Summer 2013 – Week 4 Anime Review

During sometime, whenever Week 4 happened to be: the brilliant aesthetics and visuals of Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou, the magnificent and expressive use of creativity and imagination in Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu, the appropriate use of mild comedy in Tamayura ~more aggressive~ and Karen being the only stupid character in Monogatari Series Second Season.

Best episode of the week: Uchouten Kazoku

Anime trending up this week: Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou

Anime trending down this week: Hyperdimension Neptunia

 

Danganronpa the Animation (Episode 4)

I think the fun and entertainment of watching Danganronpa (and the whole point of playing Danganronpa) is to put yourself in Makoto’s situation and think about what you’d do to escape Hope’s Peak Academy.  I’ve come to the conclusion already that if I were to commit one of the murders in order to get out, the best time to do it would be to commit one during the investigative periods when everyone else is focusing all their time and energy on another murder.  That or just kill everyone all at the same time so then you automatically go but it’d be pretty hard when they’re spread throughout the school.  Either way, I’m kinda thinking we might see a murder like that sometime soon.

 

Gatchaman Crowds (Episode 3)

Hajime is already a personal favorite given her genki, positive and jovial personality that always brightens and energizes every scene of Gatchaman Crowds that she’s in.  And though we’ve seen her surprised and pout and wearing her grumpy-pants, we never really see Hajime stray her from constant emotion of smiles.  I do wonder if or when we’ll ever see her hit other famous emotions, like sad or mad or confused or anxiety, but I do hope we see her character challenged somewhat in Gatchaman Crowds.  I’d especially like it if something like this happened soon, although that depends entirely on the story and how her character reacts to whatever events occur.

 

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Episode 4)

The more I watch of Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou, the more the series grows on me and the more I enjoy watching this entertaining anime.  And as the series continues on, I realize more and more that the aesthetics to this anime, that is the combination of artistic details (Tarot Seira’s eyes), color, style, presentation and theme, are what I am enjoying the most.  With this episode featuring multiple Madoka-isms (to put it simply and politely), I found myself paying close attention to the use of artistic motifs and textures and colors to express the contrast the Tarot/Daemonia world has from the real world and how this gives it a personality and feeling that’s both expressive and substantial.  Combine that with the costumes and clothes, the very same ones I obsessed about in the last post, the use of colors and symbolism (especially with each girl’s Tarot card) and the cutesy, charming nature of the character designs and the anime comes together as something special, even beyond its visuals and adorable art style.  And as the series moves on with its story and characters, perhaps down a road that I might not enjoy or want, the one reassuring aspect is that the aesthetics will continue to dazzle and impress.  So even if the anime begins to tumble downhill or take a nosedive, something which I’ve always feared from the beginning with this anime, I’ll know for sure that I will enjoy the aesthetics of Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou throughout.

 

Monogatari Series Second Season (Episode 4)

Is Karen the only ‘stupid’ character in Monogatari?  Considering that every character say something clever or meaningful or significant at some point in the series, it always seems as though Karen is the one who doesn’t think long enough or hard enough and let’s her personality or aggression get the best of her.  Like, back during the Karen Bee arc, it was her foolishness and naïve nature that lead to her burning fever.  In the previous episode, Senjougahara tricked her, and rather quite effortlessly, to take Tsubasa into her home.  And just in this episode, when questioning about ‘fire’, Karen gave her opinion on it (meaning justice) only to retract her position when Tsukihi countered with ‘love’.  You could even count Karen’s aggressiveness, like forcing Tsubasa to play cards with her and her little sister, as part of this problem.  Hell, throw in her meager attempt to stack cards as part of this problem too, especially in light of Tsukihi and Tsubasa’s majestic and stable castles.  Either way, it always seems as though Karen’s character is a little bit slower than the rest or her mind doesn’t move as fast as her mouth (or her legs for that matter).  It might just be that her character is never in the right place or the right time for some meaningful or deep or profound monologue or statement of self-reflection or one life, but it just seems to me that Karen is the stupidest of the characters in Monogatari.  Then again, it might not be that she’s stupid but that she’s a bit too energetic, a bit too hyper, or a bit too aggressive with her personality, that she acts before she thinks.  And if that’s the case, then it’s nice that she’s smart, although you’d hardly know it with the way she talks and acts.  Either way, it’s always fun to see what’s going on with her, whether she’s stupid or not.

 

Silver Spoon (Episode 3)

Watching Yugo’s transition and transformation, from starting out as an urban kid who’s developing and maturing into a rural expert, is rather quite remarkable considering the stark contrast he’s facing from where he was to where he is now.  The thought of that made me question how often these teachers see kids from outside the rural catchment area that the school draws from and how these teachers handle these kids.  Furthermore, how do the teachers handle kids who are experts in certain subjects based on their prior experience and what their family farm specializes in.  If I had to guess, I’d wager that the school doesn’t see too many kids from urban settings or ones who have no prior experience or interest in agriculture or farming, and that students who venture out there are motivated by something, such as veterinary sciences, food processing or civil engineering.  And as for students who specialize in certain areas, you’d figure they might just take the class as an easy ‘A’, though you never know what they already know and that some aspects of the class might be beneficial, especially if there are other techniques or technologies to farming that the kid has had no prior experience with.  Either way, I suppose everything works out just fine for all the students of the various backgrounds, especially since the teachers thus far have had an exceptional interest in helping the students with their struggles and adversities so far.

 

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu (Episode 4)

Yura’s imagination, often somewhere on the border of dreams and delusions of grandeur, really took a giant leap in this episode, and really captured my attention right as the series was beginning to stagnate and level off in mediocrity.  But the wild and expressive dreamscape she had, combined with stylized art and beautiful imagery, really differentiated this episode to me from the rest and shifted the course of the anime in a whole new, positive direction.  Just the story, the symbolism and the use of her delusions finally came to fruition and meaning for her character.  Not only that but seeing that imagery and that significance add some missing creativity and purpose to the series that moved beyond Yura wanting friends or the C3 Club wanting to win more survival games.  I hope the anime can continue to build off these dreams that Yura constantly has since it provide some spice and variety to the series.  If the anime continues to do that and find meaning or demonstration in these dreams, then I’ll have to reevaluate how much I enjoy C3-bu and how well the anime is performing, beyond the airsoft battles and girls chit-chatting over tea.

 

Tamayura ~more aggressive~ (Episode 4)

The comedy of Tamayura is very quite appropriate for a healing anime.  Considering that the humor is tailored to shorter, quicker jokes, often accompanied by chibi characters or cute expressions, the reaction from the audience is often smiles or chuckles rather than bouts of laughter or needing to spit out your drink all over the screen.  If Tamayura were like that, it really would distract from the healing, feel-good type atmosphere and theme the anime has going for it.  The brief jokes with simple smiles are all this anime needs.  And those smiles go a long way to help with the healing aspects of the anime, too.  So while I always enjoy comedies for making me laugh and enjoy myself, I do enjoy the comedy in Tamayura ~more aggressive~ for being applicable to what the anime needs and how it fits in with everything else in the anime.

 

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 16)

If there’s one thing this arc achieved in Railgun S, it is that Misaka Imouto has reinforced her position as my favorite character in Railgun/Index’s universe.  More importantly, it’s that Misaka Imouto’s sense of humor and personality were put on further display and meaning than what we’ve seen before and that her character is one of the most humorous and adorable in this extensive anime/light novel franchise.  I can only hope that we continue to see these clones wandering around Academy City in the remainder of Railgun’s second season, especially since my favorite episodes were the ones where Misaka Imouto was featured prominently and had ample time to make jokes at her older sister.

 

Uchouten Kazoku (Episode 4)

Without a doubt, the best thing in Uchouten Kazoku is the internal dynamic of the Shimogamo family.  Watching the family partake in the Obon festivities in Kyoto has been the highlight thus far of Uchouten Kazoku and it was in large part due to the dysfunctional family finally spending time together as a unit rather than as individuals occasionally meeting up with one another at various points along Yasaburou’s story.  But with the Mother’s flamboyant behavior and charming personality, Yaichirou’s stubborn yet anxious nature, Yashirou’s timid and dependent character, and Yasaburou’s determined (but only sometimes) style, the family fits pleasantly together as a unit and really brought the episode to life, from start to finish.  I can only hope to see more of the family together as the anime moves forward, especially if they can put in situations like this again where they’re all together for something both spectacular and crazy.

Advertisement