In which I am laid low before the forces of “real life…”
Let me just start off by letting you all know this week of work is kicking my butt, so today’s post is going to be a little shorter than you or I are accustomed to. As such, I’ll mainly just be focusing on the anime that are kind of the loves of my anime life right now (you’ll have to guess what I’m thinking about everything else, or update me on them yourself).
I’m a week behind on Rakugo Shinju yet again, so my top vote for this week’s Anime Power Rankings went to (surprise!) Konosuba‘s episode 6. Aqua and co. continue to be hilariously fun to watch, but more importantly to me were Aqua’s myriad successes (even if there were some consequences) against the Dullahan and his crew of undead. I mean, sure, she spent a lot of the episode running around for her life, but that just made her moments of glory all the greater. I’m now sort of at the point where Aqua’s successes feel like a personal triumph for me and her downs just make me empathize with her more, so am I too far gone? Yes, I probably am. Don’t bring me back.
Megumin’s still a blast, too (can’t believe it took me 7 weeks to think up that pun) and Darkness is growing on me more than I expected she would. There’s also Kazuma, who continues to be Not Bad—but when a superstar like Aqua is around, we don’t really need to think about the parts of the show that are good, but not great.
Speaking of things that have been good, but not great recently, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime returned with a vengeance Monday with a swashbuckling episode that climaxed in the triumphantly warm scene where Shirayuki and Zen hug at the top of the stairs. For me, that made everything I liked less about this arc worth it—and it also prompted some passionate thoughts on the show from me on Twitter, which I’ll share here:
If there’s one reason above all the others that I love Zen and Shirayuki’s relationship, it’s that their romance is fundamentally built on a close and trusting friendship. This is simply not a path we see relationships take in anime (Toradora!‘s another good example), and frankly I value that not solely because of its rarity, but also because of its importance for people to see. What Shirayuki-hime lays out is the way to build a relationship that will actually last. There’s passion to it, sure, but at its core it’s steady, warm, genuine, and trusting. And maybe it doesn’t make for a “compelling” or “interesting” story. Who cares?? Go elsewhere if you need your intense romantic kicks. And leave me to watch and love these friends-become-lovers who haven’t lost their friendship.
So, yeah, take that Obi x Shirayuki shippers—you’re all wrong!
MahoPri hasn’t been subbed yet (which is a shame and I miss it a lot), so I guess the next thing on the list is Grimgar, which had another impressive episode of meaningful conversations. Ranta has been the butt of most people’s annoyance, but I actually thought he made a number of really important points—and, perhaps even more impressively for Grimgar as a show—lined up to take a critical position in the show’s musings on empathy and understanding other people. Ranta’s an ass, but he’s still a member of the team and still a human being with thoughts, feelings, and needs. Just because he’s a brat doesn’t disqualify him from being treated with some level of dignity and respect, and I really appreciate that Grimgar extended that grace to him rather than just giving it to Mary and her tragic backstory. That’s an important, neat thing. Just another anime doing something anime don’t usually do.
Grimgar isn’t just an adventure story, and it’s likewise not just a MMO-inspired slice-of-life. It’s a contemplative take on a certain range of humanity, and I’ve started to think there’s something particularly compelling about the socio-economic class issues that underline the life and death struggle of just being alive. Maybe I’ll come back to that thought at a later point.
Everything else I’d feel compelled to talk about this week is really just highlighting small pieces out of otherwise decent, but non-notable episodes, which reminds me that I wanted to plug something not anime, but related to anime to you guys. I recently added the blog Wave Motion Cannon to my blogroll, and on Sunday tamerlane (one of the blog’s writing team) posted a really fascinating article on sakuga, anime fandom, and how we talk about anime called “At Least It’s an Ethos.” I highly encourage you guys to check it out, and there are a number of points in there that I find very salient to my own writing here. In the post, tamerlane talks a bit about the idea of excerpting small pieces of things from a larger whole an appreciating them for their own sake. I also left a large comment in the comment section, if you’d like to see some of my thoughts on the matter.
As for those other highlights for me, I’ll just bullet point them for convenience’s sake:
- Lelei and her sister battling it out in GATE (and it was well-animated, too!)
- So much of my trash husbando Oikawa in Haikyuu!!
- ERASED really revived itself by returning to the past timeline, although the cliffhanger at the end really raised my hackles.
- Durarara!! x2‘s latest episode somehow generated a whole bunch of thematic thoughts for me thanks to Shizuo and Izaya’s rather subtle showdown.
- And Dimension W continues to look pretty, even if Kyouma’s backstory did absolutely nothing for me due to the fact that Kyouma himself is boring. More Mira please. Please. Episode 3 was this show’s high point by a mile.
A full review of Hanayamata is coming soon, and apologies for my delayed responses to comments! But look! I made a real post in a half-hour! Cool! See you guys next week~
Mage in a Barrel 
Always nice to know someone reads my stuff 🙂
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I read almost everything you write! And I’m very glad to be able to have more good writing to point my readers towards, so keep up the good work! 🙂
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Too bad you are a week behind on Rakugo Shingo, it continues to be amazing.
Together with KonoSuba (yay today is KonoSuba day) and ERASED it is my most liked this season.
All 3 shows are great and I love them.
Totally agree with you on Dimension W. It looks pretty, but everything besides Mira is pretty unimpressive.
Prince of Stride is another Anime of this season that I like alot. maybe because I like like Sportanime in general, but I really enjoy this one.
Oh and I look forward to your Hanayamata Post. Yosakoi dance rocks!
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Dimension W hasn’t really been good since Mira’s feature ep back in week three. I’m just thankful there are some redeeming values to it, even though the writing has let us down pretty spectacularly.
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I am adding My Second Tier this week to reflect major changes
Also EPISODE(S) of the WEEK / and (NEW) Noteworthy POSTED BELOW / EOW or NW on RANKINGS
EXTRA finished COPPELLION Manga / CHP 233 / Last Plant
It’s kinda sad S1 got a bad rap because the Manga was really good
If there ever was a perfect ending this was it no guessing / great revelations / and eveything explained WELL Done It’s on CR MANGA maybe read the Last CHP to see
WINTER 2016 FAVORITES
44 SHOWS / 33 Full RWBY finished / 12 SHORTS TKZ Finished
WEEK 7
TIER 1 TOP FAVORITES
Lots of Changes See Notes for big moves
RWBY earned the TOP spot
1 RWBY VOL 3 GREAT SEASON-Finish EOW
4 Way Tie for 2nd-5th
2 Assassination Classroom 2 / Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2 EOW
2 Dimension W Going on Toonami EOW
2 Heavy Object Ongoing Anime EOW
2 Ajin – Demi-Human NW Dropped down for gun violence
[red] 4 Way Tie for 6th -8th [/red]
6 Erased (Boku Machi) (The Town Where Only I Am Missing) EOW
6 Haikyuu!! Second Season Ongoing Anime EOW
6 Durarara!!×2 Ketsu EOW
4 Way Tie for 9th -12th
9 Snow White with the Red Hair 2 / Akagami no Shirayuki-hime EOW
9 GATE 2 EOW
9 Dagashi Kashi EOW
9 HaruChika EOW
13 Mobile Suit Gundam/ Iron-Blooded Orphans Ongoing Anime
14 Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash NW
15 World Trigger Ongoing Anime
16 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku (Give Blessings to This Wonderful World)
17 Lovely Muuuuuuuco! SHORT Ongoing Anime
18 TEEKYU 7 SHORT
19 The File of Young Kindaichi Returns
20 Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note SHORT FINISHED / 16 EPS
TIER 2 Good / Enjoy watching ! Shows
This TIER 2 was a big shake-up
21 Pandora in the Crimson Shell NW
22 Oshiete! Galko-chan (Please tell me! GALKO-chan) SHORT
23 Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm: Beyond the Sky, Into the Firmament
24 Myriad Colors Phantom World / Musaigen no Phantom World
25 Norn9 Norun + Nonetto
26 Maho Shojo Nante Mo Ii Desu Kara / (I’ve Had Enough of Being a Magical Girl) SHORT
Moved these (28- 32) shorts / Full anime up
27 Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R
28 Reikenzan
29 Ojisan and Marshmallow SHORT
30 Ooyasan wa Shishunki! SHORT
31 JK-MESHI! SHORT FINISHED
32 GIRLS Beyond The Koya / Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya o Mezasu
EPISODE of the WEEK 7 EOW / or NOTEWORTHY NW
Haruchika – Haruta & Chika EP 7 / A Frequency of 77.4 MHz
A dramatic episode about somebody wanting to die / and somebody who takes care of others.
The band club is growing. In order to get a budget increase, Chika and Haruta agree to track down one of the student council’s problem club leaders.The geology club leader who is asbsent all the time and wiil get a reward to bring her in. That is Misato Aso who wants to die but listens to a Counseling radio show called the Seven Sages . She call in but they tell her things are like jewels. They are Seven old people being taken care by geology club leader Kaiyu radio announcer / care take of them. is the misiing friend of Serizawa the last EP who wanted to tune the drums.for him.
So A Topaz gem is at the Temple where Kaiyu takes of them but Haruta & Chika figure it out. And Kaiyu finds good homes for the eldery. A Double life lesson in this one.
Erased (Boku Machi) (The Town Where Only I Am Missing) EP 7 Out of Control
Satoru goes back again / Kenya confronts him about his changes / then Kayo’s situation . Satoru makes an alibili for Jun . They find a bus for Kayo to stay in so she doent get abused and kidnapped But somebody goes in the bus.
Assassination Classroom EP 29 / Reaper Time, Part 1
Another godd EP
PROF Bitch is kinda lonely Karasuma doesnt notice her yet worse it’s her B-Day but things dont go well with Class 3-E buying flowerrs. She finds out it wasnt Karasuma idea ans storms away,She gets kidnapped by the Reaper ( Flower shop ) The students put on new uniforms but get taken down anyway.Neanwhile Koro-Sensei went Brazil to understans soccer more but causes a ruckus withe home team fans.
Heavy Object EP 19 / The Coal Mine Littered with Stacks of Money – The Kamchatka Peninsula Nighttime Blitz III
This has turned out to be a really good anime. You can see the author’s ideas from Index / Railgun used frelly. The powered suit. How evertbody works together. The various groups / faction and villians.
Oh the action scenes were great / deosnt seem like CGI / more like hand drawn.
The Faith ORG First Aid girl stops Nutsley by stabbing a pick in a joint releasing Qwenthur/ Nutsley tries to target the Girl but she gets to Havia Myonri then Qwenthur Charlotte go seperate ways with Nutslet chashing Q he tries Handex to stop him but NG they end up into diamond process area where makes a Diamond projectile bomb and kills Nutsley. in the powered . Meanwhile Frolaytia knows things arent going well. But thens an coded MSG Qwenthur sees cannon flashes and decivcdes to use Baby Magnum’s Antenna to send a signal to the 37th Milinda is happy to see Q alright and then protects him when the Wing Balancer attacks but the Shot goes awry as Havia jammed the radar . Q and Milinda figure out Winng’s Balancer Weakness in it’s infra red sensor for the ground terrain. Whm it topples over Milinda takes it out. But The 24th and Indigo Plasma target the mine There is A Cvil War within the Legitimate Kingdom’. Everybody think the miners are dead but Frolaytia was contacted by the miners and a deal was made to let them the subs at a secret base.
The 37th repair Baby magnum in place . Charlotte / Qwenthur have a nice cahat but she sees his stolen diamnonds but forgives him. She clears him of any suspicion from a secret list of posiible traitors. But now shwe has to go asfter Fikde who escaped.
Monica had to leave so that encounter is on hold!
Pandora in the Crimson Shell Ghost Urn EP 7 / Puppeteer] NW
Robot thieves called The Chicken Brothers are on the hunt and come across Clarion / Nene and capture Nene when the Network goes down again. Clarion goes after them with the help of Takumi and a Gertsecomma Clarion find their HQDRS / in Battle they touch Clarion ears. Meanwhile Nene awakes and sees all the robots being held . She reunites with Clarion power up restart the robots with their commands and defeat The Chicken Gang.
Very funny EP
GATE EP 7 Dangerous Sisters
Pina opposes Zorzal;s plan to have the Empire revolt and go against Japan.Pina tries to get Diabo ( her other brother ) to oppose Zozal but is leaving the Capital.
Meanwhile Lelei / Arpeggio continue their fight but is discovered the Empire has so many differnt species because the Gate opens to other places too!
But after Arpeggio dumps soup on Lelei head they have a battle. Lelei wins but Arpeggio might have a job with Itani. Meanwhile one Of Pinas men comes to warn Lelei about the danger in the Empire and just in time as he stops an kil atempt on Llelei
Dagashi Kashi EP 6 /Super Himo Q, Ohajiki, and sometimes Maken Gumi… / Yoguret, Coconuts, and…
A great Saya story!
Kokonotsu To, and Saya visit the temple, where they find Hotaru behaving even more strangely than usual and then up playing a marble type game but then the backstory with Saya reminisces about playing Doctor with Kokonotsu when they were in the third grade.as with Yougurt Candy in nedicene type burst pacs.But Saya wanted an exam though !
HAIKYU!! 2nd Season EP 20 / Wiping Out
MANGA / CHP 129 Karusuno Reborn / CHP 130 ERASE / CHP 131 The Gears of Aobajosai /
This was another Top HAIKYU!! session easily a Top 5 if not more.
The pre game was funny Kiyoko saving Yachi from the ball, Oikawa the ramen promise if mistakes are made. Great action animation besides intense pinch stter with stripe hair(Mad Dog ) forces the duece.
DRRR EP 31 / No Love Lost
With just 5 EPS left I hope we get going as there is a lot of dialouge going on right now. I know the Chat Board is important but it’s kinda played out by now. But the Set up should be now
Namie has flooded the chat room with messages calling out Mikado giving out user names
Izaya thinks humans arecmore interessting than the monsters.
Shooter and Shizuo race to Celty ( I stiil like the bell ) and have a confrontation with Kasane and Seitar Shizuo / Kasane have a interesting conservation with Shizuo saying no matter what the plans are Celty is his friend and will rescue her. Vorona shows up and tries to stop Shizuo but he knows Vorona was the one in the Park that day when they fought. She still threathens him but pushes him out of the way when Izaya drops a contasiner from the construction site . Vorona gets pinned but Shizuo lifts the debris off. So Izaya drops the crane over on then but Shizuo breaks it up and goes after him.
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash EP 7 / They Were Called Goblin Slayers NW
Haruhiro and his party now know Mary’s past and try to have better teamwork within the party.
Very serious dealing with life / survival In ways more realistic than other RPG’s transplants
Just dealing with grief hearing Mary’s backstory (very sad ) Confessing their feelings on losing Manato and are friends now. .Just trying to survive
The music OST is pretty good too.
Oh a Goblin walked by saw them but just kept walking !
Dimension W EP 7 / The Island That Fell into Nothingness
A Super Packed episode that is loaded but easy to understand / A sad revealing and exciting EP
A Cast that rivals RWBY / DRRR / One Punch man is introduced !
This Sci-Fi done right life itself / the science politcs / a very goof intro to new cast with names. Some animes with a big rool out gets confusing / Attention was paid to the names. Almost felt like One Punch Heroes
Kyoma recalls his past as he gets ready to join the other Collectors on Easter Island.
That recycle can throw dead accurate.
Miyabi liked old tech like her camera Kyoma / Miyabi very much in Love and then she collaspes Miyabi hasan incurable disease but Kyoma is deyermined to find some kind of prosthetics for her.
He finds Dr Yarazuki who has an amazing sythetic body replacement and needs a human.
But befote he gets close to her he is stopped by Colin Keys who is in charge of the Superhuman Grendel (Beasts) and recruits hum in return for Miyabi’s treatment.
Before Kyoma leaves for Easter Island he gets engaged to Miyabi
The Beasts attack an NT Stonghold condycting Illegal Coil Research
Al has Cool surfboard and Kyoma Spin Darts that cut through barriers The Grendel were Wimming when apparently a Dimension W Rift happened
Kyoma wakes up in the Hospital Al tells him ony they survived but won. However Dt Y and Miyabi’s sister ( Tsubaki clothhins shop owner ) come with Dr Y in Heavy bandages and tell him Miyabi died in A Coil explosion . They kept her human body seperate because her head is miising and let Kyoma see the prosthetic Body Thus his hatred of tech and wespecially Illegal Coils
Kyoma is going to Easter Island as he unveils his cool Lexus LFA (BTW A TOP HI _PERFPRMANCE CAR)
Salve goes to NT HQDRS which looks right out Of Evangelion ( a nive homage)
Salve presents to the NT assembly because somebody is seen in an Easter Island that is destroyed
He wants to go in for his own reasons but also to preven another incident that NT was part of .He wants to use his own collectors BT Prez sais Ok but must work with Qi-4 and use the
Qi-4 South America air command ship Grodia . CMDR Cedric Morgan female
THE COLLECTORS
Harry and Debby Easstriver Siblings / like food
Yuri Antonov Destroyer of Central 3 / his accent
Hero Jason Chrysler No 1 Collector in America
Hitman KK #2 Collector in America
Scorpion Cat Cassidy ( Like Butch Cassdy ROFL) / Sanchos Lunatics of Mexico /Crayz gal and Monk type
Late Arrival our previous collector
Elizabeth Greenhough Smith Mysterious Collector Girl ( she usees disguises ) and “PAPA ? ( Loser ?) asks is The Beast coming ?
There is one Coil that works in Nothingness / I guess after effect of Dimension W
50 Million $$ 5x than for Underground numbers
Of Course Kyoma / Mira / Al coming by plane wants to dom it by himself and needs the fast car because he dont use coils and they are going to Ground Zero.
Grodia approaches Easter Island but nasty automated artillery is on the ground for thise not on approved course
Coils are failing because of Nothingness then A Dimensional Sphere Attacks taking out the pilots and goes after Salva / It’s Alive ? Plane going down
Easter Isle is just creppy !
One reason Kyoma likes Old Things reminds him of Miyabi ( Camera)
Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX: Believe in Justice and Hold a Determination to Fist. Special 2 [/purple] NW
A funny look at the characters with themes fron the anime.
Chris is highlighted in a a bunck of misunderstandings with Hibiki / Miku / Shirabe / Kirika
Then Tsubasa and Maria are highlighted in their England setting
Ajin EP 6/ I’ll Murder You As Well NW
Disclaimer about the gun violence
I didnt do my thoughts right away as I pondered how to put in words I have watched Black Lagoon violence in Akame Ga Kill even it’s precesssdor Knights of Sidonia heroes dying in TWBY but felt troubled by the Gun Violence scenes that often reminded me of today’s headlines almost too real. I took it down a couple of spots in my Top Favorites but the EP was still strong
Satou rescues Kei even though he considers him a failure . Kei is at first grateful but things turn quicly when Satou wants to Kil the rersearchers even though they tortured him and stops Satou . One researcher isc remorseful and Kei says escape and leave markings hpw to getb out Satou then turns on Kei and says I’ll Murder you too! Even saying if you cut off the AJIN head’s it is dime but more like when the head groes back the Human side is not the same . So a battle chase ensures with satou using his AJIN ( IBM ) to kill a resercher that hid. But Satou is surpriseed Kei used his Ajin to battlle too. Evebtually Kei throws the man off the roof into shrubs not to kill him but break his fall Meanwhile at the Lab Control room Ogura tells more about the IBM’s
Kei himself is conflicted wishing he didnt go to Satou to rescue Eriko who seems to hate him.
Snow White with the Red Hair EP 19 / Wave of Determination
A very good episode. I will however compare this to Yona when she was kidnapped ( by her plan and the pirates were good. ) It’s fait game.
Yona had to flee for life as a pampered Princes but grew to be a fierce woman thus her abililty to face down the corrupt slave /drug trade . She at first wasnt independent but grew into it
Now Umihebi was a very independent woman using skills to help her escape Raj / Obi in the first Cour. And beinng a herbalist and having protection has diminished her value as a prize and gets caught easily even with Obi this time. But like Yona Shirayuki has strong interpersonal skills that endear and make people stronger around them
Both have good goals but walk diifferent paths and means to get there.
With Kiki aboard the ship with Shirayukishe feels somewhat better.
With the rescue parties split / Raj at first has a very important task to get a flleet together to Pursue the Sea Claw At first he has attendants ask for help but the seaport merchants / sailors already dont think too much of him . But Raj himself goes up ans asks for help and the crowd says this is not the Prince Raj we heard abot, Their disdain for Umihebi for Piracy / surcharges on shipping is enough for them to go . The Sea Claw and Umihebi are surprised a fleet is after them they bring up Umihebi to see if she is what they are after. In fact after the revelation Shirayuki gets a cut grom her . The Sea Ckaw cuts through the Blue Vortex knowing they wont chase after her and dock at their hideout but Raj pushes on and The Sea Claw pirates are stunned when they see the Fllet and Raj eams the Sea Claw . The Pirates thinking they have an escape route on land
But they are cutoff by Mitsuhide and the The Mountain’s Lions and Raj and the Merchants a battle begins Zen then arrives on scene and takes away Shirayuki / Kazuki at Obi’s instructions saying I have a score to settle .
In the Passage Kazuki leaves Zen / Shirayuki to fight and a tearful reunion happens
It was great to see Umihebi captured.
Zen / Shirayuki / go to meet up with the Mountain Lion leader Mikaze who Shirayuki knows it’s her father even though he doesnt know it’s her to eeveybody being stunned.
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B-Day hijinks in AssClass!! That makes me pretty darn excited to catch up with the show once it’s aired.
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You know what’s gotten surprisingly good that hasn’t gotten much attention this season? Nijiro Days, which after a rocky first episode has mostly managed to stay clear of anime high school romcom cliches in favour of a somewhat more realistic approach to being a teenager and falling in love.
Haruchika has also been improving though falling short of how good it looked that first episode. At this point it’s a solid slice of life series, with the mysteries mostly harmless fluff there to have the two leads interact with the “victim” and each other. It’s also nice to see Chika, like she had a few times this episode, have the upper hand over knowitall Haruta, without it being mean spirited.
The two made up sporting animes this season, Prince of Stride & Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm are following the traditional sports anime trajectory and doing a decent job of it. In the latter I like how romance has refused to enter the story, despite its origins as a harem VN.
Mahou Girls Precure is just adorbs, even if it’s ripping off Harry Potter something fierce, up to and including having a snail train to bring them to magic school, obviously a comment on the dire state of British railway travel.
The other two magic girl series this season, Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R and Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara are decent and too short to make much impact respectively.
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(MahoPri does Harry Potter better than Harry Potter!) It’s also easily one of my favorite shows of the season. It’s so lovely and fun and cute and just solid.
And I keep hearing good and cute things about Nijiro Days, which (again) was on my list of things to pick up at the beginning of the season—I just never managed to follow through. 😦
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no u
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I’m convinced that “friends-become-lovers who haven’t lost their friendship” is the best kind of romance.
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It is, it is! It’s the healthiest and (I think) the most realistic. Wish we saw more of it in anime.
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I’ve been busy with other things again, so the only new episodes that I got to this week were Aokana and Konosuba. Actually, those are basically the two shows that I’ve watched every week without fail – everything else I’ve been inconsistent with, though I’m still enjoying the rest of them whenever I get to them. Konosuba 6 was a lot of fun, if not quite the laugh riot of episode 5, but the fight was great, and LOL at your screencap. I think it’s even funnier out of context than it was during the episode.
Couple of other things I wanted to mention…
Re: your tweet comment on Reiko Yoshida a few days ago. I chuckled when I saw that because I’ve been on her bandwagon for a long time (if you look at my “favorite people” list on MAL, she’s on it), but it’s never come up here on this blog. I have said before that characters are very important to me, and I can tolerate a pretty bleh story as long as the animation and characters remain interesting and enjoyable (See: Comet Lucifer), and I think Yoshida has a talent for making her characters pop. That’s probably why she’s one of the best Slice-of-Life writers in the business. If you have a K-On or Non Non Biyori (both shows she composed) where it’s just ordinary people living ordinary lives, then it’s crucial to develop likeable, interesting characters, and that’s something she rarely fails to do. She’s doing the composition for Aokana this season, and while it has plenty of faults, its cast of characters has been one of my favorite things about it (once we got past that pretty dreadful first episode, anyway). In fact, if not for Aqua and Megumin, Tobisawa would’ve been my best girl of the season in a landslide. Yoshida’s doing the composition for Hai-Furi next season, which will be anime original, and that’s definitely on the list of shows I’m planning to check out.
Also, an interview with Ishihara and Yamada about Euphonium was recently translated to English. They talk a lot about the visual and photographic effects and design processes that they used for the show, as well as the thinking behind certain elements of the script. Since you’ve been discussing Yamada recently, along with your increased interest in sakuga and visual storytelling, I thought you (as well as other Eupho fans here) might like to read it if you hadn’t already.
Part one: http://ultimatemegax.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/animestyle-007-sound-euphonium-interview-director-tatsuya-ishihara-series-director-naoko-yamada-part-1/
Part two: http://ultimatemegax.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/animestyle-007-sound-euphonium-interview-director-tatsuya-ishihara-series-director-naoko-yamada-part-2/
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Reiko Yoshida is good! I haven’t seen some of her big stuff (Aria, K-On!, Girls und Panzer), but she’s done screenplay/script for a lot of “chill” anime, for lack of a better word, that I’ve enjoyed a lot. Non Non Biyori, Joukamachi no Dandelion, and Aokana are all anime that I’ve enjoyed because they’re all laid-back, relaxed anime focused around character interactions, which she seems to do well based on the rest of her work also.
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Absolutely! I’ve watched all or part of nine shows so far that Yoshida’s worked on as a composer and/or episode writer: Aokana, K-On!, Non Non Biyori, NNB Repeat, Girls und Panzer, Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, Hanayamata, Angelic Layer, and REC, and I feel like the character interactions and core chemistry of the main casts are strong in all of those shows. Even in the RuroKen OVA, which I have some major issues with as a fan of the series, the deep bonds of love and loyalty between the core characters is one of the things that it does get absolutely right.
Shirobako, Aria, Scrapped Princess, Witch Craft Works, Sugar Sugar Rune, and Kaleido Star are other ones she’s worked on that are all on my list of shows I eventually want to get to as well.
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You’re going to love Shirobako if you have interest on how anime is made; one of the best portrayals of people working together on a creative project in any medium.
Witch Craft Works is great fun too, what looks like a typical shounen battle series but you soon suspect is …less than serious… sometimes. Great artstyle as well.
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Also chiming in in favor of Witch Craft Works!! I love that show to bits and I’m still bitter it hasn’t got a Western physical release, even by Sentai.
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I actually have read some of those Eupho interviews, but since my feelings on it are still quite ambivalent, I haven’t spent a lot of time with them. I’m still working on warming up to Yamada, to be honest. I think part of it might just be petty, “I need to decide I like her myself, not just have people tell me I should like her.”
Yoshida’s definitely got some clunkers on her resume, but I think overall she does a very good job at making things I like, which is about the highest praise I can give her!
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Well what’s cool with Yamada is that she’s still very young, and if all goes well is going to be making anime for another 30+ years, so there’s all kinds of time to form and evolve your opinion organically with every new anime she puts out. It’s not like going back to someone like Miyazaki or even Kawamori where all or the majority of their career is behind them and it’s possible to start doing comprehensive critical evaluations of their work. TBH, my opinion on Yamada is still very fluid at this point too. For one thing, she’s only directed three TV series, all in the same general high school age comedy/drama milieu, and on all three she was also collaborating with talented established veterans (Yoshida with K-On and Tamako, Ishihara with Eupho). So there’s still plenty of room for her to continue growing and evolving as a director from here. I’m fully expecting her to do “A Silent Voice” justice whenever that movie comes out, but that’s another high school drama again. I’d really like to see her tackle some different material at some point, if only to find out whether she can do it. Compare that to someone like Atsuko Ishizuka, who’s just a couple of years older than Yamada but has already directed shows in several different genres – comedy, slice-of-life, fantasy, and action. Ishizuka doesn’t have the critical acclaim yet, but I think that diverse range of experience she’s getting is going to serve her well moving forward.
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