Spring Season 2018
Cinema:
Avengers Infinity Wars (OV 3D)
I’m still just really… whelmed, truth be told. Although they argue it’s a stand-alone, it does so much feel to me as just the prelude to the actual movie - you could argue that’s because I know there’ll be sequels and we just live in that hyperserialised world where you don’t really expect definitive endings, but I don’t know. The fact that I had anticipated a bunch of deaths didn’t make them register that much, and I mostly just walked out thinking whelp, time to wait a year to see how I’ll feel about this. I did enjoy the interplay between Tony, Wong and Strange a lot, and also the way the audience (even here, where the whole cheering/wooing/clapping thing isn’t really common in cinemas) had the loudest positive reactions to Cap’s cool first entrance. I suppose everyone has their favorites who they think got short-changed by the movie, Cap’s team was definitely mine. I’m also a bit on a contrarian side regarding the Guardians post Vol. 2, so I wasn’t all that charmed by their narrative prominence as many, although Space Pirate Angel is a very apt description for Thor. Four „I don’t feel that good“ memes out of five.
Solo - A Star Wars Story (OV 2D)
I’m not particularly invested in the Star Wars franchise really, but I liked Alden Ehrenreich a lot in Hail, Ceasar!, so I kind of wanted to see if he deserved all the trashtalk regarding the train wreck production of this movie. The end result is fine, really - I liked the Western aesthetic of it, and thought that Ehrenreich and Glover had fun chemistry, but it also felt a lot like it was checking a list of „obligatory Han Solo backstory elements and set-ups for future stories“. I wish it had been more of a stand-alone and skipped more of the backstory in favor of the space heist being longer? The movie definitely didn’t deserve the severe tanking at the box office, though. Three „We’re fine“ out of five.
Love, Simon (OV)
Kay told me about the book, and I was surprised to see that trailers for the movie were shown in the cinema entrance hall when I went to watch Solo. I thought I should check it out, if only to show support for mainstream studios doing a teenage romcom that just happens to have a gay couple at the centre of it. The OV showing had only around 5 other people there (all girls), but to be fair, it’s the dead World Cup season here (which is also the reason we won’t get Ant-Man and the Wasp until another two weeks). Not having read the book, I thought the movie was sweet and fun for what it was - I’m not much of a teen comedy watcher in general, and this version of high school life felt very clean and artificial in some ways, a very idealized version of teenage life that made it a bit difficult to really get that vibe of anxiety at the secret coming out. Also, I never got the vibe that Simon actually believed Leah was in love with Nick and he was doing them a favor, that was lost somehow entirely. And the finale made me cringe a lot, but I’m never a fan of public declaration of love (unless it’s a couple that knows the other is fine with that). Three marching band renditions of WHAT IS LOVE.mp3 out of five.
Sadly, I missed two anime cinematic screenings this season - Persona Non Grata since it was only on at 10pm and I would have had to drive half an hour to get there, and the third Attack On Titan movie, because it was on a day I was otherwise engaged. I’m always a bit sad when that happens, because I feel I should really encourage this project of showing movies in cinema here, and also because the former just is a very interesting topic. Alas, some other time, then.
Netflix:
Luke Cage
I did go on a Netflix binge, though, starting with the second season of Luke Cage. I haven’t revisited the first season and hadn’t seen Defenders yet at that point, so I was a bit vague on Luke’s character, but he really got on my nerves this time around with some of his stances on justice. I can’t say if the writing was at fault or just my foggy memories, though, although considering the way Claire is written to be the good guy but having mostly the stance of „But you can’t just cut out your lying, abusive father out of your life! What about him!“ has me think there’s… some issues here. Also, the first 1 1/2 episodes were written or edited so choppily I really doubted if I could finish the entire season. It got better after a while, thankfully, and the villains were well done and way more interesting than the main character, with the exception of the last scenes of the last episode, maybe. This season didn’t feel as heavy-handedly „Let’s tackle systemic racism and current American problems“ as the first, considering here it’s Black Americans discriminating against Black Jamaicans for a large part of the story, and I’m not going to poke that hornet’s nest. Overall, the villains definitely made it worth watching, even with the slow start. Three slithering shades out of five.
The Punisher
After my surprisingly positive experience with Luke Cage, I decided to catch up on the other MCU Netflix shows, starting with The Punisher which I just hadn’t been in the mood for back in November, even though his storyline was my favorite thing about the messy Daredevil season two. Obviously, the whole series is a touchy subject - it very much addresses the iffy nature of Black Op Squads, PTSD, the issue of easy gun access and poor Veteran care, but also tries to make you root for Frank, and even Karen is pro-gun ownership and the senator who’s vocally against it is only doing so out of opportunism. I suppose the whole idea is just so baked into American society that it’s difficult from an outsider’s perspective to really get. However, the result of all these things is that this series really doesn’t feel like it’s part of the MCU Netflix universe. There’s little that makes it not feel like it’s trying to be mostly real-world based. Karen crosses over easily enough (and that kitchen standoff scene was great writing and acting), but Frank really… doesn’t feel at home in the whole franchise. I suppose in the end it’s a bit strange to see in a world of Ultrons and Avengers and Alien invasions and Shield/Hydra running everything, this whole bloodshed is one corrupt CIA operative doing stuff. And although it was never fully possible to root for Frank, the acting is incredible, and actually, it is for all characters. They don’t go as in depth with the whole „Iranian-American Homeland Security operative“ angle as they could have, but I hope she’ll be back for the sequel, too. It was an interesting if depressing watch, and I do look forward to see what they’ll do with the character next, although I maintain it really doesn’t feel like he’s part of a shared universe. Four edgy vigilantes out of five.
The Defenders
Considering Danny’s cameo in Luke Cage was a lot better than his unbearable screen presence in his own series, I decided to finally give the crossover event a go, although I had been thoroughly spoiled at that point, and after two back-to-back Marvel shows already running low on attention span, so I’ll keep it brief: It was fine. The story was trying a bit hard to make up for its inherent silliness (again, „dragon under Manhattan“ is in theory in the same universe as Punisher), the lighting was a bit much, even if it was a creative enough idea, and while the interactions were fun, it never really felt as much of a turning point as it probably should have been. Nevertheless, I’m hoping Matt’s path will take some refreshing turns after the mess of season two, and that we’ll just see them team-up more often, even if briefly and just for one case. Three fingers out of five.
Broadchurch
As I was finishing Defenders, Netflix informed me that the third season of Broadchurch was available. I had not even known they actually made one - season one was a big event, and the one following a year later was a bit poorer in writing but still entertaining and clearly setting up a sequel. It’s been some time since then, so I thought they had just quietly dropped it. This is the final season, too, and tries to wrap everything up with a bow, which worked in some cases more than in others. The main focus is a rape case that is very topical in #metoo times, and handled well (except for the need to end every episode on a looming zoom cliffhanger of DID HE DO IT??). The two detective’s approach was gentle and understandable throughout and would have made a great procedural under every other circumstance. Here, however, they also try to cram in multiple of the on-going side-stories of the previous seasons, and sometimes with such effort that it just ends up looking very weird (the newspaper subplot in particular, and the revenge porn which somehow wasn’t key to unlocking the mystery). Also, am I completely making things up or did the first season allude to something happening in Broadchurch when Alec was a child that was never resolved? I swear there was something in his flashbacks, and thought for sure it would be addressed here as part of his reasoning for coming back, but it never did. Anyways, the show is still gorgeous to look at, and a solid procedural. Three cliffside views out of five.
Aggretsuko
Staring of the anime recap is another anime series, namely Aggretsuko. I’d seen one of the original Japanese shorts on tumblr, and though this was just the localization. Instead, it’s an entirely new show, a second series in the making. Even though I’m not (yet?) living the corporate worker bee life, this show definitely went deep into the #relatable territory, sometimes comfortingly, sometimes disturbingly so. A great show with a great number of laugh-out-loud, but also surprisingly touching moments. And Gori and Washimi are absolute #squadgoals. Five Fennekos out of five.
Anime:
Darling in the Franxx
Darling in the Franxx finished its run, and it was noooo good. Not that I ever had high hopes for this series considering that it always wanted to both have the cake and eat it - it wanted to make repressed sexuality its core theme (both in a general sense and having a lesbian side character) but also couldn’t resist checking off all high school anime cliches and fan service shots, really watering down the message. All world building was dropped in two exposition episodes right before the finale, we got an ex machina new villain in order to solve a lot of other plot issues, and an ending that was so incredibly cliche that it felt like someone hit TV Tropes random button a few times. Overall, the show ended up being pointless and surprisingly tame for something with what seemed like such a lewd and dark premise initially, and definitely won’t be a mainstay of the genre. Granted, I definitely never was the target audience, not caring for mecha as a genre and Trigger/Gainax as a studio, but yeah, this is a no from me. Two mecha boobs out of five.
Mahou Shoujo Ore
Similarly „too big of a premise to live up to“ turned out to be true for Mahou Shoujo Ore, a magical girl/idol show/sentai parody. It tripped up over rape jokes, industry side-jabs and nonexistent plot line, and really felt like it should have been a two part OVA rather than a full series. It had some funny moments, but in our day, the premise alone doesn’t carry it out of mediocrity. I did appreciate the meta usage of Yusa Kouji, though, who was cast as the fishy smug bishounen that was considered to be the secret evil overlord, but then, for just once, turned out not to be. Amazing. Two bara mahou shoujo out of five.
Hoozuki no Reitesu
Hoozuki no Reitetsu II’s second cours wrapped up, and I don’t have much more to say about it than last time. It all still feels a lot less funny to me than the first series, but the focus was more on Hoozuki being a great dad to his two zashiki warashi kids, anyway - I’d be tempted to say it’s parenting anime of the season, but we’ll get to that. It definitely is also a fun way to learn about a ton of Japanese mythological figures. The opening, however, was not even remotely as good as the last one, although I appreciate that they still keep up their hell theme song through line. Three animal companions out of five.
Hinamatsuri
Parenting anime of the season/year/decade definitely goes out to Hinamatsuri, though. I probably wouldn’t have watched the show considering that „Esper girl shows up on single man’s doorstep, hijinks ensue“ is a trope that somehow I have never seen done well, but then someone posted a video clip of the first episode that inexplicably had the best fight scene animation I’d seen in a while. What does this do in a slice of life/comedy show? Good question! Hinamatsuri is just utterly insane. It’s up there with Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun in having an incredibly high consistency in absurd jokes taking full advantage of the varied and fun cast of supporting characters, but also has the ability to do great emotional portraits as well, giving surprising insight for example into homelessness and adoption issues. It was a very refreshing show and definitely the one that made me laugh the most in recent memory. Five middleschool bartenders out of five.
Wotakoi
As I still have a few months of Amazon Prime membership left, I did go and watch their show this season, Wotakoi (a.k.a. Love is hard for an otaku). It was not remotely as funny as Hinamatsuri and not remotely as great a take on adult (work)life as Aggretsuko. Granted, I’m not into a lot of the hobbies that were in focus here (gaming first and foremost), but also the show just always felt incredibly lifeless. Partly due to really having limited animation for everyone that wasn’t the core four characters, making their workspace seem very empty and strange. Partly also because while the show does address legitimate adulting problems, it also never does so in a very serious light or with the intent to dive more deeply into the question of „does dating always have to be a sweeping romance or is it fine if you just find someone you get along with well“. In the end, it just felt like a tropey show with not much to make it stand out, especially with the much more engaging Retsuko out just shortly before. Two cliche couples out of five.
Golden Kamuy
Golden Kamuy was a manga I’ve heard plenty about - both for the unusual setting (including a lot of Ainu culture), gorey plot (people being skinned for a treasure map) and great art (ranging from gorgeous to a lot of meme worthy comedy faces), but knowing there was an anime coming, I didn’t want to pick up the manga. Now, I was rooting for this anime to be great, because it’s handled by Studio Manglobe’s sort of offspring, Geno, and their work on winter season’s Kokkoku was actually really decent. Golden Kamuy, however, really shows that it’s a studio working with a lot of constraints still. The CGI used for the animals is very apparent and doesn’t blend at all with the otherwise very simple (but effective) animation style. Also, you could tell that they rushed through the plot in order to get to a certain point quickly. So one thing is clear - if you want the full story and art experience, it would be better to start with the manga. That said, the voice work was excellent (and it was cool they actually had an Ainu speaker for Hucci), and I really enjoyed the soundtrack that was a mixture of Ainu instruments and a Western flair. Overall, you could tell how much love and attention to detail the staff poured into this project, and I was glad to see that there will be a second cours in fall. Now let’s hope the BD sales will get them a bigger budget next time and we won’t be subjected to any more CGI bears. Four Immortals out of five.
Rokuhoudo Yotsuiro Biyori
Now, this was a Cruncyhroll, and I'm not sure if I'd have watched it if it wasn't. The setting (four ikemen running a café) and cast (basically every male seiyuu with a large fanbae) had me first think that this must be based on one of these phone game things, but no, it's acutally based on a manga. And no, it's not BL, even though you might understandbly get confused, seeing how everyone comes in fairly classic pairing combinations (the tsundere and the cheerful guy, the two mellow senpais, the kuudere jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold and his determined subordinate). The first episode was an incoherent disaster, but then the show actually became very much enjoyable. The backgrounds were very pretty and you really got a feeling for their beloved café - it felt like a place that might exist and that you'd want to go to. The weekly stories varied from sweet to a bit cliche, but always having that gentle, uplifting mood overall with no real drama. Also, the show provides a recipe for ice cream that I'm eager to try! And it also graced us with a tie-in programme where Suwabe did the Salt Bae thing:
Four ikemen out of five. Do not listen to on speakers in a public environment.
I also finished two shows on my queue on a crappy day, when I was just craving something nice:
Flying Witch
I watched the first episode of this show when it aired in 2016 and was exasperated with the glacial pace and plotlessness, dropping it an episode in. It's a show that requires the right mindset to be watched, and when I was having a bad week and just wanted something nice to cheer me up, this was exactly it. It's a slow and gentle show with no drama or more than an episodic plot, mostly really just dealing with Makoto getting to learn a bit about witchcraft or the countryside. It was very refreshing though to see sibling and cousin relationships that are neither antogonstic nor incest-ship bait. The entire family of her cousin is great, including the dad that struggels to speak without dialect and like the mother that is hilariously laid-back with everyone getting up to some strange witchcraft in their backyard. Also, Makoto's older sister definitely sells that this universe's magic is just a ton of fun, even if it probably shouldn't be used as recklessly as she is. I'd love to see a sequel season eventually, but it's also now just something I can see myself rewatching when I'm in the mood again. Four mandrakes out of five.
The Morose Mononokean
Mirai calls this one Fake Natsume, although I had filed that title already for Youkai Apartments. And now having finished this show, I can say that yeah, Youkai Apartments remains the superior of these two. Mononokean just feels strangely inconsequential - it never gets as dark or emotional as Natsume, but also isn't as interaction and adventures based as Youkai Apartments. I am moderately intrigued by the question of what might have happened to the previous owner and why people think Abeno killed him (and how Ashiya fits in, since yeah, we're doing these two families again), and I finished right on time for the announcement that a second cours is coming this year. I'm going to watch it, if only to see where the main story goes, but it's not more than an overall okay show so far to me. Three mojimoji out of five.
Finally, and I'm mostly putting this here for my own convenience in case I want to find it again later, I spent a weekend going through this amateur SAR person's accounts of the searches he's been involved in. They're utterly creepy even in how non-explicit or sensational they are. He never judges or speculates what these people were doing, but the tragedy is still just palpable and a suckerpunch once you consider how it affected everyone around these people. The way he solved the Death Valley mystery by applying psychology and logical reasoning was almost like reading a mystery novel, and it was definitely a fascinating read, especially as I've been to both Joshua Tree and Death Valley myself before. Creepiness factor 5/5.
Avengers Infinity Wars (OV 3D)
I’m still just really… whelmed, truth be told. Although they argue it’s a stand-alone, it does so much feel to me as just the prelude to the actual movie - you could argue that’s because I know there’ll be sequels and we just live in that hyperserialised world where you don’t really expect definitive endings, but I don’t know. The fact that I had anticipated a bunch of deaths didn’t make them register that much, and I mostly just walked out thinking whelp, time to wait a year to see how I’ll feel about this. I did enjoy the interplay between Tony, Wong and Strange a lot, and also the way the audience (even here, where the whole cheering/wooing/clapping thing isn’t really common in cinemas) had the loudest positive reactions to Cap’s cool first entrance. I suppose everyone has their favorites who they think got short-changed by the movie, Cap’s team was definitely mine. I’m also a bit on a contrarian side regarding the Guardians post Vol. 2, so I wasn’t all that charmed by their narrative prominence as many, although Space Pirate Angel is a very apt description for Thor. Four „I don’t feel that good“ memes out of five.
Solo - A Star Wars Story (OV 2D)
I’m not particularly invested in the Star Wars franchise really, but I liked Alden Ehrenreich a lot in Hail, Ceasar!, so I kind of wanted to see if he deserved all the trashtalk regarding the train wreck production of this movie. The end result is fine, really - I liked the Western aesthetic of it, and thought that Ehrenreich and Glover had fun chemistry, but it also felt a lot like it was checking a list of „obligatory Han Solo backstory elements and set-ups for future stories“. I wish it had been more of a stand-alone and skipped more of the backstory in favor of the space heist being longer? The movie definitely didn’t deserve the severe tanking at the box office, though. Three „We’re fine“ out of five.
Love, Simon (OV)
Kay told me about the book, and I was surprised to see that trailers for the movie were shown in the cinema entrance hall when I went to watch Solo. I thought I should check it out, if only to show support for mainstream studios doing a teenage romcom that just happens to have a gay couple at the centre of it. The OV showing had only around 5 other people there (all girls), but to be fair, it’s the dead World Cup season here (which is also the reason we won’t get Ant-Man and the Wasp until another two weeks). Not having read the book, I thought the movie was sweet and fun for what it was - I’m not much of a teen comedy watcher in general, and this version of high school life felt very clean and artificial in some ways, a very idealized version of teenage life that made it a bit difficult to really get that vibe of anxiety at the secret coming out. Also, I never got the vibe that Simon actually believed Leah was in love with Nick and he was doing them a favor, that was lost somehow entirely. And the finale made me cringe a lot, but I’m never a fan of public declaration of love (unless it’s a couple that knows the other is fine with that). Three marching band renditions of WHAT IS LOVE.mp3 out of five.
Sadly, I missed two anime cinematic screenings this season - Persona Non Grata since it was only on at 10pm and I would have had to drive half an hour to get there, and the third Attack On Titan movie, because it was on a day I was otherwise engaged. I’m always a bit sad when that happens, because I feel I should really encourage this project of showing movies in cinema here, and also because the former just is a very interesting topic. Alas, some other time, then.
Netflix:
Luke Cage
I did go on a Netflix binge, though, starting with the second season of Luke Cage. I haven’t revisited the first season and hadn’t seen Defenders yet at that point, so I was a bit vague on Luke’s character, but he really got on my nerves this time around with some of his stances on justice. I can’t say if the writing was at fault or just my foggy memories, though, although considering the way Claire is written to be the good guy but having mostly the stance of „But you can’t just cut out your lying, abusive father out of your life! What about him!“ has me think there’s… some issues here. Also, the first 1 1/2 episodes were written or edited so choppily I really doubted if I could finish the entire season. It got better after a while, thankfully, and the villains were well done and way more interesting than the main character, with the exception of the last scenes of the last episode, maybe. This season didn’t feel as heavy-handedly „Let’s tackle systemic racism and current American problems“ as the first, considering here it’s Black Americans discriminating against Black Jamaicans for a large part of the story, and I’m not going to poke that hornet’s nest. Overall, the villains definitely made it worth watching, even with the slow start. Three slithering shades out of five.
The Punisher
After my surprisingly positive experience with Luke Cage, I decided to catch up on the other MCU Netflix shows, starting with The Punisher which I just hadn’t been in the mood for back in November, even though his storyline was my favorite thing about the messy Daredevil season two. Obviously, the whole series is a touchy subject - it very much addresses the iffy nature of Black Op Squads, PTSD, the issue of easy gun access and poor Veteran care, but also tries to make you root for Frank, and even Karen is pro-gun ownership and the senator who’s vocally against it is only doing so out of opportunism. I suppose the whole idea is just so baked into American society that it’s difficult from an outsider’s perspective to really get. However, the result of all these things is that this series really doesn’t feel like it’s part of the MCU Netflix universe. There’s little that makes it not feel like it’s trying to be mostly real-world based. Karen crosses over easily enough (and that kitchen standoff scene was great writing and acting), but Frank really… doesn’t feel at home in the whole franchise. I suppose in the end it’s a bit strange to see in a world of Ultrons and Avengers and Alien invasions and Shield/Hydra running everything, this whole bloodshed is one corrupt CIA operative doing stuff. And although it was never fully possible to root for Frank, the acting is incredible, and actually, it is for all characters. They don’t go as in depth with the whole „Iranian-American Homeland Security operative“ angle as they could have, but I hope she’ll be back for the sequel, too. It was an interesting if depressing watch, and I do look forward to see what they’ll do with the character next, although I maintain it really doesn’t feel like he’s part of a shared universe. Four edgy vigilantes out of five.
The Defenders
Considering Danny’s cameo in Luke Cage was a lot better than his unbearable screen presence in his own series, I decided to finally give the crossover event a go, although I had been thoroughly spoiled at that point, and after two back-to-back Marvel shows already running low on attention span, so I’ll keep it brief: It was fine. The story was trying a bit hard to make up for its inherent silliness (again, „dragon under Manhattan“ is in theory in the same universe as Punisher), the lighting was a bit much, even if it was a creative enough idea, and while the interactions were fun, it never really felt as much of a turning point as it probably should have been. Nevertheless, I’m hoping Matt’s path will take some refreshing turns after the mess of season two, and that we’ll just see them team-up more often, even if briefly and just for one case. Three fingers out of five.
Broadchurch
As I was finishing Defenders, Netflix informed me that the third season of Broadchurch was available. I had not even known they actually made one - season one was a big event, and the one following a year later was a bit poorer in writing but still entertaining and clearly setting up a sequel. It’s been some time since then, so I thought they had just quietly dropped it. This is the final season, too, and tries to wrap everything up with a bow, which worked in some cases more than in others. The main focus is a rape case that is very topical in #metoo times, and handled well (except for the need to end every episode on a looming zoom cliffhanger of DID HE DO IT??). The two detective’s approach was gentle and understandable throughout and would have made a great procedural under every other circumstance. Here, however, they also try to cram in multiple of the on-going side-stories of the previous seasons, and sometimes with such effort that it just ends up looking very weird (the newspaper subplot in particular, and the revenge porn which somehow wasn’t key to unlocking the mystery). Also, am I completely making things up or did the first season allude to something happening in Broadchurch when Alec was a child that was never resolved? I swear there was something in his flashbacks, and thought for sure it would be addressed here as part of his reasoning for coming back, but it never did. Anyways, the show is still gorgeous to look at, and a solid procedural. Three cliffside views out of five.
Aggretsuko
Staring of the anime recap is another anime series, namely Aggretsuko. I’d seen one of the original Japanese shorts on tumblr, and though this was just the localization. Instead, it’s an entirely new show, a second series in the making. Even though I’m not (yet?) living the corporate worker bee life, this show definitely went deep into the #relatable territory, sometimes comfortingly, sometimes disturbingly so. A great show with a great number of laugh-out-loud, but also surprisingly touching moments. And Gori and Washimi are absolute #squadgoals. Five Fennekos out of five.
Anime:
Darling in the Franxx
Darling in the Franxx finished its run, and it was noooo good. Not that I ever had high hopes for this series considering that it always wanted to both have the cake and eat it - it wanted to make repressed sexuality its core theme (both in a general sense and having a lesbian side character) but also couldn’t resist checking off all high school anime cliches and fan service shots, really watering down the message. All world building was dropped in two exposition episodes right before the finale, we got an ex machina new villain in order to solve a lot of other plot issues, and an ending that was so incredibly cliche that it felt like someone hit TV Tropes random button a few times. Overall, the show ended up being pointless and surprisingly tame for something with what seemed like such a lewd and dark premise initially, and definitely won’t be a mainstay of the genre. Granted, I definitely never was the target audience, not caring for mecha as a genre and Trigger/Gainax as a studio, but yeah, this is a no from me. Two mecha boobs out of five.
Mahou Shoujo Ore
Similarly „too big of a premise to live up to“ turned out to be true for Mahou Shoujo Ore, a magical girl/idol show/sentai parody. It tripped up over rape jokes, industry side-jabs and nonexistent plot line, and really felt like it should have been a two part OVA rather than a full series. It had some funny moments, but in our day, the premise alone doesn’t carry it out of mediocrity. I did appreciate the meta usage of Yusa Kouji, though, who was cast as the fishy smug bishounen that was considered to be the secret evil overlord, but then, for just once, turned out not to be. Amazing. Two bara mahou shoujo out of five.
Hoozuki no Reitesu
Hoozuki no Reitetsu II’s second cours wrapped up, and I don’t have much more to say about it than last time. It all still feels a lot less funny to me than the first series, but the focus was more on Hoozuki being a great dad to his two zashiki warashi kids, anyway - I’d be tempted to say it’s parenting anime of the season, but we’ll get to that. It definitely is also a fun way to learn about a ton of Japanese mythological figures. The opening, however, was not even remotely as good as the last one, although I appreciate that they still keep up their hell theme song through line. Three animal companions out of five.
Hinamatsuri
Parenting anime of the season/year/decade definitely goes out to Hinamatsuri, though. I probably wouldn’t have watched the show considering that „Esper girl shows up on single man’s doorstep, hijinks ensue“ is a trope that somehow I have never seen done well, but then someone posted a video clip of the first episode that inexplicably had the best fight scene animation I’d seen in a while. What does this do in a slice of life/comedy show? Good question! Hinamatsuri is just utterly insane. It’s up there with Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun in having an incredibly high consistency in absurd jokes taking full advantage of the varied and fun cast of supporting characters, but also has the ability to do great emotional portraits as well, giving surprising insight for example into homelessness and adoption issues. It was a very refreshing show and definitely the one that made me laugh the most in recent memory. Five middleschool bartenders out of five.
Wotakoi
As I still have a few months of Amazon Prime membership left, I did go and watch their show this season, Wotakoi (a.k.a. Love is hard for an otaku). It was not remotely as funny as Hinamatsuri and not remotely as great a take on adult (work)life as Aggretsuko. Granted, I’m not into a lot of the hobbies that were in focus here (gaming first and foremost), but also the show just always felt incredibly lifeless. Partly due to really having limited animation for everyone that wasn’t the core four characters, making their workspace seem very empty and strange. Partly also because while the show does address legitimate adulting problems, it also never does so in a very serious light or with the intent to dive more deeply into the question of „does dating always have to be a sweeping romance or is it fine if you just find someone you get along with well“. In the end, it just felt like a tropey show with not much to make it stand out, especially with the much more engaging Retsuko out just shortly before. Two cliche couples out of five.
Golden Kamuy
Golden Kamuy was a manga I’ve heard plenty about - both for the unusual setting (including a lot of Ainu culture), gorey plot (people being skinned for a treasure map) and great art (ranging from gorgeous to a lot of meme worthy comedy faces), but knowing there was an anime coming, I didn’t want to pick up the manga. Now, I was rooting for this anime to be great, because it’s handled by Studio Manglobe’s sort of offspring, Geno, and their work on winter season’s Kokkoku was actually really decent. Golden Kamuy, however, really shows that it’s a studio working with a lot of constraints still. The CGI used for the animals is very apparent and doesn’t blend at all with the otherwise very simple (but effective) animation style. Also, you could tell that they rushed through the plot in order to get to a certain point quickly. So one thing is clear - if you want the full story and art experience, it would be better to start with the manga. That said, the voice work was excellent (and it was cool they actually had an Ainu speaker for Hucci), and I really enjoyed the soundtrack that was a mixture of Ainu instruments and a Western flair. Overall, you could tell how much love and attention to detail the staff poured into this project, and I was glad to see that there will be a second cours in fall. Now let’s hope the BD sales will get them a bigger budget next time and we won’t be subjected to any more CGI bears. Four Immortals out of five.
Rokuhoudo Yotsuiro Biyori
Now, this was a Cruncyhroll, and I'm not sure if I'd have watched it if it wasn't. The setting (four ikemen running a café) and cast (basically every male seiyuu with a large fanbae) had me first think that this must be based on one of these phone game things, but no, it's acutally based on a manga. And no, it's not BL, even though you might understandbly get confused, seeing how everyone comes in fairly classic pairing combinations (the tsundere and the cheerful guy, the two mellow senpais, the kuudere jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold and his determined subordinate). The first episode was an incoherent disaster, but then the show actually became very much enjoyable. The backgrounds were very pretty and you really got a feeling for their beloved café - it felt like a place that might exist and that you'd want to go to. The weekly stories varied from sweet to a bit cliche, but always having that gentle, uplifting mood overall with no real drama. Also, the show provides a recipe for ice cream that I'm eager to try! And it also graced us with a tie-in programme where Suwabe did the Salt Bae thing:
Four ikemen out of five. Do not listen to on speakers in a public environment.
I also finished two shows on my queue on a crappy day, when I was just craving something nice:
Flying Witch
I watched the first episode of this show when it aired in 2016 and was exasperated with the glacial pace and plotlessness, dropping it an episode in. It's a show that requires the right mindset to be watched, and when I was having a bad week and just wanted something nice to cheer me up, this was exactly it. It's a slow and gentle show with no drama or more than an episodic plot, mostly really just dealing with Makoto getting to learn a bit about witchcraft or the countryside. It was very refreshing though to see sibling and cousin relationships that are neither antogonstic nor incest-ship bait. The entire family of her cousin is great, including the dad that struggels to speak without dialect and like the mother that is hilariously laid-back with everyone getting up to some strange witchcraft in their backyard. Also, Makoto's older sister definitely sells that this universe's magic is just a ton of fun, even if it probably shouldn't be used as recklessly as she is. I'd love to see a sequel season eventually, but it's also now just something I can see myself rewatching when I'm in the mood again. Four mandrakes out of five.
The Morose Mononokean
Mirai calls this one Fake Natsume, although I had filed that title already for Youkai Apartments. And now having finished this show, I can say that yeah, Youkai Apartments remains the superior of these two. Mononokean just feels strangely inconsequential - it never gets as dark or emotional as Natsume, but also isn't as interaction and adventures based as Youkai Apartments. I am moderately intrigued by the question of what might have happened to the previous owner and why people think Abeno killed him (and how Ashiya fits in, since yeah, we're doing these two families again), and I finished right on time for the announcement that a second cours is coming this year. I'm going to watch it, if only to see where the main story goes, but it's not more than an overall okay show so far to me. Three mojimoji out of five.
Finally, and I'm mostly putting this here for my own convenience in case I want to find it again later, I spent a weekend going through this amateur SAR person's accounts of the searches he's been involved in. They're utterly creepy even in how non-explicit or sensational they are. He never judges or speculates what these people were doing, but the tragedy is still just palpable and a suckerpunch once you consider how it affected everyone around these people. The way he solved the Death Valley mystery by applying psychology and logical reasoning was almost like reading a mystery novel, and it was definitely a fascinating read, especially as I've been to both Joshua Tree and Death Valley myself before. Creepiness factor 5/5.