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

Blog Archives:

Dated 24 June 2019: Strike Witches 501 Butai Hasshin-shimasu! takes us behind the lines of the War on Pants

Mio
Sakamoto is more of a nutjob than I remember.

It's been more than 12 years since the first Strike Witches OVA. Since that time, we've gotten a proper television series, a sequel series, a spinoff series, a movie, more OVAs, and this season's Strike Witches 501 Butai Hasshin-shimasu! (Strike Witches: 501st JOINT FIGHTER WING Take Off!) comedy series with half-length episodes. Additionally, I understand there are more sequels and spinoffs in the works, so it seems we'll continue to wage the War on Pants for some time to come. The weakest aspect of the Strike Witches universe (now actually the World Witches universe) has always been the Neuroi—the boring, vaguely threatening opponents with no personalities that our stalwart witches must fight. Fortunately, Strike Witches 501 Butai Hasshin-shimasu! is entirely Neuroi-free, as the show is strictly about the 501st Joint Fighter Wing fucking around in garrison.

Barkhorn and Hartmann
Go on, Barkhorn, curse the bitch out.

Surprisingly, this setting worked quite favorably for Erica Hartmann and Miyafuji Yoshika as characters. I wasn't fans of either of them going in, but I like them both a lot better now. I'm glad Hartmann in particular got more to do than merely be a lazy slob. I wasn't expecting her to be the focus of so many of the show's best gags. In Miyafuji's case, I think being free of her Main Character baggage made her scenes a lot better. Miyafuji stopped being on my shitlist after the Strike Witches movie, but she's still better off in a supporting role.

Yoshika
This style probably takes less time to draw, I'd imagine.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the character design changes. I'm not a huge fan of this style. I can understand why they're different for this sort of show, but the effect isn't as successful as, say, the changes for Isekai Quartet. Also, I do wish Strike Witches 501 Butai Hasshin-shimasu! had brought back casual nudity, which used to be a staple of the franchise. Sure, these character designs are not quite as...aerodynamic as the normal ones, but I think it would have made for some amusing gags. Casual nudity has been missing from the World Witches universe for quite some time now, so bringing it back unexpectedly in this guise would have been quite the bombshell in the War on Pants.

Dated 18 February 2019: You bet I'm watching Kakegurui xx

Mushigami
You really should have researched your opponents at least a little bit first.

I'm pretty stoked Kakegurui received a second cours. Like the anime's first season, it's a fairly straightforward adaptation of the manga. As you might expect, the visuals are not quite as detailed as in the manga, but the show does benefit from a good deal of scenery chewing by the voice cast. Although the manga is a tough act to follow, the anime is still quite striking. Naturally, regardless of the medium, the absurd gambling-obsessed school and the ridiculous stakes at risk remain quite entertaining.

Yumeko
Tone it down just a little bit, Yumeko.

There are eight volumes of the English-language licensed manga out so far. The printed volumes themselves are a little larger than usual, as with the Golden Kamuy and the Tales of Wedding Rings books. Accordingly, they are a little more expensive, but still worth it to me. The Mary-centric spin-off manga is also licensed, incidentally. I haven't been reading that one, but I'll probably start. After all, Mary is Best Girl.

Dated 10 December 2018: I guess I'm going to be watching GeGeGe no Kitarou indefinitely now

Kitarou and Medama Oyaji
Neither of these two have binocular vision.

I saw an announcement about the next GeGeGe no Kitarou ED planned for January. I guess this means the show will be continuing through at least the Winter 2019 anime season, giving it a yearlong run. More, if it continues after that uninterrupted. I'm mostly content to continue watching it as long as there are new episodes. It's been a reliably good family show through the 35 episodes I've seen, and I can appreciate it for its decades-spanning impact.

NekoMusume and Agnès
Hey, she's wearing a different outfit.

For a show with so much history, it's unexpectedly eager to challenge certain subjects I'm not accustomed to encountering in anime. Notably, there was an episode concerning World War II that spoke directly to an apparent failure in the current education system to adequately cover Japan's roles in the war. Then there's the current major arc involving foreign yokai (some of whom were outright refugees) and the different receptions they face, from sympathy to outright hostility as both xenophobia as well as some understandably unwelcome foreign yokai behavior created flashpoints not unlike contemporary real-world events and concerns. Or perhaps it's because GeGeGe no Kitarou has so much history and is such an established part of the anime landscape that it has greater latitude to address these topics.

Dated 28 May 2018: GeGeGe no Kitarou is surprisingly informative

Neko Musume, Nezumi Otoko, and Kitarou
Well, she's not THAT tall. There are just a lot of short characters.

I don't know very much about yokai or Japanese fairy tales in general. In fact, probably most of what I know comes from that one episode of Azumanga Daioh. Oh, and I guess I've gleaned enough from other anime over the years to become racist toward kappas. Good job, School Rumble. In comes GeGeGe no Kitarou, a family show about yokai. Because it's heavily aimed at children, it also provides a lot of background and explanations about the various monsters of the week and their traditional lore. Hence, I get to learn along with the young audiences about yokai and how they might fit in the modern world.

Mana and Neko Musume
Also, she's wearing heels.

As far as the anime's other merits go, it's reasonably well done and I enjoy Sawashiro Miyuki as Kitarou. It's a good enough show that I'm still interested week-to-week, but I can't claim I'm at all in the target audience demographic. I do have to admit that I only started watching because of all the attention GeGeGe no Kitarou received before the season started due to the radical changes it made to one of the supporting character's designs. Originally known as Hakaba Kitarou, the franchise began in the '60s as a manga series and has appeared on television every decade since. The character design for Neko Musume has evolved each time around. However, her appearance in the 2018 iteration is entirely unrecognizable compared to her original form. It's a good hook, and I'm okay with shows making these types of changes from time to time, even if it means making a shrimpy character really tall and giving her legs that go up to her neck.

Dated 13 May 2015: Go! Princess Precure is more Go! than it is Princess

Twilight
Yes, Sawashiro Miyuki voices a a Pretty Cure character now.

I'm pleased that Go! Princess Precure continues to have solid fight scenes and generally has good production values. These are pretty important attributes when your primary reason for watching Pretty Cure is to see girls in pretty dresses kicking deadbeats in the neck. Oh yeah, the characters are also good. I'm particularly enamored with Kirara, the model who chimes in to remind impressionable young viewers that it's also important to be beautiful after Haruka boasts about being strong and Minami adds, "Be excellent to each other!" But seriously, though, it must be humiliating to get your ass beat by a 13-year-old calling herself Cure Twinkle.

Ranko and Kirara
This is not a pretty dress.

All three of them routinely wreck shit, actually. It's a relief since I was expecting Cure Flora, the lead Cure, to be freaking out about being more princessish by now. The inevitable fourth Cure hasn't appeared yet, but I don't have any reason to worry she'll usher in a wave of nonsense about feelings and stuff. Actual spoilers are probably available now, but based strictly on guesswork, I'm presuming the fourth Cure will either be Haruka's roommate or the recently introduced Sawashiro Miyuki villain. Just as long as it isn't Pafu, the dog mascot thing. I'm still racist when it comes to non-human Cures.

Dated 12 November 2014: Magic Kaito 1412 and Detective Conan

Kaito
This heist might be a little too easy.

Because the manga dates back to 1987, Magic Kaito actually predates Detective Conan, although its kohei quickly overshadowed it. Kaito occasionally makes guest appearances on Detective Conan, and, in fact, got 12 excellent Magic Kaito specials of his own spread amongst the Detective Conan broadcasts between 2010 to 2012. These re-tell the origin of Kaito Kid and probably tested the waters for a standalone series. The new television series which began autumn 2014 retreads a lot of familiar ground, but includes a few cast and story changes (and different character designs compared to the Detective Conan appearances). It airs in the half-hour family slot immediately preceding the weekly broadcast of Detective Conan

(more…)

Dated 24 August 2014: I like Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun because Chiyo is remarkably orange

Chiyo
Tiny pictures are the way of love.

I got a late start on Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, but was convinced to give it a try after being alerted that it invoked the the Ayako Doctrine. Not that you need to be an Ayako fan in order to enjoy Nozaki-kun. The show is quite clever and funny. Really, the only reason why I wasn't already watching it was because I ran out of space in my schedule while I was following dreadful wrecks such as Rail Wars! Besides, I sort of already had a general idea of what Nozaki-kun might be like simply by the way it looks. (Hint: Chiyo's enormous polka dotted head ribbons never stop being amusing.) Specifically, I trusted that it was the show's execution more than its setup that would make or break the series for me. I was willing to wait to hear how other people responded to the initial episodes first.

Seo
Seo Yuzuki has been racking up Girl of the Year points all season.

Fortunately, the execution has been dead on. Through seven episodes, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is a solid comedy. However, I am somewhat fearful that its jokes may burn out quickly if there aren't more variations or diversions from the characters' quirky attributes. This is a common problem with a lot of anime—not just comedies—where many characters' defining shticks end up dominating their personalities. (See, for example, Cure March from Smile Precure! She's basically a Pokemon now, unable to say anything aside from her signature catchphrase.)

Kashima
This, for example, is basically Kashima's joke right here.

So far so good, though. Chiyo herself does not rely on any particular gimmick, unlike, say, Yuzuki.1 In fact, I attribute Chiyo's appeal to two factors: (1) Chiyo is a great point-of-view character. I particularly love how Ozawa Ari mutters her incredulous sotto voce reactions. This is my first time noticing this seiyuu, but I'm looking forward to more of her work in future comedic roles. (2) Chiyo is really orange. What? It's a good color.


Note 1: In re Seo Yuzuki: I enjoy how Sawashiro Miyuki is playing the basketcase Yuzuki so far. Everything she does is splendid, but I'm concerned she'll get pigeonholed if the series runs more than one cour.

Dated 2 August 2014: Sword Art Online II isn't called Gun Art Online, you know

Kirito and Asuna
Only married one year and your wife is already an anime popsicle.

Assuming you watched the first season of Sword Art Online (not exactly required) or were already passably familiar with the show and its criticisms before watching Sword Art Online 2, then it shouldn't surprise you at all that Kirito is sugoi-awesome at everything he does. Again. Based on some initial reactions to the first three episodes, it appears some people are, in fact, at least a little irritated by this. But is there any grounds for criticism? They had to expect this after getting two cours of it already. If it's a real problem, why watch the show at all?

(more…)