We got some great animation with the random sentai group that showed up.
That was especially awesome, and it impressed me that they manged to be appropriately stereotypical without matching specific recognizable individuals/franchises.
Then finally, a really touching gesture between two very non-emotional creatures to end it on.
And with Ponko enthusiatically shipping them the whole way.
I'm really liking this, and this was arguably the best episode yet..
I originally expected this to be an iyashikei, but (starting with the oddly dissonant OP) it sort of shifted from what I expected, and started to feel more threatening and somber than that. And this episode started out the most threatening yet. But then there was such a complete and rewarding shift in tone from start to finish that it made it ultimately just that much more warm and uplifting. And to the degree that this has a central theme, that seems to be it.
This is essentially an iyashikei - it's just that it's not naturally or automatically that way. It's made that way by Yachiyo's kindness and courtesy that's tempered by quiet determination and a sharp sense of right and wrong. She's unstintingly kind and courteous, right up until the moment that someone steps beyond acceptable behavior, at which point she immediately shifts to brutally honest and unreserved condemnation, which lasts exactly long enough to clearly convey her opinion of things, at which point she just as quickly and easily shifts back to unstinting kindness and courtesy. And it works. It's made clear, even to someone like Harmy, that she bears no ill will at all - that her kindness is entirely sincere. It's just that she's also entirely honest and fair-minded and fearless, and when somebody deserves a figurative smack upside the head, she will deliver it. And they all come to respect and even admire that.
As do I.
Started off this week with the rest of Mekacucity Actors, which ended up being mediocre all in all (early on, I didn't think it'd even manage that). In the later episodes, it mostly set aside the tedious Monogatari-style pop philosophy monologues set against geometric abstract liminal space backdrops and got down to some actual character development and exposition.. It wasn't particularly compelling or even coherent character development and exposition, but at least it was something.
Then, sort of wandering around aimlessly, I happened across a currently-airing series of a genre I've never bothered to watch before and what-the-hell gave it a watch, and that's how I ended up catching up on and following Maebashi Witches. On the surface, it's just cute and cheery, with pleasantly high quality animation and music and endearing characters and surprising emotional depth, and that might be all it ends up being, which'll be fine. It's surprisingly enjoyable just as that. But there's also some room there for something else. Nothing is quite what it appears to be - they aren't really "witches" in any recognizable sense, the mascot character who recruited them is revealing himself to be a smooth-talking and dishonest hustler and the deal they've made with him keeps getting more complex and its completion further out of reach. I don't expect anything close to Madoka out of it, but there does seem to be a similar hidden agenda and while Keroppe is no Kyubey, he definitely isnt telling them the entire truth.
In any event, at worst, it's cute and endearing and pleasant, and I'm enjoying it.
Then I sort of bulldozed my way through Sora no Otoshimono Forte, which I've been idly threatening to watch for years now, but I expected it to be similar to the first season, which is to say little bits of brilliance scattered here and there among lots of tedious and cringey trash, which is pretty much exactly what it was. Tomoki spent about 90% of the series super deformed and doing that "Kek kek kek" laugh while the rest of the cast just played their assigned one-note roles, but it wasn't all bad, and the handful of serious moments were actually pretty good. So about what I expected.
Then I capped the week off with a real gem - Planetarian, which was absolutely glorious. It's heart-warming and beautiful and tragic and uplifting and somber and deeply, deeply moving, and it made me smile and tear up at the same time and I loved it. I ended up watching both the series - Chiisana Hoshi no Yume and the movie/sequel - Hoshi no Hito, which tells a condensed version of the series plus some additional content after the events of the series. They're both worth it.
And I already grabbed a Yumemi screenshot that's my new wallpaper.
I saw that gotcha coming, and it still made me laugh.
It told me to not expect anything original - to just settle in for the same insipid, contrived edginess they've already beat to death in the Monogatari series
Four years later and this surprising gem finally returns.
That was some fine iyashikei.
Ponko continues to be a great character and Yachiyo is definitely growing as an individual (and not just with the va-va-va-voom upgrade). And it was nice to see the rest of the Tanuki family applying themselves.
And we got more aliens, and now Yachiyo can talk to them.
Just nice and heartwarming all around.
The only ones I've seen are to the only series I'm watching this season - Apocalypse Hotel, which is of note for an oddly off-key OP.
The first time I heard it I just took it to be the OP as sung by an awkward and poorly skilled robot, endearingly trying to sing a song that's more upbeat than she is, and I loved it. I still do and I still do.
So I started off the week finishing up Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e, which was excellent. It's part political thriller and part coming of age story, played out against a backdrop of quantum mechanics and multiverse theory, and just very well done.
Then I watched both seasons of Getsuyoubi no Tawawa, which, in spite of its four minute episodes dominated by fanservice is actually pretty good.
Then, somehow, I ended up watching Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na! for the third time, and enjoyed it all over again. (And just thinking about it, I now have Easy Breezy stuck in my head).
And at the moment, I'm watching Mekakucity Actors, which atarted off being all style and no substance, which is particularly disappointing in this case, since its style is just a retread of the Monogatari series. And I don't just mean that it's the same basic style - it's the same sort of character designs against the same sort of backgrounds (and seems as if they could be literally the same backgrounds) doing the same stylized gestures and motions accompanied by the same sort of droning narration of the same sort of edgy pop philosophy. So basically the anime equivalent of reheated leftover cup ramen.
The first time I saw a character do this damned head tilt, I almost shut it off right then and there.
Thankfully, it does seem to be finally revealing some actual substance (seven episides in) though whether it ends up being enough to be satisfying or not remains to be seen.
I don't think I'd call it a secret "masterpiece," but it is surprisingly good - much better than it seems like it should be, given the tropish concept.
Ooh... this should be interesting.
Great episode - Ponko is awesome. The "don't be the prey" scene was especially good.
The Nudel was a bit too similar to the Graboids from Tremors for it to be an accident.
And Yachiyo got the "pretty voice" reward, so maybe the OP will evolve?
According to their credits page, Harmless Monsters is going to stop uploading to Mangadex. They're going to continue all of their series, but they're going to post them somewhere else to avoid "potential legal issues."
Is that the future of scanlation? We've gotten sort of spoiled, since the primary sites - Mangadex and before that (the original) Batoto got left alone. Is it going to become whack-a-mole now, like anime? Instead of being able to depend on one site, we'll have to move to a new one every few years?