Boogiepop and Others 6 - DROPPED
I can't do it anymore. As much as I want to like Boogiepop because it shares a fair amount in common with other notable dialogue-heavy LN series that drew inspiration from it, the lack of any kind of effort to communicate many of the more subtle ideas and metaphors from the source material through distinctive direction and visual design is just indefensible at this point. The Imaginator arc is practically all about the various mental conflicts going on between the main characters as they struggle to grapple with difficult adolescent questions all while being wrapped up in an ideological conflict between the Imaginator and the Towa Organization, and the lack of any attempt to present these sequences as anything other than people talking without any kind of unique framing that brings the subtext onto the screen, much of the meaning behind the conflict is lost in translation. And as things drag on here without any real sign of resolution, I've completely checked out of the show at this point, and I don't think it can win me back at this point. Maybe one day I'll sit down and attempt to read the original light novels, because I think there's things of note to explore there. But I'm certainly not going to try pushing through any more of this adaptation.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Vento Aureo 17
Uh... Araki has had some pretty messed up Stands in the past, but I don't think I can remember anything quite as disturbing as Babyface. Not only is it something that reduces organic matter to material objects as it sees fit, but the idea that the remote part of the Stand... grows after a suitable "host" is "impregnated" with the Stand is maybe the most screwed up concept Araki has dealt with in JoJo thus far. Araki's always had a... weird relationship with women throughout JoJo, sometimes having fantastically strong female characters like Lisa Lisa or Reimi Sugimoto, but then there's stuff like this or Anne from Stardust Crusaders and it's hard not to feel really uncomfortable when watching it. Still, I actually think this is one of the more satisfying fights with Giorno, as many of the things Golden Experience does here feel entirely consistent with the abilities we are already familiar with rather than something that feels pulled out of thin air like the poison-immune brick snake. The thing is, I imagine that if Babyface works the same way Black Sabbath did, the Stand user won't be defeated even if Babyface's son bites it here fighting Giorno. So whatever chase sequence starts once the rest show up, it's going to be a pretty big chaotic mess.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War 4
Another solid episode after the last one, though one that perhaps seems to suffer a little from a somewhat lacking sense of pace. That said, the individual segments themselves were pretty funny, what with Fujiwara psyching out both the president and Kaguya in the word game (and laying the groundwork for where the rap stuff would eventually originate from), or Hayasaka having none of Kaguya's indecisiveness. The French segment was fairly funny, but a lot of the better moments felt like they were a little mistimed to be as funny as they could be. Still, this was another episode that felt like the show was continuing after hitting its stride the week before, and now that they're starting to expand the cast ever so slowly beyond the original three characters, I look forward to how they begin to utilize them in the future.
GeGeGe no Kitaro 42
This Ace Attorney special was an interesting episode, one framed to be much more realistic than I would've expected. Instead of the kind of bombast you usually find in courtroom dramas, this was a somber and relatively brutal look at the real-life Japanese court system, one that relies on the more "Roman" style guilty-until-proven-innocent mantra. Again, the subtle undercurrent of "us versus them" is palpable throughout the proceedings, and while the case is eventually proven to be a farce, the kinds of emotions it exposes in the youkai as a whole are still unsettling in how much they mirror certain xenophobic attitudes of older Japanese generations. I can't help but wonder exactly how all of this is going to boil over when our nameless villain's grand plan comes to fruition, but I can't help but think an all-out war between youkai and humans is inevitable at this point. As for the trial itself, it was a fairly standard but well executed dramatic episode, and I especially liked the atmosphere of some shots, like Catchick reading the old court records or Kitaro's arrest in the opening. The visual style matched the content really well in those sequences, and that was all in keeping with this cour's more mature focus. Great stuff all around.
Mysteria Friends 3
Still good fun, though the production quality of this episode took a notable hit compared to the first two episodes. That's not to say it didn't still look good in moments when it counted, or that the background art has fallen in quality because it hasn't, but some of the extras in the crowd scenes seemed a little... Toei-ish, to coin a term. While I'm a little disappointed since a lot of what this series has going for it is the visual splendor that made the first two episodes so enjoyable, I do like that they actually added a character to the show that was fun for this episode in the extravagant Miranda-sensei. Some funny meta humor about gacha and RPG conventions regarding costumes/armor and some zaniness helped this episode get by, but I hope this isn't the level of quality for the visuals I should expect for the rest of the run or my feelings about Mysteria/Manaria Friends are going to cool off something fierce.
Dororo 5
I don't know how to feel about this one... did they think they were being clever with the reveal at the end there? Keep in mind, the moment Mio worked at the army camp at night and brought back enough money and supplies to take care of the children, I immediately knew what she was doing. But for that to surprise Dororo, who's been shown to be savvy enough to run his own cons playing on the expectations that come with his age before, is a bit hokey. It kind of deflates the gravity of the moment when it's both so transparent what they're doing and it seems to shock people who should know better. Because if nothing else, while it's sad to see Mio go to such lengths for the children, it's obviously out of love even though given the tenor of the series I can only imagine this will end badly for her (because these kinds of things end badly for everyone in this series). As for Hyakkimaru, I feel they're kind of misfiring on his growth through weakness. Making him vulnerable doesn't mean we automatically care about him, and because a lot of the conflict inside him is still internalized because he's mute and doesn't communicate in any meaningful way, it's hard to grasp exactly what goes through his mind except for the most basic of emotions. This is why treating him as a kind of avatar of destiny like the possessed sword story did worked better, as he was not the core focus of that story but rather the plot device that brought it to his conclusion. As of right now, he's not expressive enough to be the focus of the narrative, and it's the other characters who feel like they get short shrift in comparison, especially when elements of their character that could be explored get held back for the sake of "shock value."
Mob Psycho 100 II 5
I don't really think there's much I can say about this episode that hasn't already been said by basically everyone here who's already seen it, but this was a very enjoyable watch even if it feels clearly rushed from a narrative standpoint. I'm not one to enjoy watching someone suffering in a very Flowers of Evil kind of way, but I think the catharsis of the latter half of the episode doesn't end up matching up to Mob's suffering depicted in the first half because they have to truncate it for the sake of getting through this entire section within Mogami's world in one episode. There's bit of direction and some disturbingly creative imagery used as a sort of shorthand to get across some of the ideas as best as they can, but the bullying section crescendos way too quickly to have the impact it could have. That said, I'm not really all that disappointed given what we received in the second half of the episode. While not perhaps my favorite sequence throughout Mob in general, I think it was an exceptionally creative one given the general palette and style of the environment, which doesn't lend itself to these kinds of spectacle fights as well as some other moments in the series have in the past. It was also interesting to see Mob have to take on a, well... mob of enemies at once rather than face off against one or a handful of opponents at once. In that way, the fight felt fairly different overall. Quite the success and a good end to this two-parter, though maybe not as emotionally resonant as it could've been. Still, I'll take the animation extravaganza in exchange for the narrative shortcomings. I'm curious where ONE plans to take this experience from here, as I get the feeling Mob is going to be a lot less accepting of people using him from here on out.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Vento Aureo 18
Well, I'm glad they managed to wrap up the stuff with Babyface as quickly as they did. Hilarious BS aside in regards to using the bike in that fight, Giorno once again showing how merciless he is when he decides to wipe someone out, though I can't say Melone didn't deserve it. Regardless, I'm glad we got on to the next fight so quickly, as White Album seems to be one of the cooler stands in the series so far. Instead of being a remote entity, White Album seems to be more like an accessory, acting as a set of armor that can manipulate the temperature of things around it to create ice it can maneuver through. It has some fairly interesting functions that I think will lead to a pretty entertaining battle, specifically because we've reached Venice now. I do have to wonder with the series only being halfway through and the Hitman Team being close to wiped out what the second half of Golden Wind has in store, but I'm sure reaching the boss is only the beginning of everyone's troubles.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War 5
This has to be my favorite episode in the series thus far. It helps that we're starting to see these characters break out of the molds that defined them in the earlier parts of the series, but I feel that the segments we're getting into now are ones that seem to lend themselves to Hatakeyama's talent as a director more than the somewhat "sitcom"-styled episodes of the earlier episodes (the ones that take place in a single, plan location and sometimes don't lend themselves to much creative visualization to accompany the witty banter). Basically every sequence this week felt like something new or an improvement upon an older skit, both in terms of the writing and the directing, and the result is the Kaguya-sama finally feeling like its living up the potential of the premise at last. It may have taken a little while to reach this point, but I think the latter half is going to be something special if it's reached this level over the rocky first few episodes. I hope Ishigami is going to bring some fresh new energy to the proceedings now that the Kaguya-sama's firing on all cylinders!