#finished 2023

[magicalgirlmel]

Anime finished this year 19: Buddy Daddies

8/10

Transcript under the cut 

I can totally see why people looked at this one and dubbed it "we have Spy X Family at home", however, I think that this show does enough to differentiate itself and stand on it's own.

One thing this one does really well is the whole idea of found family. By the time the season comes to an end, you do really feel like these three have become a family and care about each other. That's something that is surprisingly hard for a series to pull off. Some of this might be played for comedy and a bit over the top, but it undeniably works here. I care about these people getting to stay together.

It also does colorwork really well, the series feeling bright and poppy for most of the runtime until those moments where it doesn't need to be, where the palette takes on an appropriate tone to those situations. Overall, it's a wonderfully beautiful show. Even the comedy is accented by that, with the comedic expressions that the animators threw in really bringing some scenes over the top. 

However I'm not so happy to report that there were a few small elements that hold this back from reaching some of the highest accolades that it could. For one, the handling of Miri's mother in the back half of the series really rubs me the wrong way. I don't have much of a problem with her changing her mind from where she was at at the start of the series since she was clearly in a bad place then. However, the way she's handled in the second to last episode felt like it was just for cheap shock value rather than actually adding anything to the story. And given that she's one of only two adult women given any prominence in the show, it's disappointing to see her treated in that way.

Miri is cute, but she's also a little annoying, which is a bit of a problem. There are times where I really love her and times where I wish she would just zip it. Sure, that's the way real kids are and I like that she's not some little perfect radiant sunshine perfect child, but there are some edges that could have been smoothed down.

And finally, while the last episode mostly sticks the landing and wraps everything up in a satisfying way, the way it wraps up does feel like it comes about just a touch too easily. It's something that, given everything we've been told, I don't think that the leads should have been able to resolve so neatly without ongoing problems for them. It's just a case where it likely could have used one more episode of breathing room, which we might have gotten were it not for the recap episode partway through the season.

[mappsiemakesthings]

I finished another pudgy unicorn ^_^

[mappsiemakesthings]

I made a Pudgy Unicorn ^_^ 🦄

Pattern: Pudgy Unicorn Amigurumi by Nina Shimizu (free pattern download on ravelry)

Yarn: Schachenmayr Catania scraps, not sure of the colourways

Hooks: 3 mm hook for the main part of the body 2 mm hook for the decreasing part of the body and everything else

Modifications: Curlycues for mane (with 3sc per chain). I then lost steam, hence the tail being just... like, yarn. with knots at the end.

I read the instructions for the ears wrong, so these are different than the instructions.

Also, I kinda winged the placement of things.

Oh, and the horn is one row more than indicated. idk why i did that... it looked so small, but now it looks so big xD

Anyway, the creechure has been finished successfully ^_^

[mappsiemakesthings]

A decades old WIP has come to its final form! I must have started this well over 20 (up to 25! a quarter century!) years ago, and it plopped up again the other day... The yarn (which I'm sure is from GDR times, and the GDR ceased to be 1989!) was horrible to work with but I gave the whole thing a nice soak with a tiny bit of fine wash detergent, and now it has a very nice soft, squishy touch to it - and it dangles fantastically!

I'm really surprised and happy how good it turned outxD

Calling it ✨Diamonds Bookmark✨ Kid 1 is already using it ^_^

[magicalgirlmel]

Anime finished this year 23: Free!

7/10

Transcript under the cut 

This was a show that I watched like 75% of when it was initially coming out and then just didn't finish for one reason or another, so I just rewatched the whole thing. All in all, it was pretty good.

Let's first get out of the way that this is an amazingly beautiful show. There are a handful of pieces of media that are able to not only make water look beautiful but also get across the way that water feels so incredibly well. Free! is one of those series. As someone who did competitive swimming when I was in high school, this show displays how a race feels really well and they clearly did their research when it came to making sure that they animated the strokes right.

Which is why it's a shame that there's not a ton of it in the show. There's enough, sure, but a lot of the screentime is eaten up more by character drama so these parts where swimming is so beautifully depicted feel more like a short burst rather than the whole point of the show. That's not to say that the character drama is awful or anything, but it's a little... dramatic.

I forgot just how earnestly over the top this show is when it comes to the relationships between the characters. What they're doing oftentimes is ridiculous, but the show is so straightforward and earnest about it, that I end up finding it incredibly endearing. I want good things for these kids even if they're morons who are taking things way more seriously than they should.

The only real complaint that I have with the way that the series plays out is the treatment of Rei in the final episode. It's one of those things that while I understand why events play out the way they do and I think it feels very in line with the characters we've gotten to know over the season, it also feels like Rei gets shafted somewhat by the narrative and made to be that perpetual third wheel that the show was just an episode ago trying to convince us that he's not.

[magicalgirlmel]

Anime finished this year 22: Blue Lock

7/10

Transcript under the cut 

Blue Lock is, in a word, ridiculous. It's over the top and takes things way more seriously than it needs to. The metaphors it uses to get across the ideas of advancement and blockages in sports ability are corny and every time a character has an internal monologue it's so faux edgy that I can't take it seriously. And yet... it's also so much fun.

Blue Lock does something that I love in that it takes the concept of a death game, removes the death, and applies it to something else. A game of slow elimination until one remains is something that is just satisfying to watch, after all. There are times where it feels like Blue Lock is taking things a little too seriously, but then one of the characters will do something that's just absolutely unexpected and it'll have my attention again.

I have to admit that there are only a few characters that I actually like, though, either because they are fun or they feel the most, for lack of a better word, human, compared to the others. There are a lot of characters in this series that are just there to be a gimmick character with some weird quirk that makes them entertaining for a little while. It can be hard to get invested in these characters and a few of them can even become grating when they stick around too long. It also grows a little off-putting to have the main character have these big internal monologues that are full of intense language and such and then for the second he's not on the field he's just... a guy. The contrast feels jarring in a somewhat unpleasant way.

The only other major issue that the show has is that it's visually inconsistent. There are often scenes where the action is animated in a way that it has both insane visual appeal and a really great sense of impact. The usage of the change in characters eyes to tell you where their head is at the moment was nice too. However, it can feel a little hamstrung by the times that CGI models are used. I don't begrudge the series for doing this and the usage is usually very brief and unobtrusive, but once you notice it you can't unsee it, especially when realizing the CGI models run very differently than the hand animated cast.

[magicalgirlmel]

Anime finished this year 21: "Ippon" Again!

6/10

Transcript under the cut 

I'm sad to say that this is yet another show to fall to the girls' sports anime curse. Unless the show is aimed at a certain audience who expect certain things, the animation isn't going to be the strongest thing in the world. I thought this one might avoid it from the first episode, but the quality dipped in the second and wasn't the most consistent thing after that. I do applaud it, though, for giving the girls of the show varying body types. Many of these girls are stocky, chubby, or simply built, which I loved seeing.

This is one of those shows where the charm of the cast is what's going to carry you through most of it. The cast is really likable and they have some really relatable things that they go through. The problem with that, though, is that for most of these characters, their major arcs are pretty wrapped up by the time that we reach the tournament that takes up the back portion of the season. Once we get there, there's only like 2 that feel like they have arcs with substance and weight to them, which makes the back half of the series feel a little thin unless you're really invested in the judo action. 

That's another downfall the series has. It's really hard to get super invested in the judo competition side of things unless you're someone who already has some level of knowledge of judo. I knew little to nothing going in and I feel like the only think I learned was what an Ippon is, and even then I'm not entirely sure if the definition I could give would be accurate. This isn't a series that is making any effort to lay things out for those of us outside the sport, even though there is a character in the series who is a newcomer to it which would give reason for explanation.

Now, if that's what the series does and it wants to be for the more hardcore enthusiasts, that's perfectly fine! However, I think those hardcore enthusiasts would be let down by the liberal use of panning or near still shots in the judo segments. It's a case where it's hard to recommend to judo fans because the series lacks the little details in the animation, but it's also hard to recommend to someone who doesn't know the sport since the show is just going to throw out terms and for the most part expect you to keep up.  It's really in a no-win situation for finding an audience, unfortunately...

[magicalgirlmel]

Anime finished this year 20: Tomo-Chan is a girl!

6/10

Transcript under the cut 

This is one that I am pretty torn on if I'm being honest. There is a decent amount here to love. However, there is also a lot of places where things are just kind of muddied overall. I wish that I could say that I unequivocally loved this one, but that's just not true.

For the good, I did end up liking most of the characters. High school romcoms like this have a kind of bad habit of making side characters take center stage without being interesting sometimes, but here, I was finding myself often more interested in the side characters than the leads since they were so fun. I think anyone who has watched the show can say that Carol is the obvious standout as the most fun side character, but Misuzu is also pretty damn great too. The pair also have a great dynamic together in that golden retriever friend with black cat friend energy.

I want to say I like the romance here since there are moments that I find really sweet and cute, but the way that both Tomo and Jun  are often both in that place of being unable to do anything from sheer force of being flustered is something that went from cute to annoying over the course of the season. It's a joke that wears thin when it gets in the way of actual development.

I'm also not a fan of the fanservice that is thrown around early in the series in regards to Tomo. The way the show can often fixate on the idea of her body being the only "feminine" thing about her feels gross. It's something that didn't need to be part of this otherwise wholesome and relaxed series. 

There's also the way the series shifts in the back third that feels somewhat unnatural. While it is nice to see the show actually acknowledge that Misuzu's comments about Tomo needing to be more feminine were the problem and we see her grow out of that mindset, there was also so much of that at the start of the series that was played both straight and for comedy, so it feels off. It's something of a tone shift and I have to wonder if either there was some important manga content cut out or if the author pivoted very suddenly on this.

And finally... I don't think the last episode is very good. There is some good in there, but half the episode is taken up by this fight plotline that I can't get invested in. The characters all seem to be aware of just how stupid this is, but end up going through with it and taking it seriously anyway, which is just frustrating. The show tries to justify it in the moment, but it feels sloppy and more like the author felt there needed to be some kind of climax to the story instead of just letting the happy couple walk off into the sunset together. Problem is, that climax doesn't feel impactful when the conflict was introduced only about ten minutes ago.