Version 5.4 ~ Haruhi gave rock and roll to you.
karmaburn.com karmaburn.com

Blog Archives:

Dated 20 June 2023: If my Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia post is late this week, it's because I overslept

Ganta and Isaki
I appreciate the focus on photography.

I decided to watch Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia (Insomniacs After School) on a whim this season purely because its anichart/anilist synopsis described the series as being about two insomniacs who secretly sleep together in their school's abandoned observatory. [Note: Sleeping together as in both literally napping, not sleeping together as in sleeping together, okay?]

Isaki
Maybe I'm just nostalgic for life without light polution.

As it turns out, there's not very much napping in the show. I guess that would make for a boring series if the leads are conked out all the time. Although it occurs to me there is at least one anime that's literally just a girl sleeping, ain't there? Anyway, what Insomniacs After School is really about is two people who are clearly into each other taking their sweet ass time figuring it out. It's a pleasant show despite the typical arms-length romance. I find the leads engaging, and the characters in the supporting cast are personable.

Isaki and Ganta
Failing to plan is planning to fail.

I do think Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia focuses too much on the male lead's point of view. Ganta has significant hangups that shape his path through the story, but Isaki is a more interesting character. Initially, it appeared she might be one of those tragic love interests who dies of some sad anime disease, but this prospect seems less and less likely the more we learn about her. I mean, she still could drop dead, I suppose—I don't know how the manga is playing out so far—but it's not as if this is a Key visual novel, so I think she'll be fine.

Ganta and Isaki
Figure it out, you two.

Isaki and Ganta totally should be sleeping together more, though. Even if it's purely platonic, Insomniacs After School has them literally acknowledge that crashing together gave the two of them some of the best sleep they've ever had. I guess the series needs to stall to prevent the story from turning into documentary about making star babies in the observatory.

Ganta and Isaki
It's a good thing you made it to the shuttle on time.

The manga is currently 13 volumes long and still ongoing, so maybe this is one of those shows that really needs a second cours in order to really get going. I don't encounter a lot of discussion about the series, though, so I'm not exactly optimistic about the likelihood of getting more later. I definitely do want more, though.

Dated 13 June 2023: Dr. STONE is still good

Senku
Being confident helps.

No one who has been following the previous installments of Dr.STONE NEW WORLD (Dr. Stone 3rd Season) should be surprised it's still entertaining for basically all the same reasons. If there are criticisms to levy against it, they'll probably relate to how fast science is advancing. Or, I suppose more accurately, how fast production is advancing. There are no quality control problems or time constraints in the story that prevent the characters from designing and constructing whatever marvel is necessary to overcome the latest predicament. Everything just works. And that's okay! This is not a series about the 99-percent perspiration part. It's also consistent with the other feats regularly displayed.

Kohaku
Kohaku knows what she's doing.

Frequent readers of this blog (and of my grousing on the Twitter) may recall I regularly complain about tropes and storytelling conventions that I broadly describe using the pejorative "shounen jive." I don't have strong opinions about this from a taxonomic perspective, but my general sense is I'm perfectly fine with it (if what Dr.STONE does even qualifies as being shounen jive) providing that it's done in this way. I guess what I'm saying is I'm unsure if I regard Dr. Stone as the exception to a style of anime that I typically don't like, or if I like it because it does not adopt the elements I disfavor. In any case, the anime is still good, and the story seems to moving along well, and you should start watching it (from the beginning!) if you ain't started already.

Dated 30 May 2023: The Ancient Magus Bride is a better manga than it is an anime

Chise
I can't see a green chav suit without thinking of Squid Game.

I can't identify anything I think the Mahoutsukai no Yome (The Ancient Magus Bride) anime is doing wrong necessarily, but I don't enjoy it as much as I like the manga. On the surface at least, the anime is great. It looks beautiful. The casting and voice acting are both spot on. The production values in general are high. And yet I mostly only find the overall experience simply okay. Does that mean the direction is at fault for not optimizing the presentation of all these elements? I dunno. I still like watching it, but it doesn't astound me, and maybe I'm just griping because I feel as if it ought to.

Lucy and Chise
This is not Yuru Camp△.

As far as the currently airing second season goes, I suppose I'm naturally disinclined to be interested in its subject matter. Specifically, it is about Chise going to magic school. Aside from a few notable exceptions, I'm generally not enthused about magic schools as a setting. And taking someone out of an environment that was already interesting as a starting point, and then placing her in a magic school—well, that is objectively a step down. Nevertheless, I still find myself enjoying the corresponding manga arc despite my misgivings. In any case, the magic school setting is not exclusively why I'm never in a huge hurry to watch the latest episode of Mahoutsukai no Yome Season 2, but I can't rule it out as a contributing factor.

Dated 23 May 2023: [Oshi no Ko] is about revenge

Ruby and Kana
It helps that I like all the characters.

I enjoy the [Oshi No Ko] manga (localized as My Star, or My Favorite Idol, among other titles), so I'm pleased the anime adaptation is also going well. The manga is one of those stories that I happen to think is really good, but is constantly teetering on the verge of potentially going really poorly if it takes a couple of missteps. If anything, an anime adaptation for something like this is even more precarious, with additional opportunities to straight fuck it up.

Akane
Akane is a later arrival to the show, but also excellent.

Thankfully, it's getting everything right so far. It even took the unusual step of making its first episode 90 minutes long so that it could conclude with The Thing No One Will Talk About. It seems an odd spoiler to dance around, seeing as how important it is to shaping the rest of the (still ongoing) story, but I guess I'm doing it too, albeit mostly because everyone else has thus far. It's a conspiracy of silence!

Ai
It's not easy being a superstar.

Anyway, [Oshi No Ko] is about contemporary show business dynamics. I don't know how accurately it is depicting the production and public interactions side of things, but I at least enjoy feeling as if I'm getting an insider's perspective. It's the same sort of reason why I liked Shiorobako and Otaku no Video. Don't get me wrong—I'm also in it for the revenge plot that I guess I'm not talking about. I do love me some revenge.

Dated 9 May 2023: CATS: In re Yoru wa Neko to Issho S2 and Kawaisugi Crisis

Kyuruga
Is cat.

I am watching two shows this season about cats. The second season of Yoru wa Neko to Issho (Nights with a Cat) is basically the same as the first season. Some dude and his kid sister make unremarkable observations about a house cat's behavior. The episodes are only a minute or two long, but it's a pleasant little show about a cat doing cat-type things. I've watched 39 episodes so far, and it could probably run indefinitely because the source material (i.e., cats doing cat-type things) is essentially inexhaustible. I like it.

Yozora, Seiji, and Liza
Defeated.

On the other hand Kawaisugi Crisis (Too Cute Crisis) is sort of intense. The premise of this show involves alien invaders coming to Earth and discovering it is the only planet in the known universe that contains cute animals. Like, the cutest creature previously known to this spacefaring race is some doofy-looking thing that gets instantly blown out the competition by Earth's seemingly endless supply of cute animals. The series sort of only has one joke, but I haven't tired of it yet. It's basically the same sort of reaction gags that are more typical of food-related setups common to anime, only here it's aliens losing their minds about cats doing cat-type things. I dunno what to tell you, aliens. Brace yourselves. Cats are cute as fuck.

Dated 2 May 2023: I like the Megumin anime, but it's not a great show

Yunyun, Megumin, and Chomusuke
The presence of Chomusuke is also underexplained.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo! (Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!) is a prequel about Megumin's magic school days before she met Kazuma and the rest of the regular Konosuba! cast. There is a lot of good stuff in it, and I enjoy watching it, but it's not really a great show on its own. Specifically, there doesn't seem to much of a narrative, and the various plot lines come across as sort of disjointed. Basically, random events happen, sometimes centering on side characters with no meaningful ties to Megumin, and it's all "fine," but it doesn't result in an especially satisfying anime.

Megumin
It's weird more Crimson Demons don't adhere to Megumin's views on Explosion Magic.

Now, I did say there's good stuff in Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo! that I like. Megumin herself is great. She's an overachiever in a society that not only sincerely values style over substance, it encourages its members to engage in the deepest chuuni bullshit. I love me some Megumin. However, the closest thing An Explosion on This Wonderful World! has to character arcs involve her relationship with the Yunyun. Within Konosuba! proper, Yunyun mostly serves as the punchline to cruel jokes about her lack of friends. However the deeper the prequel establishes Yunyun's ties with Megumin, the less funny her poor treatment becomes.

Yunyun
If you humanize Yunyun, we'll feel bad for her.

In fact, I'm starting to feel as if Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo! would have been better off pulling a bait-and-switch on the audience. Get all of us on board by making us think that it's going to be a Megumin anime, but then portray the entire series from Yunyun's point of view while minimizing their interactions. That's obviously not practical for a number of reasons, not least of which is because Explosion Magic Is Best Magic ~The Animation~ is an adaptation of a spin-off light novel and presumably adheres to established source material. I don't know how straightforward the adaptation is, but it would explain the structural issues I have with the anime if it turns out it's skipping beats from the books.

Dated 25 April 2023: I'm not enjoying Demon Slayer very much this season

Nezuko
Counterpoint: I always enjoy Nezuko kicking deadbeats.

I've enjoyed the Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) anime for most of its run, but I've certainly not been a fan of all of it. In particular, I only have so much patience of the shounen jive that's just part of the territory when it comes to these sorts of shows. People who actually like shounen anime and manga may appreciate those tropes and styles, but I could do without a lot of it. However, with regard to the current Katanakaji no Sato-hen (Swordsmith Village Arc) season, the actual problem is my disinterest in Tanjiro as a character. I mean, he's fine, but I mostly liked him before because he wasn't Zenitsu or Inosuke. He might not have the charisma to carry this season alone.

Genya
Wait, he has a gun. Are demon slayers allowed to use guns instead of swords?

This wouldn't be an issue if the other characters in Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-hen had more going for them. So far, I don't give two shits about the swordsmiths, and the other demon slayers don't seem to have personalities at all, aside from just sort of being assholes in general, even if they're not especially malicious about it. And I guess unless you count Yelling as a personality. They've got that going for them, too, but that's true of a lot of Demon Slayer characters it general. (Specifically, WAY TOO MANY of them.) Honestly—and I say this with utmost sincerity—I'm praying for a lot of scenes with the weird-looking Hanakana-voiced girl with the fucked-up hair.

Mitsuri
No pressure.

I don't know what her deal is, but the OP and ED to these Swordsmith Village Arc episodes clearly indicate Mitsuri is one of the three main focus characters. Through the first three episodes, she has done absolutely fuck all, but now that The Fighting has begun, I expect she'll start getting more scenes. Just to be clear, I'm rolling the dice here. All of my previous impressions of this character throughout her various appearances in the series thus far have been mostly negative, but Demon Slayer this season doesn't seem to have a lot going for it, so I'm hoping she'll save the show. She can still be weird. In fact, probably the weirder the better.

Dated 18 April 2023: U149 is about shimpy kids

Risa and Kaoru
Tiny pictures are the way of love.

I don't know what I expected. Nine child idols do kid-type things. At least that's what THE IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls: U149 has been like for its first couple of episodes. This was especially true for the second episode because its focal point was one of the two nine-year-olds in the cast. Ostensibly, the U149 title refers to how all of the idols in this troupe are under 149 centimeters (4'11") in height. This is accurate, but they're all quite a bit under. The tallest is 145 centimeters (4'9") and the shortest is 128 centimeters (4'2"). And they are all kids. Five of the nine are 12, but none are older. Meaning, there are no token short adults in the cast (well, I guess their Producer). I.e., there is no equivalent to Baba Konomi from the Million Live! set.

Shiki and Frederica
The U149 office really does look like a daycare center.

I enjoy iDOLM@STER as a secondary (really, probably tertiary) fan, but I'm unsure I'll have a good reason to keep watching this. At least the focus episode for one of the two youngest characters is out of the way. Maybe I'll find the subsequent episodes more entertaining. Promising to have a steady stream of cameos from other Cinderella Girls characters is probably enough to keep me watching, but I'll appreciate U149 itself a lot more if it makes an effort to offer something more compelling. I hope there's more to this anime than predictable canned scenes. Will the sporty one get to talk about subjects that aren't purely intended to remind us she's the sporty one? Is Risa going to contribute anything to the series that does not involve lolicons? If U149 doesn't deliver actual content, then the show is going to drag.