Yes, I’ll have one order of Season Three, please?

Noragami gets back to basics as it returns the focus to its central cast and wraps up its second (but hopefully not final) season with an emotionally satisfying finale and a big teaser for what comes next.

As usual, I’ll spend the first part of this post providing a specifics-free review and the second part discussing the episode itself. I’ll be sure to let any newcomers know when to close the window to avoid spoilers, so don’t hesitate to hit that link and read on for more.

Click here for the full post on Anime Evo!

Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t.

“Those who do the right thing, not for themselves or their country, but for a single…”

“A single what? Justice? Peace? Freedom? Defending my freedom disturbs the peace! Pursuing your justice violates my freedom! There is no single answer!”

—Jiro and Jin; Concrete Revolutio

Concrete Revolutio is an alternate reality, a blending of pop art and fiction with historical events to create a sensationalized truth. It’s an attempt to make sense of history through fantasy, to find causality in the real world the way we would in a fantastical one. And, in so doing, it reminds us that history itself is written like a fiction, and that (much like fiction) the same general narratives and tropes continue to play out in multiple times and places, despite our best (or perhaps worst) efforts.

Mixing Silver Age comic book aesthetic with the turbulent 1960s, ConRevo takes place in the “Shinka Era” (which parallels Japan’s own Showa Era) in a world where humans exist with a variety of other sentient beings—robots, ghosts, witches, demons, superpowered humans, and so on—all grouped under the umbrella “superhuman.” It’s a catch-all term for anyone who doesn’t fit a strict concept of normalcy, and ConRevo shifts the metaphor from episode-to-episode to suggest multiple real-world parallels, from foreigners to the queer community to political dissidents.

In the midst of civic disagreement about Japan’s military cooperation with the U.S. (again, based on actual protests of the ’60s) and a growing sympathy among students for the superhumans (themselves denied all basic rights, as it is illegal for the press to even acknowledge their existence), a covert government agency called The Superhuman Bureau is formed. They police the “nonexistent” superhumans, providing protection and apprehending any who pose a threat to civilians.

As that description might suggest, ConRevo is a smart, ambitious project interested in human history, civil rights, and what it means to “serve and protect,” and it draws some sharp parallels between the unrest of the ’60s and the modern-day along the way. While it helps if you’re familiar with the events being paralleled, it’s not essential, and despite all the Big Ideas floating around, the series is remarkably unassuming and avoids getting bogged down in lengthy exposition or lofty debates.

Instead, it shows its conflicts and arguments through selected events and individual actions, all of which plays very much like a mash-up of old-school superhero comics. The art is bright, the design distinctive, and the animation dynamic, using Studio BONES’s trademark shifting cameras and smeared motions to demonstrate the characters’ larger-than-life speed and strength. It’s a series that never stops moving, keeping its episodic stories fresh and exciting even as it builds its overarching plot and themes.

(Gifs courtesy of Figma)

The fast pace occasionally hurts the show’s more intimate or emotional moments, but overall it helps create a sense of chaos, of individuals frantically trying to keep up with the changing cultural tides. The way it bounces around in the timeline accomplishes a similar task, as ConRevo sets us up in a current-day of straightforward, black-and-white superhero “justice,” jumps us to a much more muddled “shades of gray” future, and then spends the time in between showing how the world and the members of the Superhuman Bureau went from Point A to Point B.

Because causality (both small- and large-scale) is itself a twisty set of events rather than a single line, the early episodes can be jarring and confusing. The creators do know what they’re doing, though, so if you’re feeling lost I urge you to stick with it. After the first trio of episodes it settles more firmly into a linear chronology, guiding the viewer through key events and episodic Bureau missions to systematically peck away at the show’s early, childish concepts of justice and “evil” and to demonstrate the idealistic clashes between the Bureau members.

And speaking of those members, you may have noticed that I’m deep into a review and I haven’t really talked about the characters yet. ConRevo follows the members of the Superhuman Bureau, particularly Kikko, a young witch who’s a newcomer to the group, and Jiro, a self-proclaimed “normal human” with a murky past and a car that turns into a robot-horse (because comic books). The narrative style is event-driven and somewhat episodic, meaning the characters are defined more by how they (re)act to the political/cultural tides around them and how the people they meet affect their overall worldview.

This isn’t to say that they aren’t distinct characters with unique personalities, ideals, and internal conflicts—they are, but it takes a while to get a proper feel for them because they’re not defined by one-on-one interactions or internal monologues, but by how they respond to events and individuals. I enjoy the cast and the way they play off each other, and some of the stories (about both them and especially the recurring or one-off minor characters) have strong, resonating emotional beats. Still, though, if you’re looking for a quiet character study, that’s not what this show is about.

What it is about is still hard to say since we’re only halfway through. ConRevo is a thoughtful series awash in competing opinions and ideals, and seems intent on showing that few people are wholly in the wrong and nobody is entirely in the right. That level of nuance makes for great audience discussion but makes it hard to know exactly where the series intends to go.

And that’s just fine. We’ve still got another 13 episodes coming in the Spring, after all. That’s more than enough time for ConRevo to dig deeper into its world, cast, and conflicts, and paint a clearer picture of what its creators see as the best path through this mess. They’ve more than earned my trust. I can’t wait to see where this one goes next.

Season Grade: A-

The autumn colors were certainly on display, I’ll give Fall that, at least.

This was a slim season for me in terms of overall series completed, and would have been a pretty disappointing one if not for a couple happy surprises and a pair of standout shows from the ever-reliable Studio BONES. Still, there’s good variety here, with a strong focus on action/adventure titles, so there’s a pretty good chance something out there will speak to everyone’s tastes.

One thing Fall did have in droves was plenty of style. From the jaw-droppingly dynamic animation of One Punch Man, to the ’60s comic book-inspired design of Concrete Revolutio, to the painted landscapes of Seraph, the glowing monsters of Noragami, and even the washed-out color scheme and bursts of acid-trip weirdness in Perfect Insider, a lot of creative teams threw themselves into making the shows this season visually striking, and they by-and-large succeeded.

While ultimately I’m the kind of viewer who needs a developed set of characters and a meaningful (or at least entertaining) narrative to keep me invested in a story, that should by no means take away from the sheer amount of hard work and talent on display this Fall. Animation is art, and (narrative content notwithstanding), these creators have made that abundantly clear.

The Rankings

1. Noragami – Season 2 (Noragami Aragoto)

Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)
Season Episode Count: 13
Series Episode Count: 26
In a Sentence: A near-death accident renders ninth-grader Iki Hiyori capable of seeing and interacting with kami and spirits—including the down-on-his-luck “delivery god,” Yato.
Content Warning: Violence (adults/kids); emotional abuse (sympathetically handled); mild nudity

I’ve written a whole lotta words about Noragami‘s second season at this point, but here’s a few more: It’s a great, character-driven action series that handles its large-scale supernatural conflicts as well as it does its small-scale individual ones, delivering excitement and emotional resonance in equal turns. The battles are sleekly animated and memorably staged, the mixed-gender cast are all handled with respect and nuance, and the story slides deftly between humor, tension, and drama to keep the plot moving and the characters growing.

In addition to its likable cast and slick action, the story also tackles its overarching ideas from the cosmic (the relationship between gods and humans) to the personal (escaping an abusive home) with a combination of subtlety and depth that leads to some simple yet profoundly moving moments between individuals and even a little philosophical musing for the audience to chew on. It’s a bleeding cool, quite funny, and surprisingly beautiful series, and I’m already biting at the bit for a Season Three.

You can read my Season Review for even more words if you’re so inclined.

Grade: A-

2. Concrete Revolutio

Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada), Daisuki (“worldwide”)
Episode Count: 13 so far (Part 2 scheduled to air in the spring)
In a Sentence: In a world packed with magical girls, aliens, giant monsters, and other superpowered forces, one organization works to watch over the watchmen.
Content Warning: Violence (against adults/kids); mild nudity/fanservice

I gave Noragami the edge over ConRevo for purely personal reasons (read: Noragami made me cry and ConRevo did not), but while these two shows are doing very different things, they’re both doing them exceptionally well. Mixing Silver Age comic book aesthetic with the turbulent 1960s, ConRevo creates a fantastical alternate history that allows it to explore civil rights, the complicated relationship between past and present, what it means to “serve and protect,” and to draw some sharp parallels between the unrest of the ’60s and the modern-day.

It’s a smart, ambitious project full of bright art design and dynamic animation, a chaotic swirl of chronologies and ideologies and superhumans in constant motion as they struggle to keep the peace and respond to events even more powerful than they are. While it sometimes moves too quickly and can be intentionally confusing at the start, it’s clear the creative team knows what they’re doing, so I urge you to stick with it, because it really is building into a fascinating project. I can’t wait for Part 2.

You can read my Season Review for more.

Season Grade: A-

3. Haikyuu!! – Season 2

Streaming On: Crunchyroll
Season Episode Count: 12 so far (ongoing)
Series Episode Count: 37 so far
In a Sentence: Undersized spiker Hinata Shoyo joins the Karasuno High School volleyball team, where he and a group of lovable dorks must learn to work together in order to return their school’s team to its former glory.

The gang has gone through some growing pains this half-season as Haikyuu took a break from high-octane matches to focus on the grind of practice games and the necessity of doing something wrong repeatedly until you can finally do it right. The series captures that feeling (both the frustration and triumph) nicely, although it sacrifices some of its usual energy to do it, but when all is said and done I think this slow-ish mini-arc will have been as vital for the audience as it was for the characters. The fruit of the team’s labors will be on display next half, and, as always, I’ll be cheering for these lovable dorks every step of the way.

If you’re curious to know more, you can check out my spoiler-free Season One review.

Midseason Grade: B+

4. Dance with Devils

Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)
Episode Count: 12
In a Sentence: In this Gothic paranormal shoujo harem romance MUSICAL!, self-proclaimed “ordinary girl” Ritsuka gets embroiled in the StuCo’s devilish after-school activities when cloaked figures target her family in their quest to find a fabled Grimoire.
Content Warning: Violence (teens); lots of predatory “love” interests and sexual assault metaphors

If the words “Gothic paranormal shoujo harem romance MUSICAL!” don’t elicit at least a smile (if not outright glee), then sorry, there’s probably nothing here for you. I enjoyed this one from the start, but the bland, passive protagonist and slew of predatory guys made it hard to tell if it was tongue-in-cheek or troublingly sincere. Somewhere around the Pomeranian Hellhound Chorus (yes, really) I figured out that the answer was both: DwD is fully committed to its campy premise and very much in on the joke. This is hands-down the funniest show of the season, and maybe of the entire year.

The weird brilliance of the damn thing is that it’s actually one of the better hetero female erotic power fantasy-type shows out there. The series has a smart handle on the difference between fantasy and reality, it never plays its more predatory characters as romantic (Ritsuka violently rejects them, in fact), and its bland, passive protagonist gets as sick of being objectified as I did, leading to a finale that’s far more satisfying than expected. I came for the dumb musical numbers, stayed for the self-aware “drama,” and somehow left this one admiring the writer/director duo (both women, for what that’s worth) far more than I thought I would.

Series Grade: B+

5. One Punch Man

Streaming On: Hulu (U.S.), Daisuki (click here for a list of regions)
Episode Count: 12
In a Sentence: The strongest hero in the world can defeat any opponent with a single punch, and boy, has it made his life boring.
Content Warning: Violence (some graphic); one of the supporting cast members is an uncomfortable gay stereotype

Based on an ongoing manga series, One Punch Man is a pretty good show that has the potential to be very good, but isn’t there just yet. The plot meanders, the second half gets bogged down in a deluge of new characters rather than developing existing ones, and, as you might expect from a series about the strongest man in the world, it suffers from a serious lack of tension, as the outcome is never in doubt once Saitama shows up to the fight.

That said, I really did like OPM. The deadpan Saitama coupled with the fond superhero parodies provoked good laughs, the co-leads played off each other well, and its middle arc included some strong emotional beats and genuinely tense action (since a certain protagonist hadn’t arrived on the scene yet). And, of course, the animation was phenomenal, a triumph of passion and talent and hard work that often provoked the same kind of giddy awe I feel when watching a stunning theatrical or athletic performance.

The good news is the manga’s still ongoing and we’re all but guaranteed to get another anime season at some point, so OPM has plenty of room to grow. More Hero Association infighting and fewer two-dimensional villains, a tighter focus on developing the central cast, and a continued exploration of the difference between physical strength and mental fortitude or kindness (as demonstrated by both Saitama and others), and OPM could be a lot more than just a fun, gorgeous-looking romp. But hey, even so, it was definitely that.

“Series” Grade: B

6. Mr. Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san)

Streaming On: Crunchyroll (worldwide except Asia)
Episode Count: 12 so far (ongoing)
In a Sentence: The sextuplets of the 1960s comedy Osomatsu-kun are all grown up, but modern adult living isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Content Warning: Comic violence; comic sexuality/nudity (mostly male); Episode 10 is awash in transphobic and sexist stereotypes

A sketch-style comedy series following the lives of a group of NEET sextuplets and their oddball acquaintances, Mr. Osomatsu is usually funny, frequently bizarre, occasionally insightful, and, every so often, genuine and sweet. The comedy spans social satire, absurdist vignettes, and straight-up toilet humor, usually hinging on its deeply flawed characters making selfish, greedy, or short-sighted decisions and then asking the audience to laugh as they get their comeuppance for it. (Although, again, there are some wonderful exceptions to this.)

While the series does have something of a through-line with its recurring characters and topics (family, adulthood, effort and success), there’s no plot to speak of, so Osomatsu will only work for you if it makes you laugh. Barring that tasteless Episode 10 (see “content warning”), I’ve giggled pretty reliably through each episode, and the characters have a way of endearing themselves by finding moments of kindness or generosity at unexpected times. I’m having fun with it, and looking forward to more.

Midseason Grade: B

7. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans)

Streaming On: Hulu (U.S. only), Daisuki (click here for the list of regions), Funimation, Crunchyroll
Episode Count: 12 so far (ongoing)
In a Sentence: A group of orphaned soldiers working for a private security company get embroiled in an interstellar conflict after a young activist hires them as her personal escort.
Content Warning: Violence (adults/kids); child abuse; the characters can be irritatingly sexist at times, but I’m not yet sure if the series itself is

Iron-Blooded Orphans is a perfectly competent mecha series with decent character writing, a running exploration of what it means to be a family, and a story that is taking its sweet time to develop. But it’s awfully safe, even tame, unwilling to take any big leaps or risks with its direction, animation, or writing decisions. Even it’s more unconventional elements, like the healthy polyamorous relationship between some of its side characters, is still the safest possible depiction: one guy and a bunch of women who happily share the man and (despite some subtext) see each other as sisters.

There’s so much potential here, from the child soldiers to the class disparities to the contrasts between the boys’ understanding of women to the actual women around them, but so far IBO is unwilling to dig into any of it. Well, there are still 12 episodes left. Hopefully the series can start challenging both itself and its characters and make this a memorable journey rather than merely a competent one.

Midseason Grade: B-

8. Seraph of the End – Part 2 (Owari no Seraph: Nagoya Kessen-hen)

Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)
Season Episode Count: 12
Series Episode Count: 24
In a Sentence: After a virus wipes out most of the human population and unleashes monsters on the world, vampires come out of hiding to capture children as their own personal blood farm.
Content Warning: Violence (adults/teens); mild fanservice; super unsubtle sexual overtones (because vampires)

As with Part 1, Seraph threatened to lose me during its middle stretch, but a final round of episodes characterized by bonkers plot twists and what I can only assume is a budding romance between the two male leads hooked me right back into the show’s trashy vampire madness. Seraph is packed with clumsy exposition (characters like to monologue major reveals at each other) and equally clumsy thematic exploration (take a shot every time they say “family” and die within two episodes!), and as much as I love Shinoa, I don’t particularly like the way it handles its female characters as a whole, as they tend to disappear or become incompetent during major battles.

Even so, Seraph comes at everything with such an earnest blend of sincerity for its characters and irreverence for its apocalyptic story that it charms me in spite of myself. The animation fluctuates between quite good and really rough, but the overall design is stylized and distinct, and the backgrounds remain as gorgeous as ever. If you like vampire stuff, this is an uneven but fun title to add to your watch list.

Series Grade: A+ trashy vampire fiction and C+ otherwise (same as Part 1)

9. The Perfect Insider (Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider)

Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for the full list of regions)
Episode Count: 11
In a Sentence: College student Moe and her crush, Professor Saitama, take a trip to a remote island where the brilliant but reclusive scientist Magata Shinki resides, but their plans swiftly derail when the stumble upon the scene of a grisly murder.
Content Warning: Violence (some graphic); statutory rape; nudity

I’m glad shows like Perfect Insider exist. I’m glad a bizarre late-’90s computer-science murder mystery novel was adapted into a bizarre mid-’10s anime. I’m glad the director played around visually and stylistically, and I give the series full credit for building a hypnotically off-kilter atmosphere, combining realistic character designs with washed-out colors and detached individuals to craft a kind of sociopathic alt-reality, familiar and strange and unsettling in its contrasts. Studios should be able to take risks like this, to gamble creatively, even if it doesn’t work.

In PI’s case, I don’t think it did. All that strangeness never really went anywhere meaningful because the series was too committed to its alt-reality to make any clear statements about actual reality. Characters who seemed like curious enigmas were in fact exactly what they appeared to be; the series glossed over deeply troubling material with the same emotional indifference possessed by most of its cast; and while it certainly had its memorable scenes, unforeseen twists, and philosophical musings, it never pushed on any of it long enough, so that it felt more like philosophy for the sake of sounding smart rather than someone wanting to say anything of value.

I was never bored while watching it, I appreciated its blend of the real and the surreal, and it did leave me with a few kernels of thought to chew on, even if I disagreed (vehemently) with a lot of them. Taken as a complete work, though, I’d be hard-pressed to recommend it.

Series Grade: C-

Unranked

Attack on Titan: Junior High (Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou)

I’ve never ranked a non-full-length series and didn’t see any reason to do so now, but I did want to pop in and let everyone know that if you’re thinking about checking this one out, then you should, because it’s silly and charming. The series plays with AoT plot points as well as school slice-of-life anime conventions, and does both with a light, breezy touch that evoked plenty of giggles and endeared me to the cast. (Heck, if I’m being totally honest, I think I even liked this one better than the original.) Nothing to write home about, but a fun way to spend 17 minutes a week.

This ain’t the same old bad boy love song.

Speaking in the broadest of terms, fiction can serve two primary functions: As a way to reflect reality, or as a way to escape it. Some people describe this as “art” versus “entertainment,” which never quite sat right with me because it suggests a certain lack of value to the latter, which is (to use a fancy lit-crit term) silly. Escapism absolutely has value. Have you lived in the world? Reality is stressful and messy. While it’s a bad idea to flee it altogether, it’s perfectly healthy, even necessary, to take a break from it sometimes.

Escapist fiction can supply that, and the really good kind can do even more. It can inspire and motivate us, give us a boost of energy by showing us people who beat the odds, save the world, defeat the Big Bad, and ride off into the sunset with their friends and/or lovers at their sides. It may not show us reality as it is, but it can give us reality as we want it to be, and encourage us to strive towards that ourselves.

Sometimes escapist fiction serves another purpose: It gives us a safe space to fantasize about events and actions we would normally never take part in. This might be something like slaying a dragon or toppling a corrupt government, or it could be something more personal, like engaging in a dangerous or unhealthy relationship. “Bodice-ripper” romance novels play on these predatory fantasies, and while I’ve never personally found them appealing, I’ve come to understand why others might enjoy it, as it gives the reader a kind of control—a power—over a situation where in real life they would have none.

“Getting swept off my feet sounded so much more romantic in the novels!”

The danger of these fantasies is when they’re played not as a flight of fancy but as a desirable reality; when the behavior of the love interests in stories like Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey is considered a real-life romantic ideal instead of a capricious daydream. It’s the main reason predatory “romances” tend to receive as much criticism as they do, and why I tend to come down pretty hard on them myself.

I begin with all of this because Dance with Devils, in addition to being a hilariously campy musical and tongue-in-cheek supernatural “drama,” is also a series firmly steeped in the hetero female erotic fantasy of the predatory “bad boy.” And, despite my usual distaste for the genre, I would up adoring this self-aware little series because of how well it takes that narrative and not only gives all the power and choice to the woman, but also never loses sight of the fine line between harmless fantasy and destructive reality.

Caution: Here there be spoilers. I can’t talk about this one without discussing the finale, so don’t scroll past that tweet unless you’ve seen the whole series or are willing to know how it ends. For what it’s worth, DwD is more about the journey (and the MUSIC!) than the destination, so I don’t think it’ll decrease your enjoyment much, but I wanted to give you a heads-up first.

The Dancer

One of the tricks of Dance with Devils is how it begins by looking very much like Every Other Supernatural Harem Series, particularly regarding its protagonist’s personality—or rather, the lack thereof. Like most heroines in harem stories (be they dating sims or otherwise), Ritsuka functions as a loosely characterized stand-in for the audience member. In the early going, she’s ill-defined, blank-faced, and passive, getting bounced from one boy or danger to the next and largely relying on others (including a female best friend, for what that’s worth) to save her.

She is also, we come to find out, pursued by all these hot dudes because she’s carrying the world-changing power of a fabled Grimoire within herself. She is literally an object they are trying to obtain, and with the exception of Rem and Lindo—the only two who ever really care for her as a person, and (importantly) the only two she ever cares for, too—no one sees her as anything but a prize to be won and wielded.

Then, around the halfway point, something interesting starts to happen: Ritsuka becomes aware of her own objectification and is sickened by it.

Suddenly she starts to develop a greater range of expression and agency. She gets startled, angry, cries. She makes decisions on her own without asking for anyone else’s help. She exhibits idiotic bravery and willingly walks into danger in order to rescue her mother.

Speaking of, nearly all of Ritsuka’s decisions are influenced by family and friends. She wants to find her mother. She wants to avenge Azuna. She wants to help her “brother.” Despite all the inhuman suitors swirling around her, her life remains refreshingly uninfluenced by romantic goals. That she falls in love along the way is something of an accident, and almost a footnote to the finale. It’s a part of the fantasy, but not the be-all, end-all of it.

Don’t get me wrong: Ritsuka is not a well of depth or nuanced character growth, and in the end she still very much functions as an audience stand-in. But the fact that she takes risks, fights for her agency, gets sick of people jerking her around like a doll, and eyes the predatory boys around her with a hefty amount of suspicion and disgust says a lot about the kind of audience Dance with Devils is trying to attract.

The Dance

Right from the opening number, it’s clear Dance with Devils doesn’t exist in anything remotely resembling the real world. The entire series is a paranormal fever dream, but the musical numbers elevate this into the realm of total unreality, as characters vocalize their feelings, movements become broad and choreographed, and backgrounds shift and change to far-off or surreal landscapes with no regard for where the characters are located in the story itself.

This is especially true during the first half of the series, when Ritsuka spends an episode with each of the boys and is drawn into their individual “seduction songs.” She is literally transported into a fantasy, and spends these musical numbers in a sort of thrall, going along with the boys and the erotic desires they represent. She dances. She swoons. She canoodles. For the span of a song, she gives in to the allure of these dangerous relationships.

And then the song ends, Ritsuka comes out of her reverie, and violently rejects the boys looming above her, slapping them, pushing them away, and fleeing to safety. She isn’t immune to the “bad boy” fantasy or the allure of imagined danger—she even plays along and seems to enjoy it—but Dance with Devils knows there’s a huge difference between the fantasy of danger (whether in fiction or between two consenting partners) and the reality of it, and its protagonist responds to both versions in appropriate fashion.

In fact, the only people Ritsuka warms up to in “real” life are the ones who treat her with a modicum of respect, at least trying to take her personal wishes into account. Rem, Lindo, and Mage all get a “real” moment with Ritsuka because they all (however clumsily) try to do something for her rather than for themselves. Urie, Shiki, and Loewen never treat her as anything but an object to forward their own desires, despite their professed “love,” and so Ritsuka never responds to them (outside of the fantasy of the song, of course) with anything but distaste and fear.

Even when it comes to the world beyond the music, Dance with Devils rejects a lot of standard “romantic” tropes, pushing its protagonist to a finale that gives her all the power and agency she’s been denied all season and truly making her the heroine of her story.

The Final Number

The entire series builds on Ritsuka’s increasing frustration at her own helplessness and objectification, and finally hits a breaking point in its finale, when she decides she’s done getting tossed around by all these supernatural yahoos and wants to determine her own fate. So, instead of giving her hidden power to one of the menfolk the way everyone’s been telling her to do all season, Ritsuka decides to wield it herself.

Not only does she straight-up kill the Big Bad, but she makes two major choices that everyone has to obey. First, she confesses her feelings for Rem, simultaneously telling all those other guys to back off (that they do without fuss is wish-fulfillment, yes, but DwD never pretended to be rooted in reality). Then, in a devilish little twist on the classic fairy tale formula, Ritsuka has to choose between joining Rem in the demon world or living as a human—and she picks humanity, staying with her family and the life she’d built for herself.

And I’ll be honest. I cheered out loud when it happened.

What begins as a kind of erotic danger fantasy turns into a (hetero) female power fantasy: The Macguffin becomes the Hero, defeats the villain, saves the boys, chooses her guy from a horde of hotties, sings some duets with him, and then sends him back to his world when she’s over it so she can return to her everyday life.

Ritsuka, after all, never really wanted any of this. Her character song at the start of the series is about enjoying school, spending time with her friends, and maybe finding a nice guy someday. And that’s okay. And the fact that she fell into the fantasy for a while is okay, too. Dance with Devils indulges in the fantasy. It adores the fantasy. But it always handles the fantasy with an irreverent self-awareness, an understanding that this is all fun and silly and maybe a little erotic, even desirable for some, but still firmly planted in the realm of make-believe.

Too many series write the fantasy of danger as the actuality of danger—they confuse the pretend with the real, consensual play with non-consensual assault—and it further muddies the issue of consent and what constitutes a healthy romance. That Dance with Devils can toe the line, bask in its own silliness, and still resolutely keep the two realms separate is a testament its ridiculous charm, and makes this an escapist ditty well worth playing.

Ringing in the new year with a loving look back at the old.

Glancing Upstream

This was my kinda year, both in terms of the types of shows and the way they were executed. Lots of bleeding cool action, entertaining fantasy, charming shoujo, and some ambitious projects from both up-and-coming and seasoned directors/writers made the year not just a fun one, but at times downright stunning.

While there were still plenty of bad or just forgettable titles floating around this year, the industry as a whole seems a lot more financially comfortable than it used to be (thanks in part to international simulcasts), which has led to studios not only releasing more titles, but taking greater risks with some of them, too. Not to say that niche passion projects like Maria the Virgin Witch or animation-fests like One Punch Man would never have seen the light of day in past seasons, but with greater economic stability, big-name studios like Production I.G. and Madhouse (and my darling BONES, who would have positively dominated this list if I’d allowed split-cours) can produce these titles with a little less reticence than they might have in the past. And that’s always a good thing.

Beyond that, two things really stand out after putting this list together: First, that the year was front-loaded like nobody’s business, as half these titles aired during the winter; and two, that it featured a lot of smart, character-driven series, and some particularly well-written female protagonists, which is a huge bonus for me. All-in-all I had me a very good 2015, and am excited to talk about some of its standouts.

The Rankings

Because of the way anime broadcast schedules work (with shows carrying over from one year to the next, and some series getting greenlit for second seasons), I created some eligibility guidelines:

The general rule is that a show needs to have a complete season under its belt to be eligible. This includes longer-running shows that finished in 2015 (like SHIROBAKO) as well as sequels (like Noragami Aragoto or Gatchaman Crowds insight), but eliminates ongoing series (like Mr. Osomatsu) and split-cours (like Concrete Revolutio or Snow White with the Red Hair). These shows will be eligible for the 2016 “best of” list instead.

Oh—and I’m not going to bother grading these like I do for my seasonal reviews. It’s the Top 10 of the year, so it’s safe to assume they’re all good-to-great series, and any would make a welcome addition to your watch list.

Make sense? Bully! Then let’s get to it, starting from the bottom and working our way up to the best of the year.

Honorable Mention(s): Horror Digest (Tokyo Ghoul and SCHOOL-LIVE!)

Available on: Tokyo Ghoul is on Funimation (U.S./Canada) & SCHOOL-LIVE is on Crunchyroll
Episode Count: 24 (Tokyo Ghoul) & 12 (SCHOOL-LIVE)
Tokyo Ghoul In a Sentence: College student Kaneki Ken finds himself pulled into the world of ghouls: powerful humanoid creatures who feast on human flesh.
SCHOOL-LIVE In a Sentence: Carefree student Yuki loves hanging out with her friends at school and especially in the School Living Club, but does something seems a little… post-apocalyptic, here…?
Content Warning: Violence (some graphic); fanservice

Neither of these shows was consistent enough to make the Top 10 itself—Tokyo Ghoul was a tonal and narrative roller coaster, and SCHOOL-LIVE sometimes got lost in cliche cute-girl shenanigans—but when they were firing on all cylinders, both were Top 5 material, so I wanted to make sure they got a little love here at least.

Despite the bumpy ride, Tokyo Ghoul had bursts of piercing character development and emotional resonance and finished with a gut-punch masterpiece of a finale, easily the best anime episode of the year. And, occasional mistimed fanservice aside, SCHOOL-LIVE handled its central ideas about trauma, adulthood, and the values and dangers of escapism with a sympathetic and balanced touch. True to their genre, both also featured some genuinely unsettling moments, using off-kilter cameras and a combination of the shown and hidden to build great tension. They weren’t always good, but they were great when it mattered, and that goes a long way in my book.

I wrote a spoiler-filled Tokyo Ghoul retrospective and a spoiler-free SCHOOL-LIVE series review that you can read for more.

10. Dance with Devils

Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)
Episode Count: 12
In a Sentence: In this Gothic paranormal shoujo harem romance MUSICAL!, self-proclaimed “ordinary girl” Ritsuka gets embroiled in the StuCo’s devilish after-school activities when cloaked figures target her family in their quest to find a fabled Grimoire.
Content Warning: Violence (teens); lots of predatory “love” interests and sexual assault metaphors

Usually with lists like these my top 9 are locked and my 10th spot is a mess of competing titles, so more often than not I just give the nudge to the show I enjoyed the most—i.e., the one I’d most likely watch again or sit down and show to my friends. While there are other titles that may be more deserving of this spot (SNAFU 2 certainly comes to mind), when all was said and done, the one I personally wanted to have on this list was, indeed, Dance with Devils.

I’m a sucker for a silly supernatural “drama” and an even bigger sucker for musicals. Put ’em together and you’ve found my guiltiest of pleasures. DwD gleefully goes all-in with its premise, tackling everything with a straight face and its tongue firmly in its cheek. No show made me laugh harder than this one did, from its musical numbers to its “bad boy” antics to its demonic Pomeranians. It also develops a fun, twisty plot along the way, and a protagonist who gets sick of being an objectified Macguffin, leading to a finale that had me cheering out loud. Sure, it’s silly escapism. But sometimes that’s just what I need.

I attempted to defend explain my love for this one in a spoilerrific essay. You are more than welcome to read it.

9. Sound! Euphonium (Hibike! Euphonium)

Available on: Crunchyroll (worldwide except Asia)
Episode Count: 13
In a Sentence: Euphonium player Kumiko and her new classmates join their high school’s (not very good) concert band club, where the arrival of new instructor Taki might just give them all a renewed sense of direction.

Balancing soft-focus nostalgia with frustrating realism, Euphonium tells the story of high school band mates trying to figure what kind of individuals and group they want to be. It’s a familiar story made exceptional by its character work and attention to detail. Lushly animated and closely directed, Euphonium is adept at showing how small, even trivial details can seem so much more significant from an individual perspective, zeroing in on a tuck of hair or a bead of sweat to the point where you can almost feel it yourself.

While the first half meanders a bit (fittingly so, given its directionless protagonist), a tighter focus in the second half and the intense, intimate relationship between the two female leads pushes it towards stronger conflicts and a triumphant finale. I’m honestly sad they announced a Season Two, because this finale is perfection, and they’ll be hard-pressed to improve upon it from here.

You can read my season review for more.

8. Blood Blockade Battlefront (Kekkai Sensen)

Available on: Funimation (U.S./Canada)
Episode Count: 12 + a clip show (“Episode 10.5”)
In a Sentence: After a strange being grants him the power of the “all-seeing God Eyes,” Leonardo Watch takes up residence in the NYC borough of “Hellsalem’s Lot,” where an alternate world has come to overlap with our own and creatures and powers of all shapes and sizes mingle with the mundane.
Content Warning: Violence both cartoonish and graphic; mild nudity

BBB is a big bombastic blast, a battle bombardment bonanza of beautiful bedlam b—okay, okay, I’ll stop. Point is, BBB is a whole lot of fun, using larger-than-life animation and characters to craft a world both strange and familiar, balancing Lovecraftian elder-god weirdness with blazing fight scenes with surprising beats of human connection and familial ties. Director Matsumoto Rie has a unique aesthetic and sense of style, using angles and motion to build imagery and develop ideas, and make things look damn cool, too.

The explosive finale was a little too busy (read: incoherent) to resonate as much as I think it wanted to, but the series still managed to do a lot between its episodic stories and overarching conflict to explore human perception and grief, and to show how the strength of personal bonds and individual fortitude can hold back the chaos of the quite literal unknown (even if they can’t defeat it entirely). Like Noragami, it’s the kind of show with a great foundation that would only be improved by more episodes. Given the commercial success it’s had, the odds of that happening ain’t too shabby.

7. My Love Story!! (Ore Monogatari)

Available on: Crunchyroll (here’s the link to the full list of regions)
Episode Count: 24
In a Sentence: Hulking but kindhearted Gouda Takeo falls head-over-heels for Yamato Rinko (and she for him), but, convinced she only has eyes for his handsome best friend, he vows to help her find happiness with the guy she “really” likes.
Content Warning: Some of the stories deal with victim-blaming and body-shaming, but it’s a light touch, and handled with restraint and sympathy

Adorable, funny, deceptively smart, and as warm-hearted as its three protagonists, My Love Story set the bar for romantic comedies and then proceeded to break its own records. I spent half the year blogging this series, squeeing about its cuteness, pushing it to be better, and praising its constant subversion of rom-com tropes. This is a “how to” for healthy relationships, a story about communication and kindness and self-worth, willing to dig into difficult emotions but always meeting its challenges with sympathy and optimism.

Despite some early hiccups, OreMono found its identity in the second half and built to a sequence of wonderful (sometimes powerful) story arcs, culminating in a satisfying finale that nevertheless leaves the door open for more. As much as I love these characters, I’d be happy to come back if they ever invited me.

In addition to all those episode posts, you can also read both my nice long essay about Suna and ace representation as well as my series review for more.

6. Yona of the Dawn (Akatsuki no Yona)

Streaming on: Crunchyroll (worldwide with the exception of Asia); Funimation (U.S./Canada) (listed as “Yona of the Dawn”)
Episode Count: 24
In a Sentence: Yona, pampered princess of the Kouka Kingdom, is forced to flee the palace after a coup disrupts her sixteenth birthday.
Content Warning: Violence (against adults/teens); some implied sexual content, including an arc that deals (sympathetically) with sex trafficking

A Korea-inspired shoujo fantasy settled comfortably between the “collect the handsome boys of legend” conceit of Fushigi Yugi and the “political war and intrigue” of The Twelve Kingdoms, Yona may not have reinvented the wheel, but it built a mighty good-looking and consistent one. With a measured pace and focus on character arcs, Yona developed its titular female protagonist with realistic but inspiring progress, following her growth as a warrior but, more importantly, as an empathetic and driven leader.

I gave this one the top spot in a stellar Winter season, and while it’s slipped behind some of those titles on this year-end list largely because of the sad lack of a season two announcement (although Shojo Beat’s recent manga license eases the sting a bit), it’s still a great epic fantasy that handles its story and characters with a steady hand and a lot of love. Also, Ao the Squirrel. That right there gives Yona more than enough reason to be on the list.

You can read my series review for more.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 and my Top 5 of 2015!

One last hurrah for the best and brightest of 2015.

Did you miss out on Part 1? Fear not! You can click here for the year in review and the bottom half of the Top 10, including honorable mentions. Or, if you’re ready to check out the cream of the crop, you can hit the jump and read on for more.

The Rankings

As a reminder, all seasons that ended in 2015 are eligible for this list, including sequels, even if they began their run in 2014 or earlier. Ongoing series (like Haikyu or Durarara) will be eligible in 2016.

So here we go, my five top (read: favorite) shows of the year! Drums rolled? Fingers crossed? Angry comments about the series I didn’t include typed and at the ready? Perfect. Let’s do this thing.

5. Noragami – Season 2 (Noragami Aragoto)

Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)
Season Episode Count: 13
Series Episode Count: 26
In a Sentence: A near-death accident renders ninth-grader Iki Hiyori capable of seeing and interacting with kami and spirits—including the down-on-his-luck “delivery god,” Yato.
Content Warning: Violence (adults/kids); emotional abuse (sympathetically handled); mild nudity

Noragami‘s first season surprised me by sneaking into my 2014 Top 10, and now its second season has surprised me by squeezing into my 2015 Top 5. Slickly animated, with an even balance of humor, tension, and drama, an ever-expanding (and coherent) Shinto/Buddhist mythology, and a mixed-gender cast of varying degrees of sympathetic and badass, Noragami is everything I look for in a shounen/action title and then some.

As expected out of BONES, the fight sequences are too-cool-for-school stylish and the art design striking (particularly on the eerie Phantoms), but what really makes Noragami shine is the way it develops its characters and (for the most part) has their actions organically affect the next chapter in the story, leading to small-scale emotional climaxes even more satisfying than the large-scale physical ones. The first arc was all but perfect, and while the second at times struggled with narrative cohesion, the way it turned its godly showdown into a personal tale of self-worth and second chances was as lovely a finale as any show this season. Keep this up, Noragami, and you just might replace FMA as my all-time favorite shounen series.

You can read both my episode posts and season review for more.

4. SHIROBAKO

Streaming on: Crunchyroll (USA, Canada, South Africa, Latin America, United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Scandinavia, Turkey, and Australia)
Episode Count: 24
In a Sentence: This workplace sitcom follows Miyamori Aoi as she, her friends, and her coworkers at Musashino Animation navigate the often hectic, sometimes absurd, never-a-dull-moment world of the anime industry.
Content Warning: One episode deals (respectfully) with workplace sexism; occasional fat jokes (although the penultimate episode kinda makes up for it)

(Full disclosure: I’d settled on #5 and #1 for this list, but the three shows between them are lock-step with each other, all excellent but in very different ways. I was shuffling them around right up until I published the darn thing, and I’m still not sure how I feel about the order. But we’re out of time, so it’ll have to do.)

Between its career-minded female protagonists, unabashed love of anime, and understanding that even the dreamiest of jobs are still, after all, jobs (with all the redundancy and frustration that entails), perhaps it’s easy to see why SHIROBAKO speaks so strongly to me. It’s rare enough to find an anime about working adults, and rarer still to find one that actually focuses on the work and not on, say, romantic entanglements and office shenanigans.

SHIROBAKO provides a fascinating look into the anime industry, capturing the spirit if not always the letter, and does so with a lot of humor, an occasional bite of cynicism, and a tremendous amount of heart. While it’s first half can be rocky and at times even a bit trite, it develops is massive cast of realistically quirky coworkers over time, building to a second half that’s tense, funny, and fulfilling. I was cheering and tearing up for our young professionals and staff members by the end, and the sheer, exuberant joy SHIROBAKO provided during its strongest moments was one of the highlights of the year. Long live anime, and long live the people who work so hard to bring it to us.

You can read my series review for more.

3. Maria the Virgin Witch (Junketsu no Maria)

Streaming On: Funimation (US/Canada)
Episode Count: 12
In a Sentence: In this fantasy reimagining of the Hundred Years’ War, the witch Maria seeks to stop the endless fighting, despite her status as an outcast and heretic.
Content Warning: Violence (adults/teens); nudity/sexuality; deals (very tastefully and respectfully) with rape and sexual assault

“Nuance” is my favorite compliment to give a piece of fiction. It suggests thoughtfulness, a balanced look at competing factions and ideals, and a thorough understanding of both individual and cultural motivations and concerns. A good critique needs nuance, to acknowledge that the world is more than blacks and whites, in order to carry real weight.

Maria the Virgin Witch is a historical fantasy masquerading (briefly) as a bawdy comedy that is in fact a character-driven, smartly nuanced look at theology, religious establishments, violence/war, and especially female agency and institutionalized oppression. It acknowledges both admirable traits and glaring (or outright despicable) flaws in all of its characters and organizations, which only makes its triumphant conclusion—equal parts compromise, understanding, and cheerful, individualistic rebellion—ring all the louder.

I liked this one a lot the first time through, but it’s even better upon second viewing, and Maria herself is quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite female characters. Awkward titles (and some discomfiting early-episode humor aside), this is an impressively woven and intelligent feminist series, well worth the watch and a place in the Top Three.

2. Death Parade

Streaming On: Funimation (US/Canada)
Episode Count: 12
In a Sentence: Two people arrive at a strange bar with no memory of how they got there, only to be told by the bartender that they must play a game in order to leave—and that they must play with their lives on the line.
Content Warning: Violence (adults/teens); deals with a lot of difficult topics such as suicide, sexual violence, infidelity, and the afterlife (I think it’s all handled fairly well, but it’s still there)

Death Parade is a difficult show—at times difficult to watch, and at times difficult to know what it’s trying to say. That isn’t meant as a critique, though. “Difficult” can be good, especially when it’s intentional, and here I think it very much is. Death Parade is interested in exploring human life and all the ugliness and beauty that entails. As our protagonists challenge what it means to judge somebody and resist an easy cut-and-dried answer, so too does the series itself resist any simple conclusions to even its most straightforward episodes or one-off characters.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who deserves forgiveness and who doesn’t? And who gets to decide that? Death Parade is interested in the questions, but less so in personally answering them. Instead, it wants to present and then provoke. It is an intensely provocative series, in fact, prodding at topics that are sure to hit a nerve with the audience (abuse, suicide, infidelity) and then asking them to consider and debate with one another. It makes the audience complicit in the judgment, and pushes them to understand the many, many layers present not just in its characters, but in actual people as well.

As a fairly episodic character study, some games resonate more strongly than others, and some rely too heavily on melodrama to hit as hard as they’d like. But as an overarching story about Decim and Onna, it’s an equal-turns painful and inspiring tale of friendship and empathy, and how we give our lives meaning through the way we affect others. Death Parade may not provide any grand cosmic answers, but it provides many small, personal ones. Maybe that’s the best kind of answer we can hope for.

1. Yurikuma Arashi

Streaming On: Funimation (US/Canada), Crunchyroll (here’s a link to the list of regions)
Episode Count: 12
In a Sentence: The long-running battle between humans and bears takes a surprising turn when two bears disguise themselves as humans and infiltrate Kureha’s high school, disrupting both her and her girlfriend’s lives—and wow, this show is impossible to describe in a sentence.
Content Warning: Violence (teens/adults); sexuality/nudity (female); assault; graphic depictions of bullying

I wrote a small book on this series as it was airing, analyzing and theorizing and head-scratching as I went. As emotionally moving and thematically brilliant as I found its finale, I felt like I was a little too close to it and its auteur director (Kunihiko Ikuhara of Sailor Moon and Utena fame) to give it the top spot during that wonderful Winter season. So I slid it in at #3 and waited to see how it would age. And, well, here we are.

Staggeringly ambitious, viscerally affecting, and stuffed to the gills with imagery and visual motifs, Yurikuma uses its surreal world and adorably creepy bears to discuss and critique the harmful tropes present in yuri (lesbian) fiction, how women and especially lesbians are treated in Japanese society, the dangers of zealotry and mob mentality, and (of course, this being Ikuhara) institutionalized oppression, “othering,” and how to combat a broken system.

And yet for all its Big Ideas and allusions, it is still, at heart, a very personal and sweet (and at times darn funny) little love story about individuals overcoming prejudice and selfishness and coming to understand and accept one another for who they are. I began this one all pipe-and-monocle scholarly about it and ended up becoming deeply invested in its characters and story, cheering their growth and urging them to a happy ending.

Yes, it indulges a bit too much in darkness and eroticism in the early going (intentionally, I think, to build audience prejudices so that it can later challenge them, though there’s an argument to be made it was done to excess), but it develops its characters and themes with such obvious affection and passion that it’s easy for me to forgive any early missteps. Taken as a complete work, Yurikuma is a messy, chaotic, thoughtful, earnest, intimate, moving, and aggressively progressive piece of fiction, a flawed masterpiece but a masterpiece nonetheless. For both the thoughts it provoked and the tears (and giggles) it evoked, it’s earned the year’s top spot.

In addition to those episode recaps, you can read my series review (or scroll to the end for some spoiler-filled analysis) for even more.

And that’s all she wrote! Thanks as always for your kind likes and reblogs and comments, and I hope to keep speaking to and with you all again in the coming year as well. Onwards to 2016!

Fairy tale retellings sure do lead to some thorny situations.

Apologies for the delay—I had a whole mess of season- and year-end posts to tackle this week, so I took some time off to keep my brain from blowing a fuse. I’ll be back to posting on Fridays again this week, and as always, if there are delays or schedule changes, I’ll be sure to let you know on Twitter.

Our season-opening arc keeps blazing forward, building to a(nother) showdown against our Big Bad, but that doesn’t mean Stars has no time for character growth. This week turns the focus to our Moon Defense Squad, integrating the outer guardians more thoroughly into the group and pushing the inner guardians into their roles as confident warriors with their own unique strengths. It’s good stuff. Er, except when it isn’t. But we’ll talk particulars below the jump.

The Recaps

Episode 170 – Sailor Stars Wars Episode IV: A New Mope

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, Chibiusa had to go and start phasing in and out of existence. Yup, the situation is so dire that Sailor Moon is actually worrying about time paradoxes now! Well, Usagi’s not about to take this lying down. To Nehelenia’s realm! On her… own?

The rest of the guardians (including the flickering Chibiusa) hurry after her, but Nehelenia disrupts their Sailor Teleport and the ladies are scattered to the four corners of her nightmare realm. I think we’ve all seen enough serials to know what that means: Time for unlikely pairings to encourage group unity and individual growth!

While Usagi wanders a frozen wasteland barefoot, Haruka and Ami (dream team!) wake up in Greco-Roman ruins. Haruka’s response to everything is “chase it till it stops running and punch it till it breaks,” so she takes off searching for an exit. Ami thinks about how she was always too busy studying to play sports, and struggles to keep up with her.

Haruka’s strategy proves lacking, though, when they run around in circles exhausting themselves and “Nehelenia” shows up to take them out. Okay, Sailor Uranus! You’re the older scout. Neither running nor punching has any effect. What’s next?

What’s next, gang, is an adorable flashback to Li’l Coach Ami drawing up the perfect play and leading the girls’ basketball team to victory! She remembers to fight “her way,” which is by using logic and SCIENCE!, finding the enemy’s weakness and pointing her damage-dealing teammate right at it.

In retrospect, I really should’ve had a running “Ami Saves Your Ass With Science” Counter, ’cause we’ve gotta have a good number at this point.

Ami realizes “Nehelenia” is an illusion when her hair doesn’t move in the breeze, then she pinpoints the source of the spell (with some help from Human Shield Haruka) and they shatter the nightmare around them. Go teamwork! …Except for the part where they’re so burned out that Nehelenia just freezes them in carbonite mirrors anyway. “E” for effort, I s’pose?

Meanwhile, Usagi continues to slowly freeze to death, Nehelenia encourages her to “feel my loneliness,” and Macguffinmoru slumps beside the dark queen’s throne. (Still a step up from getting stabbed, though.) Also, Rei and Michiru are wandering a forest together. New pairings that definitely won’t end in mirror-capture, GO!

Episode 171 – Sailor Stars Wars Episode V: The Empathizer Strikes Back

Elsewhere in Nightmare Land, Michiru is so chill and confident that even Rei defers to her divining skills. After some talk about their “difference in experience” (naughty Sailor Moon), the two run into their own Nehelenillusion, who quickly captures Michiru. But if there’s one thing we know about Michiru, it’s that she’s totally cool with dying if it means completing her mission, so she encourages Rei to Fire Arrow away.

After some hesitation, Rei remembers her promise to “protect,” steels herself, and lands a perfect shot, missing Michiru and shattering their foe, WOOHOO, GO TEAM GUARDIAaaaand they’re mirror-caught, too. Bully.

More like Deep SubMIRRORerge, amirite?!

Minako and Doctor Puu are in the middle of their own glassassin fight. Puu reminds Mina that she is, technically, the leader of the inner guardians, even if that hasn’t been much of a plot point since…ever…so it’s important that she live to fight another day even if that means Puu has to sacrifice herself to make it happen. Mina kinda sees her point, but…

…but we’ll get back to them in a minute. First, Usagi has to stumble in the snow, where the blizzard gives way to a grassy meadow and OH SHITSNACKS. FLOWEY?!

RUN, USAGI. HIS FRIENDSHIP PELLETS ARE A LIE.

Flowey and his pollinated pals encourage Usagi to “take a rest,” and she swiftly falls into a stupor, forgetting all about her boyfriend or buddies.

But while one blonde sailor ignores reality, another turns to face it. Mina realizes that a good leader leaves no woman behind, and so she grabs Puu and drags them both across the rickety bridge. Way to protect your teammates, Mina! Too bad the bridge snaps and the two plunge into their own mirror-prisons. Presumably all these newfound friendships and personal realizations are building to something, but the current ownage is undercutting it a bit.

Speaking of ownage, Makoto is about to own all y’alls when she stumbles across Usagi and tries to snap her out of her trance. Nehelenia sends in an illusion to attack her, and Mako is all “Bored now. JUDO FLIP.”

Sometimes I almost forget how much I love Mako, but she’s real good at reminding me.

When she discovers that she can’t kill the illusion, Mako turns herself into a human shield for Usagi, protecting her from Nehel’s attacks and urging her to wake up. Along the way, she snaps at Nehelenia that, no, Usagi isn’t perfect, but she “cheers everyone up” and “always tries to help others,” which makes her a person worthy of loyalty and protection.

All of which would be very moving and beautiful if Usagu actually woke the frack up during this speech, but instead she remains blissfully unaware until Mako finally collapses and one of her earrings falls off. Usagi sees the rose earring and… and…

…and it reminds her of HER BOYFRIEND. Not her BESTIE who just SACRIFICED HERSELF for her. NOPE. It makes her think of the masked dude who likes to chuck roses at people. THAT’S what motivates Usagi to shatter the illusion and climb Nehelenia’s thorny staircase. I’m all for miracle romances and all, but at least let Usagi acknowledge what Mako did for her. Sailor Moon, I am disappoint.

Annoyances aside, the story surges forward, and Usagi’s got herself a long, painful journey to reach the castle where her boyfriend’s being held captive. Nehelenia’s pretty sure she’ll die before she makes it and is quite pleased with this latest fairy tale scheme… so pleased, in fact, that she completely forgets about the two pint-sized guardians wandering around her realm until they show up at her doorstep. And they ain’t here for no cup of sugar.

“I came here to kick ass and rescue princes, and FANCY THAT: You’re in possession of both.”

I’d do what she says if I were you, Nehelenia. You wouldn’t like this one when she’s angry.

This, That, and the Other

• Given that this arc is a Snow Queen retelling, I thought I’d toss in some Frozen references, but they’re so overdone at this point that I decided to just let it go.

• Haruka missing Michiru at her side was adorable. I love that these two are in a proper relationship now and can be cute together all the time.

• Venus and Pluto got to dangle over a chasm this week. Based on what Season One taught me about relationships, I think this means they’re dating now.

• Hark! A plot point? The whole story is kinda plot at this point, innit? Maybe this segment will go on hold ’till we bust Nehelenia’s chops. I hope it doesn’t take much longer. I’ve only got two more Star Wars film titles that I can pun, y’know.

On your mark, get set, stream!

As a reminder, I watch every licensed premiere and do at least a brief writeup about them. I’ll do full meet ‘n’ greets for shows that caught my interest enough to warrant it. Everything else gets a blurb explaining what I liked, didn’t like, and why the show might not or didn’t make the cut.

And into the new season we go! While it’s not what I’d call a dazzling start by any stretch, there’s still one standout and some solid middle-ground potential, too. Oh, and KyoAni animating a lot of bouncing boobs. Mustn’t forget that.

Hit the jump for sleuthing, striding, and servicing. More or less in that order.

ERASED (Boku Dake ga Inai Machi)

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Based On: The manga by Kei Sanbe (Kamiyadori, Hozuki Island)
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for a list of regions)

In a Sentence: Struggling manga artist Satoru’s ability to (accidentally) jump backwards in time may help him solve a half-forgotten mystery from his past.

How was it? A great start to what could be a fascinating story.

Overall
Erased was one of two new series that pinged on my radar when I was skimming titles the other day, and this premiere does not disappoint. It’s nearly impossible to talk about without spoiling something, yet for such an eventful first episode it never felt rushed. The characters are well-articulated through their actions and conversations, the magical realism is smoothly integrated into the world, and it builds to a couple of major events that throw us right into the meat of the story and made me immediately want to watch the next episode.

I’m still not clear what kind of show this is going to be—whether it will slant more towards crime drama/mystery or quiet character study—and the answer to that will likely affect my overall enjoyment quite a bit. But with a premiere this start-to-finish polished and a final hook that good, I’m more than willing to give this one three episodes to see where it wants to take me.

On the Fence

Prince of Stride: Alternative

An adaptation of a visual novel (VN) dating sim about a boys parkour club and their girl manager? Well, okay, then. I wasn’t sure about this one while watching it, but I find myself thinking back on it with a lot of fondness. The characters aren’t gripping but they don’t slot into easy “types” right away either, and while the script followed an expected pattern, I enjoyed the execution both in terms of art style and direction. The race at the end was genuinely exciting, too, and nicely animated as per Madhouse Studio standards.

VN adaptations tend to have serious issues with character depth and/or plot fluidity, and I could certainly see that happening here. But I have a soft spot for sports series, so while I’m not quite ready to give it the seal of approval, I’m willing to come back for at least one more to see if it can build those few sparks into a proper fire.

Haruchika (Haruta to Chika wa Seishun Suru)

I like this one more on paper than I do in practice. A band club, a sequence of mysteries, and two childhood friends (one boy, one girl) crushing on their band teacher sounds like it’d be a fun, maybe even refreshing experience, but the execution is just so…uninspired, I suppose, with no visual flare or energy. I usually dig the P.A. Works aesthetic, but the character designs on this one are clunky to the point of annoying (those damned multicolored eyes) and the animation is stiff and the expressions bland. I’ll give it another episode out of respect for the studio and the concept, but I can’t promise more than that.

And The KyoAni Show

Myriad Colors Phantom World (Musaigen no Phantom World)

If you follow anifolks on Twitter at all then you likely heard about how Kyoto Animation (of Haruhi and Euphonium fame) put their talent to work adapting a fanservice-laden Magic Boy in Magic High School novel. Because that hasn’t been done to death yet.

I’d be lying if I said I hated it—the main trio have good chemistry when they’re not trapped in clunky exposition or tired cliches, the phantom conflict carried a whiff of melancholy that I quite liked, and the fanservice is so over-the-top that it’s actually kinda funny—but that doesn’t mean I loved it, either. If high school fantasyservice stuff is your thing, you could do a whole lot worse than this one. But I doubt I’ll be back for more.

Do you wanna build a redemption arc?

Villains come and villains go. And sometimes villains come and friends go. And sometimes villains come and friends go and more villains come and maybe some new friends come, too, but we’re not really sure yet because it’s early in the arc?

What I’m trying to say is, it’s a week of endings and beginnings on Sailor Moon, some more surprising than others. Hit the jump to say goodbye, how-do-you-do, and the occasional “WHOA WAIT WUT.” Yep. That sounds like a new SM arc, all right.

The Recaps

Episode 172 – Sailor Stars Wars Episode VI: Return of the Good Guy

Chibiusa and Hotaru continue their stand-off with Nehelenia, but it ain’t going so hot, ’cause they can’t lift Mamoru’s curse no matter how unfortunately suggestive the animation gets.

Chibiusa is fading fast, so Hotaru’s all “Eff it. I’ll just end you,” and Nehelenia’s all “I double-dog dare you to end me ’cause you’ll die too!” and Hotaru’s all “Been there, done that, got the T-shirt,” and then while Nehelenia’s struggling to come up with another snappy ’90s comeback Chibiusa throws herself around Hotaru and begs her not to kill herself. Oh, good. I wanted to keep her around for a while this time.

Nehelenia can’t deal with all this FRIENDSHIP, though, so she traps Hotaru in a mirror-prison, too. Boo. Usagi arrives just in time to hold Chibiusa in her arms as she fades from the world.

As it says in the Book of Shojob: “For you are sparkles, and to sparkles you shall return.”

I joke, but Mitsuishi Kotono acts the crap out of this scene, and it’s surprisingly moving because of it, even though we all know Chibiusa is gonna be just fine.

As Usagi FINALLY notices the guardians frozen behind her like an army of sailor suit-wearing Han Solos (there’s a mental image for ya), Nehelenia figures she’s got this one in the bag, so now is a good time to exposit about her back story some more. They only got, like, halfway through it the last time, after all. (I’m starting to wonder if this wasn’t all just an elaborate scheme so Nehelenia could vent to someone. Queen of the Tsundere, right here.)

“I-i-i-it’s not like I WANTED to hang out with you or anything, baka!”

It comes out that Nehelenia’s jealous of Usagi because Usa has always been surrounded by friends and Li’l Princess Nehel had none. She saw the mirror (her reflection) as something that “freed her” from her loneliness, but in reality it was just a prison: She became obsessed with her own mortality because she had no one else to love, and eventually destroyed her kingdom to maintain the one thing she could believe in.

Usagi of course weeps for her, and it is a sad story, but I can’t help feel like it undercuts—maybe even contradicts—the story we heard at the end of SuperS about the woman who chose loneliness, intentionally isolating herself, rather than face age and death. Taht story contrasted so nicely with Usagi’s story, forming a mirror between the two princesses and tying a strong thematic bow on that season. So, despite my eternal fondness for redemption arcs, I think I preferred Nehelenia as a sympathetic but unrepentant villain.

Igarashi disagrees with me, though, and does so in fabulous Sailor Moon fashion, as Usagi sympathizes SO HARD that she not only frees the scouts from their mirror-prisons, but also awakens Mamoru’s own latent Moon Disco Power to shatter the shard and break the curse!

“Oh yes it’s llllladies night, and the feeeel is right…”

The scouts decide to use their power to save Nehelenia, so they combine their energy (they let Mamoru join the circle so he can feel like he’s done something this arc) and throw it at her. She tries to fight back, but they urge her to open her heart and remember her own childhood dreams, the ones she had before they became warped by self-obsession.

And it turns out all she really wanted… was friends.

So the Moonies, uh… send her back in time? or revive her entire kingdom? or trap her in a Dreamatorium for all eternity? Whatever voodoo they go do, they do it so well, because Nehelenia wakes up a child back in her kingdom, and this time she’s brave enough to ask someone to spend time with her.

It’s… fine. It’s cute. It’s more pat than I’ve come to expect from SM arc finales in recent seasons, and I would’ve liked it a lot more if they’d brought in a different antagonist entirely and given her a redemption arc rather than try to rewrite a character who was interesting precisely because she didn’t want to be saved, and I have no idea what the Moonies even did to her in the end, but all in all, I…

Huh. Yeah, I guess I didn’t care for it very much after all, did I? Ah, well. Sometimes that happens. There were fun parts along the way, at least. Anyhoo. On to the next arc!

Episode 173 – Sailor Starstruck

I blinked between episodes and suddenly Chibiusa had returned to the future, the outer guardians had ninja’d off again, a pop idol trio of pretty-boys(?) called “Three Lights” had topped the Juuban charts, and Mamoru finally got sick of getting stabbed and kidnapped all the time and decided to study abroad in America for a year. Aww, yeah! Suck it, Mooniverse! Try to kill him now, why doncha?! Aaaaahahaha—

“Fuck.”

…Sorry, that comes later. First Usagi and Luna get to have a sweet little conversation about how Usa really doesn’t want Mamoru to leave but knows it’s selfish to ask him to stay, and Luna reminds her that she’s more mature and stronger now and can handle being on her own. Sailor Moon hasn’t had much cat time recently, and this just reminded me of how much I used to enjoy it. More cat time, Sailor Moon.

At the airport, Usagi briefly crosses paths with Seya, the leader of that pop trio, and they have a whole MEETING OF DESTINY moment. But, nah, I’m sure it’s nothing. Byyyye, Mamoru! Have fun in America, where surely nothing terrible can possibly happen to y—

Not gonna lie: I laughed out loud when this happened.

Mamoru’s life(?) continues to be suffering thanks to that creepy disembodied voice who woke up Nehelenia. She’s after “true” star seeds, so she sends her minions (also calling themselves “sailors,” interestingly enough) to Juuban to track the seeds down. Their mission takes them oh-so-conveniently to the set of a drama starring Three Lights and Alice Itsuki, which the Moonies just so happened to have crashed as well.

But before the inevitable clash of good and evil, Usagi and Seya need to get their banter on. Seya’s tickled that Usagi has no idea who he is (even AMI knows who he is! AMI, PEOPLE!) and she’s peeved that he calls her “bunhead.” Peeved, or…?

Dang, Mamo, you been exploded for barely five minutes and there’s already another ‘ship ready to launch from Moon Harbor. That’s COLD.

After they part ways, Usagi runs into “Sailor Iron Mouse” right as she snatches a star seed out of actress Alice Itsuki. The seed (a.k.a. “crystal of life,” so, that can’t be good) promptly shrivels up, meaning it isn’t a TRUE seed. Sailor Mouse peaces out and leaves Usagi to fight the seedless Alice, who’s turned into the Phage “Sailor Buri.”

Usagi wants to help Alice, not fight her, so she’s at a loss… But wait! Do I hear snapping?!

Folks, we’ve got ourselves some newcomers: The Sailor Star Jets Lights! They are clearly the Three Lights team, except that now they have boobs. And I… am uncertain what pronoun to use. “They”? Are we all good with “they”? Hey, Star Lights, y’all good with “they”?

You know what? You’re busy. We’ll talk later.

The trio want to put Alice “out of her misery” because they say there’s only one person who can turn a Phage back into a human (what with the whole “seed of life” getting removed ‘n’ all), and it ain’t them. Well, if it’s a Chosen One you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place! Usagi FEELINGS herself into a new attack, called…

…and I can’t even type this without laughing…

“Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss.”

With a shout of “Beautiful!” Alice’s star seed rejuvenates and returns to her via a nice bit of Hindu/Buddhist flower imagery, and she un-monsterfies. Evil vanquished, our new trio Batman outta there, leaving Usagi to sit on a park bench and try to puzzle out all these new sailors. It’s a work in progress.

…So I guess we’re just… not gonna address Mamoru’s plane blowing up AT ALL this week, are we, Sailor Moon…?

This, That, and the Other

• I tease Mamoru about getting stabbed all the time, but now that I think about it, Usagi gets strangled almost as often, huh? Add that to the drinking game, I s’pose.

• The music during the big Nehelenia Salvation scene was straight-up “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” for a few bars there. That had to be intentional, right?

• I haven’t said it yet, but the animation this arc has been super-fun so far. Igurashi doesn’t have Sato’s or Ikuhara’s eye for angles or imagery, but he more than makes up for it with great comedic timing and wonderfully expressive characters.

• Hark! A plot point! Our new trio call themselves Star Fighter (Seya), Star Maker (Taiki), and Star Healer (Yaten), but I had Yurikuma on the brain, so I nicknamed them “Life Sexy,” “Life Cool,” and “Life Beauty,” and THEY SO TOTALLY ARE that now I can’t unthink it.

Excuse me while I flail a bit.

I said during my Erased meet ‘n’ greet that there were two new shows that pinged on my radar this season, and we just found the second one, and it did not disappoint. There’s other stuff, too, and some of it was pretty okay and some of it was pretty bland, but really, I’m mostly here to talk about historical fiction and performance art. Hit the jump for words so glowing you could warm your hands on them.

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Studio: Studio DEEN
Based On: The manga by Kumota Haruko
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for a list of regions)

In a Sentence: This historical fiction follows a young ex-convict after he decides to become apprentice to the rakugo master he saw perform while he was in prison.

How was it? Scientifically engineered to by My Favorite Thing, more or less.

Overall
I’m still trying to wrap my head around how good this premiere was, and especially how good it was for me. Historical fiction set in 1970s Japan about a traditional performance art (if you’ve ever done forensics, rakugo is a bit like a combination between DI and HI) featuring a cast of adults with complicated relationships and psychologies and starring not one but two of my all-time favorite voice actors (Seki Tomokazu and Akira Ishida as the energetic apprentice and impassive master, respectively) showing off their talent and range? Seriously. Are we sure I didn’t produce this thing?

Personal giddiness aside, this is just an excellently staged first episode, introducing the characters and their relationships through action and imagery, and providing plenty of potential for story lines set in the past and future alike. For audiences unfamiliar with rakugo, it provides you with an organic introduction to the medium through actual performances rather than bogging the episode down with lengthy exposition, and an active camera combined with those two top-tier voice talents keep those performances entertaining, capturing both the spirit of rakugo and the personalities of the protagonists.

Director Hatakeyama has helmed two of DEEN’s best-looking shows in recent years (the surprisingly good Sankarea and the criminally underrated Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen), and he continues that trend here: The characters are expressive while maintaining a kind of restrained realism, and the camera knows right where to focus, often zeroing in on a shifting foot or a shaking tree branch to convey more about the scene than a face ever could. It’s a top-to-bottom exquisite premiere, and I can’t wait to see more of it.

On the Fence

Active Raid

Anime is sprinkled with throwback series that feel like they could’ve been as at-home on a schedule 20 years ago as they are today, and Active Raid falls squarely into that category. The opening credits made me feel like I was 13 again, snagging anime VHSes from the local rental store.

Set in the near-future and following a mixed-gender cast of officers in the police department’s experimental Eighth Unit (they use powered suits to fight crime and cause property damage, basically), Active Raid is a solid blend of just-weird-enough-to-be-funny banter and crime-fighting action. It didn’t jump out and grab me, but I had fun with it, so I’ll probably check out the next episode and see if it can hook me for real this time.

Dropped

Norn9

Another one that looks better on paper than in practice, Norn9 is a fantasy series with strong tragedy vibes about a group of superpowered teens traveling on a ship to (from what I can tell) become human weapons for various warring factions. Which sounds great until you watch it, because the staff seems utterly uninterested in the material, leading to a premiere so bland I can’t remember anyone’s names or even anything beyond the general premise. It’s too forgettable to bother putting on the queue, so unless I hear positive buzz about future episodes, I won’t be back for more.

The many dimensions of animation.

I’m still playing catch-up thanks to a busy work week, so you’ll pardon me if these are on the short side. Nothing in this batch to make me quite as over-the-moon excited as Erased or Shouwa Genroku, but I had more fun than I expected from a pair of them, despite how ugly the animation looked at times. Hit the jump for CG and DG and all the rest.

BBK/BRNK (Bubuki Buranki)

Studio: Sanzigen
Original Series: Directed by Komatsuda Daizen and written by Jiro Ishii
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for a list of regions)

In a Sentence: Azuma Akira becomes embroiled in a supernatural political conflict connected to the event that split up his family 10 years earlier.

How was it? Imaginative and fast-paced with enough character beats to make me care… but dat CG tho…

Overall
This is a good premiere. It’s one-part family drama and one-part bombastic battle, taking time to establish the main characters’ backstory and familial relationships before chucking the audience into a deluge of characters and competing factions and “bubuki”-powered fight sequences. There are a lot of balls in the air, and it may turn out to be a cluster they’re not prepared to properly explain, but so far it’s entertaining enough that I’m willing to ride along and give them time to flesh out the world.

It is also packed to the gills with distracting CG characters. It’s not always bad CG, and sometimes it’s even quite competent, but when it’s bad it’s really bad, and even when it’s good the designs clash distractingly with the beautiful painted backgrounds. Still, I overlooked it in Nobunaga Concerto thanks to a well-developed cast and story. So far, BBK/BRNK is good enough to keep the animation from being a deal-breaker. I’ll give it two more to see if that holds true.

On the Fence

Divine Gate

Bursts of hilariously overwrought dialogue aside, I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. “Fantasy world suddenly overlaps with human world” seems to be the trend of the season, but where the other shows fell into sexist cliches and overused gags, Divine Gate is more a straightforward low fantasy series, interested in building character drama and interpersonal bonds as much as it is exploring its fantastical elements.

It’s clumsy and melodramatic at times, but it’s also earnest and charming at others, and I can’t shake the sense that its heart is in the right place. Also, the opening theme is really cool. Studio Pierrot has a tendency to pick good material as of late, so I’m going to go with my gut and give this one another episode to see if it can tone down the superlatives. Hopefully its strengths can overcome its weaknesses.

Dropped

Pandora in the Crimson Shell (Koukaku no Pandora)

Rikdo Koshi will always have a place in my heart for giving us Excel Saga (even if the manga did fumble its way to an incomprehensible conclusion), but this is no Excel Saga. It think it’s a lot more clever than it is and gets caught up in awkward fanservicey bits and lazy animation. I had tentative hopes from the cyborg concept, but when the nonsensical fight sequence with the cat-girl maid robot (yep) started happening, my hopes plummeted along with my interest. I’m out.

Phantasy Star Online 2

I was thinking this would be a fantasy series set in the universe of PSO2, but no, it’s actually about people in the real world playing an MMO together. It’s an advertisement, and not a very good one. I skipped out halfway through and feel no remorse about that.

The long weekend continues.

I’ve been buried under premieres for the last two days and am still not fully caught up (I do have to sleep and socialize and run errands sometimes, y’know!), but I wanted to give you something today, so lo, a trio of new shows. This season has been marked by middling premieres with sparks of potential, and so we see that again a little here. It’s also been marked by just plain old lackluster premieres, and so we  see that again here, too. Hit the jump for flickers and, er…not so much.

Girls Beyond the Wasteland (Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya o Mezasu)

Studio: Project No. 9
Based on: The visual novel by Romeo Tanaka (Humanity Has Declined, Rewrite)
Streaming On: Hulu

In a Sentence: Amateur writer Hojo Buntaro shifts from drama club scripts to games when classmate Kuroda Sayuki asks him to help her make a dating sim.

How was it? Charming if not a little slow out the gate.

Overall
This premiere is more prologue than proper story, establishing personalities and relationships and walking us through a “day in the life” of our observant, helpful, but aimless protagonist. There’s a slice-of-life feel to it, meaning it’s more about enjoying the cast than the story itself, and so far it’s accomplishing that through a variety of interactions (close friends vs. classmates vs. potential dates) and dialogue that stands out thanks to a combination of offbeat humor and well-established characters.

In all honesty, I’m not sure if I’m giving this one a full meet ‘n’ greet because it deserves it or because I’d feel bad having a post without any meet ‘n’ greets. I’m largely sticking around because I have faith in the original VN writer, Romeo Tanaka, whose light novel series Humanity Has Declined was adapted into one of my favorite anime comedies. No, GBtW didn’t knock me out of the park, but it has enough charm and potential for me to give it a chance. I’ll be back for a couple more, I think.

(Probably) Dropped

Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R

Stitched together out of the skins of older, cleverer magical girl series, Komugi is remarkable in how unremarkable it is. Pop idols, clumsy-but-well-meaning protagonists, perfect best friends, and animal companions (named “Usa-P,” for heaven’s sake) have been done an awful lot at this point, and Komugi doesn’t have anything new to add to the conversation. Even it’s sense of humor feels lifted from other shows, but without any real passion or sense of comedic timing. If you need to scratch your magical girl or idol show itch, there are far more memorable shows out there to do it for you.

Luck & Logic

The Internet seemed to like this one a lot more than I did, so maybe I’ll give it another try if I hear good things about future episodes. For now, though, all I saw was another needlessly complex premise crafted as an excuse to give teenagers temporary superpowers and throw a boy into a harem situation. The idea of a “retired” protagonist dragged back into the fight has merit, but this action-heavy episode didn’t do much in its execution to provide more of a hook beyond that. Plus I’m fully maxed out on cutesy little sisters. Just nothing here to appeal to me, I s’pose.

Winter may not be bright, but things are looking up a little.

The weekend premiere deluge is at last at an end, so Panning posts should come a little slower and less frantically for the next couple days. It was a matter of quantity over quality, that’s for darn sure, but out of the muddy stream comes, if not a pile of gold nuggets, then at least an edible fish or two. Hit the jump for a trio whose caliber varies as wildly as their settings.

Dimension W

Studio: Studio 3Hz, Orange
Based on: The manga by Iwahara Yuuji
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)

In a Sentence: In a near-future where humanity has found a way to tap into inexhaustible energy via “Coils,” Collector Mabuchi finds himself entangled with a girl connected to the man who discovered this energy in the first place.

How was it? Good! YAY.

Overall
As you can perhaps tell from that convoluted “in a sentence” description, Dimension W is a multi-layered, fully realized SF future that wastes no time diving right into its story and characters. The episode itself does a much better job explaining its world than I did, teasing out details as it goes in a way that’s surprisingly graceful and coherent given just how much is laid out in 22-odd minutes of action-focused narrative.

The story seems to be following two primary characters: Mabuchi, one of those rare adult  anime protagonists, and Mira, a less-rare anime robot girl. Barring some very mild but out-of-place fanservice, I really don’t have any complaints about this one. It’s well animated, confidently narrated, and revealed just enough about its game and players to pique interest and encourage me to come back for more. And really, when push comes to shove, that’s all I ask of my pilots.

On the Fence

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (Hai to Gensou no Gurimugaru)

There are a few things I quite like about this one, particularly the look, as Grimgar is lush with gorgeous storybook backgrounds and attractive, soft-edged character designs. The premise seems to be another gamers-trapped-in-an-MMO story, but with some important distinctions—the cast has no memory of how they arrived here so they don’t know they’re in a game, and the focus is on low-level players trying to survive rather than top-tier teams—that help it stand out from the pack. So, basically, the Grimgar packaging is real shiny.

The actual content is much shakier: The first half has a restrained, quiet tone that rides the line between melancholy (good) and dull (bad), and the second is irritatingly full of light novel cliches involving its female characters’s breast sizes and fanservicey camera angles (although I did like that the flamboyantly gay character refused to put up with any homophobic BS). Since this was a lot of set-up and very little plot, and since this is shaping up to be a mighty slim season, I think I’ll give it one more to see if it can drop its skeevy, more cliched elements and build a proper story. No promises beyond that, though.

Schwarzesmarken

I’m still trying to decide if Schnitzelmachshnell is so bad it’s good or just plain bad, but from its convoluted premise (alt-history East/West Germany but also with MECHA! and also with ALIENS!) to its hideous CG monsters to its water-balloon-boobed ladies to its absurd implication that the guy who thinks PTSD-riddled teens shouldn’t go to battle is the real asshole around here, Schwarzbiergarten is a big hot mess. The thing is, it’s a pretty entertaining hot mess, shifting between bloody battles and conspiracy theories with grimdark abandon. Could this be the awesomely awful show of the season? Only another episode will tell me for certain.

New season. New challenges. Same beautiful show.

After a busy premiere weekend characterized more by mediocrity than anything else,  Snow White with the Red Hair returns to brighten a cloudy Monday and the winter as a whole. The art is gorgeous, the music vibrant, the interactions natural and charming, and the story handled with steady-handed grace. It’s quintessential Snow White, and it’s a delight to have it back.

The first half of this episode is more like a reintroduction than a proper story, as we check in on each characters’ day-to-day activities, remember who they are and what they’re up to, and sink back into this relaxed fairy tale world. In retrospect, it also functions as indirect foreshadowing, setting us up for at least some of the season’s overarching stories.

Like the medical wing Shirayuki spends part of the episode cleaning and rearranging during Act One, Act Two promises us a time of change and reorganization, of travel and separations and new-forming relationships. For such a sleepy little mini-story, there’s an awful lot of movement during these early scenes, and the camera is frequently following people as they walk down hallways or focusing on their backs, hinting at both forward progression and a concern about being left behind.

It also sets us up for what will likely characterize Shirayuki and Zen’s relationship in the coming weeks: Physical separation punctuated by brief moments of intimacy. They both spend most of this episode handling their own business, only finally spending time together when she’s finished her work and Zen’s attendants friends push him to take a break. Given that Shirayuki looks to be spending time back in her home nation in the coming weeks, I suspect this will continue to be the case.

Yet for all that, the two are never far from each other’s thoughts, pushing and supporting the other even without their presence. And, when they do come together (11 minutes and 18 seconds into the episode, not that I, uh, know that for any particular reason), it’s predictably adorable, showing how Shirayuki worries for him and he instinctively reaches out to her for support, even while half-asleep. They aren’t quite on the same page—Zen is thinking about “the future” while Shirayuki is still getting comfortable with basic physical intimacy—but their mutual respect and trust hasn’t faded.

That will be vital in the coming weeks, given the plot bombs first failed kidnapper (but still massive jerk) Mihaya and then Prince Izana drop on our young couple. There’s a boy named Kazuki (Kokuyru Sachi) who may be planning a Shirayuki abduction of his own, and on the political side, the kingdom of Tanbarun has invited Shirayuki back to attend a ball as thanks for the positive influence she’s had on everybody’s favorite putz, Prince Raj.

It’s hard not to see this as a political maneuver by Tanbarun or Izana (or both) to get Shirayuki back in her native country and find a way to convince her to stay there. In other words, both these new events threaten to take Shirayuki away from Clarines. She and Zen react with concern, but where Shirayuki (who has very little power here) focuses on emotional strength, steeling herself and betraying only slight uneasiness, Zen responds with action, working to wield his power however he can to help her.

I’ve taken some gorgeous screenshots from this show, and this STILL might be my favorite.

Snow White writes its characters so effortlessly that sometimes I forget what a great job it does handling nuance and layers, but these two scenes serve as a prime example of how a person can stay “in-character” while behaving in dramatically different ways.

Mihaya’s a nobody whom Zen despises, so he’s aggressive and blunt; Izana’s an older brother and prince whom he loves, so he’s restrained and polite. Yet in both situations he’s clearly terrified, more so than Shirayuki because she can at least react to whatever happens next, and is frantically trying to do whatever he can to ensure her safety in situations where he won’t be around to help directly.

Which brings us to the last nifty bit of indirect foreshadowing accomplished by Act One: A focus on new character pairings and building relationships. Obi and Ryu form a friendship in the first half, one that reveals additional aspects of their personalities and encourages them both to grow in new ways.

Ryu finds the courage to attempt to climb a tree, and Obi considers what it would mean to form more permanent ties. That both involve plants and growth is just thematic icing on the character cake.

Have I mentioned that Obi is adorable? Because Obi is freaking adorable.

One of the best ways to develop your cast in a character-driven story like this one is to have them interact with a variety of individuals. Snow White looks to be heading that direction as it separates Zen and Shirayuki from their two closest confidantes in Part One, brings Mitsuhide and Shirayuki together, and (anime gods willing) puts us in a position to have Kiki play right-hand lady to Zen for a while.

As much as I enjoy ShiraZen together, Snow White likely needed to reorganize its shelves as much as the medical wing did in order to keep things from growing stale. Let’s hope they can fend off their foes better than that enel herb did.

This, That, and the Other

• Sorry for the late post! Stream-panning and a nagging chest cold delayed me. These should go out within 24 hours of the episode from now on.

• Has Obi ever entered a room through anything but a window? It’s a nice bit of characterization, showing that he still feels like an outsider or intruder, but I’m kinda starting to worry that he doesn’t know how doorknobs work.

• Zen is warned that if he doesn’t treat his paper-cut, he will turn into paper. Oh, 2-D animated characters. I have some bad news for you.

• And on my deathbed I will mutter, still puzzled, still haunted: “What the hell is up with Yatsufusa’s eyes?!”

Don’t change that dial! Or maybe do…?

I held off posting this ’cause I was waiting on stragglers, but Reikenzan still isn’t licensed and the rest of this batch has been sitting in my queue for too long, so I figured we’d go with what we have. If Reikenzan gets licensed and makes the watch list, I’ll talk about it in a Rule of Three Review. I’ll also toss out the world’s shortest Sequels & Carryovers post tomorrow, as is custom, but consider this the last Panning post for new series.

We’ve got comedy and fantasy, with varying success. Hit the jump to knock ’em out.

Dagashi Kashi

Studio: feel.
Based on: The manga by Kotoyama
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)

In a Sentence: Shikada “Coconuts” Kokonotsu dreams of leaving his father’s small-town dagashi snack store and becoming a manga artist, but an eccentric chocolate company heiress is determined to see him carry on the family business.

How was it? Just weird enough to work.

Overall
Anime comedies tend to come in two molds: Laugh-out-loud and gag-focused, or ever-present-smile and character-focused. DK wants to be the first but is more of the second, and how (or if) it balances the two will determine whether it maintains its goofy energy or loses its shine. Still, despite feeling like an extended, silly candy commercial at times, Dagashi Kashi has a fun, steady sense of humor, with enough quirks and oddball characters to stay entertaining even when it isn’t hilarious.

There’s a chance it’ll devolve into cheap gags that turn the boys into passive punching bags and the girls into obnoxious bullies (a too-common problem in anime comedies), but one episode is too early to make assumptions, so I won’t worry about that until it becomes an actual trend. For now, I see nothing to hate and a fair amount to enjoy (even the fanservicey bits are pretty amusing) so I’m giving it another two episodes to see how it develops.

And the Rest

Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue (Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm)

Aokana is a high school sports sci-fi with one straightforward concept: There are islands where people can use anti-gravity shoes to fly, and they’ve developed a sport called Flying Circus to play while wearing them. There’s good goofy facial expressions, some amusing scenes and characters (barring the milquetoast token dude), and the series gets full marks for a fairly fresh premise. It’s cute and harmless and totally fine.

It’s also nestled in a genre niche between cute-girls-being-cute and pick-a-gal dating sim, and so while nothing about it sent me running, nothing about it particularly appealed to me, either. Some shows just aren’t your thing. This is one of those for me. I have no hard feelings and wish it well, but it’s unlikely I’ll be back for more.

Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle (Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut)

Deposed prince. School full of battle maidens. A blandly pleasant boy who accidentally drops in on a bunch of bathing girls and gets challenged to a duel by the warrior princess which he will surely win because he is The Protagonist and she is The Girl To Be Won Over By Him. Do I really need to go on? You’ve seen this story before, and it’s been a long time since it was fresh or worth watching. It isn’t here, either.

KONOSUBA (Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!)

Konosuba has a decent premise—a protagonist who dies and is given the option to live on in an alternate universe ruled by a demonic tyrant—but it squanders it on an unimaginative fantasy world based on run-of-the-mill video games. Add to that a  voyeuristic camera, noticeably off-model animation, and a pair of mean-spirited main characters, and whatever joy could’ve been found drains away quickly. Dropped before the ending credits.

There are precious few familiar faces, but some are rather precious.

This may be the briefest sequel/carryover post I’ve ever written thanks to a shortage of sequels, some odd licensing issues, and personal viewing preferences. Still, the few there are have a lot of fond memories attached to them, so that should be a good sign going forward. Hit the jump for fairy tales, thieves, and urban legends.

Sequels I’m Watching

Snow White with the Red Hair (Akagami no Shirayuki-hime)

Studio: BONES
Based On: The manga by Akizuki Sorata
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)

In a Sentence: After pharmacist Shirayuki flees her homeland when her rare red hair catches the eye of her kingdom’s prince, a chance encounter with a young man named Zen promises to change both their fates.

How was it? As expertly crafted as Part 1, with hints of building conflicts to keep the story moving and tension building.

Overall
I’ve already written plenty about Snow White. If you haven’t seen it and wonder if you should, then you can read my spoiler-free Part 1 review. If you have seen it and wonder if you should keep watching, the answer is yes, and also here is my Episode 13 post. All the glowing words you could want are in those two places, so I’ll give your eyes and my typin’ hands a break and leave it at that.

Lupin III Part 4

Studio: TMS
Based On: The manga by Monkey Punch
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for the list of regions)

In a Sentence: World-(in)famous thief Lupin and his usual gang of allies, rivals, and/or antagonists travel to Italy for a new round of crime capers.

How was it? Energetic, effortlessly cool, and just plain entertaining.

Overall
Technically this started airing in October in Japan (and even earlier than that in Italy, interestingly enough), but Crunchyroll only recently snagged the streaming license so I’m considering it a “new” winter series. I haven’t seen a ton of Lupin—a few random episodes on Adult Swim, along with The Castle of Cagliostro film and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine prequel anime—but the franchise is designed to be easy to jump into pretty much anywhere, and this is no exception.

The premiere (the first 13 are already up on CR, with the rest being simulcast as they air in Japan, but I’ve been busy) zipped along with humor, zaniness, plot twists, stylized animation, and a slick jazz score. In other words, it was a top-to-bottom solid premiere, confident and flat-out fun in a way that few shows have been this season. I’ll keep working to catch up with the simulcast, and odds are high it’ll make the permanent winter watch list.

Durarara!! x2 – Part Three

Studio: Shuka
Based On: The light novel series by Narita Ryohgo (Baccano!, Fate/strange fake)
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (North America, Central America, South America, Ireland, and the United Kingdom)

In a Sentence: A diverse cast populates this fantastical reimagining of Ikebukuro, where headless riders roam the streets, “color gangs” vie for power, and no one is who they say they are.

How was it? Dunno yet! As has become tradition, I’m waiting to bingewatch this one. I’ll be plugging my ears and singing “la la la” very loudly so as to avoid spoilers for the final arc in the series, but I’ll be back to talk about it with everyone at the end of the season, rest assured.

Carryovers I’m Watching

No need to review these since I talked about them in my Fall 2015 Retrospective, but I’m still watching:

• Haikyuu!! – Season 2
• Mr. Osomatsu
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

I’ll let you know during the mid-season review if any of that changes.

Sequels/Prequels I’m Not Watching

The following are airing this season, but I won’t be watching them because I’ve either never seen or never finished the originals:

• Assassination Classroom
• Gate
• Fairy Tale Zero

Show biz has got nothin’ on high school.

I’m fighting a week-long cold that’s been sitting on my chest like a fat cat before breakfast, so I hope you can forgive me for both the belated and short-ish post. These were fun episodes (Minako-centric stories usually are, these days) that helped establish our new trio, shed some light on our new villains, and forward Sailor Moon‘s ever-present coming-of-age narrative. They also featured some of the oddest attacks to date, including one that I just… boy howdy, do I just.

The Recaps

Episode 174 – Sailor Starry-Eyed

While Usagi writes some kind of old-timey paper-based text to her boyfriend, the rest of the scouts dive in to their high school lives. Makoto’s in the cooking track club! Mina’s playing volleyball again! And Ami is trolling the computer club by printing out the lyrics to “Danger Zone” and pretending it’s astronautics data!

YES, REALLY.

But fun ‘n’ games will have to take a backseat to, uh… more fun ‘n’ games, actually, ’cause pop sensation Three Lights just transferred to Juuban High! The gals are all a-flutter, except Usagi, who’s SO not down with the ‘ship Seiya keeps trying to build. Mina matches his ruthless flirting with her own, working as the trio’s tour guide as they try out clubs and/or snub their noses at everyone.

Mina drags Taiki to the culture club, leaving Usagi to play reluctant host to Seiya, who gets his school uniform all sweaty by showing off his five-foot vertical to the basketball team and getting hammered by local football star Kayama Yuji.

“…And that’s the day I was arrested for assaulting a celebrity!”

Usagi rightfully scolds Kayama for trying to put the pop star in a coma, but Seiya’s into people who have no regard for human life, so the two become friends. Kayama’s chutzpah soon comes back to bite him in the padded girdle, though, because it’s made him Sailor Iron Mouse’s next star seed target.

Mouse gets to him a half-second before Sailor Moon, snagging his star seed and phaging him up. Removing star seeds seems to turn people into versions of themselves who’re all id and no ego, which gives these MotW story lines a little extra depth and makes me actually hope our recurring cast get targeted as well, as there’s only so much development you can do with a one-off character. For Koyama, this means he becomes Sailor GUTS, a bodybuilder who takes “no pain, no gain” way too literally. Also, he fights with Youthful Sweat. Bless you, Sailor Moon.

Not to be outdone by the baddies, our SNAPPING ALLIES arrive to make a snazzy entrance and lend a hand. Star Maker Taiki gets in on the action with their STAR GENTLE UTERUS attack (could. not. make. this. shit. up.), and proceeds to defeat the phage with what seems to be… uh… how do I put this delicately…?

It is also acidic. So Sailor Guts is just having himself a MAGICAL afternoon.

The trio throw some shade on the scouts until Usagi Moons up and cures Kayama, then everyone quick-changes and wipes off all those Youthful Bodily Fluids (gross) so they can return to their extracurriculars all casual-like. Later, Usagi decides to join the Manga Club, and her friends prove they don’t know what a cartoon cat looks like. I mean, c’mon, gang. This ain’t great, but it’s still clearly Luna.

Episode 175 – Hitch Your Wagon to a Sailor Star

Minako’s dead-set on using Three Lights to punch her own ticket to pop stardom, or to fill out her personal harem, or both, whichever comes first. The girl’s got DREAMS, dangit! She begins the episode with a seriously shady plan to get the gossip mags to spread rumors about her (nonexistent) romantic entanglements with the trio, but she thankfully drops this scheme in favor of one that’s somewhat less likely to end in restraining orders. Instead, she’s going to be their personal assistant!

This is a solid idea, actually, as it gets Mina’s foot in the door and gives her an up-close look at the world of show business. Usagi’s bored and curious (“Go to Manga Club and make other friends!” comes a voice from the couch), so she tags along. So too does up-and-coming photographer Itabachi Saki and her zoom lens so massive it can look up your nose and straight at your brain.

“Nice gray matter, bro.”

Mina and Saki keep butting heads because Saki can tell Mina still has an idealized image of stardom, and Saki doesn’t have time for someone who just wants to play around. The entire episode is basically about the difference between professionals and amateurs, and the amount of time, sacrifice, and tedium that are a part of any job, even dream jobs. Working as an idol is still work, and Saki helps Mina come to understand that.

She also (naturally) gets attacked by Sailor Mouse, who turns her into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Phage—and UGH, I just got that joke, it’s a play on kame (turtle) and kamera (camera), DAMMIT SAILOR MOON—before hopping into her telephone booth TARDIS and BAMFing away again. Our trio arrive, and this time Star Healer Yaten busts out their attack, “Star Sensitive Inferno,” which is neither healing, nor sensitive, NOR an inferno.

“You know what? I just electrocuted a monster. I can call my attack any combination of random English words I want.”

With the phage weakened, Usagi returns Saki’s star seed back to her cleavage, and continues to puzzle over whether the people who have been helping her fight monsters and have never tried to attack her are “on her side.” You know, Usa, for someone who’s so quick to forgive the folks who try to kill you, you sure do take your sweet time trusting the people who don’t.

In other happy news, Minako’s reality check has only strengthened her resolve and made her determined to achieve her pop star dreams without riding on anyone’s coattails. She quits working for Three Lights and begins pursuing auditions in hopes of finding her own path to fame.

Mina sometimes struggles to learn from her experiences, so this was a great conclusion, and a promising sign for her future both as a “pro” and an adult. Showrunners may change, but when it comes to coming-of-age stories, Sailor Moon‘s still got it.

This, That, and the Other

• …Okay, so upon further analysis, I think Taiki’s “gentle uterus” attack worked like a mirror and reflected Guts’s spit back at him, but I had to share my initial reaction because, good heavens, I could not stop laughing.

• Aw, poor Rei, just transfer schools already.

• Three Lights became pop stars so the person they’re searching for would have an easier time finding them, too. I’ve heard of playing the long game, but this is ridiculous.

• “I am the Pretty Guardian who ate a rice ball and is now at full power!” Sometimes Usagi makes me so happy.

• Hark! A plot point! Our Big Bad Lady Galaxia has set up shop at Ginga TV, and Sailor Mouse is working as the station’s producer, “Nezu.” Ginga means “galaxy” and nezumi means “mouse,” so, yes, like most villains, they spent all of five minutes on their alter-egos.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Change and movement continue to characterize this second season, as Shirayuki hits the road and has an awkward homecoming—but not before last week’s plans can see one major adjustment.

Obligatory Scenery Porn: Road Trip Edition!

While the majority of the episode is spent on Shirayuki’s journey and early moments in Tanbarun, a lot of short, important beats occur in Clarines that set the stage for what comes later. As the day of departure draws nearer, Shirayuki and Zen work to prepare for the future, tie up any loose ends, and do their very best not to totally freak out.

Both are proactive people who like to take charge and solve problems, meaning both want to simultaneously hunt for Kazuki and travel to Tanbarun. Fortunately, they’ve learned from their past mistakes and choose to stick to a single goal this time (Zen to Kazuki, Shirayuki to Tanbarun), trusting the other to handle their half. Shirayuki’s mantra is indicative of this, as she fights to focus on “What I can do right now.”

Even so, the lack of control eats at them both, despite their best attempts to keep busy and distracted. Zen in particular is quietly terrified about what will happen to Shirayuki, plagued by stress-dreams and training late in the night so he can feel like he’s doing something worthwhile.

Still, the two get through the preparation and the farewell, thanks in large part to their trust in each other (and the people looking out for them). There’s not much dialogue between them, but we’ve seen them together long enough to know that Shirayuki’s hard work on the dance floor encourages Zen to stay focused on his own tasks, and that Zen’s sudden embrace comforts our anxious heroine as much as it does him.

Sometimes I’m tempted to go scene-by-scene through an episode and talk about how Snow White uses angle, color, and sound in every dang shot to convey meaning or contribute to its overall tone, but rather than write a thesis, let’s just focus on the above screenshots. In addition to turning your poor blogger into a puddle for the second week in a row, it’s a lovely bit of cinematography, conveying intimacy and privacy through the closeness of the characters and the wide emptiness of the room.

The scene is cloaked in shadows but a glow of light surrounds our couple, not only protecting them from unknown danger but softening the threats themselves. The darkness is a gentle blue instead of a sharp black, creating a sense of comfort and privacy rather than danger. The audience is soothed along with the characters, assured that these two will make it through this new set of looming challenges because they have the other to support them.

And speaking of looming challenges…

This week is all about the wordless visual cues, in fact, particularly those (as promised by the episode title) involving eyes and where everyone is looking. Of course there’s that great stare-down between Shirayuki and Izana, but there are also little moments, like Kiki watching Zen’s hand as he taps the hilt of his sword when talking about Kazuki, or Obi zeroing-in on the hairpin but opting not to mention it to Shirayuki.

I’ve talked plenty before about how Snow White conveys its story and themes through images and music as much as (or more so than) it does dialogue, but an awful lot of character work happens via these little visual touches, too. That’s on full display this week, and helps to build tension and hint at future conflict even when our cast chooses to keep their feelings to themselves.

Oh, and speaking of Obi and that hairpin: Yes, turns out he’ll be traveling with Shirayuki after all, which is the closest to disappointed I’ve felt while watching this show. I like Shirayuki and Obi’s dynamic just fine, but we’ve seen them together so much at this point that I worry we’ll start repeating character beats. I talked last week about how excited I was to see some different groups than our usual ones, and sadly Zen’s decision takes the wind out of those particular sails.

Personal preferences aside, it does make sense within the story itself, given how concerned Obi is for both Zen and Shirayuki. His insistence on accompanying Shirayuki is as much to help put Zen at ease as it is to protect her, and Zen seems to understand and respect that (he may even sense the same quasi-romantic bond that Mitsuhide does, although that’s up for plenty of debate). Snow White hasn’t steered me wrong yet, so I’ll withhold any real criticisms until I see more of this arc in action.

Regardless of how Shirayuki and Obi’s interactions play out, Prince Raj should help keep the Tanbarun story plenty fresh, given his own stand-offish, “wishy-washy” reaction to Shirayuki. He fluctuates between being the noble prince and the whiny royal this week, as if he’s trying to mature but can’t quite shake his baser instincts.

Similarly, he seems either smitten with or terrified of Shirayuki (likely both), which is certain to complicate things as we progress. Raj is an idiot but he’s a highly entertaining one, and I look forward to seeing him make more faces at Shirayuki (even if they are lovesick ones) in the coming weeks.

This, That, and the Other

• The Clarines guards ‘ship ShiraZen almost as much as Mitsuhide does.

• Of all the interactions we’re going to miss out on, I think I’m most bummed about the lack of additional sniping between Mihaya and Obi. That relationship is rife with potential, particularly where Snow White’s running conflicts about social status are concerned.

• I didn’t get a chance to talk about the borrowed pocket watch in-post, but what a sweet (and very real) little gesture to grant ShiraZen some extra assurance that they’ll meet again soon. In most anime I’d worry it’s a death flag, but with this show, I feel I can flail without fear.

• So the jury’s back and uh, yeah. I do not like Izana. He’s interesting, to be sure, but I kinda wanna slap him in his smug mug every time he shows up.

• The Tanbarun crest appears to be a sea serpent cuddling a dragon. I dig it.

For the Moonies, “Don’t stop believing” is more than just a song you belt drunkenly at parties.

I’m sensing some definite parallels between this season and Sailor Moon S, where some aggressive-minded realists (or perhaps cynicists) take up residence in Juuban and have their methods challenged by the local idealistic sailor team. The Star Lights aren’t quite as hostile toward the Moonies as Haruka and Michiru were (yet, anyway), but they’re having similar arguments and changing in similar ways.

Sailor Moon (and a lot of magical girl shows) has always been something of a response to the idea that defeating the bad guys only means punching them in the face really hard. Sometimes it means that, and Mako is happy to oblige when it is, but more often than not it’s about protection and empathy. This is a series that believes our heroes should be people who cure evil instead of simply killing it or locking it away, and at no time is that more apparent than when they butt heads with their fellow vigilantes.

Is it a romantic notion? Maybe a little. But as Ami points out this week, romanticism and dreams help drive us towards discoveries and change, whether that’s finding a comet or a new way to solve problems. So maybe a little romanticism isn’t such a bad thing.

The Recaps

Episode 176 – Sailor Starslight Express

The original episode title for this one was “Fighter’s Secret Identity Revealed,” so get excited, gang, ’cause someone in our cast is gonna find out that Seiya and Star Fighter are the same person! Who’s stoked? I’M STOKED!

But before that, the conflict! Three Lights is a triple threat (ba-dum tish) set to prove they can shine just as brightly on stage in an ’80s-tastic musical as they can in a pop song, but their exacting director Gushiken Akane thinks Seiya needs to do it once more, with feeling! Her not-so-constructive criticism (“you suck and your hair is stupid!” more or less) has Seiya so frustrated that he bombs his math test. But hey, at least he’s in good company!

Heavy line art for heavy moods.

Despite Rei’s best efforts (seriously, girl, just transfer already), the trio opt out of a group study session, so the gals say “psssh” to their own homework (getting held back a grade is NBD when you’ve got a Time Lord on your team!) and sneak in to the musical rehearsal. Akane rightfully scolds them for bringing their fans to a private practice, but the dunk-on-Seiya-a-thon gets derailed when—plot twist!—Rei recognizes Akane as “Sister Angela,” a nun who works at her school.

Seiya thinks he has the high ground now, but not so fast kiddo, Sister Angela lives atop Mount freaking Fuji. Yes, she has a secret alter-ego, but she gives her all in everything she does, and HE can’t say the same. She wants him to be as passionate in leggings as he is in power suits, and she can tell he isn’t right now. In a wonderful little exchange, Seiya admits that he doesn’t like her one bit, and she says that’s fine as long as he respects her and gives her his best.

Then they’re both all:

And get to dancin’! Their rehearsal is cut short by a zoot suit riot (RIOT!) when Sailor Iron Mouse appears on the scene and gets to snaggin’ star seeds. Akane turns into the phage “Sailor Director” and attacks Seiya. OH NO, HOW EVER WILL AN ORDINARY HUMAN FEND OFF HER ATTACKS.

gasp. oh my. but how could this be.

As the episode title promised, Star Fighter’s true identity is at last revealed! …to the audience! …gee, thanks, Sailor Moon…

(In less predictable news, thanks to some color-coded silhouettes, we learn that the Star Lights do indeed physically change when they transform. And they don’t even need to be dunked in cold water or use their Celestial powers to do it!)

Fighter busts out his Star SRS BSNS Laser and knocks Akane for a spin, but Sailors Moon and Mars arrive before he can (reluctantly) deliver the killing the blow. Rei has to hold him at arrow-point to give Usagi time to cure Akane, but cure her she does. A grateful Fighter hopes they’re not enemies, and maybe even thinks she’s the droid he’s been looking for. Either way, that crush of his ain’t going away anytime soon.

Episode 177 – Sailor Starsgazers Lounge

At the bottom of my notes for Episode 176, I scribbled “I wanna spend time with the other Lights too, dang it…” And lo, my grumbles echoed back in time 20 years and were heard by the SM staff! So let’s leave Seiya gloating over his perfect math make-up test and hang out with Taiki for a while, shall we?

He’s the brains of our new operation, so smart he’s matching Ami score-for-score, and stealing her study buddies to boot. He confuses “studying” with “copying,” which leads to some UsaMina shenanigans, but our shenanigans are soon eclipsed by Mr. Amanogawa Wataru (henceforth known as “Mr. A”), a teacher at Juuban High who also happened to discover a comet in his youth.

Given that our last scientist discovered a SENTIENT UNIVERSE, this is downright dull in comparison.

He waxes romantical about his “Francoise” (known in scientific circles as “Wataru’s Comet”) sweeping past earth again for the first time in 15 years, and asks top students and local astronomy buffs Ami and Taiki if they’d like to come over to his house and watch it. Mr. A is not a creeper, but this request is still kinda creepy.

Taiki and Ami don’t notice because they’re too busy butting heads over whether there’s a place for “romanticism and dreams” in science. Geez, Taiki, where did you transfer in from, Mugen Academy? (Continuity burn. Boom.) The head-butting continues, until finally Taiki points out that it’s supposed to rain anyway, so they won’t be able to see this “dreamy” comet anyway. But Ami BELIEVES that the skies will clear, so

As forecasted, the rain rain rain comes down down down in rushing rising rivulets. Optimistic Ami goes to Mr. A’s house anyway (still not a creeper, but still kinda creepy), and Taiki eventually decides to do the same because Ami’s passion has…well, maybe not melted, but certainly poked at his cynical li’l heart. And hey, perfect timing, ’cause Iron Mouse has come for a stargazer’s seed!

Mouse is bummed that Mr. A isn’t the hottie from his 15-year-old photo (hey, if you’re interested in a cute professor, there’s this Tomoe guy I could introduce you to), but snatches his seed anyway, leaving Ami to plead with the new phage…

You, uh… really phoned it in on the monster names this week, didn’t’cha, writing staff?

Taiki sees Ami under attack and transforms into Star Marker (omg, him too, who’d have guessed it), but Ami knocks Mr. A out of the way before he can get hit with a Gentle Uterus at full power. She believes they can turn him human again and won’t let Taiki kill him! And by “believe,” she means “two years of fighting crime have taught me that Usagi will be coming around that corner right…about…nnnnnow.”

AWW, SNAP! You just been inductive reasoned, son!

Usagi can’t deal with all this TEACHING, so Taiki helps her out by hitting Mr. A with a Gentler Uterus, weakening him enough that she can restore his star seed just in time for the skies to clear. Heyyy, now all the girls and Taiki can see the beautiful Francoise stream across the sky together!

And the moral of the story is: “Ami is always right.” I mean, “Treasure you dreams!” (But really, the first one. It’s the first one.)

This, That, and the Other

• I have to keep reminding myself that Usagi can’t exactly pop onto Skype for some face time with her bae, so it’s not that weird that she hasn’t realized Mamoru has exploded yet. It’s still a little weird, but it’s not that weird.

• Does anybody else snap along to the Star Lights’ entrance theme? Just me?

• Taiki’s whole “the power of living people creates stars” thing is probably relevant world-building, but from Mr. A’s perspective he looks like the kid in high school bio who insists that Jesus hung out with dinosaurs.

• Yes, I went back to referring to the Star Lights as “he” instead of “they.” Regardless of what kind of bits they have (and how often they have them), the trio all present and seem to identify as men both in public and private, so it felt more respectful this way.

• Hark! A plot point! The Star Lights are ALIENS! They left their “home world” behind, possibly after a catastrophe, and possibly as the only survivors. They are now on the lookout for “that person,” whose silhouette sure does look a lot more like Galaxia than Usagi… well, I’m sure that won’t lead to any future conflict, no no, not at all.

And here we have an announcement that will surprise absolutely no one.

Despite extra work hours and winter illnesses and basketball games and frankly not having the time to cover another series this season, especially one as dense and historically grounded as Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju… I am, in fact, doing exactly that! Because I love this show and I want to talk about it. So screw sleep. I can sleep in the spring.

I’m covering this one over at Anime Evo, so click here for the full post, where I lay out the overarching story for any newcomers and then dig into the narrative and cinematographic choices of the third episode. Come along, friends. We’re gonna have ourselves a grand old bleary-eyed time.