This episode of Zankyou no Terror was pretty much the definition of hauntingly beautiful. Gorgeous shots were littered everywhere, the music was chillingly pretty, and the emotional beats (especially between Twelve and Lisa) were enhanced and complemented by the aesthetics. It was hard to look away. And at the same time, it was just a little hard to watch.
Surprise! It’s a bonus Thursday post! (Don’t worry, Zankyou no Terror will be happening later today.)
So, I recently backed the Kickstarter anime OVA Under the Dog (directed by Masahiro Ando, notable—to me—for his work as the director of Blast of Tempest) and since I’ve done that, the UTD team has been sending out pretty consistent updates on the project that get sent to my email.
Their most recent update, #27, details a piece of the animation process and, to be frank, it totally blew my mind. Like, I knew creating anime was no cakewalk, but the frame-by-frame focus necessary to produce this stuff (even on a crappy level) is just…amazing. For someone like me, who has essentially no skill in drawing at all (have you seen my manga?), this kind of stuff is almost beyond my comprehension.
Director Ando’s celebratory sketch for the achievement of the Kickstarter’s initial goal.
And while I’m talking about it, here’s the link to the Under the Dog website. The Kickstarter is over, but they’ll be opening up for Paypal backing soon. If you haven’t already, I really do encourage you to consider it if you love anime and are concerned about the direction the industry is heading. The producer of Under the Dog, Hiroaki Yura, did an AMA on reddit not long ago that addressed a lot of industry-related questions and how UTD fits in there. It takes a while to sort through some of the less interesting questions, but (again) if you care about the industry and anime, this is information you might find of interest.
Welcome to Week 10! The end of the season is in sight, and I’m pretty happy about that. This season has pretty much been a total letdown and I’m more than ready to move on. I’m not going to do a season preview because I don’t like those, but if you’re interested in knowing what I’m looking forward to, I did an ask.fm answer on the subject not long ago.
Trending Up: Sailor Moon Crystal, Haikyuu!!
Trending Down: Argevollen, Aldnoah.Zero, Fairy Tail
RWBY showed off some diversity in their art style this week, which looked good.
Thanks once again to everyone who asked questions during my second Dead Monday Q&A. As long as these keep being successful, I’ll keep doing them!
I answered a lot more questions than I could fit into this post, so if you want to read all the questions from last night, you can find them (or ask more) on my ask.fm. So, here are some highlights from last night’s session!
I wish someone had asked me this last night…
As you know if you read my ask.fm or my Anitwitter rantings or (occasionally) my blog, you’ll know that I have totally disavowed season preview posts. Thus, to preserve my dignity, I will not be writing a season preview post for at least another season before I probably change my mind because I can’t keep my mouth shut and want to hype up anime I know nothing about and want to do so badly enough to eat my words and mocking of season preview season and endure all the people who will (righteously) come to shout at me, “You said you’d never do a season preview and that they’re stupid! Look at you now, you hypocrite!”
Those days are coming, but they aren’t here yet! So for all my friends out there who are writing your season previews, here are 5 easy steps to writing a good season preview blog post. And for all of you readers who are sifting through piles of season previews and trying to decide what’s good or not, just check these steps to make sure the post you’re reading is worth your time. You’ll know how they’re supposed to be written after this; I trust you can make those decisions.
Just imagine she’s saying “aniblogger.”
Hey, look who’s back today! It’s Zankyou no Terror! In case you need a bit of a refresher of what happened last episode (I did), here’s my write-up from two weeks ago. By way of summary: Nine and Five played chess in the airport, Lisa got trapped with the bomb, Nine and Twelve get her out in time while Shibasaki helps them from the control tower, the airplane blows up and nobody gets hurt.
So, where does that leave us going into this episode? Well, Sphinx has inevitably been framed by the media as the culprits of the airplane bomb and Shibasaki, et al. are in trouble for acting without orders.
So, no Zankyou no Terror this week, which was a shame. Sailor Moon Crystal also was absent (but I’m not crying about that). Overall, I wasn’t a huge fan of the week, as there were a couple episodes that actively upset me and a few others that were somewhat disappointing. But, Argevollen (arguably the most consistent show airing this season), Haikyuu!!, and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun are all standbys and none of them let me down. Thank goodness for that.
Pira used Seismic Toss!
Hello, dear readers!
To commemorate the first day of this fine new month of September, I have an exciting announcement to make! I have finished my inaugural Top Anime List, numbering exactly 19 TV anime series. The reasons there are 19 on the list are 1) because there were no other shows that made the first cut that I felt I wanted in this list, and 2) because there’s no reason I need to get to 20 right away.
I fully expect the list to expand in the future, and as I continue to watch, review, and write about shows, I will be making note of any show that finds its way into my Top Anime List.
For now, you can read the list right here! I hope you enjoy!
I never expected Free! Eternal Summer of all shows would make me eat my words, but that’s exactly what happened this week and I’m not too proud to admit it. This episode (at least the back half of it) was the best everything I’ve seen from this show: the best writing, the best drama, the best character work, the best thematic engagement…maybe not the best animation, but the animation is stellar no matter what anyways.
Future Fish, this week I salute you.
Early on, shots like this made me think Episode 9 was just going to be more of the same we’ve been getting all season…nope.
Three quarters of the season are gone, which means I’ve been thinking about ratings and rankings for the season a bit lately—and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this season. I’m not even sure if anything will score about a 7/10. Don’t get me wrong, I like Zankyou no Terror, but part of me fears what’s ahead for the show. It’s definitely not 9/10 level, which means 8/10 is going to be the high water mark for the season. I suppose that’s reasonable, but it still seems somewhat disappointing. That said, we’ve still got four weeks to go, which is plenty of time for some of the shows I’m watching to distinguish themselves.
Mage in a Barrel 