#animu nights

[piesonscreations]

Mawaru Penguindrum

I don’t really know where to start with this one, to be honest.

It’s one of the few shows where I sat staring at a black screen for a few seconds after it had all ended. And here I am, trying to scrape for words to give my thoughts on it, to finally give it closure, the one it deserves, and the one I need.

It’s not that it does something I have not seen before, but it tells its story in such a way that walks the fine line between being, or either too confusing or a hassle to understand, and being able to deliver the plot in a creative way. If you’ve seen the show, you probably understand what I’m saying, and if not, then you should watch it, i’ll tell you right now- though it might not be for everyone, not because it’s “too deep”, but its got plenty of things that are not for everyone. Even with all of this said, I am sure that there’s much symbolism that I don’t, (and probably will), never understand.

As for the production of the show itself, visually, it’s quite charming! Probably one of the stand out things about it are the backgrounds; they give off a Shaft feeling. Everything is oozing with style and the animation quality is always top notch, though I have to say, sometimes the penguins irked me a bit, like a serious scene where Shou was talking to Ringo and a penguin was farting throughout the whole conversation, it just... ruined the mood. As for the soundtrack, while I don’t really have any stand out songs, they all work great with the scenes they are attached to. Although I do have to say that both openings got stuck in my head- Didn’t really care for most of the endings, on the other hand.

After all, I really can’t talk much about the show itself. I feel it’s something that should be experienced by one with as less knowledge about it as possible. Granted, It’s not the best show in the world; it really isn’t. But I sure as hell will remember it fondly, and that is, from me, really important as well.

Also I would like to never see a penguin again for a lifetime, if possible.

[piesonscreations]

Working!!! - Ep. 4

Holy shit, I don’t think I’ve ever gone from extreme joy to unfathomable anger so quick, so many times.

I mean, it’s nothing new with this series, really, but with this season, they’re teasing us so much with something happening, that these last two episodes have been a rollercoaster.

I was super happy about Inami-chan being able to get closer to Takanashi, and him thinking she was cute and all, but then he HAD to screw up and make her cry.

Oh well, here’s hoping this season continues to go on like this. It’s been fun so far.

[piesonscreations]

Gangsta - Ep. 1

This was a pretty good star for the show, but not without its faults. Maybe it´s because I set my expectations too high, but the animation seemed rather stiff, and the line-art was just, to put it bluntly, pretty bad at times. But I have to say, I really digged the music,- and the story as well.

It has potential, the character dynamics seem like they can lead to very interesting situations, and the setting it´s not something I´ve ever really seen, so I´m definetaly looking forward for more.

[piesonscreations]

Shounen Hollywood -Holly Stage for 50-

Well, this second season was really enjoyable! To be honest, I had more fun with it than I expected to, but I guess the same thing happened with the first season.

I can´t really find many words to describe the show. On one hand, I find it pretty relaxing, but amusing at the same time. Plot-wise, not much happens, I mean, they still do the same things as they did in the first season, but I suppose the show is mostly about character interaction. Though I have to mention episodes like the one where Kira falls for this girl that sold sandwiches, that was probably my favourite episode of the whole thing.

I think it deserves mention how this show tries to do different things with every episode, it worked well with the whole character interaction deal, presenting the cast a new scenario, and it showed that the creators knew what they were doing.

So, yeah, not much to talk about this one, but it was, truly, quite enjoyable! And I´m pretty excited for that “-Holly Stage for 51″ that may come out.

Also, the title-card music for this season is some Paper Mario-ass jingle

[piesonscreations]

Majin Bone

Oh man, this show was just great. I mean, there really wasn´t a whole lot to it, it´s standard shounen fare, and I have to admit that it started off pretty mediocre, but as it went on, I abosolutely fell in love with it, probably around the time Dragon went berserk and began to destroy a lot of stuff.

In terms of animation, it was pretty consistent overall, with it´s highs looking pretty neat, and it´s lows, pretty bad. But even if it wasn´t anything special, I think that Murata Yuusuke´s (Eyeshield 21, One-Punch Man-[serialized ver.]) designs really helped give the show a lot more personality. On the subject of animation, it would be lousy if I didn´t mention the PV, and how I wish the whole show would´ve been animated that way, but I´ll touch a little more on that later.

It´s also pretty important to mention the work that Dimps did with the 3D animation on this anime, as every the “Bones” weren´t 2D animated. And I gotta say, it actually looked pretty good! There were some times were the fight scenes looked quite impressive, actually.

Overall, this show was a blast to watch. It captures the shounen escence, and knows what to do with it, as expected of Toei. And that last episode was just fantastic, I was more than delighted to see animation similar to that of the PV, and I practically smiled all throughout the episode.

If you´re not into this type of shows, then this isn´t going to change your mind, but otherwise, I´d defintally give it a go!

Also, Liebert is best girl.

[piesonscreations]

Sanzoku no Musume Ronja

This show was beyond charming, really, it just gets you in a good mood. I´ll be honest, like most Ghibli stuff for me, it began pretty slowly and kind of boring, but as it went on, I really fell in love with it.

Well, it would be a mistake calling this a Ghibli show since it was made by Polygon Pictures and co-produced by Ghibli, but in the end, at heart, it has much more of a semblance to the Ghibli style. Also, about the animation, Polygon Pictures proved themselves again as being able to really do some superb 3D animation, with it being very lively and working splendidly with the environments, while still following the art direction. The backgrounds, on the other hand, are 2D, and are breathtakingly beautiful, in my opinion.

The main driving point(s) of the show are, beyond any doubt, the characters, and with there being so many, it makes sense. And, while most of them don´t get much screentime, it doesn´t quite matter, as just seeing them together helps you understand how this “robbers family”, of sort, works, similar to Summer Wars, in a way. And with what happened to Skalle-Per in the last episode, I gotta admit, I got a bit teary eyed.

I can´t say how good this is of an adaptation of the book by Astrid Lindgren, not having read it myself, but I can´t definitely say that the show was really enjoyable! I could, for sure, talk more about the characters, but if you haven´t watched it yet, and are interested, I´d completely recommend to do so.

[piesonscreations]

Shirobako

Man, I´m really going to miss this show, it was such a nice experience.

I think, what I liked most about it was just how colorful the whole cast of characters was. Just, how everyone had their own quirks, their own dreams and for such a large cast, everyone was memorable and made the whole show feel more alive, and a believable anime studio.

Also, I absolutely adore how you can tell that everyone that worked on this show really loved anime, and how full of references of other works, animators, directors and such the series is, to the point where I wouldn´t even know where to begin, though, it would be a disservice if I didn´t mention how they portrayed Nippon Animation (Musashino Animation in the show), from straight references like Andes Chucky to the time shows like that were done, and such.

So, as a whole, this was probably my favourite anime this season (at least, aired this season, not realeased), and I would love to see a second season, now that the main girls seem to have a more solid objective in mind, or at least, a way to achieve it.

[piesonscreations]

Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji

As far as shoujo anime go, this one was pretty darn good. It´s weakest point was definetally the animation, but on the other hand, I found pretty much everything else to be quite well done! I liked how Kyouya was consistently an asshole, it was a trait of his, not something to make him seem more affectionate towards the girl on certain parts. Also, Erika has to be one of the best shoujo protagonists there is, really, she never gave up and tried with all her might. She was a strong female lead, compared to most other shows.

The writing was overall pretty comedic, and with direction by Ken´ichi Kasai (Known for Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile [Season 1] and Bakuman), the whole package is just a truly enjoyable series. Sure, if you don´t like shoujo to begin with, this won´t change your mind, but otherwise, I´d recommend it! Futher, it is crucial for me to mention the ending song, because it was really the thing that made me stick with the show at first.

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Don´t really have a lot to say about this one. It was a nice little comedy, with a few serious, more emotional moments which were the highlight of the show for me. Seriously, that episode with the ghost girl, and the way it ended was just so sweet. As for the characters, Kohina and her love for instant-ramen made me hungry, Kokkuri-san was just a great guy all along, Inugami was pretty funny at first, but in the end it made me a bit, yet not quite, sad watch how they treated him. And Shigaraki had his great moments, but definetally the best were those in the episodes where Kokkuri-san got turned into a woman.

All in all, this show was pretty neat. Not much more to say, really, but don´t get me wrong, it was truly enjoyable, just not something special.