode's only notable misstep comes when Hirotaka has to temporarily take Narumi's place selling her doujins. It actually starts out great, because Hirotaka happens to look like someone who could have jumped out of a BL manga, so naturally he attracts a crowd when he starts hawking gay porn. Narumi rushes to save him from this onslaught, but the ever-unflappable Hirotaka was just fine and even had fun manning the BL stand. Unfortunately, one of the customers was a total creep who sexually harassed him, and the way Wotakoi treats this is bad for two reasons. First, it tries to make this into a humorous situation with Narumi's and Hana's over-the-top reactions, but there's nothing funny about unwanted physical contact or being unduly harassed by a stranger at an anime convention, no matter the context. These are still very real problems in the community, not things to make light of for a cheap joke. Secondly, this faceless creep is the only gay person who's been portrayed in the show, which is a pretty busted debut. There's plenty of otaku romcom shenanigans tp pull from that don't involve creepy behavior or putting sexual minorities on blast, so I hope Wotakoi is smarter about this in the future.

Comiket ends, but the dirge of the gang's 9-to-5 drones on into infinity, so Narumi and Hirotaka soon find themselves at work again, making plans to drink at his place. They're still early in their relationship, but it's nice to see it progressing at a measured but believable pace—something that feels both comfortable for them and non-glacial to the audience. Of course this includes the possibility of new physical intimacy, a concern that manifests in Narumi racking her brain to recall the color of the underwear she put on today. It's funny and neurotic, but it's also 100% true-to-life. Nobody wants their first romp in the sheets to be marred by a lame-ass pair of underwear you've been hanging onto for no good reason. Narumi's worries end up unfounded when the furthest she and Hirotaka get that night is a kiss, but I'm sure she'll be more careful about her undergarment choices from now on.

Hirotaka leans pretty hard into the clueless nerd stereotype in this second half of the episode, completely missing the romantic implications of inviting Narumi over for the night. However, his decision to turn it into a sleepover with Hana and Kabakura is adorable enough to forgive. His chemistry with Narumi remains strong, and their equal-opportunity teasing of each other remains extremely representative of the nerd couples I know. All four Wotakoi members also act like believably buzzed young adult nerds, i.e. they play lots of Mario Kart, drink lots of beer, and perpetually act like goofballs. The hunt for Hirotaka's porn stash is a pretty dated way to spend the evening (as the characters themselves are quick to point out), but I can't say I haven't been part of sillier group activities.

Between all these goofy drunk otaku antics, there are some genuine moments of vulnerability and deepening relationships. Hirotaka comments on how nice it is to hang out with everyone and that it's a new sensation for him. As much as Wotakoi is ostensibly about romance, it also focuses extensively on the four leads together as friends, and how all of these dynamics, both romantic and platonic, are emotionally valuable. We also learn that Narumi and Hirotaka became friends by trading cards like Yu-Gi-Oh!, which pulled my soul right back into elementary school recess. He then tries to segue some sad childhood talk (he was a shy kid with few friends, who could have guessed?) into a kiss, which I'm sure he thought was smooth in his head, but in reality it definitely wasn't. It's not so much a bad move as a clumsy and inexperienced one, so it definitely fits Hirotaka's character. Likewise, Narumi reciprocates with the headbutt he deserves, and they get back on solid footing right afterwards. There were always bound to be some bumps along the way, but hopefully Hirotaka takes his sore forehead as a lesson in communicating more clearly with your partner.

And that was another episode of Wotakoi! It went by super fast again, and I still find it very charming. Aside from one busted jokes, this was another perfectly pleasant 22 minutes spent with some endearing dorks who love each other almost as much as they love mercilessly trolling each other in Mario Kart. It's tricky to tell what the long arc of the show will be, if any, but as long as it keeps up the solid character writing and relatable nerd fiascos, I'm content to relax with it each week this spring. I just hope we solve the mystery of the big tiddy porn in Kabakura's desk.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOtzSkC3ss8

Hinamatsuri - Episode 4 [Review]

 

Hinamatsuri - Episode 4 [Review]

Last week's episode ended with Hina making an ill-informed attempt to clean Nitta's apartment, and now we finally get to see the outcome of that misadventure. Nitta decides he's had enough, and he kicks Hina out. This doesn't work out terribly well for either of them: Anzu briefly takes Hina in before throwing her out for being a lazy freeloader, and Nitta is banned from his favorite bar after Utako finds out what's going on. After a brief stint providing telekinetic special effects for a group of street musicians, Hina returns to Nitta's apartment with a peace offering. Meanwhile, Hitomi's secret bartending gig leads her to accidentally befriend Anzu.

This disownment story arc is reminiscent of Nitta's earlier “ignore Hina and go out drinking” bender in that the series allows our yakuza hero to be a jerk but ensures that he also suffers the consequences of his actions. The image of Nitta being shouted out of the bar is amusing, but it also indicates that Hinamatsuri has a conscience about its harsher moments. There's actually a fair amount of moral ambiguity in this situation. Hina doubles down on her habit of being a terrible houseguest while living with Anzu, Nitta comes to regret his actions and ultimately keeps the cheap replacement vase on the same shelf as the genuine articles, and apparently Utako does charity work when she's not busy blackmailing middle school kids. Whether by design or as an unintended consequence of its genre-bending story, Hinamatsuri has assembled a cast of characters who are neither bad nor good in any given moment. Most of them tend to be complicit in whatever misfortunes befall them to some extent, and yet it's their better natures that eventually save the day. As the season plays out, it will be interesting to see if this results in genuine thematic depth or merely an unfocused series of comedic vignettes.

The comedy this week is not as openly bizarre as some earlier episodes, but the show does seem to be finding some clever tricks to make its humor and sentimentality play well together. There are several cases this week where the more emotional side of the story is used to set up a joke: Utako's soup line is hijacked by Hina's deadpan demands for free food, and Anzu sabotages the dramatic tension in her encounter with Nitta by declaring that she could only go three days before kicking Hina out herself. Even the storyline of Hina joining a rock band is as much a comedy skit as a plot device for getting her enough money to buy a new vase. As all of these bits play out, Hinamatsuri manages to strike a decent balance between giving the audience time to appreciate the jokes and moving on before we can ask too many questions. While it doesn't reach the hilarious heights of Hina's initial appearance or the rock-paper-scissors game, it's a good sign that the series is finding ways to make its separate halves work in tandem instead of competing with one another for screen time.

Then we have Hitomi's encounter with Anzu, which is frankly an odd way to cap off the episode. With most of the narrative focusing on Nitta and Hina's journey of reconciliation, this side story feels conspicuously unrelated. That'd be fine in a pure comedy with no real cohesion from one scene to another, but it stands out awkwardly in a genre hybrid like Hinamatsuri. That said, it's at least a decent sequence on its own merits. Hitomi is quickly developing into the show's second comedic straight man, reacting to absurd situations with genuine shock and disbelief where Nitta leans more towards exasperation and quiet despair. As a reasonable kid surrounded by dysfunctional adults and psychic girls with no common sense, Hitomi is able to act as a frequently ignored voice of reason. She has some good chemistry with Anzu here, especially as she suffers silently through the conversation about how much money the two of them make. If Hinamatsuri is smart about the way it uses Hitomi, she could become an indispensable member of the cast.

Throughout this episode, Hinamatsuri appears to be tinkering and experimenting with its basic formula in search of an ideal balance between the heartwarming and the hilarious. In the short term, that experimentation yields an episode that's entertaining but not as impactful as some of the show's previous efforts. In the long term, however, it may prove to be necessary. A series can only get by on being weird for so long, and I'm hopeful that all these little adjustments will give Hinamatsuri the depth and dramatic substance it needs to hold up across a full season.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rECKK1HhDk8

Megalobox - Episode 4 [Review]

 

Megalobox - Episode 4 [Review]

“A fake ID, four fights, and no gear”. This is what Nanbu, Sachio, and Joe are taking with them on the road to Megalonia, and it's a hell of a gamble. At first I was surprised to see Joe take on a professional fight sans his gear so early on in the series; normally this kind of challenge might be reserved for an extra-challenging penultimate fight. However, Nanbu's logic going into the battle against “Shark” Samejima makes perfect sense; the crew that will eventually come to call themselves Team Nowhere are't just underdogs, they're street trash coming up from the gutters of society. In order to climb the ranks and make themselves known, they have to start off with an all-or-nothing bet that nobody can ignore.

So Joe heads into the ring against a tempestuous brawler with nothing to defend himself but his speed, his wits, and his natural strength, and this is where “Dance with Death” begins to take shape as a truly stellar episode. Just last week, we saw Joe confidently knock a geared-up behemoth flat on his face, but this time he seems different. Nanbu is too up in his own anxieties to see it, but Sachio catches on; Joe says he's shaking with excitement, and while that may partially be true, it quickly becomes obvious that we are seeing Joe afraid for the first time. After an early knockdown starts him off rattled, there's a wonderfully executed couple of moments where we see Joe's feet sink into the ring like quicksand. In a lesser production, this effect would have gone on for far too long, likely spoiled with on-the-nose inner monologuing or hacky direction. In Megalobox, the emotional beats come as quickly and hit as hard as the punches Joe is trying to dodge.

Small but impactful touches like this are exemplary of the confident direction and superbly paced storytelling that has made Megalobox such a consistent hit this season. Making this fight the centerpiece of Joe's emotional growth spurt as a fighter is perfectly economical storytelling. It's cliche for a sports narrative, but it's also necessary to keep the dramatic tension up in an otherwise predictable plotline. It's clear from the get-go that Joe can't really lose his premiere Megalobox fight, but instead of falling into the trap of going through the motions, Megalobox smartly uses the “Shark” Samejima fight to cement the bond that Nanbu, Sachio, and Joe all share, and it finds dramatic heft by building tension in Joe's personal experience as a fighter in the ring, instead of arbitrarily teasing whether or not he will win.

By the time Sachio gives Joe and Nanbu a much-needed dressing-down, I was on the edge of my seat, because even though I knew Joe was going to win, I needed to see that victory happen so I could share in Team Nowhere's elation. If there were any doubts about what Megalobox can produce when its production staff is firing on all cylinders, you only need watch Joe's triumphant swagger as he dances around the man who had him clinging to the ropes just moments earlier. It's a thrilling and dynamically choreographed sequence punctuated by great camera work.

Speeding through Joe's next fights via montage is another wise creative decision; the episode's main bout delivered all of the plot and character development we needed to see this week, so it's reasonable that we'd just get highlights of the rest. It works especially well backed by mabanua's energetic soundtrack, which once again proves to be Megalobox's most potent secret weapon. It also means we'll get to spend more time on the Megalonia tournament itself, and I'm totally fine with that, so long as the production crew can keep up this level of polish for the rest of the season.

If anything, the only concern I might take away from this episode is whether or not the show can keep going this strong for another eight weeks. This is as rousing an introduction to the Megaloboxing world as Team Nowhere could have possibly hoped for, and it's an early watermark for highs that the series is capable of reaching. Now that someone from Nanbu's past has come to make things even more complicated for our vagabond boxing family, I can hardly bear the thought of having to wait another week to get more Megalobox in my life.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFd3udcFyY0

Tada Never Falls in Love - Episode 4 [Review]

 

Tada Never Falls in Love - Episode 4 [Review]

When I first saw that Tada Never Falls in Love would focus again on the photography club, my heart sank. Little did I know how much this episode would surprise me! This week's installment succeeded in making the series' two most troublesome characters funny.

It's not that Hajime or Hasegawa's characters have taken a dramatic shift from where we last saw them. Hajime is still unnervingly obsessed with gravure idols and their boobs, while Hasegawa is still relatively quiet and unassuming. (At least she's given an excuse for trying to blend into the background this week.) Still, this episode made Hajime and Hasegawa's story work thanks to a series of important tweaks.

The first was the episode's particular brand of humor. Pervy dude characters are eyeroll-worthy at best in anime, but Tada Never Falls in Love pushes Hajime to the point where he's just so over-the-top that no one can take him seriously. Unfortunately, this also his dilemma in this episode. Hajime is so into gravure idols that when he gets to meet his favorite, HINA, he can't come up with anything to say. This contrast between his passion and stage fright make Hajime not only more interesting and funny to watch, but also more relatable. The humor may be over-the-top, but Tada Never Falls in Love lends sympathetic emotions to its characters, even the most ridiculous ones.

Luckily, Hasegawa comes to the rescue. She overhears Hajime practicing to meet HINA and decides to give him some pointers. Mostly, she tells him to practice talking about her as a person rather than just obsessing over her appearance, which is solid advice for anyone that really should have occurred to him beforehand. Seriously, while I may find him less irritating this time around, I still don't get what Hasegawa sees in this dude. Anyway, Hasegawa seems pretty good at this for someone who is normally so shy and unassuming, and that's when the other shoe drops—because Hasegawa is HINA. Hajime has been losing his mind over meeting his favorite idol, but he had no idea that he already knows her pretty well. It's anyone's guess how long it will take Hajime to truly understand that the girl of his dreams is already part of his life.

Also, as puzzling as I still find Hasegawa's crush, she does at least get to explain her feelings. The two of them were childhood friends, and after he saved her once, she trusts him to continue to protect her. He does seem to keep an eye out for her more than others, but I'm still guessing that this is going to be a slow-burn romance. When the day arrives and Hajime gets to "meet" HINA, it turns out neither of them can spit out the obvious truth. Hajime forgets his script and mumbles through what little he remembers, while Hasegawa finds herself unable to confess to her true identity like she promised she would.

It's the sort of madcap silliness that we've seen from previous club-focused episodes, but what makes it "work" this time around is that the writers remembered to ground them in realistic emotions. It's a comedy, but there's also some romantic drama mixed in—not just the melodrama of mistaken identity, but the relatable woes of two normal kids who just can't spit out how they feel. If Tada Never Falls in Love continues this pattern—setting up broad archetypes only to humanize them later—I'll be far more on board with its project for the club. I still don't particularly like Hajime, but he seems like a real character now rather than some factory-issued stereotype. Hajime and Hasegawa working through their anxieties together will especially hit home for viewers who have struggled with stage fright and feeling starstruck.

Tada Never Falls in Love could be a really strong show if it keeps developing its cast this way. What stood out to me about the first episode was this kind of emotional intelligence, so it's nice to see the show dipping back into that. There is definitely room for more of this in future episodes, especially given what we learn about Alec at the end of the episode. She's always had a weakness for helping Teresa, and now we might have a good idea of why. I hope that Alec's heart makes it out okay if Teresa is indeed headed toward a romance with Tada.

On the subject of that relationship, it is strange to me how little momentum Tada and Teresa's romance has been given. They are presumably the central focus of the show, based on the opening sequence as well as the premiere episode, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside as the focus shifted to other characters. I'm glad that Tada Never Falls in Love is no longer neglecting its supporting cast, but it's weird how the leads' chemistry and screentime seems to have evaporated. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun didn't always focus on its central pairing, but there were regular reminders of Sakura's feelings for Nozaki and how they influenced their relationship. For Tada Never Falls in Love to work as a romantic comedy, it needs to invest more time in its central romance—not just the peripheral ones. If it can nail that in upcoming episodes, this show might still be on its way to greatness.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHIeUPB9Ij0

Record of Grancrest War - Episode 16 [Review]

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Record of Grancrest War - Episode 16 [Review]

A mage seems like a very useful thing to have, and “Outpost” is pretty much a highlight reel extolling their benefits. This week on Record of Grancrest War, three different lords—Theo, Milza, and Eudokia—rely on their respective mages to make difficult decisions. Since this requires scene after scene of strategizing, this episode isn't anything special visually, but many viewers may find its conclusion quite titillating after Queen Eudokia and her army decide to bare all.

Milza may be a great conqueror, but he's terrible at ruling. He still hasn't gotten Lord Villar's lackeys to warm up to him at all, and his mage Telius is just as battle-minded as he is. Siluca remembers him from the Mage Academy as not being great at magic but “brilliant at military strategy.” So when the pair come to siege Theo's demonic forest castle, it's once again an attempt to solve problems with violence, the only way this patricidal warrior knows how. Next they attempt to lure Theo out for a fight, but Siluca's got their number. Milza and Telius only have one way of dealing with stuff, so they're easy to figure out, especially for a clever mage like Siluca. It's not hard to tell what the outcome is going to be now. It's also not very interesting, but I'm still happy to see Theo and Siluca continue their winning streak.

Speaking of this couple, their dynamic has clearly changed. This was the first episode where I suspected that they've consummated their relationship off screen, because they seem a lot more comfortable with one another, less blushing and more touching. It helps that this is the least stressed-out we've seen Theo and Siluca in a while, because everything is working out for once. All the mages of the Altirk Treaty are able to chill out and chat on their wands like cell phones. I couldn't help stifling a laugh at this conveniently modern technology, which could have solved so many problems if only it had been introduced before episode 16! What other deus ex machina solutions are going to suddenly appear when needed?

It must be so weird being a mage in the world of Record of Grancrest War, by the way. Everyone knows everybody else as a classmate or teacher or student, but they don't know who is going to be their ally or their enemy once school gets out. I guess Siluca graduated during a time of peace and began her career in a time of war, but it's still so strange to know your enemies and allies by what kind of grades they got at the Academy. And then there's the unresolved plot point that the Academy has the ability to be judge jury and executioner at a witch burning—it's such a bizarre and overly powerful establishment backing this world.

The last mage/lord interaction in this episode is by far the most unusual. Laura convinces Lady Eudokia to get naked in front of her troops in order to raise their morale (and I'm certain that's not all she raises). The look on the Nord princess's face when she's confronted by a completely nude army says it all. It's clear that the armies of Record of Grancrest War are extremely horny—remember when Theo's troops were motivated by him kissing Siluca? I'd argue that the Starck slave uprising is a bigger part of the victory than the nudity, but we all know which strategy gets more screen time. It'd certainly be sexier if Lady Eudokia's proportions didn't shift with every keyframe; the art isn't all that consistent this week. Better for that to happen on a week that's mostly place-setting for next time—no wait, isn't that what last week's episode was about, too? Record of Grancrest War does action better than dialogue or plot, but that's made for a streak of weak episodes—including this one.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9YcgJxJmsc

Comic Girls - Episode 4 [Review]

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Comic Girls - Episode 4 [Review]

This week, Comic Girls shines its spotlight on the reticent ero-mangaka Ruki Irokawa. In previous installments, Ruki has primarily acted as a supporting figure and one-note gag, but episode 4 adds a fair amount of depth to the character while injecting just the right amount of light drama. The first story focuses on how Ruki handles her hectic schedule. Unsurprisingly, attending high school while drawing serialized manga doesn't leave her much time for sleep. In an attempt to streamline certain aspects of her craft, she even tries her hand at drawing on a tablet, but as she quickly learns, this is not a skill that can be mastered overnight. The second story finds Ruki coping with nervousness and self-doubt as she prepares for a book signing event arranged by her manager. Although her anxiety is initially through the roof, she's ultimately able to calm her nerves when she realizes she's built up a powerful support network. Once the day of the signing arrives, Ruki is elated to discover that her work has entertained and inspired a large number of fans.

Despite the many comic flourishes, the way this episode tackles Ruki's journey to self-confidence feels entirely realistic and believable—right down to her still feeling some embarrassment by the end. The running gag about her exhaustion upping her sex appeal does go on too long, but it helps emphasize just how hard she works, as well as how thoroughly unmanageable such a schedule would be. Prior to this, the show had largely glossed over the tribulations of high school students penning serialized series without the aid of regular assistants. However, as episode 4 makes clear, this lifestyle has taken a tremendous toll on Ruki, causing her to forgo sleep to a superhuman degree. The montage that cycles through the days leading up to the signing does a great job of illustrating Ruki's progress in overcoming her feelings of doubt.

Ruki's rushed attempt to learn about computers and digital art is arguably the comedic highlight of the episode. Despite being roughly the same age, Kaos instructs her in a manner akin to a young adult teaching a grandparent, as Koyume points out. Given Kaos's proficiency in digital art, it's a wonder the others don't enlist her aid in inking, coloring, and lettering more often. (Why the pen-and-paper artists don't make the jump to tablets becomes clearer after we see Ruki's first attempt at drawing one of her characters digitally.) Once again, Comic Girls gets credit for showcasing digital tools and techniques—things that other manga-focused anime don't often focus on.

In addition to being her most prominent quirks, Ruki's self-doubt and embarrassment over her risqué manga help make her a sympathetic character. Although these traits had previously been utilized specifically for comedy, episode 4 adeptly illustrates that they're good for more than just gags. Considering how well Ruki's time in the spotlight went, hopefully the other girls will be receiving their own respective character studies in future episodes.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-RqfkT-StM

GeGeGe no Kitarō - Episode 4 [Review]

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GeGeGe no Kitarō - Episode 4 [Review]

One of the things I find particularly fascinating about GeGeGe no Kitarō's 2018 reboot is the way that it handles the updated world. This episode doesn't play with conventions of modern society like the previous three did, but instead focuses on what's been lost – belief in and knowledge of the yokai world. This is done through Yuta, the little boy who initially suggested that Mana contact Kitaro based on stories his grandmother told him. He was present when Mana mailed the letter, but she hasn't really told him anything since then, and he's determined to find out if she really met Kitaro, since he has reason to suspect after the whole people turning into trees thing got resolved. Mana knows she's not supposed to tell other humans about the yokai, but doesn't Yuta deserve to know?

This leads to Yuta going on an Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-style journey to the GeGeGe Forest. (Actually, it feels like a blend of Alice and My Neighbor Totoro, which is pretty cool and eminently appropriate.) Kitaro himself may not be thrilled that a human kid has found his way into the yokai realm, but the older yokai recognize this as a precious rarity: a modern child who is familiar with the old stories. That's why Eyeball Dad wants Kitaro to take him around, a point driven home when Yuta is eventually told to ask his grandmother if he wants to know more about the yokai – it is through the passing of folk knowledge from one generation to the next that stories like Kitaro's survive.

That's kind of metafictional, given that this story is likely being watched by the children and grandchildren of people who saw older incarnations of it. Essentially, Kitaro's franchise is surviving because people are passing it down from one generation to the next, and the late creator of the manga series would certainly have been aware of that based on his folkloric expertise. Younger viewers of this episode might not make the connection, but that doesn't mean it isn't there, and if it encourages kids to ask someone older about the folklore of their youth, the message has been relayed.

As far as the main action of the episode, it's not quite as exciting as some of the threats Mana and Kitaro have faced, but it's still got some scary moments – Yama Jijii is frankly terrifying in appearance, even in his smaller and presumably less creepy form. He stands out among the other yokai Yuta meets because of this – even though one of them wants to eat him, he's not particularly creepy in appearance, and most of the yokai just look exaggerated rather than genuinely scary. That really works in the plot's favor, since Yuta has demonstrated that he could have known better than to pick the fruit, when he steps aside for the invisible monster following him and proves his Granny's knowledge of yokai etiquette. It also seems likely that the fruit was somehow enchanted to make Yuta desire it – he should have suspected that taking anything from the land of the otherworldly people would be a mistake, plus he's been told explicitly by Kitaro not to touch anything. I'd blame Rat Man (because let's be honest, it's usually his fault), but we see that he's caught up in Yama Jijii's anger as well, so maybe it's just the fruit itself.

Whatever the reason, this is one of the better uses of the “but it was just a dream (right?)” trope that I've seen in recent memory. That's partly due to the visual and narrative shout-outs to both Alice and Totoro, but also because it delivers a heartening message to not forget the old stories. I really hope we get to meet Yuta's grandmother at some point and learn her history, but in the meantime, it looks like next week we'll get to actually blame Rat Man for the troubles to be visited upon the human world.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM499G5hFQA

High School DxD Hero - Episode 2 [Review]

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High School DxD Hero - Episode 2 [Review]

Visits to Kyoto never happen in supernatural anime series without some degree of trouble arising, and in this case we only needed half an episode before the inevitable happened. The result is the beginning of what I'm assuming will be a multi-episode story arc involving the fox girl shown prominently in the opener and a senior goddess who has been kidnapped by the Chaos Brigade.

It remains to be seen what purpose this would serve the Chaos Brigade, although I can make an educated guess. The famed Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto is the head shrine of the Shinto goddess Inari, so it would be the logical place for her to reside. Removing her would be a significant blow to the stability of the Shinto pantheon, although I have to think that there's more to it than that; on its own, this seems petty compared to the scale that the Chaos Brigade normally operates on. Regardless of where the ultimate plot may be going, it makes sense that the shrine's protectors would get jumpy when a being like Issei shows up in the wake of a kidnapping. So the whole incident serves a twofold purpose: finally bringing the curiously absent Shinto gods into the picture and providing an avenue for yet another girl to get sucked into Issei's harem.

On other fronts, we're introduced to a new aspect of Issei's Sacred Gear when we learn how the previous hosts of the Red Dragon Emperor are still present within it to some degree, and that Issei will have to come to an understanding with them in order to gain power equivalent to the Juggernaut Drive without the overwhelming side effects. That also brings the new mature-looking woman from the opener into the picture as the Gear's most powerful former female host. I was delighted to see that the “Boob Dragon” thing has impact even here, and I'm curious to see what consequences that association will have, beyond the random acts of perversion that start popping up around Issei. We also get to see more of Rossweisse – a lot more, if you know what I mean.

This brings me to the major problem I had with this episode. High School DxD has always been a fanservice-heavy franchise, and normally it does a solid job of working its excuses for fanservice into the story, however paper-thin they may be. However, this episode's scenes were forced much harder than normal, resulting in an awkward narrative flow. The bath scene involving Rias, Akeno, and Koneko felt like it was just going through the motions rather than genuinely trying to be sexy. For a series where salacious nudity is so central to the appeal, that's troubling. I'm also still not thrilled with the character design tweaks and the inability of the show to stay on-model; I'd swear that Asia's bust size fluctuated significantly throughout the episode again. On the plus side, at least the background art did an excellent job replicating various Kyoto sites; I've been to the Fushimi Inari shrine and walked through those seemingly endless rows of orange Torii, and I remember it looking much the same.

So as strange as this is to say about High School DxD, I am optimistic about the story so far but trepidatious about the fanservice going forward.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQqBkHBp3z8

Golden Kamuy - Episode 3 [Review]

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Golden Kamuy - Episode 3 [Review]

If you had hoped that Golden Kamuy would bring more of Asirpa's home and culture into the story, this episode definitely delivers. Sugimoto and Asirpa make it all the way to her village, where they encounter her grandma and other friends and relatives. Of course, they don't get there without encountering a few problems first.

Sugimoto and Asirpa continue to run into the 7th Division, but luckily, she gets help from her white wolf protector, and Sugimoto also finds protection from an unlikely animal source. When Sugimoto considers hunting down a bear earlier in the episode, Asirpa tells him how her father would charge right into the cave with a poisoned arrow. He could do this because bears won't attack someone who enters their own cave—or so Asirpa claims. She turns out to be right this time, when Sugimoto desperately hides in the cave to escape the 7th Division. The bear comes charging out at the men firing guns into her cave, but she ignores Sugimoto, who once again lives up to his "immortal" nickname. After the mother bear dies, Sugimoto decides to save the cub, and Asirpa tells him they should take it back to their village.

Golden Kamuy gets more jokes out of the cultural clash between Sugimoto and the Ainu, but this time, Asirpa gives as good as she gets. While Sugimoto frowned at eating brains before, Asirpa reacts in disgust to the miso he adds to the soup she made because the paste looks like poop to her. It may be strange for Japanese viewers who think of miso as a staple ingredient, but it's an important reminder that cultural attitudes around anything—including food—are relative. For example, Americans generally find the idea of eating insects disgusting, but plenty of cultures do not—and in turn, many of those cultures are grossed out by food that seems standard to us, like shrimp or cinnamon. Coming from a hunting-based culture, it makes sense that Asirpa would be used to eating every type of meat, but she would easily be taken aback by soybean mush that looks like human waste.

It's this framing that allows Golden Kamuy to get away with its sense of humor. It would be different if Ainu culture was constantly depicted as unusual and weird, but the story also recognizes how strange Japanese customs that viewers take for granted may seem through a different lens, making its jokes seem good-natured. The humor comes from the more broad phenomenon of culture clash, not how different one culture is from an established norm. It also helps that Golden Kamuy balances these gags with more thoughtful examinations of Ainu culture, like the explanations Asirpa gives for her traditions like raising rescued bear cubs to be killed and eaten. The idea may seem cruel at first, but it makes a lot more sense when positioned in the context of both Ainu mythology and daily life.

Once again, all of this plot material is taken straight from the manga, but Golden Kamuy does better at justifying its anime adaptation this week. For starters, the animation is not nearly as bad as it was in the previous two episodes. The show has gotten better at keeping characters on-model, even the more unusual-looking additions. Granted, some of this could be because there wasn't as much action this week to animate, but there were a few sequences that rely on dynamic motion and came out fine. While still far from perfect, the show's clunkiness is not nearly as noticeable. I was impressed with how much better this week's bear looked compared to the one in the first episode, with more fluid motion and a better blend with the traditional elements around it.

This week also takes welcome advantage of the anime's aural elements. The show has had excellent music, but this week's soundtrack really stands out. There is much more electric (literally and figuratively) music in the action sequences; the twangy guitar adds some punch to those fights, especially when it slides between notes for a nice touch when the 7th Division slides in on skis. There was also some interesting use of the jawharp, probably best known to anime fans for its use in the Cowboy Bebop episode "Cowboy Funk." Golden Kamuy also uses it for comical purposes at first, when Sugimoto and Asirpa argue about food again, but it's redefined and made diegetic when they arrive at the Ainu village to see someone playing the instrument. It is a nice marriage between the show's aesthetics and Asirpa's culture, yet another reminder that the creators have really done their research.

Another great detail is the use of actual Ainu language in some village scenes. This has plot importance in that it allows for misunderstandings between these characters and Sugimoto, but representing these cultures faithfully is also important on its own merits, especially considering that this language is rapidly losing speakers. While the effects of "media representation" can be abstract and vague, this could have some concrete benefit if it sparks enough fan interest in the Ainu language to help preserve it for future generations.

That's not to put this show on a pedestal or say it lacks its own spate of problems. Sugimoto and Asirpa are still the only complex characters in the show, and even then, they could use some more development. It's understandable, since Golden Kamuy is less driven by character than plot, which continues to be as engrossing as ever. The bad guys pursuing them can be ultraviolent to a puzzling and shlocky degree, with creepy characters like Tsurumi feeling more like pulpy threats than people. And while the animation has improved this episode, it's still not good enough to inspire lasting confidence in this production. Finally, just because Golden Kamuy portray one underrepresented group respectfully doesn't mean there won't be awkward moments when dealing with the unique problems of historical fiction. Choices like Asirpa's grandma insisting that Sugimoto marry her granddaughter feel somewhat off, given how much Ainu assimilation was driven by Ainu women being forced to marry Japanese men. Asirpa's line about being a "new kind of Ainu woman" also rings hollow when we know the "modern era" she describes will result in the complete destruction of her culture. This could be the author's intent, of course, but that doesn't make it any less uncomfortable in the moment.

Still, I am glad to see Golden Kamuy got better this week. It dug into its strengths of character interactions, suspenseful plotting, and an engrossing depiction of the Ainu as a culture that often gets short-shift in Japanese media. Its improvements in animation and soundtracking also help to justify the show as an adaptation, so I'm hoping for even more improvement in future episodes.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuczp0sQWEM

Magical Girl Ore - Episode 4 [Review]

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Magical Girl Ore - Episode 4 [Review]

Before there were magical girls, there was Kamen Rider. Long before be-ribboned defenders of justice appeared on the scene, heroes worked alone without cute mascots, and they wore masks instead of petticoats. After its thorough caricature of every magical girl trope, it's no surprise that Magical Girl Ore would quickly dig into this divide. This is the most entertaining bit of parody the show has delivered yet, but it's a gem within a bigger show that still has a lot of unresolved structural issues.

Find Kamen Rider down on his luck, and you get Cyborg Fujimoto, a masked hero held together with a plastic supermarket bag and some duct tape. Voice actress Megumi Ogata, who you might know as Sailor Uranus or Shinji Ikari, is the perfect fit for this throwback role. “Heroes are supposed to be lonely and hard-boiled!” Fujimoto complains, echoing realistic complaints about the magical girl genre as a whole. “You freakin' weak ass magical girls are ruining that!” In a world where magical girls have the spotlight, Fujimoto is living a low-budget lifestyle, wearing a school gym tracksuit and living in a crappy apartment. His transformation is just for show, and his power move is a kick to the groin. While he despairs the fall of masked heroes and the rise of magical girls, he also kind of proves why audience tastes have changed. Ogata does a bang-up job as a small and angry cyborg, demonstrating how much has changed between masked rider and magical girl tropes—and how much has stayed the same.

Outside of this highlight, this episode is a mixed bag. Sakuyo continues to be touchy and temperamental in a way that suggests that her lesbian feelings are a physical threat to Saki. It's funny how the ultra-violent demon-crushing scene gives way to a School Days “nice boat” gag, but this is still the second time the show has resorted to the exact same joke. We've already seen mob characters alarmed by Saki and Sakuyo's bathroom stall transformations. Mohiro's hero-worship of Ore happens twice this episode with little difference between the two scenes. And while it feels slow and repetitive to me, this installment of the Magical Girl Ore anime has already added aspects that the manga did not have—so there's no reason for it to feel so protracted.

This episode is also full of odds and ends that are nowhere near being resolved and just add some interesting background noise. Mohiro's bandmate Hyoe is definitely up to something, seemingly revealing himself as the bad guy Saki always suspected him to be. A duo of girls with gold and silver hair lurk in the background to provide commentary, but we don't get to know them in this episode. In short, there are a bunch of elements that I'm not ready to analyze yet because they haven't been established enough. While it does feel like the show is stretching its content thin, there's still a lot to poke fun at when it comes to the magical girl genre, and Cyborg Fujimoto is only the latest example of how successful this flavor of humor can be. Don't miss the post-credits scene that gives me hope that we haven't seen the last of Fujimoto yet.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NqT9qyZgSA

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Episode 4 [Review]

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Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Episode 4 [Review]

Given how the format of Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These has played out so far, it was relatively easy to predict we'd be getting a Yang flashback this week to complement the Reinhard one we got last episode. However, unlike that previous episode, which was able to draw on the structure of the older LOGH version for a remake with some presentation details altered, this one draws from multiple points of backstory. As such, even if the conclusions are the same as before, this full flashback actually feels like the freshest Die Neue These yet.

The biggest strength of this episode is how intimately it feels involved with its characters. Reinhard's flashback had some personal heart, but it still felt detached thanks to the recollection-style framing device. In Yang's case, we're dropped into his academy years with no preparation, so the story being told gets to stand on its own. If you've seen the bits and pieces from the old show that covers some of this same ground, the content here is only idiomatically similar. Yang meeting Jessica and introducing the audience to Jean still forms the backbone of his formative experiences, but the way the details are handled and paced arguably works better here. One unique touch is that we haven't properly seen Jean or Jessica before they first appear in this flashback. Of course, we still know that Jean's eventual death doesn't bode well for the relationship we watch develop between them, but seeing them for the first time in this context puts emphasis on the impact Jean had on Yang while he was alive, rather than seeming like a pathos-ridden flashback to be deployed later.

As with the previous Reinhard episode, this one also sprinkles in plenty of little details that the opening battle lacked. Things like the reason for Yang's ‘Empty-Handed’ nickname, as well as an effective explanation for why he's even at a military academy in the first place, help flesh out a character that we already like. Even tiny visual details, like Yang's unbuttoned collar during his simulation battle, contribute to the ‘feel’ of the character, and the contrast helps to illustrate other portions of his world. That simulation also gives us an opportunity to see Yang's developing strategic skill in action, rather than having to take the word of other characters for it in exposition. Similarly, spending more time with Yang and Jessica together from the start helps show the effect it had on her, laying the seeds for her political developments in the future.

That said, this episode's primary weakness is also borne out of that strength; there is perhaps a willingness to have Yang show off too much. After a strong first half, the second half plateaus more than necessary. Seeing Yang's so-called Miracle at El Facil should be a big moment. This has been mentioned a couple of times already, and it plays out faithfully to its historical import. They even blend in other details, like an early appearance of Frederica in a recreated scene that prior fans will immediately recognize. But even with a ground's-eye view of the planet's evacuation, it still comes off less eventfully than you might hope. That might be part of the point, since Yang is known for being almost impossibly cool-headed under pressure, and he makes snap decisions based on the types of intuitions that would only be obvious to others with the benefit of hindsight. But in an adaptation that's otherwise aiming to be more cinematic, simply showing Yang tell everyone to leave at an opportune moment doesn't make for exciting storytelling.

That feeling persists through the rest of the episode, which unfortunately highlights an issue with Yang that's more endemic to this version than the franchise as a whole. Basically, the show presents Yang as the underdog to Reinhard, coming out of nowhere and just barely foiling the vain noble's carefully-crafted plans with improvisational strategy. But with after seeing both of their backstories, Reinhard's upbringing was colored with decidedly more struggle, noble title or no. By contrast, Yang feels like he's simply coasted into his position by making a few good decisions at the right times.

Even if you think Yang's ascension isn't as interesting, the story is still setting him up as the ‘good guy’. There are some dark edges hinted at in the workings of the Alliance government (including the military adoption system which is several levels of messed-up), but it still stands as a simple democratic contrast to the class-ridden Empire we saw in the previous episode. The only caveat is that this episode ends abruptly, hinting at a second part that will move into the present day and show the full extent of the Alliance's governmental issues. This two-for-one pacing means that this episode might be judged better once its follow-up is out.

So the history lesson in the first half of this episode is a strong start, but I can't shake the feeling that the show is coasting more than necessary in its second half. It's largely dependent on how you feel about Yang's character after what we've been given so far. I still think he's likable, but those disparities have put him in an odd place right now. Still, with the knowledge of what's coming ahead, the trepidation over how this one played out could prove only tentative.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH8wHccDwlk

Lupin the Third: Part 5 - Episode 4 [Review]

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Lupin the Third: Part 5 - Episode 4 [Review]

If Fujiko is my favorite Lupin III character, Zenigata is a close second. His dynamic with Lupin is easily the most entertaining to watch, which is why it's filled so many great episodes across the franchise's history. On some level, the two just get each other. In Zenigata's years of chasing Lupin, they've developed a grudging mutual respect. Maybe on some level, Zenigata knows he doesn't really want to capture Lupin (an idea one episode in Part 4 took to hilarious lengths). There's too much fun in chasing him down, and it's this relationship that allows them to trek across a desert together, little girl in tow.

I was a little sad to see Fujiko dispensed with so quickly, but that will hardly be the last we see of her. Lupin keeps talking about his relationship with her (or lack thereof), which wouldn't keep coming up if it wasn't relevant. For now, I'm fine taking a break for some ZeniLupin shenanigans. Lupin the Third: Part 5 is settling into a formula at this point; The "Lupin Game" players come up with a new method to kill or capture him, then Lupin and friends do whatever they can to evade it. There's a last-second twist ending that threatens to shake everything up, but it's usually a fakeout that's resolved or put on hold quickly.

Lupin III is an adventure-of-the-week kind of show, the kind of anime that usually settles on an arc storyline in its second halves. What makes Part 5 different is that we have an idea of where it will go already. The "Lupin vs. the Internet" story has been around since episode 1, but we keep seeing glimpses of the real villain laughing at all the social media mayhem. I could watch Lupin and friends race around the globe dodging bullets until the cows come home, but now my curiosity about the broader plot is piqued. The last two series succeeded at this episodic start because they played their cards closer to their chests; we hadn't seen as much of the "arc plot" at this point of Part 4 or The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Conversely, Part 5 has told us just enough to make us wonder why we're not getting any more answers yet. I'm not sure this structure is sustainable, but episode 4 has finally pulled off a twist that will be harder to reset next week.

Before that, we get a solid 20 minutes of Lupin-Zenigata buddy comedy. Ami proves to be a good unifying force between them. Not only does she have Lupin as a surrogate dad now, but Zenigata already seems prepared to sign adoption papers after only a few hours around her. She shares a little more about her personal philosophy of why she prefers the Internet to real life, and this is the first moment that the show feels a little dated in its approach to technology. It's hard to imagine anyone that anyone who uses the Internet in 2018 sees it as a place "where gender, age and race don't matter"; social media and casual geotracking have permanently transformed the internet's capacity for anonymity. Maybe the world of Lupin III is different, but the most popular social media fad in this story is about tracking down and killing somebody, so I'm not convinced it's any less cruel and personalized than our own. At least Ami has found her niche online. She continues to drop little hints about herself that make me wonder if there isn't more to her than what she's telling her companions.

Ami also has a wry teenage sense of humor that allows the show to riff on itself, most obviously with jokes about shipping. Lupin III has always had plenty of homoerotic subtext, but it is a little weird how blatant Part 5 has been about pointing it out. First there were Lupin/Jigen jokes, now Lupin/Zenigata ones, right up to Lupin cackling about the "gun" in Zenigata's pants. You can't really call it subtext anymore when the characters themselves spell it out for you. This season's focus on the internet make it feel more like a joke about how online communities will see subtext everywhere; the Lupin/Jigen gag from episode 2 started with fans interpreting them as lovers. This week it's Ami's fault, when she offers love as an explanation for Zenigata's "only I can capture Lupin" obsession. Well, the girl does have a point. Whether it's love or just adversarial bonding, it's enough to carry them through a desperate desert trek.

Then there's another shootout—from drones, fitting in with the "technology" focus—before we finally get That Ending. Out of the corner of his eye, Zenigata sees a bullet hit Lupin's head, sending him flying with blood-spray everywhere. Lupin III is dead! Or is he? The episode ends ominously with an announcement on the "Lupin Game" website, rewarding the winning bet and announcing its shutdown. The next episode preview seems to confirm the death, with Zenigata reminiscing during what looks like an episode focused on him.

Let's be real: of course Lupin isn't actually dead. You can't kill off your main character and franchise-nomer in episode 4. I mean, it would be a bold move, but it hardly feels like Lupin III's style. Plus, we only saw Lupin get shot in silhouette, not directly. It's basic TV logic that if you don't directly see the dead body, it didn't happen. (And sometimes you can't be sure even then.) I'm not going to be shocked when it turns out he just planted a squib in his ear or something.

Still, this hell-of-a-cliffhanger gives the series a chance to really shake up its current formula. The world seems to believe Lupin is dead, officially ending the Lupin Game. If he's still alive, this gives Lupin and friends an opportunity to settle their own scores. Of course, he won't be out of sight for long, since there's still a smartphone around every corner—even in the field of Bwanda. This deadly twist could finally give the plot the push it needs forward. Or, like with Fujiko's appearance last week, episode 5 could anticlimactically resolve it within the first three minutes. I hope they make the right decision.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvMecWvHTdo

Real Girl - Episode 4 [Review]

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Real Girl - Episode 4 [Review]

Tsutsui and Iroha continue trying to understand their new relationship this week, but unfortunately the arrival of a new character sidetracks that process. Mitsuya Takanashi, the school's resident Hot Guy, calls Tsutsui out for a heated discussion. It turns out that Takanashi has a crush on Iroha, and he can't imagine why she'd reject him in favor of a scrawny otaku like Tsutsui. Not content with merely clobbering Tsutsui, Takanashi drafts his little sister into a dastardly plan to make everyone think that our antisocial hero tried to kidnap a young girl. That's right, folks, it's time for a good old-fashioned “someone spreads rumors about the protagonist” plot!

The good news is that the dynamic between Tsutsui and Iroha remains compelling. Tsutsui's imagined conversation with his anime idol Ezomichi is an amusing way to start off this episode, and it also speaks to a defining part of his perspective. Having spent most of his youth as a social outcast, Tsutsui is burdened by the dual concerns that he has nothing to offer Iroha and that trying to take another step forward in their relationship will trigger some kind of cosmic greed sensor and cause divine retribution to rain down on his head. This helps explain why he jumps at the chance to help her study (it's an easy and obvious way for him to “do something” for Iroha), and why any advance he makes toward her inevitably involves plenty of hesitation and backpedaling. For her part, Iroha seems mainly concerned about making sure the two of them are on the same page about their relationship, but as usual we spend far less time in her head than we do in his.

That awkward but well-intentioned process of two people trying to understand one another is the core of Real Girl's appeal, so it's unfortunate that Takanashi's arrival takes this episode in a completely different direction. As romantic rivals go, the guy doesn't exactly make a strong case for himself. The fake love letter he uses to draw Tsutsui out is needlessly underhanded for a presumably popular and influential person, and their initial conversation suggests that he views romantic partners as something that can be possessed and exchanged between people. Then he beats the crap out of Tsutsui, tricks his own sister into helping with an impulsive plan to frame Tsutsui for a serious crime, and acts like a whiny crybaby when Iroha still won't give him the time of day. If the goal is to paint Takanashi as an unlikable character, then all of this is total overkill. He comes across as so irredeemably scummy that the dramatic tension in this storyline rings hollow. Takanashi feels like a caricature of a villain instead of an actual antagonist, long on cartoonish malice and short on anything resembling charisma. It's just too hard to believe that he could ever prevail, and because he's so obviously being set up for a fall, there's no dramatic urgency or impact to his scheme. At this point, the audience just has to patiently wait until the other shoe drops.

In the meantime, the rumors force Tsutsui and Iroha to double back through familiar territory. The central question of this current conflict is whether or not Iroha will stay with Tsutsui now that Takanashi has made him into a pariah, but that question has essentially been answered already. Tsutsui's status as a social outcast isn't anything new, and Iroha has clearly decided that she likes him regardless of how anyone else feels. Having Tsutsui's classmates ostracize him even further as a result of the rumor just doubles down on an existing conflict without adding anything new to the conversation, especially since Iroha is smart enough to recognize that the rumors are false. At a time when Real Girl should be exploring the nuances of their relationship, this story arc is forcing them through an unnecessary reaffirmation of basic trust and support.

Takanashi's sloppy and overstated introduction has me worried, even though the handful of scenes before his appearance reinforce my interest in the show's core narrative. By going through the motions of creating a rival for Tsutsui, Real Girl is straying away from its strong points. Cheap teenage drama can reduce a show to another face in the crowd of its genre, but strong and insightful character writing will always stand out. This episode pulls the series toward the former and away from the latter, sidelining its more compelling threads for a premise we've all seen plenty of times before. Couple that with a downward trend in animation quality and you end up with a concerning number of red flags for such an early point in the season. As invested as I am in Iroha and Tsutsui, the two of them can only do so much if the rest of the show comes up short.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtj2AY4vdmI

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations - Episode 55 [Review]

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Boruto: Naruto Next Generations - Episode 55 [Review]

The countdown to the Chunin exams continues as both the heroes and villains gear up for the battle ahead. Still frustrated by his lack of progress while training under Sasuke, Boruto continues to cut corners with the help of Katasuke's invention. As the other teams train for the upcoming exams, the Otsutsukis begin putting their plan into motion. After being briefed on the Tailed Beasts by Urashiki, Momoshiki and Kinshiki set to work collecting the two remaining Jinchuriki, starting with Killer Bee. Once the group takes possession of Bee and Gyuki, they set their sights on their next targets: Naruto and Kurama.

Thus far, the additions made to the feature film's storyline have helped add depth without making things feel padded or protracted. Since the TV series is presenting this tale as a long-form arc instead of a 90-minute movie, the general pacing is much slower, but the story has yet to suffer as a result. In fact, if the scenes taken directly from the film didn't present such a noticeable aesthetic contrast to the TV-quality visuals, it would be easy to forget the current arc originated as a movie. As was the case with previous installments, episode 55 is able to aptly build tension, provide each character with a clearly defined role, and conclude on a thematically appropriate and unobtrusive moment. In effect, they've managed to add small climaxes to each installment, providing enough excitement to keep viewers who are intimately familiar with the film version to keep tuning in.

Urashiki continues to make a welcome addition to the main cast. On their own, Momoshiki and Kinshiki were fairly stoic and uninteresting, so pairing them with a cohort who's jovial and upbeat makes for a good balance. In addition to adding some levity to the dynamic, Urashiki's fun-loving personality helps set him apart from the other Otsutsuskis who have appeared throughout the series. Instead of being robotic in appearance and demeanor, he cuts loose at every opportunity and appears to be having fun with the task at hand. Seeing how his presence affects the story's climax (if at all) should prove interesting in the weeks ahead.

With the exams set to commence next week, the small screen version of Boruto -Naruto the Movie- is heading into a more action-driven part of the story. Interestingly, the preview primarily features footage from the movie, but seeing as the various phases of the exams accounted for a reasonably small portion of the film, it's a safe bet that the TV series will fill in plenty of gaps. Adapting a self-contained movie into a longer format while simultaneously incorporating it into the broader mythology of an ongoing TV series is no mean feat, particularly when portions of the film are spliced with new footage that looks noticeably different. Fortunately, despite the odds being stacked against it, Boruto has managed to make this tricky process look easy week after week.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzCzVwVDjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcRZIbBtdo0

Steins;Gate 0 - Episode 3 [Review]

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Steins;Gate 0 - Episode 3 [Review]

After last week zeroed in on Steins;Gate 0's new cast of characters and the emotional bombshell of the Amadeus system, episode 3 takes us back to a place that feels much closer to the original Steins;Gate's vibe. Things aren't exactly the same, of course, but how could they be, given everything Okabe and his lab members have been through? Despite some unfortunate aesthetic hiccups, one thing this episode of S;G0 does exceptionally well is balance its nostalgia for the good old days of the Future Gadget Lab while still taking full advantage of the opportunities provided by this more somber new version of their Akihabara.

It's clear from the get-go that Okabe is failing to heed Maho's advice when it comes to Amadeus. As he uses his phone camera to guide the AI around the streets of Akihabara, it's impossible not to notice an old rapport building up between the two, complete with the gentle teasing and constant inquiries that came to define Makise and Okabe's relationship. Amadeus is also saddled with the requisite naivety that comes with being a burgeoning artificial intelligence, but that doesn't make it any less heartbreaking when Not Makise casually mentions how much she would love to share a lab like Okabe's with friends of her own and personalized utensils. For Okabe and the audience, this one moment is enough to spark a maelstrom of other memories, the kind that are terribly dangerous for a man in Okabe's position to indulge.

Thankfully, all of this fraught territory has a counterweight, which is the increased focus on the other Future Gadget Lab members, who fell more to the wayside in S;G0's opening episodes. The scenes where Mayuri and friends plan a Christmas Cosplay Party feel right at home with the more upbeat, slice-of-life feel that Steins;Gate accomplished so well in its first half. What's more, these scenes do a great job of showing how the group as a whole has grown up; Faris and Suzuha have bonded more than they ever did in the original series, Yūgo and his daughter Nae are interacting with the Lab Members more, and Mayuri's social life seems much healthier than it did before. Her cosplay friends were occasionally mentioned before, but it's still nice to actually see her interact with friends her own age who haven't had their lives upended by time travel shenanigans and government conspiracies (yet). Maho and the Professor's interaction with the group at this Christmas party further cement them as welcome additions to the Steins;Gate world. I'm especially loving Yōji Ueda's performance as Alexis; he nails the Westernized accent in Japanese and gives the character an earnest charm, though I'm still not sure I trust his ostensibly altruistic intentions toward Amadeus and Okabe.

If there's anything that brings this episode down, it would have to be the art and animation. While I understand that little changes in style will come about with a shift in directors and seven years of time having passed, this is the first episode where I couldn't chalk up the sketchy artwork and inconsistent animation as by-products of this series' tone shift. The overall direction this week was sloppy enough to be distracting, with pedestrian camera work standing out even more against awkward editing. One scene in particular that lacked the necessary punch was Mayuri eavesdropping on Okabe's conversation with Amadeus – it works well enough to get the point across, but the messy transition between Mayuri silently fleeing and Maho intervening robbed Mayuri of the power that should have been afforded to her biggest character moment so far.

On the plus side, this was largely a table-setting episode, so the lapses in directorial quality didn't harm the overall impact much. Like Okabe himself, we're still getting used to being back in the Lab again, and some of the readjustments are going to hurt more than others. It's one thing to be confronted by the ghosts of a troubling past, but our poor mad scientist has to carry a painfully familiar voice in his pocket and be repeatedly asked why he called her “Christina”. The chemistry between Okabe and Makise is so on-point that I relish seeing them interact in any context, but I can't help but feel bad for taking so much pleasure from seeing Okabe relive the most harrowing moments of his life. His relationship with this computer program is bound to only become more troubling as the season continues.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrURrNwkOX0

Cutie Honey Universe - Episode 3 [Review]

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Cutie Honey Universe - Episode 3 [Review]

Jill's cover identity of Inspector Genet has already caught the eye of everyone around her, and this week Honey's BFF Natsuko finds herself hopelessly head-over-heels for her. After two episodes of laying out the format and giving us Honey's backstory along the way, Cutie Honey Universe starts developing its subplots with some of the side characters. It makes for a more cohesive episode of the show than we've gotten before now, even if it is at the expense of some of the other things it was doing well before.

Natsuko and Genet going on a date forms the backbone of this episode, so your enjoyment of it will live or die based on your opinion of that premise. I thought the incredible awkward silences between them in the car were hilariously on-point, but I can see them just feeling extremely awkward to others, as Genet not-so-subtly probes Natsuko for information on Honey's coveted plot devices. Still, the exploration of others' reactions to Jill's machinations make for the most surprising development in a previously shallow show.

Honestly, the strength of this episode is letting the ancillary characters contribute to the plot, unlike the cameo-induced whiplash we got out of them in prior episodes. A running gag features Naoko and her Sukeban entourage stalking Genet and Natsuko, making numerous jealous remarks along the way. It's only kinda funny in that very 70's face-fault-driven way, but it's still nice to see people besides just Honey and Genet getting involved, and we actually learn more about these oddballs along the way. There's also a rewarding fake-out shot of Natsuko being attacked by this week's Panther Claw monster that reveals Naoko actually took the hit for her. Over the course of just one episode's side-plot, Naoko has gone from one-dimensional bully to a laconic badass with a heart of gold. It speaks to the staying power of Go Nagai's characters and the tropes they embody.

Other characters get similar bits sprinkled throughout the story. The gaggle of detectives pops in for just a moment to justify their inclusion with a good gag about how Akebi and Momori don't actually do anything on the computers they're constantly seen using. Jill's M.O. becomes more defined, though her exact goals stay somewhat muddied. She makes it clear that anyone not deemed ‘useful’ to her will be eliminated, so this week's monster gets offed while she lets Natsuko walk away mostly untouched. Natsuko, for her part, turns out to be the first cast member capable of putting two-and-two together about this Saturday-morning plot, having already begun to suspect Genet. This last development was one of the most surprising to me, and Natsuko has proven to be a charming character so far, so I'm looking forward to seeing her do more.

But the entertaining use of characters and decent plot momentum end up crowding out some of the other elements that already worked in Cutie Honey Universe. Honey herself winds up with hardly anything to do this time around, save for declaring her intent to safeguard Genet and Natsuko's date, and that gets derailed when a distraction of a robbery turns most of Honey's time-killing into a shaggy dog story. As long as this series is leaning into the stock elements of its plot, it might have been more entertaining to see Honey try to keep monsters away from the focal couple while they went about their business in the foreground. Even when our heroine does catch up with the monster-motivated date gone awry, the resulting battle is relegated to her one-shotting the monster with one hell of a Rider Kick. Is it too much to ask for the character work and parallel plotting of this episode to be accompanied by the awesome action of the previous ones? I can't be the only one who find it conspicuous that we've only seen two of Honey's many forms so far, and there was hardly even time for any fanservice this week!

But if the show has to conserve some resources to make the most of what we got this week, I'll take it. The hodgepodge introductory material finally settling down was exactly what I wanted, and the resulting cohesion goes a long way toward improving this episode. Cutie Honey Universe has gone from feeling like a formulaic old-school superhero serial to a slightly later version of the same thing, with an overarching plot you could feel developing over the course of scattered episodes. Maybe it's not really damning Cutie Honey Universe with faint praise to call this the best episode yet, since it feels like the story is just getting started now.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wH6tiqD5mw

DARLING in the FRANXX - Episode 15 [Review]

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DARLING in the FRANXX - Episode 15 [Review]

When it's operating at peak performance, DARLING in the FRANXX can be a superbly directed and loving pastiche of classic mecha tropes, succeeding despite its many questionable storytelling decisions. I'm happy to report that “Jiang” is DARLING in the FRANXX at its best, offering a significant step up from last week's messy events to deliver an incredibly satisfying combination of popcorn spectacle and entertaining sci-fi romance. The only major issue with this otherwise stellar episode is the baggage that comes from this darned show being such a thematic mess.

For example, in the battle to retake the Gran Crevasse from the Klaxosaurs, the Nines are revealed to have upended the Pistil-Stamen dynamic, with the female pilots asserting the “dominant” position over the male ones. This changeup in the Parasite relationship dynamic is one that fans have been questioning for months, but quickly implying that the Nines are the only ones to have done it leaves more questions hanging in the air than answers. The primary concern is that the Nines have been framed as alien to Squad 13 from the get-go, with Nine Alpha's behavior coming across as nearly antagonistic. This episode also sees the male Parasites sprouting small horns as they assume the more submissive permission, which only further draws the comparison between them and Zero Two's more Klaxosaur-derived characteristics, so I'm not sure if we're supposed to see the Nines' inversion of the status quo as something intriguing or admirable, or if it's meant to come off as perverse and off-putting.

Speaking of the pilots' relationships to their inhuman enemies, this episode also confirms that the cores powering the Klaxosaurs are of human origin, and the “Saurification” dialogue from last week would seem to confirm the theory that the humans in question were Parasites. The post-credits scene also has a human-seeming Klaxosaur hand emerging from the Earth to claim the remaining Klaxosaur eggs, and this is where things get tricky. Kokoro's arc has already been used to broach the subject of motherhood, and the Klaxosaurs have been framed multiple times as creatures heavily concerned with their offspring. This episode also does other things to reinforce the notion that a woman being put in a position of power and dominance over her male partner is somehow alien or dangerous; in the Nines's case, it comes as a subtextual to their untrustworthy characters, but Zero Two's situation is much more explicit. Her self-centered approach to “piloting” with random men has left her unable to suppress her inhuman qualities, and only when she finally affirms her love for her true “darling” can she regain her human faculties and help pilot the Strelizia to victory.

So is the big reveal really going to be that Klaxosaurs are somehow the evolution or even offspring of female Parasites that have completely lost control of their FRANXX? It's hard to say at this point, though I really hope that isn't the case. Given that Hiro was last week's candidate for Saurification, I'm at least thinking that women aren't the only ones at risk for turning into rampaging, baby-crazy, destructive monsters, but the way the show is handling its take on gender relations and relationships continues to be disconcerting. And with the way that plot crumbs are being conservatively delivered in this show, it's still impossible to get a bead on where this series is headed for sure. At this point, DARLING in the FRANXX could still be about anything or nothing at all.

The most frustrating thing about all of this is that, when you stop trying to think about all that stuff, this episode is absurdly entertaining. Squad Thirteen's fight to retake the Gran Crevasse is an epic battle, featuring the slick animation, dynamic camera angles, and generally snappy directing that DARLING tends to pull out whenever the Klaxosaurs come around. Most effective is the episode's brooding color palette and use of sharp contrasts and strong lighting. Watching episodes like “Jiang”, I'm always reminded of how much work the crews of A-1 Pictures and Studio Trigger put into the little details that help the whole production feel cinematic.

The episode climaxes with Hiro and Zero Two coming back together in the final act, in a sublime example of storytelling and direction coming together beautifully, so long as you ignore the questionable ideas surrounding their reunion. For one thing, Ichigo got a surprisingly quick turnaround on her redemption arc, as she finally let go of her love for Hiro and helped him fight to reach Zero Two. While both Ichigo's change of heart and Hiro's sudden ability to synchronize with her feel like undercooked payoffs, I'll be glad to see the fandom hopefully cool their jets on all the Ichigo criticism after this.

It's all worth it to get Hiro back in Strelizia's pilot seat, and I will admit that I never expected to be so engaged with this reunion. This is largely due to how episode 13 raised the emotional stakes for their relationship in general, helping both Hiro and Zero Two rise above the familiar tropes that have defined their characters for so long. It also helps that the sequence was fantastically produced, with the use of the “Kiss of Death” theme being particularly effective. I couldn't help but grin as the two flew triumphantly toward the stars and tearfully announced their love for one another, fully buying into the moment while still acknowledging how silly it was when you stopped to think about it.

This is part of what makes this show such a strangely divisive viewing experience. DARLING in the FRANXX remains a uniquely frustrating experience when it comes to addressing whatever themes and ideas underlie all of its spectacle and romantic bombast, but it's so ridiculously earnest and entertaining that it bypasses the logic and reason centers of my brain in the moment. It strikes directly at my inner anime-obsessed teenager, back to a time when a series' quality was measured directly in proportion to how many cool explosions and melodramatically romantic moments it could pack into a single episode. Someday, DARLING in the FRANXX might be able to justify Adult James' reservations and misgivings, but for now I'm willing to put a pin in the series' many questionable elements and enjoy the spectacle on its own merits.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRSR9wqy38U

Food Wars! The Third Plate - Episode 15 [Review]

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Food Wars! The Third Plate - Episode 15 [Review]

Although the cooking doesn't get as much focus as it might have this episode, that doesn't matter as much as you might expect. The real meat this week is in the character development, or rather, the ongoing evolution of Erina and the strengthening bonds between her and the Rebels. While Evil Henchteacher Endo may be overstating things when he calls her the Jeanne d'Arc of rebellious students, it's clear that Erina having something that she feels strongly about has been really good for this former mean girl. Not only has it given her something to fight for, which she never had before, but it's also allowed her to actually make friends her own age. It's like Erina's going through a renaissance all her own, and that's heartening to watch.

Not that it isn't awesome to see Soma, Takumi, and Megumi throw their cooking skills in Endo's face too. The man is a disgrace to the teaching profession (among other things), and he compounds that with the unbearable arrogance that Central's way is The One True Path to culinary greatness. Whether that's something he truly thinks or he's just Azami's toady isn't particularly important; it's a bigger deal that he's gleeful about the unfair way he's literally setting students up to fail. To see Soma and his friends rub that in his snout is immensely satisfying, and depicting him naked the entire time, his clothes having exploded off in his foodgasm, underlines that he's working for an emperor with no clothes.

The second phase of the exam is actually over before the episode's halfway point, which does feel a little rushed. It's clear by the post-credits scene why this was done, as our major reveal is slipped in to make us impatient for next week, but it still doesn't work as well as it might have. Fortunately, seeing the kids hang around Sapporo makes up for it a little. Once again, this is mostly about Erina's character development, which is still exciting because she got so little in the first two seasons. Watching her be surprised that the Polaris kids want to be her friend is a little heartbreaking – she clearly doesn't think she deserves their friendship based on her past behavior. She's obviously trying to distance herself from who she used to be, as we saw in her special boot camp and when she tells Hisako this week that it's fine for her to go off with someone else. It's a surprise to her former aide, who seems to recognize what a big step this is for Erina, but even more of one for Erina when Megumi immediately decides to stick with her. Later when the two girls end up with Soma and Takumi, you can see that Erina's slightly uncomfortable, but less so than she would have been before. She's taking baby steps, and that's nice to see.

It's equally nice that Soma and Takumi seem to have ironed out their (imagined) rivalry. Soma's face when Takumi talks over him during his food brag at the exam is priceless, and I can't help feeling that Takumi is making up for all of those times he felt overwhelmed by Soma. Now the two boys seem to have developed a much more functional friendship, and since that seems to be what sets the Rebels apart from the Central groupies, it makes the story stronger.

Of course, Central has probably noticed this too, which could be inspiration for the third stage of the exam: one-on-one cook-offs with members of the Elite Ten. Apart from the continued unfairness of Erina getting the kid glove treatment (and I wonder if she'll protest that at some point), this is definitely designed to crush the Rebels' spirits in the worst way possible. By pairing Soma against the new Seventh Seat, Evil Akira (dressed like a CLAMP character from the late '90s), they're clearly trying to make a statement about the benefits offered to those who submit – Akira had a society he wanted to protect as well, and he narrowly beat Soma in the Fall Classic. Once you get over your anger at him accepting the apparent bribe of a seat on the council, both of those factors are probably worth considering. There may be more going on here than meets the eye.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vyqBv8deYY

One Piece - Episode 833 [Review]

 

One Piece - Episode 833 [Review]

The big cliffhanger we ended on last week was Luffy's surprise entrance to the wedding. I was so focused on Pudding that I neglected to mention in last week's review that the wedding cake, the one Big Mom covets so dearly, was actually so large that it served as the altar, and the flashy entrance that Luffy was so giddy and secretive about was that he had Capone's crew sneak a piece of mirror into the wedding cake when they were snooping around the kitchen a few episodes back, so he could use Brulee's powers to warp through and burst out of the cake alongside a bunch of wild animals he caught in the forest (using Brulee's powers again to turn the animals into Luffy clones so they could serve as a distraction.)

We seem to be easing back into a one-chapter-per-episode pace, though that could just be a temporary thing. I hope we're getting back on track because pretty soon Whole Cake Island is going to transition into one big 30-40 episode action set piece driven by organized chaos, and that sounds like trouble waiting to happen when it comes to the anime. The story content in this episode is crazy good, but that high octane energy easily gets lost when it feels like all the big scenes are standing around, quietly waiting for their turn to debut.

But boy, do we have some big scenes this week! The star of the show was Jimbei, who confidently decides to step into the middle of the action just when Luffy looks ready to fight Big Mom face-to-face, choosing that moment to request a formal parting of ways with the Charlotte family. Jimbei's a man of honor, making it clear that he was not satisfied with the treason he got strong-armed into, and he volunteers to confront Mom's 'Soul Pocus', a power that allows her to steal the soul of anybody who fears death. There's a lot of "I'm going to join the man who will be King of the Pirates!" talk from our fish uncle this week, and it feels great.

Jimbei's journey through the Whole Cake Island arc is a thing of beauty. Before this moment, there was a lot of talk about "death flags" for the character, since he talked a suspicious amount about how willing he was to lay his life on the line for his soon-to-be captain. This fear gets subverted when it turns out Jimbei's willingness to die is exactly the reason he survives (Big Mom can't even pull a second of lifespan from him because he's that much of a badass), which is probably the most One Piece way possible to have a character cheat death, and it allows him to then return his symbolic sake cup of brotherhood and finally cut ties with a "Thank you for all your troubles!" It's the most polite yet powerful way I've ever seen a character tell his old boss to shove it.

But as the final scene to cap off the episode, Jimbei's declaration is only the first part of a one-two punch. Immediately afterward, in the disarray that follows Big Mom trying to snuff out her new enemy, it finally clicks with the audience that the Luffy clone who looked out of place at the beginning of the episode was just Brook in a really bad Luffy disguise, and now he's sneaking up to the Mother Carmel picture to smack it with a hammer. I cannot watch this scene without laughing. It's way too good of a punchline for the episode.

We're entering a phase of the arc where I have such intimate memories of reading the source material for the first time that it's going to be rare for the anime to meet my expectations and kick my heart into overdrive. That Jimbei scene is so good, but I didn't walk away from this episode with my blood on fire like I wanted to. Between the tease of a Big Mom vs. Luffy showdown, the reveal of Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi fruit, Jimbei's speech, and Brook breaking the Mother Carmel picture, I really want these scenes to feel as dense and concentrated as they are on the page. I know that's not a reasonable expectation from this show, but every once and a while the anime succeeds at capturing the hugely transcendent emotions of this series, and other times it's just pretty good.

Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh_UJk68ITE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q33azHlCe4