#kind of like how a good anime adaptation still makes sense if you haven't already seen the manga/novel/music videos

[gamer-comix]

i tried to make it so the whole thing would still be funny without any knowledge of twewy (haha! he reacted to the same comic twice! how amusing!), but it's definitely funnier if you do

[444lpblue]

The Witch and the Beast #1 - The Witch and the City of Blazing Red

Screenplay: Yuuichirou Momose Storyboard/Episode Direction: Takayuki Hamana Chief Animation Direction: Hiroya Iijima Animation Direction: Kei Tsushima, Yuri Hashimoto, Guonian Wang, Kazuharu Tada, Miyoko Shikibu, Asuna Imahashi, Shinya Segawa (Monster AD: Shouya Gotou) Key Animation: Mana Azumaya, Noa Kawamura, Shigenori Taniguchi, Yoshihito Narimatsu, Yuki Uejou, Hiroyuki Kamura, Mitsuyo Tsuno, Kouichi Hayamizu, Kazunori Ozawa, Shouya Gotou, Yoshiko Nakamura, Studio Maf, Yuka Hayashi, Takuya Nemoto, Maru Animation, Yeong-Nam Ko, Su-Jin Oh

A bit late on this, aren't I? But no matter what, I was going to write about this, and I will write about every episode too – don't worry about it!

If you were in the know how of Yokohama Animation Lab's recent animes, much like me, you were probably very nervous about The Witch and the Beast adaptation. I mean, I made a whole write-up on the outlook, which mostly hinges on director Hamana's consistency in terms of quality and his tendency to bring in specific animators. Well, now that the episode is out, how do I actually feel?

It's… surprisingly very well done. Of course, I'm not saying it's perfect; the biggest issues are likely the limited animation and a bit of off-modelness. But I'm not going to lie, guys. Maybe I am biased because The Witch and the Beast is one of my favorite mangas, but I genuinely had a lot of fun with this debut, and I kind of loved it. It felt like it had the soul of the manga I love despite some production hiccups.

First, let's talk about what you probably felt but haven't been able to confirm. The episode was indeed better than the PV. I got a sense of this as I was watching, and I was really kind of confused about why I didn't feel like the PV looked this good. When I looked back, it was very interesting to see how many differences there were and the improvements that made the shots so much better.

The obvious improvement in the shading of Guideau and Ashaf is apparent, but I also love the addition of the impact gust that they added to Guideau's stomp. Personally, it was something I noticed in the PV as feeling a bit too still. The only effects in the PV were just simple camera shakes, which didn't really sell the impact of her stomp that much at all. Seeing improvements like these from the trailer to the actual episode fills me with a lot of hope for the production. I feel like it shows that, unlike more recent Yokohama productions, they are trying a significant amount more.

If you couldn't already tell from some of the close-ups I've provided in this post, while the on-modelness of some farther away shots can be questioned, the close-ups in this show are absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't super sold on Iijima's character designs initially, but after seeing the improved shading and the various shots they kind of hid from us in the PV, the designs are freaking gorgeous up close. The Witch and the Beast, the manga, has always been a visual spectacle that relied a lot on its art direction, aesthetics, and of course, character designs. While it's nearly impossible for the anime to match it, I think they came very close. The characters' eyes are so pretty; I love the compositing effects they applied to them. It feels like it gives them a lot of depth and kind of like an otherworldly blur, which I think looks great. The features are sharp; they're so pretty. Everyone has their premium eyelash extensions on, and it's just about as aesthetically pleasing to me as the manga. To be honest, it might be my favorite character design for the season.

And since I also briefly mentioned the compositing, I have to apologize to Natsumi Uchida. I specifically pointed her out in my social media rambles as someone who was making me worry a bit. And that mostly stems from her recent effort in The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World, which, to be frank, I thought was terrible. The effects looked cheap, just due to how bright and almost neon at times they are. They don't fit in with their environments; it just wasn't pleasant to look at. However, her work in The Witch and the Beast is so much better. While some effects are somewhat questionable, like the smoke and Ashaf's crow appearing when he was saving Guideau, I would definitely say the compositing was a highlight in this episode. It really puts a stamp on the character designs with the beautiful compositing over them. It makes every scene paired with the art direction feel so dense, like everything is just so in-depth.

The art direction in this show is probably its best visual element. It absolutely shines. I mean, if you had to pick something out from this production as a major highlight, it has to be one of the undeniable biggest pros of the show so far. The series is a dark fantasy, but it's not a dull one. A lot of adaptations, I feel, confuse this with each other a bit. A dark fantasy doesn't have to mean dull colors or a realistic design; after all, The Witch and the Beast is all about its aesthetically gothic yet fantasy appearance that is quite grandiose and beautiful in nature, and the art direction covers that perfectly. So huge credit to the art director, Hirotsugu Kakoi and his crew at Kagoshima Ramecahirim.

One of my biggest worries for the anime adaptation, when I first saw the trailer, was actually, believe it or not, kind of its color palette. I genuinely thought they didn't get a full sense of Satake's style. It felt a bit too plain to me when I always imagined the colors in the world in this series to be very solid and strong, while not bright. I think the series functions on its boldness, and the backgrounds are a perfect example of it. The opening, I think, is a great example of this too, just them surrounded by those buildings in the midst of the night feels almost overwhelmingly dense. It really serves as the main appeal in many of the show's shots and ties everything (the compositing, the character designs, and the aesthetic) all together. The buildings and architectures, a mix of 2D and 3D, blend in so perfectly. You can take so many of those shots and make them your wallpaper; honestly, it's so pretty. It's also not just the buildings; the flowers in the room where Guideau and Ione fight were stunning. I also love the visual of the flowers always fluttering up due to impact; it just created such a magical experience for me. It's such a simple addition, but it was great. That, paired with the great soundtrack which goes from almost Persona-like music to soft notes of somberness that build up to the release of a monster, just all goes together so well.

At the beginning of this write-up, I already noted its production issues in terms of sometimes limited animation and a good bit of off-modelness in farther away shots (which I hope they'll fix in the Blu-Ray). There are many instances of very solid animation, which you can just look up on Sakugabooru if you want an example. I'm very impressed by Hamana's ability to manage this level of quality and a very strong self-identity of the show's visuals.

His direction in this episode, while some people might not like it due to its reminiscent of older styles, is noteworthy. Many of his shots rely on simple zoom-ins and zoom-outs, which I would say was a more common technique around 2008 or so. His way of transitioning is also a lot less focused on smooth transitions than most styles nowadays. For example, in Ghost Hunt, Gungrave, or Library of Bantorra, the flow of the storyboard is much less smooth and flowing than modern ones. Hamana's boards feel much more jumpy, I suppose? There's a larger gap that isn't covered by anything, which seems to have given many reviewers the impression of a slideshow. Personally, I don't mind it too much, as I think he still has some pretty interesting ideas. The transitions to Guideau getting stabbed and then grabbing Ione, I thought were really well done and mesmerizing. All the choices for the fluttering flowers were probably directly from him.

And hey, normally I don't like his openings, but the opening for The Witch and the Beast is badass, and I might write an individual write-up for it this week. However, I would also love to see other storyboarders and episode directors on some episodes to compare, especially for future episodes like for Johan and Phanora. I would love to see somebody like Shinj Itadaki give it a try, who I really hope to see in this series at some point. I think it's very possible due to the fact he's worked with Hamana before, and he's worked with Yokohama Animation Lab before. Much like a lot of the key animators here, he was also on Ancient Magus Bride S2, which, if you guys didn't know for some reason, contains an oddly large amount of staff that Hamana worked with before across the years, and they're also appearing in The Witch and the Beast now.

As you can tell, I really enjoyed the debut, despite its issues. I could ramble about it all day; there are so many things I want to talk about. However, I think it would be best to save that for when we get to future episodes. In this write-up, I've already spent a lot of time discussing more of what I like about the general direction and visual appeal of the series. Hopefully, in future episodes, I will be able to go more in-depth on specific storyboards, direction, and visuals that the upcoming episodes will showcase. I'll see you guys next week for the next episode of The Witch and the Beast.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

For the first time in probably... 5 years? Bit more? Bit less? I rewatched A Silent Voice. I wanted this to bookend the KyoAni groupwatch because it's pretty much their only standalone feature film, and I already know it's good and I like it, so it seemed like a nice spot to finish off with. And, yeah. I feel a little more complete having done this. Also feels like spring cleaning in a sense because I torrented the ITBD release and that was a clean 40GB I've finally gotten to delete lol.

But anyway. I've kind of had a bit of an arc with this movie. I watched it a long time ago, honestly think I gave it a 10 at first, and then hovered it down to a 9 at some point, and I'm pretty sure that happened when I read the manga. For a while there I thought the manga was straight up better, primarily because the manga is more. It's longer, there's more time spent on the supporting cast, there's more scenes pertaining to the main cast, there's an entire subplot about making a movie, and it continues for about a full volume's worth after the movie ends. And, you know, that's all a good thing, right? Everyone's fleshed out, there's more time with these characters, their relationships are better realised, it's all good.

But at some point, and I admittedly couldn't really tell you when, I started to prefer the movie. I haven't reread the manga whereas I've rewatched the movie several times which probably caused this, but I noticed that I'd basically forgotten everything that had happened in the manga that wasn't in the movie, and I think that's because I kinda stopped caring. Like the characters are more fleshed out, yeah, but when I'd be remembering the series I'm only really remembering Shouya and Shouko plus to a lesser extent Yuzuru. There's a movie making arc, but do I care? The best part about this story by far is Shouya and Shouko. Two wounded individuals trying and struggling to reconnect with each other but also their desire to live at all. It's a story of guilt and of redemption and of how painful it can be wanting to live despite everything. At some point I'd convinced myself Naoko Yamada and Kyoto Animation made the right call cutting a lot of stuff from the manga, because it gives the story a clearer focus on its best part. Their relationship is the thing that I care about and it's the thing the movie decided was the most important. Just cut the bullshit, the movie's better for it.

And so we get to today's arc, wherein I feel like I've realised that the movie simultaneously cuts too much and yet too little at the same time. It does focus primarily on Shouya's story of redemption and his development with Shouko, but a lot of other things are still kept, sometimes to the movie's detriment. Does the movie benefit from having Mashiba be a character? He's fleshed out in the manga but in here he just shows up, wants to be friends, and then gets yelled at. Shouya and Shouko's whole narrative would feel less muddled without him. Although at the same time he was a fleshed out character in the manga and it'd be better if that came across in this adaptation at all. Like you can cut him and it'd be better or you could have more of him and it'd be better. We're basically in a sour spot where entire parts of the movie don't really work because they should have a different level of focus - whether it's more or less. Entire swathes of this movie feel somewhat meandering because it doesn't commit to either approach. It wants to present everyone faithfully but it also cuts a lot of everyone's scenes to focus on Shouya and Shouko stuff. This leads to this whole thing where certain characters like Ueno and Kawai are really hard to get a read on because we don't spend the time we do with them in the manga. But again if we did it might just be sorta boring? Like do you see the problem I'm having. The movie's caught between a rock and a hard place. There's a perfect version of this story somewhere but it's neither the manga nor is it this anime. Cutting like half the cast is probably my preferred option but that's also a little nuclear and enough of them are important to where that probably wouldn't work. But again it doesn't really work as-is and it mostly works in the manga but it's also a little dull. There is no victory to be found.

And with those very mixed feelings aside that I don't think I communicated all too well, I have in fact lowered my score for this movie once again, and now it is down to... 8/10 lol. Yeah no I can say all that shit but I mean the movie's still an audiovisual masterpiece and has a fantastically written lead pair and tons of very strong emotional moments, like I still found myself crying several times during this rewatch. It's got by far the best depiction of bullying I've seen in anime such that the things it has to say about why bullying happens and what it does to people feel extremely potent and relatable. There are characters I don't love if everything I already said wasn't proof enough but certainly the lead pairs' family members in particular are incredibly likeable and compelling characters that are involved for lots of the strongest scenes in general. There are aspects in which the movie is a little confused and I think should've been adapted slightly differently but god damn if it isn't a gripping story all the same.

That's all from me, bye lol.

[canmom]

nier automata anime! nier automata anime!

honestly? this was kinda painful. a mixed bag with some good bits but more miss than hit. but this is the intersection of two special interests so you bet I'm going to be picking this apart.

let's get the obvious out of the way: the CGI suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. the flight units in particular - sure, the plasticy shading, the shots where they very obviously had a stiff CG doll inside the unit, but more generally, the way they moved, the way they were clearly going for a lot of classic mecha type of shots (Itano circus, Kanada pose in front of an explosion) but just... not selling it at all because of the very stiff way the rig is animated. so the first few minutes were pretty painful, especially since they lose some of the most memorable shots (the five YoRHa units flying together in a delta formation and getting picked off one by one) in favour of '2B doing cool shit' and then flub the '2B doing cool shit'.

that moment in the game is a moment of immediate desperation, like a parachuting scene in a war movie, where there's nothing to do but stay the course and hope you don't get hit. 2B, however, never feels like she's in any danger at this point.

but once they actually got on the ground, it gets so much better! 2B in action was a joy to watch. that's something that they got very right, hitting the feel of Platinum's fighting with the sort of lovely little details that you couldn't get in a game.

sadly that doesn't really last.

the first episode basically covers the tutorial mission of the game, with a kind of checklist approach of key scenes: the fight with Marx, the fight with Engels, 2B and 9S detonating their Black Boxes. there's a couple of bits of extra stuff: we see that the Engels unit you fight was not finished.

the pacing was sadly kinda shot. it's necessarily very compressed, but I think the balance is off. the Engels fight, which takes up about half the episode, doesn't have the sense of relentless escalation and desperation it does in the game. a lot of the episode is dedicated to action, often not very good action, and very little time to appreciating the emptiness of the setting.

in the game - and to be fair, this is a big advantage of games - you get a real sense of place as you make your way through the factory, descending into the dark and back out; the moment before Engels has a weighty sense of anticipation as you set out onto a large, empty road, uncertain of why you haven't found your enemy. here... there's a brief montage of 2B walking through the factory, seeing passive machines, as 9S talks in VO. this is nice, I'd have liked more of it. but it's not long before we charge into the next action scene.

seeing it in anime form with some Okabe's most Kenji Kawai-esque tracks underlines just how much Yoko Taro was cribbing from Mamoru Oshii, and while the pacing of Oshii movies is infamously slow, this really overcorrects. which would be OK if the action felt good and tense, but it doesn't; enemies come out of nowhere (e.g. a swarm of flying enemies abruptly surround 9S) and disappear about as quickly, while the big battle with Engels has a weird moment of downtime and very little sense of progression. Engels is active, then he's down, then he's up again. when 2B attacks with Yoko Taro staple 'would you just.. die already!' (here subbed 'just break down already!' - I can't parse the Japanese by listening unfortunately, but it's brief), it doesn't feel like the desperate yell of someone who's tried absolutely everything, and this fucking robot still won't die. (or 'break down'.)

it's a shame. they've hit all the expected lines and moments from the game, but as an adaptation into a new medium, it doesn't really seem to know how to play to the medium's strengths. and yet where they do make changes, like having 2B fight a flying goliath unit during the descent, it's largely for the worse.

when the lines from the opening (everything that lives is designed to end...) are recited at the end of the episode, they're a little altered - I think possibly a version from one of the concert readings? - so instead of hoping she will find God and kill him, 2B, says she will continue to wish for 9S's happiness. it feels like it's kind of rushing ahead in the relationship between 2B and 9S, but I guess that's a sign that they're going for something different, which is a very Yoko Taro thing to do.

one thing that surprises me is that the Crunchyroll translators have frequently made different translation decisions from the game localisation. that's fine - the original script isn't sacred, and it's not as bad as the localisations of the novels and short stories lmao, at least they get 'Machine Lifeforms' consistent. but, for the most part, I find the CR version worse. here it's "all existence is designed to become extinct", or the above "break down" instead of die. unless the Japanese actually is different? I'll have to investigate further.

it won't ever detract from the game, and obviously Platinum are a tough act to follow in terms of cinematography, but I had cautiously gotten my hopes up and now it doesn't seem like it will be much more than a show to mine for occasional sakuga. I hope to be proven wrong though.

it's frustrating, because there are some good aspects. the backgrounds are generally pretty solid. the 2D animation has some really great moments - the character interactions are clear, the 2D fight scenes are (as mentioned above) really good, and the omake puppet show sequence at the end was cute and playful in the right way. there's some really nice 2D effects animation... and some really bad 3D effects animation. but there's potential here. that's what's frustrating. A-1 wouldn't have been my first pick of studio, but they've clearly got capable people on it and they're leaning on amazing source material. hopefully the balance will get a bit better as they get into the later game, and don't feel the need to rely solely on action.

[davidmann95]

Fandoms news?

Anonymous asked: Fandome news?

Black Adam: lol

Flash Season 8: YEAH BABY. Haven't watched this show in years and don't imagine I'll be returning now but this is nice.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: Wait, ep. 1's already dropped? This looks amazing.

Milestone: That program sounds good, and hell yes Brandon Thomas get that $$$

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League: Still no gameplay after all these years since their last thing, incredible. And I guess it makes sense the costumes would be that dumb coming from the Arkham Knight people, but jeez.

Peacemaker: This should be fun!

Superman stuff: Would have taken seeing a presumably new costume over a house tour, personally. And why do the stairs lead nowhere, why wouldn't you just build a house? The Supergirl farewell was sweet and I'd never heard the J'onn actor's real voice before, the My Adventures glimpse as miniscule as it was still got me even more excited, and the Smallville reunion was nice even if it pretty much shut down the prospect of an animated revival. As for the new motto, sure, fine, I won't complain if this sticks but also they keep flip-flopping and tinkering with this so I dunno that I really expect any permanence.

Doom Patrol: I'm the moron who's still only seen most of the first season - I'm not built for binging! - but overjoyed to hear it's continuing and that therefore I have more time to catch up.

The Flash: ...was that motherfucker wearing a choker as some kind of pun about how everyone associates him with choking a lady. Anyway this looks fine I guess, curious about the two Millers and the new suit is of course inevitably an improvement even if the helmet fits badly, but Jesus.

Injustice: I swear to god this took up 25% of the show

Blue Beetle/Batgirl: Curious about both of these

Monkey Prince: Hell yes, very glad to hear this is in fact panning out.

Batwoman: I watched the first 3 episodes of the show and even if it's improved in every other aspect I had to quit for my own health, every second Alice is onscreen I can feel my brain getting smoother, possibly the actual worst baddie in superhero mass-media

Catwoman: Hunted and other animated things next year: I suspect the actual story is gonna be kinda trash but visually this looks like a ton of fun. Dreading what a DTV CGI DC movie looks like.

Titans: Hilarious. I'm guessing they adapt the friggin' Tom King run next without Bruce ever suiting up, and in the background they'll do Judas Contract or some shit.

Batman: Caped Crusader: Oh no this sounds kind of awful now. It really is modern Bruce Timm running the show with nobody telling him no, and that's real bad everybody, that's real, real bad. I initially thought this would be the prestige thing while My Adventures was the all-ages but still thought of internally as kiddie show, and I guess that's still probably true in a sense, but now I'm really thinking these two might turn out to be a "All-Star Superman was announced as a footnote to All-Star Batman & Robin" situation. Also it's funny they have to call this GRITTY, HARDCORE show Caped Crusader because they ran out of other nicknames.

Young Justice: Phantoms: fuck you

Naomi: Of course they weaseled out of using Hoechlin or Routh; shame the leak about Superman being a fictional character in that world and her meeting him being her door to the multiverse was fake.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods: Fully expect this to be great but wanted to smack Zachary Levi across the mouth when he declared the costumes 'upgraded'. I don't care how much they're paying you dude.

Wonder Woman stuff: I guess we've got one more Jenkins/Gadot movie to (judging by the last one) endure, and Trial of the Amazons I guess would be tentatively neat if there was any creative team announced.

Pennyworth: hahaha what

The Batman: Oh I love this freak. Great across the board - it defamiliarizes Batman successfully, it looks slick as hell, and it balances the tone of utterly brutal and horrifying with Riddler leaving behind his logo in his coffee. My only complaints are:

* Sound mixing was a little rough with a couple lines.

* Not wild about Batman being to effortlessly tank infinite machinegun fire now.

* The unseen prisoner is clearly Riddler but a friend noted it kinda sounded like Kevin Conroy so if I was obsessed with Hurt turning out to be the big villain of this trilogy BEFORE

All in all, a couple obvious exceptions aside this was a huge letdown: tons of "Excited to get a glimpse of ______? Well, we'll have something to show you...someday!", bland retrospectives, and the smallest of announcements. This didn't even feel like a quantity over quality thing, just a shrug capped off by Batman.

[anime-onlys]

Spring '21 anime list: What I tried, what I'm watching, and first impressions!

Shaman King (2021)

I hadn't heard about this show until the reboot was announced, and it seems neat so I'll give it a shot! Hesitation isn't quite the right word, but I am watching cautiously because there's a lot about early 2000's anime that should stay in the early 2000's. I'm prepared to take a certain amount of product-of-its-time-ness, but only so much.

I really like its unique visual style. It feels like it's got a similar vibe to Soul Eater and TWEWY with its chunky proportions and face design, and the squash-and-stretch animation really lends itself to comedic moments. I feel like there are some eminently cosplayable designs in my future.

Character-wise, it's only been one episode but I'm taking a liking to Yoh. Based on the OP I hope that Ryuu will be an early-antagonist-turned-loudmouth-friend like JJBA's Okuyasu or Sk8's Shadow. That's one of my favorite character tropes.

The World Ends With You the Animation

My friend is a huge TWEWY fan, so our group was really looking forward to this anime. I saw a little of the gameplay when the Switch version was released, up to the end of episode 1's plot. I know it's going to be excellent story wise, and I already may be planning on making cosplay of that Reaper with the skeleton hoodie.

I love a unique visual style and an awesome soundtrack, of course TWEWY already had that coming in. The CGI Noise are a little clunky, but allow for some really great fight sequences. The characters' CGI models are nearly seamless with the 2D. It feels like the plot is moving fast, but according to my friend they just skipped some fetch quests and puzzle solving that wouldn't have been interesting to animate.

I'm really looking forward to this one each week!

Dragon Goes House-Hunting

One of those "eh, we'll give it a shot" shows. A bunch of us have been eyeing real estate lately, so at the very least it's topical. If done right, the concept could be fun!

We spent most of the episode HATING the dragon's character design. Its proportions are just...awkward in every way. The neck is extremely short and thick and leads into a human-muscled torso, the arms are tiny twigs, and the legs are a little too human and a little too thick to be anything but unnerving. It's bad.

Oddly, except for the dragon, the rest of the creature designs are pretty great! In contrast to a lot of anime, they let them be really non-human and had a good design sense. The humor was solid, the Monster Hunter references were on point, and the character interactions were fun. The OP is GREAT, too!

We'll be continuing this one! If you can make your eyes stop hating you for forcing them to look at the Monster Factory reject of a dragon, I'd say give it a shot.

You Can Make A Mug Too

Now that Yuru Camp is over, we wanted another lighthearted anime that might teach us something while it's at it. You Can Make A Mug Too was one of our picks to sample because one member of anime night has recently acquired a kiln.

My impression is an approving but unenthusiastic "Fine, really." You can definitely tell it's an anime made to bring in tourism to the town it's based in. The characters don't really grab me, but they set up a solid emotional backbone for the story. The production quality isn't stunning, I was hoping for some nice pottery wheel animation but didn't get any.

It's probably a decent show, but we won't watch any more because of the next one on the list.

Supercub

Going straight from You Can Make A Mug to Supercub was like going from store-brand ice pops to fresh gelato. I can already tell this is my favorite anime of the season, hands down.

First, the production quality is excellent. The backgrounds are beautiful, the score is understated but well done to the point that Debussey's Clair de Lune felt like it had been made for the scene it was used for.

More than the production quality alone, this anime's direction is exceptional. It takes 'show don't tell' and uses it perfectly, using body language and soundtrack and shot composition to communicate as much or more than the sparse dialogue. Like, they made my heart skip a beat with nothing but color grading. THAT kind of exceptional.

I haven't spoken much about the plot because I really have no idea where it's going to go. Will we fill in why Koguma is so alone, or will we only move forward to seeing her connect? Will the past of that Supercub come back to haunt her? This feels like an anime that can and will absolutely wreck me, but at the starting line all I can say is I'm READY.

If you only watch one thing this season, watch Supercub.

Continuing anime:

My Hero Academia Season 5:

This season is interesting because for the first time, I think I'm going into it with almost zero spoilers (Dabi's real name is the only one I have). The only plot spoiler I thought I had, that Hawks was somehow working with the League of Villains, was revealed at the end of episode 1. I really enjoy going into things blind so I'm looking forward to this season!

However, the OP is the most disappointing thing out there. Nothing about the song, animation or composition is memorable or even noteworthy. Bones and MHA have access to all the money and talent in the industry and they best they can do is "Fine, I guess".

Yuukoku no Moriarty season 2 (Split cour):

I really enjoyed Moriarty's first season, but the second part of a split-cour always has the risk of running off the rails. What I enjoyed most about the first cour was the reverse-whodunit formula: Here's a terrible noble and the people they hurt, how does Moriarty get rid of them while making it look like an accident? The end of cour 1 started to focus heavily on Sherlock and I don't want the show's namesake to end up sidelined.

Knowing Irene was coming, I was really hoping for a Scandal in Belgravia that follows the books...at all, where the end of the story is that Irene escapes with the photo (except this time aided by the Moriarty brothers). Few or no Sherlock adaptations actually want to engage with the sexism of the era or today's, and just want to paint her as a blackmailer or temptress instead of a woman holding onto the power to protect herself. The beginning was extremely promising, but that went off the rails pretty quick. I still haven't yet seen an adaptation of Irene Adler that I like.

Zombieland Saga: Revenge

I watch this show because it's fun and ridiculous, and I get to hear Mamoru Miyano having the time of his life in the recording booth. I love this show because it always ends up surprising me with its solid emotional backbone. It looks like this season is shaping up to be more of the same!

What blew me away was this episode was the first time I saw a CGI dance sequence that I LIKED. Ever. The characters used different mocap so they weren't eerily in sync, the song and dance itself was well made and supported by excellent camera direction and shot composition, there were 2D cuts to closeups of the dancers as well as audience, and they actually pushed facial expression!

It's a good time. Give it a shot.

[rpg-elf-girl]

Shadows House

I have a lot of thoughts surrounding this particular show, both good & bad.

Allow me to give a quick summary for anyone who hasn't seen/read it!

Shadows House is about 'a faceless family of nobles who all live within this giant manor, the Shadows House.

When a Shadow comes of age they receive a 'Living Doll' to both serve as their face and to clean the soot they emit from their bodies.

The most important rule of the living dolls is "don't fret over trivial matters"

A task which is difficult for the ever curious doll Emiliko.

Watch this tale unfold as Emiliko & her mistress Kate navigate this ever mysterious Manor together.'

For a fan of slow burn thrillers, horror, slice of life, supernatural & mystery series' this has been an absolute blast!

It's not quite the combination of genres you'd expect from a show, but it works really well here!

In fact I was so into the anime that this is actually the first show where I broke down and read the manga!

Unfortunately there's no official English release, but at least there are some people translating the series!

As much as I'd like to go on about the manga, this post is meant to be more so about the anime so I'll (try to) leave it at that.

Though i feel obligated to warn anime onlys I'll likely refer the manga a lot in a spoiler section latter in this post I'll try to be vague but I can't guarantee anything. For anyone worried about that I'll lable it do you can read on until then.

Everything from the animation to the music was amazing & completely fit the mood of the story! I remember a couple scenes where I actually teared up because of this!

The Ending theme is an absolute banger! I've listened to that on repeat ever since I first heard it! And the Opening is also great! It's cool for it to be an instrumental, stuff like that is pretty rare! I also heard the song in the op as a motif in the music throughout the show! It really sets the right mood in each scene it's in! It's amazing for getting into each episode!

In terms of adaptation almost everything from the beginning to the end of the Debut arc was done amazingly well!

Even with the stuff they cut it still holds true to the spirit of its source.

The main important part that was cut is something that could easily be introduced latter if they decide to go for a second season, so I'm not too mad about that.

However! Everything after the debut is a bit of a different story.

There was a lot I liked about the last couple episodes but there were some parts that were immersion breaking for me.

I've been being vague up until this point l, but I'm planning on going into spoiler territory for both the anime and manga after this. So I'll make a quick spoiler free summary of my thoughts before moving onto that.

I really really loved this show but in my opinion the last 3 episodes were the weakest of them all. They went anime only for the ending. I don't mind that on it's own, but it was rushed and the writing was sloppy at times.

Now I'm not telling you to not watch the show! Most of It's really really good, and I can still see people enjoying the parts I'm talking about if they want to give the anime a try. Overall I've fallen in love with this series and I could never recommend it enough.

If what I'm saying is giving you bad vibes the manga is available and doesn't have the issues I've mentioned. You can look for a translation online, it didn't take me long to find one so don't worry too much about that.

Also! if you're an anime only who's finished the series and want to know where to pick up the Manga I'd recommend at least skiming through the beginning. I know it might not be what you're looking for but there were a bunch of small scenes that either got cut or were merged for adaptation purposes that I think are super cute & give more context to different aspects of the setting. However! Pay close attention during the "night watchers part" something important got cut .

~~~Now for spoilers!!!!~~~

I don't want to make it sound like I'm some manga purist who hates the very thought of the slightest change from the source. I'm anime only for a lot of different shows and I've always despised it when that type of manga reader reared it's ugly head.

While I'll admit some changes did bother me I won't make a fuss about the smaller stuff.

With that said!

I hinted earlier in this post that I didn't have a big problem with Robe-same being cut. That was because without them there it does make for a more complete story if they only get one season to work with.

If there is another season they can easily be introduced latter on. Like maybe Emiliko & Shaun can meet them when the Debutant class reunion is going on before they talk on the roof (or right after that) I actually think that would be the perfect time to introduce them (other than the time they were supposed to appear, but I digress)

Louise teaming up & being friendly with Kate can be explained with some dialogue changes at the first Debutant Class Reunion. Louise can say she was just trying to show off or that she just wanted to get back at Edward and that she isn't interested in helping Kate with her problems. Things can then go on as they did in the manga.

Kates being reckless & telling everything to John can be explained by her being extremely panicked when Emiliko went missing, as long as there are some lines of dialogue adressing this it's fine. Though I do wish she tried to keep some stuff a secret but couldn't because Shaun tries to interfer because he's still brainwashed, or something along those lines. It felt a bit weird after she just told Emiliko to keep that stuff between them. Still that could be explained by how panicked she was.

There are other things, but I don't want to drag the post on too long. Most of the issues can be fixed with little changes here & there.

I never had a problem with the idea of them going in an anime only direction. I just want to have a good time with the show.

Unfortunately I can't 100% vouche for the direction the show went in. There were elements that I can't excuse, even viewing it as it's own entity instead of an adaptation.

My main complaint with it is how they handled the brainwashing of Ricky & Lou. They didn't say a word when the Debutants were talking badly about Edward & even went along with a plan to go against him. It makes absolutely no sense!

Shaun freaked out when John only suggested that he didn't have to be loyal to the house. These guys were flat out rebelling against an adult! It felt like Ricky & Lou didn't have a purpose & were just there to be there.

The whole point of the coffee is to influence shadows against doing stuff like this. It makes the coffee seem pointless and the adults seem dumb for relying on it to control the kids.

I haven't even brought up the fact that both of their brainwashings were broken by something as simple as a few kind words. It straight up contradicts the rules established by both the Anime and Manga.

This becomes very apparent when you consider all the trouble John & Kate went through to free Shaun & Emiliko.

This was my biggest complaint, but I have some other issues as well.

The next big one is how they handled Edward.

1. Why on earth would he even consider kidnapping Emiliko when he had complete control of the childrens wing? Before this point he was depicted as being a lot more crafty than this. He could easily have Kate monitored or something.

2. Why didn't he use his powers to stop them like what he did to Maryrose & Rosemary when they fought back being taken to the adults wing? He's already shown off his power at this point, why not?

3. Why did he reveal his soot powers at all!? Especially while using his face in front of the kids! The whole unification thing is one of the biggest secrets of the house for good reason! There's no way he wouldn't get in huge trouble for exposing it to children!

Here are some other related questions.

Why didn't Kate, Emiliko, & John react to Edward using soot powers? They shouldn't know about unification yet so why didn't they act shocked, or say anything about it?

Is Edward being banished even an option in the Shadows House? Wouldn't the third floor lords just dispose of him rather than risk letting him leave?

How did John even get a veiled dolls outfit? Louise had to use her powers to get Kate one & she left a long time ago.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I think you get my point.

Please don't take this as me saying that I hate the show because of these episodes. Even if I consider them the weakest of the series I still found a lot of parts to be very enjoyable!

Like I thought it was adorable When Edward was attempting to interrogate Emiliko & she kept being her sunshine self pretending to eat & falling asleep.

Barbara getting to tell off Edward for breaking the rules was great!

I loved seeing Shaun hatch the plan to get Kate into the adults wing to save Emiliko.

Seeing John (attempt to) sneak around the adults wing had me rolling!

The ending scene of Shaun, Ricky, & Lou singing gave me the chills.

(Though I wonder how they'd handle Shaun & Emiliko being brainwashed again since they already used the scenes where they're freed)

Kate & Emilico being propelled by John back to the children's wing was absolutely amazing! I found Shaun & Ricky running over to catch them to be super sweet! (Not to mention the way that scene was animated was absolutely gorgeous!)

Getting hints to what was supposed to come after the debut was nice, at least the groundwork is there in case this gets a season 2!

To (try to) wrap this all up while there were a lot of things I loved and disliked about this show I still had a really fun time watching it!

I kinda hope there's a season two just to see if they can tidy up the mess that the last few episodes created.

Regardless of whether that happens or not I came out of this with a series I absolutely adore.

Heck I could make a whole other post about the manga. (Hopefully one that's less ranty)

Anyway! I won't take any more of your time.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night! And I hope to see you in my next post!

(Sorry if this one was a bit of a mess!)

[masterhandss]

Honestly I think my main problem with Hamefura season is that it was just disappointing??? Like the first season made me laugh so much and the ending made me so hyper for a second season but after watching the second season, I don't really feel anything? It's just a kind of 'yeah that happened' feeling if that makes sense?

And honestly I think that's why I'm so upset because, like you said, it's definitely not terrible, it's just not great either and I feel like if they had handled some things differently and fixed the pacing a little bit, it could have been so much better.

On a positive note, though: Angela and Aoi Shouta went as hard as ever on the opening and ending themes and good god are they bops

I think saying "yeah that happened" is a great way to summarize the season lmao

The first season was amazing and the second season had big shoes to fill, and it did fill it but it was mostly just socks that filled the space (terrible metaphor I know). I've always hated some aspects of the pacing of the arc even when I read it as a light novel, and the fact that the manga and anime are cherry-picking parts of the light novel's versions of events that it wants to show isn't really helping (its still like 70% loyal though don't worry). It's kinda the reason why I thought they'd never make a second season, because I didn't know how they would adapt the these (and they did by just adapting it very straightforwardly).

Like you said, it's not terrible and if they were willing to move things around it could be even better, but as it is, it's alright. We're all expecting different things from the second season as the sequel to the amazing first season and I'm not surprised it didn't hit well for everyone, especially people who didn't expect the leading love interests to be as prominent as they were.

Feeling unsatisfied is perfectly valid. And yeah, the new OP and ED are such bops, its the one aspect that they haven't failed yet in hamefura media ahahaha! their animated sequences are fun, and the MVs for the songs themselves are also really good! I have no doubt that those two will be making the songs for the next season (if we're getting one, I already forgot if its been confirmed or not) so that's pretty excited.

Thank you for the ask :DD

[otakween]

I’m Standing on a Million Lives - Episode 19

Uh-oh, light novel arc. I get the feeling the story will be pretty weak from here on out since it's a side story. That being said, it will be interesting to see something completely new. I haven't read the light novel yet because Japanese is hard lol. I'm planning on making an attempt, but I don't expect to read it super quickly. I think watching the anime adaptation first will actually help my comprehension (hopefully).

Notes:

-The short film felt very episode 0 of Haruhi-esque. The crappy acting was pretty funny. I guess they didn't bother with reshoots because the main point is to just get other players' attention

-Glenda's design is so frickin' pretty. Unfortunately she's so poorly written in this episode. It's painful to watch. It's not good LGBT+ representation for a lesbian to just mention she's a lesbian every two seconds and talk about a child being her type "when she's 18." This is what happens when straights write gay dialogue -sigh-

-I used to think it was funny, but now I get kind of angry when anime has bad Engrish ("I'm Glenda 'cuz I'm going to film you.") No QA whatsoever. All I ask is for a sentence to make grammatical sense. They could get a whole army of volunteer weebs double checking these things. Not saying we never butcher Japanese, that's equally bad.

-Iu and Kusue looked cute in their casual wear :)

-Yusuke's "hometown accent" was so blink-and-you-miss-it. When Iu brought it up I was like "wait, wha??"

-When they brought up the quest options, I already knew they were going to choose quest B, yet I was still sad when they bypassed quest A. Quest B sounds like another generic "defeat the bad guys" quest.

-Kahvel's daughter was really cute, but did they really need to give her the exact same hairdo and outfit? We're not that dumb lol.

-There's a whole scene about how the dialogue is auto-translated from Japanese to English (and vice versa). I checked the dub out of curiosity and they just completely changed the script there! No idea why. I think it still would have made sense in English...

-Enjoyed seeing Glenda one-shot that goblin like a BAMF. It was kinda sad when Kusue and Yuka were like "we're pretty useless, huh?" haha

-Very confused by that ending. That mind-sucking monster was in the manga so it seems like 2 stories were merged here.