Eizouken is about anime. It’s not even metaphorical, it’s literally about animation. It’s intensely charming and beautiful spectacle about the joy of truly connecting with art and being inspired to express yourself through your own creations, and the struggle to pursue your passions and the compromises you have to make along the way. No other show this season has captured the imagination of sakuga nerds quite like it, and it’s easy to see why when the show is so intertwined with the excitement and spirit of creation.
There’s also a really interesting and subtle element where the nightmarish architecture, the multilingual signs, and diversity in body types and skin tones suggest a very different world from current-day Japan. But despite that, there some unmistakable commentary about the current state of anime industry. In
Eizouken, animation is not only the medium but the story. There’s scenes about animation not being treated as legit films, animators not getting paid, creators forced to compromise their vision for mass appeal, and a character literally screaming “Animation should be about motion!”
Thankfully, the show turned those bitter feelings into something wholeheartedly positive and inspiring. It’s been wonderful to watch the main three openly talk about their desires and learn from each other strengths, and I can’t wait to see what they can do when they mash their OCs together.
Magia Record is a high-risk production, and the start has been a bit overwhelming, much like it must feel for its main character. Even with the massive expectations for it, it has managed its early emotional moments as well as I could hope for. (Obviously, it was never going to replicate
Madoka ep 3.) It still has great storyboarding and designs that have captured the visual sensibilities and feel of the original, while also feeling very much like its own thing. I’m actively trying to temper my expectations, and I’m prepared to give it a lot of leeway to tell its own story.
Bofuri has been exactly what I was hoping for. No grand quest that’s bigger than our characters, just two friends having fun exploring and chatting in a game, and a world and story that lets them. The show believably conveys the joy of exploring a new game, and enjoying the shared MMO experience with your friends. I expect many avid gamers would be frustrated at the game’s design, and Maple’s terrible decision-making, but I don’t mind those at all. I’d rather have the game design work in service of character, narrative, and fun, as opposed to being an obstacle for the characters to overcome or something.
Realistically, I expect it to try to raise the stakes at some point, and hopefully that part won’t be dumb. But this has been pretty great so far.
Somali is a melancholy slice-of-life story about found family. Much like a lot of the season it’s greatly elevated by its art direction, with very diverse designs in the backgrounds and characters that all believably fit in the same world. It’s barely hinted at higher stakes and deeper themes, but the show is pretty and Somali is cute. Works for me.
MHA concluded the Overhaul arc very nicely, despite not being a particularly ambitious production. It continued their theme that being a hero is actually really difficult and has serious consequences. You don’t just beat the “bad guys,” collect your accolades, and go back to your harem. You go to the hospital, get stitches, cry about your friends, then you go back to work.
I hope they bust out the sakuga for Jirou’s concert.
Heya Camp has been good for a three-minute short, Obviously it’s pretty hard to hit the kind of emotional highs that S1 did with the time this has, but it’s making solid attempts.
Similar to
Somali,
Dorohedoro is carried by the art direction and fascinating world. It feels more ambitious that
Somali, but that also ends up hurting it because
Dorohedoro doesn’t quite have everything put together. Some of the CG makes gruesome scenes fall flat, and the character art doesn’t always blend well with the textured scenery. But its worth it for the gorgeous, dense, tremendously diverse, and believable worn down background art and world design, that has just enough humanity in its characters to keep things grounded. This might meet the hype.
Koisuru Asteroid is very CGDCT. It has mostly just been a loosely connected series of cute moments, and the overall production hasn’t gotten back to the heights of its excellent premiere, but it is really cute.
22/7’s gimmick has been rather off-putting, which is a shame because I think it could be okay if it played things straight-up. Even with dubious voice work, the show has beautifully articulated character interactions, sympathetic characters, and sharp dialogue. But nah, we can’t have a normal character-driven story, we gotta needlessly complicate things.
Maybe this is a metaphor for algorithms or something? Maybe the show’s creepy bullshit will have a mind-blowing payoff somehow.
Despite the name,
Hanako-kun is actually a pretty clean and pure-hearted story. The visuals are great, but the comedy ran out of steam for me.
Hatena Illusion is just an unfunny version of
Hayate no Gotoku.
I was hoping
Railgun T would’ve at least had a more spectacular start, but it was just okay, and it didn’t spark any nostalgia I might’ve had for this franchise.
Re:Zero’s first half hour was pretty tough to get through. It got better, but I just don’t have the energy or patience for double-length eps of a premise I’m not that into.
Budoukan was a very well-illustrated celebration of the parasocial relationships that we substitute for real connections with real people. I respect the craft, but the writing was unpleasant.
Nekopara was garbage. Even if I could ignore the gross implications of the catgirls being actual pets, the fact that they’re children, or the piss jokes (and for the record, I don’t ignore these things), the rest of the show was just boring and not cute. I’ve heard there are trashier shows out there this season, but this is the worst one that I personally experienced.