With another Valentine's Day upon us, I wanted to take a critical look into the most popular romantic comedy this season -- that being Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen, or Kaguya-sama: Love is War. For the majority of my anime "career", I've been some what of romcom conn...
Jumping off my initial first impressions of Kaguya-sama: Love is War, I have wrote a blog post about romantic comedies that impede on romantic progress as an attempt to keep the series funny. Hopefully that description is interesting enough to want to check out my thoughts on the topic, as a whole, along with my expansion on what I think about Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
Its been a while since I did one of these medley posts, but I decided to make one with a small twist. Instead of posting each first impression on my blog, I would use Twitter the way it is intended -- for microblogging -- and just give my thoughts in...
Just posted a new first impressions medley on my main blog. If you enjoy my first impressions from a while back, check out the link above.
This year has been pretty difficult to watch anime, but I managed to watch enough to make a top ten list for this year. With the move to a self-hosted site, away from tumblr, I'm curious to see how this will affect the traction a post. And with me actually paying money for a site, I do plan on...
Back with another year of top ten anime, but it will explicitly be hosted on my site Critical Abstraction. So if you in enjoy my top ten lists click on that link and read away.
There have already been two OVAs of Kimi no Iru Machi after the original anime finished airing back in the summer of 2013. I didn't want to write about the first OVA considering it was just a flashback; however, this one that air recently is one that peaked my interest...
Another post that got hit. It makes less sense considering there is no actual explicit images, but I rather push people to my site than continue to have it on this tumblr.
Head over to Critical Abstraction if you want to read my "The Unkindled Flame" post.
One the most difficult things that anime, or any medium aimed at the teenager age range, has a hard time handling in a mature way is sex -- and any sexual topics for that matter. Anything of this nature ends up getting dumbed down to scenes that focus on the...
Scrolling through my older posts and noticed a few posts that got hit with a "It looks like your post might be in violation of our Community Guidelines and is now hidden.". So, I'm going to just give the link to my site and this one makes the most sense.
If you feel like read the "More Than Skin Deep" post, it is up on Critical Abstraction.
For those still interest in following my content, I have moved my blog over to a self-hosted site: https://critical-abstraction.com/.
I've been want to do it for a while and with it launching, I do want to pick up blogging agian but not as frequent as I have years ago. So obviously with the year coming to an end, there will be my top ten anime coming up and I will start linking off to that site here. My original post are still here, but the newer post with only be on critical abstraction.
Also, for a shorter form of blogging, I started a twitter. So check out both links and hope to see you around.
Pretty busy last couple of weeks, resulting in me delaying to start writing this post until the day of posting this. However, I am determined to continue to make these once a year posts of my top ten anime. With this year coming to an end and my reposting of content from sekijitsu, it has been enjoyable seeing all my opinions from the past as they came out -- especially my net neutrality post from a few years back after the incorrect decision by the FCC this month.
Either way, going through all these anime in one day I have clearly seen a trend of the type of anime that drew me in this year. It was a bit more difficult to make my decisions for who made the top ten this year, but I did have one anime that clearly was number one and worked from there. So lets kick off the new year right with another top ten list that I'm sure many people are looking forward to reading.
An odd mix of fantasy and slice of life that actually worked pretty well together. I found myself more engrossed in the arc where Inaba improved his spirit ability, which didn't last that long. Unfortunately, with that that build up, it didn't really pay off that much with the focus shifting back into the more slice of life elements. Luckily, for me, these elements were good because they covered a subject that is always fascinating to me, that being psychology. Overall, even with the stark contrast, "Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou" was a light hearted anime that didn't shy away from the darker parts of human nature creating entertaining episodes a majority of the time.
A story filled with loss, tragedy, and a world invested with monsters. Even with that themes mostly being drowned in sadness, "Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka?" manages to create hope in it's viewers, making for a compelling series to navigate through. They end up packing a lot of backstory into this series that ended up being squished twelve episode, but what we got I was enthusiastic to find out that more it revealed. Lastly, as I mentioned at the start, tragedy and character development go hand and hand, and we ended up getting a variety of well fleshed out characters. Each of them growing in a believable manner that fit well with the narrative themes. Overall, this anime had a really interesting world with good characters that felt like it could have been better served as a longer anime.
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2
I never mentioned this series when the first season came out last year, but I did thoroughly enjoy it. I don't usually put comedies into my top ten list because I never really think about them past it's airing, but "Kono Subarashii Sekai no Shukufuku wo! 2" made it this time around. What it did to make it this time was take the main reason I loved the original series and improve on character dynamics through comedy and further build on the world -- as they are no long stuck in one space. Resulting in an increased sense of progress and truly was the funniest anime I've seen this year.
Demi-chan wa Kataritai
An anime that tackles a serious topic like discrimination and the desire to find a place to belong, in a very gleeful way. "Demi-chan wa Kataritai" introduced each character at an steady pace while also adding new dynamics between each character. It ended up creating a fun and captivating atmosphere between characters while showing the different types of monsters, or demi-human, and the lore behind them. This was one of the first anime that stood out to me this year and I'm glad it continued to delivery as more characters created a bond and the last demi-girl was well worth the wait with all the teasing incorporated throughout the series.
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭
Another second season of a series that surprised me enough to put it on my list, but checking the 2015 top ten, "Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata" was there and ended up in the same number. Like most second seasons, this was more of the same, but this time around we finally got to see Megumi develop more as a character. She was always my favorite compared to the more over the top girls -- although Utaha comes in a close second. A lot of advancement toward the end felt more rushed with Utaha graduation on the horizon. However, that sense of urgency worked as the catalyst for pushing Tomoya out of his complacency, allowing for development from all character involved in Blessing Software -- as well as, breaking the by-the-book nature of this harem romcom.
Sagrada Reset
The type of anime that starts out dull, but builds up to the point of becoming a really compelling story with a lot of complexity. "Sagrada Reset" starts out simple with the idea of a town that inherently manifests powers for the people that live in it. However, as more characters are introduced, and their beliefs and goals become clear, this simple concept turns into a complicated situation where people fight for what they believe propelling the story from that. This was one of the few anime that made me think more about components they introduced. "Sagrada Reset" does a good job of showing not telling that can confuse some viewers that are use to the exposition type of storytelling. Really enjoyed the mystery and how it was laid out for the viewer, concluding with a satisfactory ending.
3-gatsu no Lion 2
One of the anime from this season that is only half way through, but has managed to convince me enough to put it on the list without finishing. Last season Rei didn't really feel like he had much motivation for anything and just went with the flow. This made the driving focus for the story not that impactful, but with the season season, his motivation became very clear and pretty quickly. This contributed to my increased attraction to the series, as well as the cuteness of the series that continued from the previous season. So this mixing of innocence contracted with human anguish, really tugs at my heartstrings in an enjoyable way.
Mahou Tsukai no Yome
Initially got into "Mahou Tsukai no Yome" through a three episode OVA that helped establish the character Chise and her tragic backstory. So going into the full anime with that knowledge, I was already in love with Chise and opening the world with new characters and a more cheerful tone made for in enjoyable experience. Even with this being another anime only half way through, the amount of information blended into a cohesive theme elevated this series into one of my favorites, not only in this season, but this year as well. I can't wait to see how much more this season builds the world and how each character will develop.
Shingeki no Kyojin 2
The initial hype around "Shingeki no Kyojin" back in 2013 didn't really register with me at the time. I'm not usually that into action anime, however, with more details being revealed about the titans, that hook finally started to catch something. All that fog of ambiguity of a human killing machine started to clear with the motivation of why titans wanted to wipe the human race. So will all that information, Attack on Titan swung to being a political anime featuring action and gore scenes. So really, the second season convinced me to continue this series and I hope they continue to bend in the political and psychological side of the narrative.
Ballroom e Youkoso
Every now and then a sport anime ends up surprising me, see as I rarely watch them. "Ballroom e Youkoso" is another one on a short list that fits that category. This anime has great pacing from start to finish, assuming that the viewer knows very little about dance and all the complexity of it in a competitive space. I found myself being engrossed in the world of dance and the topic of parter compatibility, synchronous movement, body control, and the lead/follow dynamic. These subjects helped create a nice arc for Tatara going from a green dance into a worthy competitor with a strong cast of characters.
Inuyashiki
This one took me by surprise because I had no idea what I was getting into as I watched this. Luckily, "Inuyashiki" turned out to be an interesting commentary about humans in similar situations and how they react depending on their past experiences. The situation itself was being handed power in the form of a new robotic body after their previous bodies were destroyed. This concept worked well in creating a villain with a purpose, although it wasn't there initially. As well as an unlikely hero, whose compassion also isn't as clear in the beginning, and develops as the villain gains traction. And with them having the same type of body, it really shows that that "good" and "evil" aren't binary, but more of a scale depending on the situation.
Boku no Hero Academia 2
Last of the second season anime that ended up in my top ten list. This season of "Boku no Hero Academia" finally allowed for Izuku to development his One for All powers changing the essence of a bumbling hero that faces danger in foolishness, into a more competent that is still struggling to catch up. More the world lore gets revealed and that created a future incentive for Izuku to get stronger. Really the second season helped me get even more invested into the world and I'm waiting in anticipation for the next season to air.
Made in Abyss
Going into this anime, I thought this would be a merry little adventure that I might enjoy, however, as the title suggests, the bleakness of the abyss fools you into a sense of comfort. "Made in Abyss" is one of those adventure anime that reveals concepts of the abyss fairly quickly in the first episode, but doesn't really show the abyss until our characters enter it. This is another case of showing rather than telling being better, but the anime ended up using both almost like a warning for those that attempt to stare into the abyss. The horrors of abyss isn't the only thing to look forward to in this anime, the character we stick with grow up fast in this environment. With them encountering many dangers worked as a consent remind of how easy it is for these characters to be killed. So I wouldn't recommend this to those that are easily squeamish, but those that stick with it will be rewarded with a fascinating world and characters that represent useful pieces of an adventuring crew that you will quickly begin to cherish.
In so much of media, a distinct line has been draw between what is objectively good and objectively bad. In most cases this rather simple view served as a way to instill virtue on the youth as they grew up and later became apart of the "adult world". However, when that person, who grew up watching this type of content, begins to mature they begin to realize how flawed this simplistic world view is. With the world being something not as clearcut, or black and white, the actual spectrum of what is moral gets lost when focusing solely on what is definitively good or evil. There has always been this thick cloud of ambiguousness that gets ignored, or never even seen, because people want moral choices to fit in those two nice boxes.
As this anime season comes to an end, I do want to highlight two anime that have focused on the topic of moral ambiguity in their own ways. The more popular show this season was Death Parade, who had several people confused on what the finally fate of these two being judged by the arbiter Decim. And the other being Junketsu no Maria, or Maria the Virgin Witch, where a lot of the struggle is between three "sides", the people, their god, and witches. Most of the hardship has this feeling of questioning authority when their value deviate from your own, or just following status quo to save your skin. Junketsu no Maria does get a bit more in-depth in that subject, but I do what to start with Death Parade and the matter of judging humans objectively as an arbiter.
Objectively Subjective
When the pilot for Death Parade came out from the "2012 Young Animator Training Project" named Death Billiards, my initial thoughts were about the nature of humans as they fight with their lives at stake. It was in fact about that, but there was a bit more that I didn't really see until that concept was expanded on in Death Parade. From the start, and maybe to the middle, most people would have thought of the old man -- that being in Death Billiards -- as someone who was the "good person", but with some hints toward the end it might have made you question that judgement from earlier.
Having that foundation of unclear motives, from the people being judged, it made a nice point to lift off of this idea of whether or not you can judge a person objectively. And right from the first episode of Death Parade, you get reintroduced to that feeling, even if it wasn't as clear that that was what they were going until a few more episodes in. In the ultimatum of being reincarnated or going to the void, viewers almost instinctual think that one party is going to be good and the other evil. When it is clear that both parties aren't "evil" in any way -- for example the Death Bowling episode -- it suddenly shakes that assumed notion of there being two opposing sides.
On the other end we could have people that were clearly evil, but that wouldn't really prove much of a point. The interesting thing that Death Parade did was have two people who didn't seem bad at all and slowly worked in things that most people would consider vile without context, like murdering someone, but with context it doesn't seem as bad but its still morally gray. And this is where the objectivity of anything really flies out the window and things need to be judge with a bit more nuance. Can we really judge a persons actions if we are pushing them toward that evil we want to see? Is that true objectivity if we know these arbiters have the goal of seeing humans in a dark light?
When it comes to judging people, we can only really gauge intent through actions rather than what they are actual thinking. Putting people in a box of either good or evil isn't the best course action because people cast shadows, no matter how well they live their life. If we continue to weight someone's merit simple on the shadow they cast, we will never really get to the person casting that shadow and no real judgement is made. And that is the flimsiness of "objective morality", sure we as people can come to some common consensus but that is not true objectivity -- and never will.
Of course there are some moral systems that claim objectivity, and I obviously disagree as I've stated above, but funny enough there is an anime that gets in the foggy nature of these type of "morality by authority" philosophies. Like mentioned in the introduction, this anime is named Junketsu no Maria and I am going to jump into the individual versus authoritative principles that Junketsu no Maria covers.
Might Makes Right
Considering the main character Maria is a witch in a time of war and peril, I was pretty sure there would be some push back from regular humans. And with references to Christianity, there was no doubt that she would be labeled a heretic since she uses magic not ordained by their god. However, the thing that took me by surprise was both Maria and the god of Christianity had their own opposing styles of interfering with humans. And the humans had interpretations of the word of god via the church and it's priest.
Maria was someone that didn't like the war going on between the France and Great Britain, so most of the time she would interrupt and stop battles by using her magic. It was clear that a lot of the townspeople being drafted for the war also didn't like the war that was going on, so it would seem like Maria was doing them a service. Unfortunately, with some influence coming from higher ups, this includes the church, there was a push toward getting an unfavorable view toward Maria. And this is where I see a lot of conflict going on between individually held values, or morals, compared to a moral system coming from an authoritative entity.
Pretty much every person has their own set of values, even if they follow an authority based morality; however, some believe that you can only get any morals from an objective moral authority. As I said in the last section, I don't think there is an objective moral code, but we as humans can come to some conscience and always improve on ineffective or error prone laws through discussion. Without discussion we end up with this "might makes right" philosophy. A lot of times people go with what they find immoral, in that type of philosophy simply because of fear. With that being said, this was the main struggle between the groups in Junketsu no Maria -- that being Maria, the witches in general, the church, and village people.
It is of value to have some structure in a moderately big group of people, but real morality gets lost if people start blindly following the leader. Individual thought is as important, if not more important, as the group in power because it takes people without power to know when they are being ruled unfairly. And "fairness" is what is so complex, as well as crucial, about the topic of morality in the first place.
Concluding
Whether or not someone believe that morality is objective, subjective, authoritative, or democratic, there is one thing for certain is that it is complex. There is no reason to shy away from complexity and that is what makes mediums that dive into these types of subjects that much more fascinating. It opens up the conversation to those that consume that type of media and form nuance thoughts about many of its aspects.
Of course I'm sure there are quite a handful of anime that cover this no-so clear cut view on morality, but these are this two this season that I wanted to write about. I hope to see more coming out about moral ambiguity expressed in different ways, so the topic can reach more people in the long run.
Originally posted 2015-03-29 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
Summary: Piano prodigy Arima Kosei dominated the competition and all child musicians knew his name. But after his mother, who was also his instructor, passed away, he had a mental breakdown while performing at a recital that resulted in him no longer being able to hear the sound of his piano even though his hearing was perfectly fine. Even two years later, Kosei hasn't touched the piano and views the world in monotone, and without any flair or color. He was content at living out his life with his good friends Tsubaki and Watari until, one day, a girl changed everything. Miyazono Kaori is a pretty, free spirited violinist whose playing style reflects her personality. Kaori helps Kosei return to the music world and show that it should be free and mold breaking unlike the structured and rigid style Kosei was used to.
Story
Like many music anime, they tend to focus on the character's involvement with the craft and how music helps each character -- whether that is personally or within a relationship. Probably the most interesting thing about Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso is one of the main characters, Arima Kousei, starts out with a trauma about music and is entirely appose to participate in the activity. In a sense, this was a clear conflict that was establish right from the get go and makes the viewer curious as to how we will see Kousei make his way to actually enjoying music again -- if he ever does.
With an end point set, the anime needed to plot the course of getting to said end point. Since Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso is character focused, most of the pushes toward the goal was through either the supporting or main characters, making each individual role feel like they had a purpose in the story. So even if the story was mostly revolving around Kousei getting back into music, the rest of the cast felt meaningful to each other and as well a Kousei.
The last rung of the story is the importance of music with a character who is actively trying to avoid it. Well this is where Miyazono Kaori comes into play. She is the one to spark Kousei's interest in music, as well as interest towards her. So this is where the fascinating relationship of the characters and how music ties them together. As far as I'm concern, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso does a great job in setting up the plot and establishing our four main characters that are either involved or experiencing the wonders of expression within music.
Art
The first thing that stuck out to me, when I starting watching the first episode of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, is how beautiful it is. You would think that a music anime would have art that didn't really stand out too much, because the focus would be on audio, but there was no punches held in the art department. There isn't a doubt in mind that probably most people were drawn to this anime because of its art -- and that doesn't bother me -- but the thing that made it stand out even more is the way this anime used it's color palette.
A lot of times anime tend to be very flashy with their colors, this isn't the case for Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso because it uses those brighter tone to draw the eye toward someone. For example, the first scene Kaori is in, she is high up on a jungle gym playing a Melodica and since she has blonde hair, there was this moment of awe. Also a lot of the scene with Kousei are darker and more monochromatic as he is in his head trying to deal with his trauma. I find this use of color and art direct extremely well executed and works well to convey the mood of a particular scene.
Characters
With the story being so focused on one character, there is this importance of actually making any other character as interesting and believable. In my opinion there are two real main characters and two main supporting characters in the story of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. I mentioned them before but Arima Kousei and Miyazono Kaori are our two musicians, the main focus, while Sawabe Tsubaki and Watari Ryouta are the non-musicians who support both of the musically talented. What I like the most about the relationship between Kousei and Kaori is the fact that they seem as close to equals as possible since both feed off of each other and make themselves stronger because of it. And the thing that keep them moving forward is music, whether that is the piano for Kousei or the violin for Kaori.
Now, having non-musical people in an anime such as this might seem counterproductive, however Tsubaki and Ryouta have importance. With both of them being jocks, where thing like sport are highly based on practice and talent, it allows the viewer to make parallels to music from a different angle. Also, since they are friends with Kaori and Kousei, we can get a second and third perspective from characters that knows them so well. These strong relationships make many of the character that much more real because others have opinions of them and character interaction has consequences.
Overall
Good Bad clear inner conflict from the start melodramatic inner conflict very impressive art and animation great color usage to convey scene tone dynamic characters that felt real
It's really hard to actually find something I had an issue with while watching Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso but there is something that could have been eased up on. This being the inner conflict within Kousei head; sometimes they felt melodramatic, however we have to remember that this is a middle school student we a talking about, things tend to get overblown when you lack the emotional maturity.
Beside that stretch, I would consider this a must watch for those who like dramas or musical anime that will not hold it's punches. I feel like there isn't much to really complain about since A-1 studios did a great job conveying an expressive art like music within it's animations and sound design. I can see myself watching this again in the near future, plus English title -- Your Lie in April -- once you finish the anime you will understand the significance with all of its bitter sweetness.
Originally posted 2015-03-26 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
Summary: Mihama Academy—on the surface, a closed learning environment established to nurture students who find themselves at odds with the world around them; in actuality, an orchard-cum-prison built to preserve fruit that has fallen too far from its tree.
Whatever the circumstances behind its establishment, Mihama Academy is at present home to five female students, all with their own reasons for "enrollment." For better or worse, each girl has established a routine obliging of her current situation; life moves at an idle, yet accommodating pace within the walls of Mihama.
Yet with the arrival of the institute's first male student, the nearly preposterously opaque Kazami Yuuji, the students at Mihama begin to fall out of step with their predetermined rhythms. Will Yuuji prove to be the element the girls around him needed to take hold of their lives once more, or will the weight of their pasts prove too steep a wall to overcome?
And in the first place, just who is Kazami Yuuji? While the true nature of the "job" he is wont to alight to at the most haphazard of moments remains shrouded in secrecy, one thing is for certain—his encroachment upon the quiet orchard known as Mihama Academy will prove itself momentous in one way or another. And of course, one cannot discount the possibility that perhaps Yuuji himself carries the weightiest past of any of the students...
(Source: VNDB)
I honestly didn't know what to expect going into Grisaia no Kajitsu, but the most prominent thing that drew me in was it is a psychological romance. With that in my mind, I was hoping for something that was more than likely a mature in nature anime. So when the first scene with the listing of the five girl's "sins" in life, I was interested in seeing where this anime was going.
Oddly enough, it switched quite quickly into to this very stern looking male character being interrogated by the police. With these two scenes, I almost immediately had the thought that Grisaia no Kajitsu had the feeling of the characters might seem somewhat normal but there is something off about them. This continues when we enter the so-called "ordinary school" known as Mihama Academy.
The first thing I noticed as our main character, Kazami Yuuji, and Tachibana Chizuru pulled up to the school is the cameras. I some normal schools you might see a few cameras here and there, but in Mihama Academy there seems to be a sizable amount outside the perimeter which continues this eerie feeling about the anime. The other was how bare the school grounds was, which is basically step up for a harem situation of five females to one male.
From this point on their it was mostly normal interaction of introducing the new female characters into the story. The one thing I do want to note is how analytical and snarky Yuuji is when interacting with people. With a male protagonist so boring looking, there had to be somewhere for the audience to relate with him, and that snark seemed to do the trick -- at least for me.
Many of the females are very high energy, so having that balanced out with the cool as ice Yuuji make both funny and interesting conversation of these polar opposites. And the overall nature of each conversation almost made me forget about this lurking darkness the anime first presented. However, what followed after meeting all the cheerful characters, was a very quick and sharp snap right back into the reality of this anime.
When Yuuji stayed to meet the last student -- who doesn't show to school until later in the day -- he was met with hostility quite quickly. Sakaki Yumiko is probably the only girl who doesn't hide her dark side and ended up baring her claws at our male protagonist instantly. And that scene was the turning point for the curtains being lifting about the academy.
Not going to lie, I am personally drawn to female characters who are considered "roses"; on the surface they seem so beautiful and harmless, but go down a bit further you might get cut by their thorns. So many of these characters do show these types of characteristics but right from the first episode alone, I'm interested in Suou Amane -- the sizable women -- and Sakaki Yumiko -- Ms. Quick-to-Stab.
So with just this one episode, I'm interesting in seeing what to come from Grisaia no Kajitsu. The fact that some of the girl seem like they are ready to kill Yuuji for something he did in the past is something I can't wait to see. And getting into the different personalities of each character seems like an entertaining journey to take.
Originally posted 2014-10-08 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
OP: "database feat. TAKUMA (10 Feet)" by MAN WITH A MISSION
ED: "Wonderful Wonder World*" by Yun*chi
Summary: Veteran gamer Shiroe and other players have been trapped in the world of the online game Elder Tales for six months. The once chaotic city of Akiba has regained its everyday hustle and bustle following the formation of the self-governing organization Round Table Meeting. The earthlings, who are originally from the game world, have gained the trust of Shiroe by waging a defensive war against the Goblins in Zantleaf Region. This has led Princess Rayneshia of the Cowen family, the highest-ranking Earthling Aristocrats, to live in Akiba.
It's almost winter and the Adventurers are thinking about what they're going to do and what their goals are in this other world. Will they remain in Akiba or go to the city of the West? Or will they travel to the land of the North or another faraway country? The opinions of the Adventurers begin to diverge. What adventures await the members of the Shiroe team in this second series of Log Horizon?
(Source: NHK Enterprises)
Log Horizon was my favorite anime of the season when it originally aired. So, I was waiting with excitement for the next season to start. It is, without question, the one anime I've been looking forward to the most this season. Not only that but it very interesting that it is beginning around the time when Sword Art Online is entering its second half of the season -- which I would argue will be most disappointing part, like the first season.
With all that prefacing it, I would say the first episode is pretty much what you would expect from Log Horizon. Unlike the first season, there wasn't much setup and we jumped straight into reintroducing the characters and setting. Considering I didn't rewatch the first season before jump into the season, I feel lucky that I remembered most of the characters. With the addition of many interaction with comedic flair, it all felt like a seamless transition of season. We also had the setup for future political intrigue with the slowly depleting funds for the Round Table.
To be frank, I would describe this first episode as a condensed version of what makes up Log Horizon. From the silly interactions to the serious political and physiological conversations
Going into detail, we know that Akiba was establish, in the first season, to be a safe zone for players in this hostile world that is Elder Tales. Now that we are in the second season this peaceful life has been going on for a while, however, that life style is possibly coming to an end. The Round Table needs to keep paying a large sum of gold to keep their hold on many of the buildings in Akiba, but their funds are slowly depleting.
Knowing this problem, it is in Shiroe nature to plan for alleviate such a predicament. Not only this one issue but there also the possibility of Southern spies in Akiba, so the South id becoming an emanate treat. With these spies about, the troubles and plans to get out of said troubles need to remain secret as to not let the enemy see a weakness.
Having all this setup, for the political side of Log Horizon, so early on make it seems like this season is going to be on good standing.
So overall, I would say that this season of Log Horizon is starting out really good. I really liked how the anime handled introducing new subject into the story -- back in the first -- in stages, making it easy to digest. The only complain I have is the first season didn't make the physiological elements that important even with it being losing memories in the real world after you had died in Elder Tales. If this season focuses more on the fact that players could forget outright that they are in a game, that would serve as another point of what makes Log Horizon such a good series. Regardless, I'm looking forward to the season with or without the anime heading into the mental breakdown of a character.
Originally posted 2014-10-08 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
A sister duo of cursers named Yoyo and Nene help people by either removing or putting curses on people. Suddenly, a large tree entangled with building -- and other thing outside of this world -- spouts up in their world. Stricken with curiosity the sisters go out to investigate the reason such a tree has grown in the forest and encounter two children. One of the sister, Yoyo, goes in to ask the kids about this tree and gets transported into a new world; this world is nothing like the familiar forest, it is fill with tall building just like the tree that randomly appeared. Yoyo is now stuck here and needs to figure out what is going on.
Story
I'm not normally one to jump into any fantasy setting that enthusiastically, so I came into Majokko Shimai no Yoyo to Nene without much of an expectation. And based on the first few minutes, it seemed like it would mostly be focused in this magic filled world that was admittedly very beautiful, also commonplace in a fantasy setting. However, the thing that got me more interested was the fact that the setting was mostly in a modern Japan, but there was still this alternative world that was essentially a lush magical forest. This high contrast of locations was an intriguing clash but also integrated into the story nicely.
The plot revolved around a curse that was affecting these two worlds that were slowly bringing parts of each world to it's counterpart. Even with that main conflict being planted clearly, there was good amount of exploring of this new world for Yoyo. Since she is mostly used to the forest, this new industrialized world was entirely different. Not only were big building a direct opposite of big trees, none of the people used magic so it was also like magic meets science.
If you get down to the detail of what the story is, there isn't much originality to pull from it. We have a sister pair who cures curses and now there is a bigger curse that is affecting more than one world. Even with that said, it was enjoyable enough to get things moving in the movie. Plus the conflicting settings was the most interesting bits for me because it lead to some fascinating art direction and character development.
Art
This was hands down the most impressive part of Majokko Shimai no Yoyo to Nene. With places full of trees and other nature it is really easy to make an extremely colorful surrounding, but having most of the movie being in a modern city, there are a lot more grays simply because of all the buildings. Even with that fact it is striking that they pulled off making a city feel more vibrant with the limiting color palette.
It also helped that magic was pretty colorful, but the overall feel was there is enough color around but not to the point of it being gaudy. This movie reminded me of Little Witch Academia if only for the similar subject matter, but it still is a really beautiful mix of color, animation, and setting.
Characters
The story itself starts out about the two sisters Yoyo and Nene who are "cursers" who have a 100% success rate. When things actually get to the main point, in modern Japan, the focus shift more toward Yoyo while Nene is much more of a support character.
The fact that Yoyo is stuck in an unfamiliar world, it served as a compelling way for her to grow as a character. Since Yoyo has had magic for all her life, she uses it freely and easily; however, being somewhere where those things aren't as common, it could have been a culture shock for her. The way of relating to this world for Yoyo was thinking that the technology and science was simply magic. So you could say that she is very ignorant of anything outside of her work and that shows quite explicitly as her adventure in modern Japan continues.
The biggest development for her would be a spoiler, and I'm not going to reveal it, but interestingly enough there were two scenes that foreshadowed it and Yoyo had to experience the one thing she was ignorance about first hand and ended up mading a one-eighty pretty quickly -- but the scene itself is pretty cliché for movie set for this age range. Either way, to me Yoyo didn't feel like much of a character but more of a catalyst for moving the story forward. She had her small quirks that allowed her to not just feel like a flat cardboard cutout character, but I didn't connect to her at all.
Overall
Good Bad nice blend of opposing subjects cliché plot simple yet memorable characters not as interesting main character pacing of story felt right gorgeous art
Even with a cliché plot and a mediocre main character, Majokko Shimai no Yoyo to Nene felt like a movie aim at a younger audience but still managed to entertain people outside of that demographic. The thing that carried it the most is both the art and the pacing where it never felt like it was lingering on scenes for too long. Overall I would say that it is good enough to watch once, but I doubt that I will be revisiting it in the near future.
Originally posted 2014-07-19 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
Genre(s): Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Shounen, Super Power, Supernatural
OP: "Tokyo Zero Hearts" by Faylan
ED: "Kyuusei Argyros" by Yousei Teikoku
Summary: The science fantasy story Tokyo ESP begins with Rinka, an extremely poor high school girl who lives with just her father in modern Tokyo. One day, she is going home from school when she chases a "flying penguin" to the top of New Tokyo Tower—only to have "fish swimming in the air" suddenly appear before her. One of the fish goes through Rinka and gives her extraordinary powers beyond those of normal humans, particularly the ability to slip through solid objects.
(Source: ANN)
The combination of science fiction and fantasy has always been a rather odd mix for me. On one hand we have something that tries to grounded in as much reality as possible, and this includes the "fiction" part of science fiction; and on the other is something that is right out of left field with magic and many other things that wouldn't be probable. So when mixing these two it's almost like the story wants to try to explain something that would normally be improbable to do so, yet still attempt to do it with science.
So going into Tokyo ESP with that kind of mindset, I found myself more curious as to how this anime would explain these ESP powers. As of the first episode, there wasn't much explaining but it was way more diving straight into the conflict. Interestingly enough, there is a mention of the duality of science, where nothing is a miracle, and fantasy, where everything is a miracle. This dichotomy seems to be integrated in the fiction itself and that type of discussion between science and the supernatural actually seems like one of the few way to handle the "science fantasy" genre.
Probably the most clear cases for mixing of these two subjects is the espers use of technology. As far as I can see, they -- the espers -- use science based technology as a tool for further enhancing their own powers; I saw a couple of specific examples that I wish to share, and the first one was a man who has pyrokinesis that only really extends to his fingers. The way he made something like that dangerous is the use a gas canisters attached to his arms, essentially turning him into a living flamethrower. The other isn't as easy to explain but she had aerokinesis and she had some type of turbines to both intensify and better control her own mini hurricane.
It's not clear whether most espers have limits like this, but I find it really interesting that users of ESP have an inherent weakness that gets solved by some type of tool. This dependency on tools really does bring esper back into the context of humans considering that both non-espers and espers have some reliance on tools to do most of their damage.
The other thing that stuck to me is the disdain for esper by the non-ESP users; It reminds me of Wizard Barrister, minus the lawyery bits. The only contrary to this opinion seems to be the "White Girl", which is a pretty awful name be by known by the populous.
Through all the outward complains about espers, at one point I questioned the dehumanization that the people were doing thinking that esper were still most likely humans; sure enough, I get that confirmation and this is where the layer of "us vs them" mentality forms all over again. Only this is, in this case, their complaints are valid considering a group of espers are holding their parliament hostage on the pretence of getting them to worship espers.
With all that put together, I find myself intrigued by most of the subjects covered in Tokyo ESP. This anime is one of the few that I've been hooked in from the first episode alone from this season. There are also a lot of people saying that the first few minutes is a reference to Ga-Rei: Zero, which I haven't watched yet and am considering watching. So this is certainly one close to the top for me, and I am looking forward to seeing how the story develops.
Originally posted 2014-07-12 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
OP: "Kimi ja Nakya Dame Mitai" by Masayoshi Ooishi
ED: "Ura Omote Fortune" by Ari Ozawa
Summary: Sakura Chiyo confesses to her crush, Nozaki-kun, but he mistakes her as a fan! Unable to convey her feelings, what happens when he invites her to his house? Find out in this hilarious series!
(Source: Panda Scans)
Going into Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, I didn't know what to expect but I did have Bakuman on the brain only because they both revolve about mangaka. With the just first episode, it feels like this anime will be more focused on the comedy aspects rather than the actual struggle of mangaka trying to become serialized. And that is fine considering I found the duo of an overreacting Chiyo and deadpan Umetarou to work well, resulting in some quick and silly humor.
Of course, like most romcoms that focus on comedy, we probably won't be seeing any real romance; sure there will be "hints of romantic nature", but I doubt there will be any progress between the two characters. And really, that is my beef with romcoms, they call themselves romantic comedies but they end up being just glorified comedies where any romance scene is just another comedy moment. Of course this is only my prediction, so we will see what actually happens between Chiyo and Umetarou, but really do doubt that there will be any relationship progress because it will ruin the dynamic of oblivious guy and girl trying to convey her feelings toward him.
Going back to the manga side of things, it's interesting to have a guy doing shoujo manga. Someone like Umetarou, where he is blunt and doesn't really show his emotions that often, you wouldn't really expect that genre to be his pick -- specially him being a popular shoujo mangaka at that. So the thing that feels strange is that he makes stories that resonate with a lot of females, resulting in him understanding females at some level, but he is oblivious to Chiyo's feels? That feels like the weirdest disconnect within a character, but this is only the first episode so I will cut it some slack for now.
As for Chiyo, she seems to be defined by her affection for Umetarou. Like I said in my first impressions for Sword Art Online II, I don't like those type of female characters but Chiyo is quirky and we still has time for her develop.
Right now, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun shows some potential. The dynamic coming from Chiyo and Umetarou is entertaining and it seems like there will be even more characters being added in pretty soon. I'm still preparing for this to be mostly comedy and no romance, so thats too bad for Chiyo but she'll live.
Originally posted 2014-07-07 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
Summary: 1 year after the SAO incident, Kirito is approached by Seijiro Kikuoka from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Department “VR Division” with a rather peculiar request.
That was an investigation on the “Death Gun” incident that occurred in the gun and steel filled VRMMO called Gun Gale Online (GGO). “Players who are shot by a mysterious avatar with a jet black gun lose their lives even in the real world…” Failing to turn down Kikuoka’s bizarre request, Kirito logs in to GGO even though he is not completely convinced that the virtual world could physically affect the real world.
Kirito wanders in an unfamiliar world in order to gain any clues about the “Death Gun.” Then, a female sniper named Sinon who owns a gigantic “Hecate II” rifle extends Kirito a helping hand. With Sinon’s help, Kirito decides to enter the “Bullet of Bullets,” a large tournament to choose the most powerful gunner within the realm of GGO, in hopes to become the target of the “Death Gun” and make direct contact with the mysterious avatar.
(Source: Crunchyroll)
Back with a new season of Sword Art Online, or rather Gun Gale Online this time around. And as one of the many people extremely critical of the previous season, specifically the ALfheim Online arc, I'm going into this pretty sceptical on whether this season will be any good. Like last season, SAO II presents the hook pretty early on and for this season, it is the death gun that seems to be causing people's deaths in the real world, after being shot by it. To me, it is interesting enough to want to see what happens next; however, how long will this anime stick with it as the main plot? With the first season as precedent, it doesn't look too good for this one, but we will see if SAO II doesn't make the same mistake as to rush the ending of this arc and start another one that is both not as interesting and entirely pointless.
Next up is how the main characters from the previous season have been doing. Starting with Asuna, it seems she is continuing to spiral into the unimportant character role. The biggest give away for me was when she and Kazuto were discussing what they want to do in the future. Asuna was the one who didn't really seem to have a goal while Kazuto wanted to become a creator with all the research he is doing on virtual reality headsets. The answer that Asuna was that she wanted to spend it with Kazuto and really that just felt like her character is now defined only by how much she likes Kazuto. As a small side note of Asuna's character, why does she still call Kazuto his in game name, "Kirito" after dating his for over a year? That is just an odd detail that probably shouldn't happen if you actually cared that much for someone.
As for Kazuto, we know that he want to work on virtual reality headset -- I'm guessing to make them safer after going through SAO and ALO. I guess you can stay thats the only thing new about him specifically, but it also seems Kazuto is becoming a detective for the virtual world. And that pattern of some problem in a game is affecting the real world and Kazuto has to gear up and enter this new world to, most likely, dominate everything for no real reason continues.
The overall theme of this arc seems to be the crossover, or even merging, of real and virtual world, which is interesting to me. This season might actually turn out to be good and the understandable scepticism I have can be lifted; but, it as could just end up being mediocre like last time. We will see how much has been learned from the previous season or if A-1 will continue to ride this hype train until it eventually crashes. Either way, I'm moderately interested in the current plot that have been establish in this first episode.
Originally posted 2014-07-05 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
Transitioning from middle to high school can be somewhat of a fresh start, where people get to reinvent themselves in order to better fit their new surrounding. There are also those that stick to their roots and hang out with the old friend they have had from the previous years. There is no clear right or wrong way to approach such matters, but the one thing that stays with both situations is they are trying to establish some type of group to be apart of. While, at the same time, thing to be someone who is special, someone who sticks out from this group is also important at this new stage in live; and that struggle to balance the two different categories, group vs individual, is one of the difficulties of being in high school.
That struggle is something that I find interesting and Japan as well, by the sheer amount of anime set in a high school. Unfortunately, there aren't that many anime that tackle this endeavor head on. This is where the likes of the Young Animator Training Project -- known as Anime Mirai -- comes to shine with the one shot style of anime. In this case, the anime name "Harmonie" is the one I thinks stands out this year and is also the one that deals with this individual versus group topic.
What is Harmonie?
Harmonie focuses around the spaces that every person has to themselves. Whether or not these worlds are affected or influenced by the people around you is debatable, but one thing that is certain is it's somewhere comfortable, for the creator of such a world. What if there was a way to step into someone else's world and be able to explore it? Well this is something that Honjou Akio did after listening to a song by Makina Juri. What is in such a world is where all the interesting bits come into play. Let alone that closeness that people undergo after having very similar experiences. Only thing is, these things don't come without a price.
Collectivism vs Individualism
Being the "weird kid" can be both freeing and isolating at the same time. With the freedom to express your individuality, but also be shunned from most groups. This battle of collectivism and individualism is something Juri has experienced in her youth, and that resulted in her completely distancing herself from what makes Juri herself. She traded her world for what was an all access pass to being in, what I guess would be considered, the in crowd. In the case of Juri, she traded her individuality for the comfort of being accepted by a group of people who happen to be the more popular type of people within the high school.
On the other hand we have Akio, who hangs out with his friends and they discuss anime together. Although Akio isn't as much of a tragic case as Juri, he only really interacted with this small group of people because everyone else thinks of his group as weird. So, it is almost like Akio chose his individuality, but still has a group of people who accept him and the majority of everyone else actively avoids them talking under their breath about them quite frequently.
I would say there is a divide between collectivism and individualism, it just has its own benefits and consequences based on which one you favor most. Of course a mix of the two is far more powerful of a bound, and that is what happened when Akio was the one of the first to enter Juri's world absent of the judgement that Juri has had suffered through in her childhood.
Connecting the Two
The one talent that makes Akio standout, but he isn't that proud of, is his ability to learn a song just by listening to it once -- which the anime would call "perfect pitch". That talent is what made Juri aware of his existence after Juri's ringtone went off during class. That song was something that came from the dream Juri has been having since she was a kid. That song was essentially the key to what was Juri's world and after she allow Akio to listen to the full song, he fell right into the same world Juri has visited often. And this new-found common starting place is where a new relationship started.
Juri finally had a place to be both apart of a group, rather someplace outside her head, and actually express the one thing she has tried to push away from for so long. I find this was of connecting two people very intriguing because of the mundaneness it is on the surface, but for the most part all relationships start at one common place. I also love that it brings together two people from different groups and create something that felt like Juri has grown by accepting herself, and Akio is stepping outside his familiar group of friends. The only this is, as I alluded to in the summary of Harmonie, there is conflict that comes from this newly forming affair.
Conflicting Conclusion
Most of the push back that came from Juri and Akio becoming closer was from Juri's friends, mostly just Gotou. The details aren't that important, but there is an interesting parallels to be made about this high school world and Juri's dream world. A lot of what happens in that dream is very similar to what happens between Juri and Akio. The closer the kid and the female doll got, the more these other dolls tried to break them apart. And by the time they break free for that conflict, both of them end up become extremely close, while also enjoying their time together. So even if this anime didn't show them getting closer, it is inferred based on the dream and the ending of Juri happy crying about finding someone similar to her.
To conclude this post, I want to say I enjoyed this anime way too much than I should have, but unfortunately it is only one episode. Since it was only one and ended so well, I still wish there was some fleshing out of the friction that was going to eventually happen the closer Juri and Akio became. Also, it would be nice to see how Akio's friend would react when the relationship between the two main characters get more serious. There is also the relationship being based on the hazy memories of Juri; Akio never really told her the full truth to Juri when he found out the dream he had were suggested to him from the track after Juri's song.
Last is the end scene in the dream world where the doll girl shows the boy her rainbow insides. That seem like showing him her true self; and as I concluded that the dream world parallels with that real world, I want to see Juri also showing her true self to Akio.
So leaving an anime open to questions like this really is the strength and weakness of it. It shows that I'm invested to just trying to predict what might happen to our main characters and also leaves a starting point for if studios decide to pick it up. Either way, I'm glad that I watched it and hope more people watch out for things coming Anime Mirai.
Originally posted 2014-07-05 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com
