Yuru Camp a.k.a. Laid-Back Camp is a series I love. It is just endlessly relaxing and comforting to watch these girls camp among fantastic scenery and a fun soundtrack. Tonight I watched the Yuru Camp Movie which ran in theaters earlier this year. While there is a short introductory scene at the beginning with the girls still in high school, the bulk of the film is set about 8 to 10 years in the future, with the girls having steady jobs and their lives drifted apart, but they come back together trying to revitalize an old camp site in their native Yamanashi. There isn’t any high drama or amazing action, but that’s of course not the point of an iyashikei series. It’s probably not something I would have bought a ticket for to see, but it is quite an enjoyable time on your couch with a blanket and a hot beverage.
I introduced my son to Initial D and his prevailing reaction is fury at the song Deja Vu being wasted on that show.
The current anime season is closing, so let’s talk about it
Mob Psycho 100 had its 3rd and final season. Just an overall fantastic adaptation of the manga throughout the three seasons with some of the best animation cuts there are. They nailed the landing. Perhaps the 3rd season doesn’t quite have the best story lines of the series, but that is just my personal opinion. Regardless, I think a “Must Watch” anime for the ages.
The second season of Pop Team Epic kept what the first season started. An extremely weird off beat and disjointed comedy with no plot to speak of but a lot of funny gags, though sometimes it drifts into anti humor. I absolutely have to commend some of the gags though, such as the dating game parody where they had a bishojo game in the first part and switched it for a bishonen game in the second part, and basically all of episode 7 which is entirely “animated” as Kamashibai. The whole episode is two dudes leafing through various notebooks that have drawings in them that combine to entire scenes and it is just amazing to behold as it is entirely a single take, twice over. Ridiculous.
Another comedy I watched was Do It Yourself!, a pretty standard “cute girls doing cute things” show about friendship and making things. It has a quirky art style that reminds me of the in-house-style of Studio Trigger, and an unfortunately somewhat unexplained setup with two schools for various income classes, but it is an enjoyable watch in general.
I started out watching the second season of Uzaki-chan wants to hang out since the first season was pretty decent, but around episode 3 or so I realized I hadn’t laughed even once while watching it so I dropped it.
I stuck it out with My Master has no Tail which will conclude tomorrow. A fun little show about a Tanuki living among humans in order to learn the art of Rakugo. Some fun gags, but nothing you have to go out to see even if you love Rakugo.
Chainsaw Man hasn’t completely concluded yet, but it is a very good adaptation of the source material that is flexing its budget quite a bit, e.g. with each episode having a custom ending animation with a different song each time. The story is good with our protagonist Denji slowly learning about human interaction that his upbringing kind of deprived him of, but knowing the source material things will only get really interesting starting in the inevitable second season.
Equally violent and a surprise hit of the season was Akiba Maid War, though it shouldn’t really be that suprising considering that P.A. Works is a locus of talent and quality. Akiba Maid War is basically what happens if you write the outline for a Yakuza story, then replace every instance of “Yakuza” with “Maid”. Absolutely glorious in its over the top depraved humor, which you absolutely should watch if that is the kind of thing you like.
There is also the second part of the first season of Spy x Family, but it is basically the same, excellent thing discussed half a year ago. You should watch it.
There is one more series I watched this season, but it is so good that I will post a full review of it after the finale on Saturday.
Agreed. However I kind of find it similar to Evangelion in the sense that, it has that ‘trojan horse’ cool-wow factor, but actually it’s really about the internal monologue of Mob/ Shinji.
In that sense, the endings are quite similar. Whoever, Mob Psycho is generally a wholesome anime. Most of the conflicts are resolved with dialogue. Which is why Reigen is such an important character. Which you don’t really get in other stories.
Also why I’m enjoying Mercury Witch (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury) more than I expected to. As the show is progressing, it’s interesting to see how characters resolve conflicts and why they have them in the first place. Also, it’s just well animated, cool character designs. Wholesome, cute and funny. Not as funny as compared to Mob Psycho, but the cuteness is way up there.
Nothing quite beats Little Witch Academia, for me. But I’m glad that there are still shows to fill that gap.
Comedy as a genre is usually not given the same respect as its more dramatic siblings, but sometimes a new show comes along that transcends these stereotypes. Even in an incredibly stacked anime season such as autumn of 2022, Bocchi The Rock stood out despite having very little hype behind it when the show began airing.
The titular Bocchi is one Hitori Gotoh who suffers from social anxiety. She has spent the past three years learning to play the guitar in hopes to join a band that becomes popular. While spending all her free time playing her guitar made her a good guitarist and garnered her some subscribers on YouTube, she has still not made any friends on account of being too shy to approach people. Her classmates at her new high school show little interest when she brings her guitar to school, but on her way home she meets Nijika, the drummer for “Kessoku Band” whose guitarist flaked on them. Nijika manages to rope Hitori into the band where she received the nickname Bocchi and begins to gradually change and come out of her shell. At the same time Bocchi has to learn how to play music with other people, which is quite different from playing your guitar alone in your bedroom. And of course, being on stage and the center of attention is also quite a bit more stressful than anticipated.
Social Anxiety has become quite popular as a central theme and narrative pillar for comedy shows in recent years with series like Komi-san wa Comyushou desu and the similarly named Hitoribocchi no MaruMaru Seikatsu (“hitoribocchi” being a japanese word for a lonely person). However, few of them have managed to actually give a well thought out progression to its central character to remedy their issues. Thankfully Bocchi, both the character and the show itself, display more growth. Whereas at the start of the series she is a nervous wreck from the mere thought of interacting with a stranger, she gradually becomes more ready to approach people of her own accord with each episode showing some small step forward on her way out of the pit that is anxiety.
This is particularly reflected in her relationship with Nijika. The cheerful and energetic drummer is the backbone of the band and takes care to not put too much on Bocchi, but later on we also see Bocchi becoming more attuned and caring when Nijika seems to have something weighing on her mind. The rest of the band also has an interesting dynamic with the main character. The cool and introverted bassist Ryou becomes somewhat of a role model to Bocchi, someone with odd quirks that enjoys spending time by herself but is also invested in the band. Meanwhile the extroverted singer Kita is a stark contrast to Bocchi’s personality (or so it seems), but also looks up to Bocchi for her guitar skills and tries to learn from Bocchi to improve her own ability at playing guitar.
The rest of the supporting cast is also well put together and along the main quartet give the show a good amount of appeal on a surface level with it being the usual anime stand-by of almost exclusively female characters in a rainbow of hair colors, though the series is far more than your rudimentary “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” show. The hook of it being a band and therefore giving it another angle to introduce diegetic media is also helpful in that regard, and the songs sound good and weave the themes of the show into the lyrics. They will probably become mainstays of anime music playlists for years to come, a path that K-On! and a multitude of idol shows have walked before. Of note is also the involvement of major personalities from the japanese rock music scene in the writing of these songs, such as Maguro Taniguchi (from Kana-Boon), Ikkyu Nakajima (Tricot), Yuuho Kitazawa (The Peggies), or ZAQ. This has the minor side effect that these songs take on the style of the respective writers, making Kessoku Band sound musically unfocused and generally a bit too competent for a new band comprised of teenagers, one of which has social anxiety that canonically makes it hard for them to sync up with their bandmates. I guess though this is the gap between verisimilitude and marketability but I thought Beck handled the tribulations of a young band slightly better, but with a different focus and the benefit of more episodes.
Bocchi the Rock scores big points with the effort the animation staff put into bringing the characters to life as they are fluidly animated in most scenes but particularly when playing their instruments. To me the selection of camera angles also stands out, from standard frontal shots to POV perspective shots to angles that are fixed to the instrument. The latter is a standard for guitar footage, but it strikes me as something that seems difficult to animate, as the background has to shift as the guitar is moved, while showing the hands acting on the strings. Non-performance shots also use interesting and dynamic camera angles such as fish-eye shots from odd corners in the room. The production design is also well done in other regards, such as having the music noticeably being “off” in the band’s first concert in front of an audience as they are nervous and tense.
But even more recognition deserve the experimental forms of animation and other media CloverWorks employs in the service of making jokes. From simple art style shifts to live action footage, from computer graphics to pixel art, and in one episode even a real, physical zoetrope. Almost every episode has some sort of surprise in store for its viewers to keep them on their toes. This makes the viewer pay closer attention and helps the jokes land as they are delivered in rapid fire succession, particularly for visual gags that take more advantage of the medium with effort spent the way shows such as Nichijou or Kaguya-sama have done before. Some of the jokes feel like they are aiming a bit too low, punching down at Bocchi’s anxieties and resulting mannerisms and delusions, but since Bocchi is the central and sympathetic character it is all in good fun at the end, and the antics of other characters also are good for a good laugh. The show forced me multiple times to pause because I was laughing too hard
In summary, Bocchi The Rock is an incredibly well put together show with strong comedy writing and visual gags, great character interplay, and high quality animation, all in service of an interesting story about overcoming social anxiety. The essential part that music plays in the show is also in focus and adds greatly to the experience. An A+ anime that seemingly came out of nowhere.
Bocchi is absolutely cleaning house basically everyhwere. I have for the past several weeks watched a lot of reviews for the show on YouTube, from giant ani-tubers like Mother’s Basement and Gigguk to guys that have less than 500 subscribers. Everybody has nothing but praise for it. Then currently there are a lot of fan-voted “anime of the year” polls and similar going on, and Bocchi and its characters are making massive impacts there too.
But I think the crowning jewel is this: The album that was released and includes the 14 songs performed under the “Kessoku Band” name in the show shot up to the Top 10 among all albums sold on iTunes worldwide. It is #1 in japan and it is in the top 10 for the entire world. I criticized the songs for making the band too good and being a bit unfocused, but I should also emphasize that aside from some minor issues with the mixing, the entire album is full of great tracks.
Episode 1 Trigun Stampede looks great. Really pretty to look at.
On the other hand they’ve completely butchered every aspect of the plot and the personalities of the main characters.
Everything that made the original unique and interesting is non existent in Stampede.
Strong miss.
Everything you need to know is contained within the openings.
vs
I must admit, it’s cool attention to detail that they filled the glass in the intro with what looks like .22 rimfire, which is what New Vash’s revolver uses…but why in god’s name would he use a .22 revolver?
Yeah was Milly just erased and replaced with that middle-aged japanese leading man looking dude walking around with Meryl? I assumed as much from the 2nd trailer and instantly checked the fuck out.
Yeh, they changed all of the character dynamics. And they’re not better choices IMO.
Nothing was gained by replacing Meryl and none of the new character motives make much sense either.
It just feels like they’re trying to erase the original story (fine), but whatever the new story is, they haven’t created much of any setup for a new plot.
It more seems that are actually just trying to retell the original plot but very poorly.
Very unfortunate. A lot of wasted potential. I mean, I’ll watch the following episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not expecting anything to improve.
Mercury Witch is really carrying the rest of this anime season for me.
Nier anime episode one is out. Game scenes to anime comparison.
I am trying to watch Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury but I just can’t get into it. I mean, the action scenes and animation is nice, but the plot is just nonsense. Even the prologue is nonsense because the show is trying to set up a political background but the big action taken is just to send a military police squad to a research station and they’re starting to murder everybody for no apparent reason or anything that is justifiable.
The bulk of the show is set at a military school with a new girl from the backwoods of the galaxy arriving. However, the hierarchy of the school and with it the structure of the plot is predicated on duels between the pilots in their mobile suits, as if they would just be allowed to use high grade military equipment (not to mention enormous amounts of energy and ammunition) for the petty squabbles between students.
I understand the show is set in a future where a consortium of companies have basically taken over government functions and the people in the show are the children of the leaders of those companies, but even the detached upper crust of society wouldn’t be just allowed to do this bullshit. We have seen similar plot structures with for example Shokugeki no Soma, but the sense of scale is just completely off.
The murder squad kills everyone to keep them from building inconvinient Gundams. And of course it’s not justifiable, that’s how murder is, if they wanted to be nice they would have sent “Talk Nicely” -squad instead of the murder squad.
Of course they use high grade military equipment on the duels, as they are not just about the students. They are dick measuring contests between the corporations. Rather show off company’s power through some fun and games than actual conflict. Gotta save that energy for oppressing Earth.
I understand why they want to kill those people. I don’t understand that they can just do that. They are holding a press confernce announcing the shut down of the project and the “dissolution” of the group. But people who hold press conference don’t usually send hit squads that murder everbody on a research station, including the dock workers and janitorial department. Not to mention that apprehending the scientists and having them work on other projects instead would probably be a better investment.
I also understand the “dick measuring contest” part of the duels, but that makes even less sense because it necessitates pilot skill rather than the sheer oppression through monetary power by those upper-crust people. Company power is already demonstrated through sales reports etc.
I think the biggest problem I’ve had so far is episode 4 where a couple of students just can trivially sabotage other mobile suits, and the school itself doesn’t care about it at all and also has absolutely zero regard for the health and safety of it students even though they could be the children of those company leaders, though I guess the duels themselves also establish that the school doesn’t give two shits about that.
The press conference shows the two faced nature of the whole thing. Publicly talk about how something needs to be done, while secretly hitsquad is already at work. And they are killing the scientists because that’s the more interesting dramatic thing to do. Because it’s Drama, it’s TV-show, not some fucking logical thinking exercise.
And yes, the kids are seen and valued as pawns and play pieces for their parents, and there is no surprise that the school reinforces that. And yea, the school, as a institution, as a thing, doesn’t really have any agency, doesn’t do much. But there isn’t really time for that, for another extra player in the plot.
Watching Episode 2 of Trigun Stampede confirms my original opinion.
I think the most distinct difference to the original, is that the weight of violence and brutality has been toned down to zero.
As a result it feels incredibly dry.
After the incredibly success that was Bocchi The Rock, I went back and watched another Cloverworks show from 2022 that I kind of let me pass by: My Dress-Up Darling. Hot damn, it turned out so good that I watched the entire thing in about 24 hours.
The show is about Wakana Gojo, a high school boy who is practicing in his grandfather’s workshop to one day become an artist for hina dolls. However, since it isn’t a masculine pursuit and he has somewhat self-isolated. At school he comes into contact with Marin Kitagawa, a typical gyaru but who is also a complete otaku that wants to get into cosplay despite her not being well versed in sewing or even picking out fabrics. Gojo on the other hand is very adept at such and the two over time grow closer together.
I heard good things about the show, but was reluctant to watch it since I don’t really have interest in cosplay and am usually not a fan of gyaru-style fashion and the sort. However, Marin turns out to be an incredibly fun character in her somewhat airheadedness and openness. She is also surprisingly wise, advising Gojo not to be taken advantage of just so he can get along, and is ready to admit her own mistakes. However, she also feels at times a bit too much otaku-dream-bait, though I enjoy the dynamic with Gojo and the role reversal of the girl going on full nerd-rants while the guy is the normie.
Most importantly though is the underlying credo of the show, which basically amounts to everybody being allowed to like what they like and be themselves, which also has quite an overlap in Bocchi. Gojo is early in the series quite a bit of a loner, and the show has tones of manic-pixie-dream-girl-itis, but it is very enjoyable and the romance between the two leads feels natural and is a lot of fun.
I should however note that the show is also very raunchy, but in a weirdly wholesome way which is a bit hard to describe. It is quite refreshing to see a rom-com that very much as a sexual dimension to it without being constantly pervy about it, as Marin is the one initiating her shamelessly licentious behavior and not some constant accidental boob-grabbing or wandering into an onsen.
That’s because this is not a Gundam show, it’s Utena. It’s not “Gundam Utena,” it’s “Utena and there happen to be mechs.” It only gets more like this as the season continues.
You should watch episode 3. True to Trigun’s legacy, they set up some goofy-ass dude and a kind of dumb show, and then show you what’s actually going on.
I was unsure after episode 1 because they went pretty hard into “Vash is a fucking clown,” but episode 3 has alleviated enough of my concerns that I will continue to watch it.
I do think it’s worth remembering that the original Trigun was a slow buildup and, quite honestly, the first roughly half of the show was very hit-or-miss. I remember it taking a while for it to show me what it was really about. Stampede seems to have gotten around to showing me what it’s about by episode 3, which IMO is a pretty good pace.
Not for me.
Every character is very lacking in expression, that would fit the situation. The characters in Stampede are more comparable to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney characters, where they flip flop between extreme reactions for every little thing.
It also has the problem of Season 1 Dragon Prince, where the animation itself just doesn’t help at all. Not as bad as S1 Dragon Prince, where the frame rate was cut in half or whatever.
I stand by my initial opinion
Yes. It actually builds up to something. There’s foreshadowing, has world building and a terrible secret of space. There was a lot more going on and you were fed tasty little nuggets every episode.
The problem I had with the original Trigun, is it kind of finished too quickly, in that it didn’t wrap up every loose end. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It also has that crappy formula of protagonist faces a team of demons (Vampire Hunter D, Ninja Scroll, Outlaw Star).
The main plot of Trigun from the start is figuring the true identity of Vash the Stampede. The whole dynamic of Meryl and Milly trying to figure that out. Meryl growing to understand Vash’s pacifism in a world ruled by violence.
Vash wanting to save both the spider and the butterfly…
3 episodes in of Stampede, you get none of that. You get most of it in episode 1 of the original.
It’s fine if they’re telling a different story with the same characters, but it honestly doesn’t feel like they are. It feels like the same story being retold poorly. Or maybe it’s just not to may tastes. 