Tag: Summer 2018

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First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2018 First Impressions – Hanebado!

Kentarō Tachibana is the coach of Kitakomachi High School’s badminton team. He is worried because the team has so few members that it cannot even enter competitions, but then he spots a student named Ayano Hanesaki easily climbing a large tree on the school grounds, expertly demonstrating excellent motor skills. Tachibana tries to get Ayano to join the badminton team, but finds out that Ayano hates badminton. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: Nagisa Aragaki tries her hardest to improve her badminton game and she’s very skillful, but not quite good enough to survive a match with Ayano Hanesaki, someone who seems to have boundless natural talent. After being shut-out against Hanesaki, Nagisa returns to her high school badminton club and begins to take the loss out on others. As people are driven away from the team one-by-one (including the upperclassmen), Nagisa comes to the painful realization that she’s begun to take her own insecurities out on the people around her, blaming them for her inability to achieve the things she wishes to. To add insult to injury, Hanesaki attends the same high school, and the badminton team’s new coach, Kentaro Tachibana (a former olympian), is convinced that Hanesaki is what their team needs to become competitive. But Hanesaki has no interest in playing badminton again, and Nagisa is still struggling with those painful losses.

Impressions: I was looking forward to this series a lot based primarily on some of the preview footage. I like to tell people that there’s an anime out there about anything, and that’s especially true for various sports. Badminton might bring to mind images of garden parties and women in Victorian bustle dresses, but I was impressed by how convincing the trailer was at portraying badminton as an intense sport where players actually expend a great deal of energy. As it turns out, the trailer footage is primarily taken from the opening scenes of this introductory episode, and the expression of Nagisa’s intense concentration and drive to continue a lost battle against the talented Hanesaki through her dripping sweat and tense muscles is powerful and gripping. This scene represents the most intense action in the episode, and it remains a memorable focal point throughout.

Nagisa struggles with her own behavior.

That isn’t to say that the rest of the episode is boring; while the sports action is eye-catching, there’s also a sense of tension that’s cultivated around Nagisa’s emotional journey. I was surprised by how effective this was considering that the characters are brand new at this point and their stories are only portrayed in the most basic of terms. One thing that I found helped contribute to this was Nagisa’s internal narration in the opening scene as she struggled to return each shot and yet failed to win her match. I realized that I felt a lot of sympathy towards her situation – as she asks a couple times throughout the episode, what can you possibly do when you put forth your best effort and it just isn’t good enough? How can you win against someone who has loads of natural talent when it takes you three times as much effort to get to the same level? It’s a question that I’ve asked myself a lot throughout my life, because I’ve had the joy and pain to know a lot of incredibly talented people, many of whom can best me easily in the things that I like to do but don’t have much natural talent for. With the added stress of being called “gifted” at some early point in my life and thinking I was just naturally smart, and then being confronted later on with the fact that I needed to try just as hard as anyone else at things and not having good tools to do so, you can probably guess why this part of the story resonated with me so clearly.

Hanesaki prevents a disaster.

Because the primary conflict, rivalry, and relationship in this series seems to be between two girls, at least judging by the bulk of this episode, I’m feeling a little bit less enthusiastic about the fact that not only is the male coach given a lot of air time in the descriptions I’ve been reading about the show, but he comes across as a perverted jackass from the moment he makes his on screen debut. I’d had the sinking feeling that his presence might take something away from the parts of the story that interested me, and it’s already been the case. In this Larry Nassar-tainted world that we live in, I have very little tolerance for men in positions of authority (in sports and elsewhere) being creepy towards, well, pretty much anyone, but especially teenage girls. It was the reason why I dropped Uma Musume: Pretty Derby like a hot potato almost immediately; the male coach assaulted the female main character multiple times (grabbing her body – specifically her thighs – without her consent) in the first episode and it was played for comedy. A lot of people seemed to brush it off and I gather that the show was a fun watch beyond that, but the imagery still gives me a knot in my stomach. Tachibana’s arrival is heralded by him eyeballing female tennis players from the other side of a fence, and one of the first things he does is to run to Hanesaki and start grabbing at her wrists without any sort of introduction or consent. Again, this is played for comedy, or at least is meant to imply that the coach is so focused on his sports-related goals that his possibly dubious grasp of social norms gets thrown out the window. What it is is gross, and I wish that better decisions had been made at some point along the line (possibly in the original manga, assuming this adaptation is faithful).

Hanesaki is done with badminton.

I’m not against having male authority figures in anime about girls’ sports, but I found that the story was unfolding just fine without that particular contrivance and was really enjoying the episode more when the girls were working through things in their own way, using their own voices. Perhaps I’m just overlooking some really obvious example, but I feel like sports anime starring girls tends to lack some of the seriousness that you get from much of the sports anime starring boys, and this series looks a lot like it could buck that trend. It will just have to get over the inclination towards creeper “comedy” and show a little more confidence in its characterization of the coach.

I’m finding more and more that my strongest negative reactions towards anime are not because a show is just outright terrible, but more because it managed to do so many things well and then managed to biff it in a way that bothers me personally and fundamentally. I certainly don’t think that this show is irredeemable; If subsequent episodes are anything like this one they’ll be both visually interesting and emotionally compelling. I loved the use of color throughout and though the animation was really well done. It got me interested in watching badminton! I would just hope that the coach character is given the chance to behave like a normal human being and that the show lets go of this “young adult males love to creep on teenage girls” thing it’s got going on.

Pros: The action is well-animated. Much of the episode is visually rendered very well. Nagisa’s emotions are portrayed very truthfully in a short amount of time.

Cons: There’s some ill-timed perverted “comedy” that undercuts the tone of the rest of the episode.

Grade: C+

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2018 First Impressions – Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues

Teiai Group is one of Japan’s largest firms. Yukio Tonegawa, a man with a larger-than-life presence and sharp intellect, works as the right-hand man of Chairman Kazutaka Hyodo. One day, the chairman commands Tonegawa to spearhead “Game of Death,” an evil project that employs debtors. He rallies his direct reports and scrambles to form Team Tonegawa, only to encounter a barrage of challenges from the erratic chairman and his disloyal employees, ultimately leading to his demotion. – ANN

Copyright 2018 Madhouse

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: Long before Yukio Tonegawa met Kaiji Itou in a card game that changed both of their lives, he was simply a middle manager for the Teiai group, a finance and loan outfit providing monetary loans at unreasonable interest rates. Tonegawa and his underlings collect on their debts regardless of the circumstances, and Tonegawa himself is especially good at shaking-down those who become delinquent with their debts. His position at the company puts him in the path of the company chairman Hyodo, whose boredom has brought him to seek unconventional pleasure in the suffering of others. Hyodo puts Tonegawa in charge of setting up a “death game” wherein debtors will fight for their own lives in a series of death-defying challenges. But Tonegawa has to get over the first hurdle of telling his underlings apart before he can possibly ask them to help come up with deadly gambles.

Impressions: I’m not really sure how many viewers out there are familiar with Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji; it was a weird, offbeat sausage-fest of a thriller from about ten years ago wherein a hapless debtor goes on a last-chance trip to erase his debts once and for all through extreme gambling. The show appealed to me quite a bit and I have fond memories of it; I think we all can enjoy a good underdog story, and Kaiji is the epitome of underdogs. It also contains one of the more horrific scenes I can recall from any anime, where Tonegawa is forced to bow his head to the surface of a grill after losing the final card game against Kaiji. If it sounds as though a lot happened over the course of that series, you’d be correct (and that’s only in the first season!). Helpfully, though, the first few minutes of this episode manages to provide a decent recap of twenty-six episodes of material, so while I think Kaiji is worth a watch no matter if you want to watch this series or not, it’s not a requirement to understand what’s happening here.

A couple of Tonegawa’s lackeys.

On its surface, Mr. Tonegawa has some traits that would normally be very appealing to me. Most anime stars younger characters and tends to be aimed at teenage viewers, something which doesn’t prevent me from watching a ton of anime but it does serve to make it less-than-relateable for me as an adult viewer at times. So far this series exists fully in the realm of adults, starring a middle-aged protagonist who supervises other men in their mid-thirties. The debtors, though they clearly haven’t lived up to their adult monetary responsibilities, all seem to be attempting to live real, typical lives – buying houses, owning businesses, blowing their money at the race track (well, that last situation isn’t so universal, I hope…). It’s good to see an anime acknowledge the reality of these kinds of things once-in-a-while, because paying bills and budgeting for my lifestyle are responsibilities that are often on my mind as someone who’s been a member of the workforce for a while now (and I know there are a lot of other people around who are just as boring and typical as I am). The issue I have with how this form of adulthood is portrayed in this episode, though, is that all the people Tonegawa’s employees are hassling throughout the first half are extremely irresponsible with money to the point of spending it gambling, drinking, and shopping while still owing on their loans. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that someone might take out a loan for something serious and specific and end up mismanaging it, but all of the people squandering their funds seem as though the thought of these loan sharks collecting on their debt has never crossed their mind and they’re portrayed as silly and irresponsible. Perhaps this was a way to try to build some sympathy for Tonegawa and the job he’s doing, because his character traits certainly don’t lend themselves to sympathy on their own. In any case, I didn’t feel that it was successful in cultivating positive feelings towards the character or his job.

Hyodo is bored, which means danger is in the air.

The first episode seems to have an issue with maintaining a specific tone as well. I’m not a fan of series that try to blend humor and drama in awkward ways, and I feel like there are only a few creators that can do so really well (for example, watch any series by Kunihiko Ikuhara). This show and its creators seem to recognize that there’s a fundamental ridiculousness to the story they’re trying to tell; the premise is already far afield of realism and the cast of characters are anything but down-to-earth. That’s all well and good, but rather than embrace how silly and unrealistic the story is required to be, the final product gives off the impression that it’s taking itself too seriously. When a character is introduced literally laying atop the backs of his employees as Hyodo is partway through this episode, the aspects of his personality which are truly frightening – his casual disregard for human life and his willingness to play games with it – are overshadowed by the visual goofiness. There’s also a scene which I feel is actually meant to be funny, but which comes across poorly due to some poor choices made in narrating the scene. Tonegawa organizes a group of several men to help him with the task of developing the death games, and all the men are dressed the same, look the same, and have confusing names and the same hobby. Even Tonegawa who is said to have special managerial skill and mental cunning, gets confused and finally gives up on trying to learn which man is which. This could have been really funny but for the overbearing narration that carries throughout the entire episode and provides an unneeded play-by-play for every action. I don’t recall whether this was a trait that also got out of hand in Kaiji, but if so perhaps I was more patient with it back then.

Tonegawa always gets his money.

I really want to mention the visuals, because the character designs in particular are what originally drew me to this franchise way back when. Anime character designs are really not as homogeneous as people think, but they do tend to blend together after a while especially if you’re watching a lot of shows per season. I don’t think it’s possible to confuse Mr. Tonegawa with anything else airing this season; with all the sharp angles and extreme facial features littered throughout, there’s just no mistaking this show. I kind of love that; even though the animation itself is more functional than striking, its characters are clearly not beholden to any visual trends.

I’m slightly disappointed that I didn’t have anything better to say about this first episode, though despite looking forward to it prior to the season I was well aware of the fact that my sunny memories might have been more nostalgia than anything else. As I am now, it’s also very questionable to me when the gender make-up of a property is so profoundly one-sided in the male direction; it was the same with Kaiji even more so, but as I continue to consume media I find that my tolerance for male-heavy casts diminishes with each passing year. At least with Kaiji I felt something for the protagonist and wanted to see him succeed, whereas Tonegawa is a little more difficult to love. I think there’s potential here and I have to celebrate non-standard anime protagonists when I can get them, but this series definitely hasn’t found its footing yet.

Pros: Extremely unique compared to almost every other anime in recent memory. The cast is comprised of adults. The opening theme is great!

Cons: The constant narration is intrusive and distracting. The episode strikes an awkward balance between humor and seriousness that’s ill-fitting.

Grade: C-

Categories
Previews Reviews

Summer 2018 Anime – What I’m Looking Forward To

Another season, another batch of new anime to watch! I always say that there’s really no way to truly anticipate what each new season will bring; upcoming series that look great on paper or which have a well-produced trailer might turn out to be less interesting than anticipated, while series that don’t immediately speak to me might turn out to be new favorites. But that doesn’t stop me from getting excited over unknown quantities every three months. Below is a list of upcoming anime that’s caught my eye for one reason or another; I’m using this anime chart as a resource for anime that’s coming out this season. Let me know what you’re looking forward to watching as this fresh season gets underway!

 

Banana Fish

ANN Encyclopedia

24 episodes

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

I was only vaguely aware of the Banana Fish manga when I was really coming into my fandom self in the late nineties and early aughts, and I mostly got the impression that it was BL-flavored and dramatic (I’m not entirely sure how accurate that impression was, but at this point I doubt it matters all that much). In any case, this “bad-boy meets good-guy” tale sounds like just the thing that would have set my heart aflutter in my younger days. As a fangirl grown, however, what has me more interested in this adaptation is the fact that it’s not only a full adaptation of the manga (thank goodness for closure!), but also directed by a woman – Hiroko Utsumi, who directed the first two seasons of Free! Talent, of course, is neither limited nor bolstered by gender, but I do appreciate the fact that a property targeted towards women originally is often served well in its adaptation being in the hands of another woman. And I’m happy to support women in visible positions in the anime industry!

 

Cells at Work!

ANN Encyclopedia

Episodes TBA

Streaming at Crunchyroll

Every human is just a meat sack full of fluids and blood, but perhaps you didn’t realize that your blood is made up of different types of cells that all have different jobs they do in order to keep you healthy and functioning. This anime, based on a manga of the same name, takes those cells and personifies them for our viewing pleasure. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed both seasons of Moyashimon, I have the feeling that I’ll likely enjoy this very loose interpretation of what occurs inside my guts and tubes. Human bodies are both miraculous and ridiculous, and I think giving all of our little bits and pieces personalities and letting them play against one-another as if they were themselves sentient is quirky and hilarious in a way that I have some difficulty explaining. I’m hoping for a fun series that has more than just one joke.

 

Free! Dive to the Future

ANN Encyclopedia

Episodes TBA

Streaming TBA (though I have to believe it’ll be a Crunchyroll/Funimation shared stream like the other seasons)

I’m still a fan of this original breakout manservice/sports franchise, though I have to say it’s a little bittersweet that this season will have a different director (as I’ve mentioned already, however, Utsumi is busy directing this season’s Banana Fish so I’m happy she’s still working on something pretty high-profile!). It remains to be seen whether someone else can so adeptly capture the appeal of muscles and moisture that this series is known for. Ultimately, though, Free! is much more than six-packs and Speedos; I love the series for its great characters (Makoto 5-evar!), excellent animation, and spirited sports action, all traits that help bolster its story of young men giving their all and building relationships and friendships.

…deltoids and diving okay I’m done sorry!

 

Attack on Titan 3

ANN Encyclopedia

Episodes TBA

Streaming at Crunchyroll and Funimation

I am unapologetically still a fan of Attack on Titan. I didn’t get bored waiting for season 2. I don’t mind the fact that it’s basically “Cliffhanger: The Anime.” I like that the second season was a huge departure from the first. While I consider myself pretty opposed to depictions of ultra-violence, as well as emotional manipulation of the type that AoT is known for (by which I mean its ability to reveal enough to string you along while also not answering many of the questions it dangles in front of your face), for some reason it’s never really bothered me when it comes to this series. For season 2 it was my tradition to watch the week’s new episode as close as possible to the time it was released for streaming; I think there’s something really fun about that (and it prevents inadvertent spoilage). In any case, I’m really looking forward to the characters maaaaaaybe inching just a little bit closer to Eren’s basement (but I’m not going to keep my hopes up too high).

 

Hanebado!

ANN Encyclopedia

Episodes TBA

Streaming at Crunchyroll

There’s usually at least one series a season that I’m interested in despite some apprehensions, and for Summer season 2018, it’s Hanebado. I’m almost always interested when anime tackles an unusual subject; even if the structure is similar to series that have come before, at least the subject matter is unique. And I can say with certainty that I’ve never seen an anime about badminton before, so I’ve had my eye on this series for a while. Unfortunately what’s giving me reason to question myself is also the aspect of the series that in other circumstances might be worth celebrating – its mostly-female cast. I’m glad for more action-oriented stories about young women, but even glancing at trailers for the show I’ve seen some focus on the girls’ chests in a way that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m hoping for more sports and interpersonal drama, and less boob-staring. Especially since the trailer looks really cool!

 

Mr. Tonegawa Middle Management Blues

ANN Encyclopedia

24 Episodes

Streaming at Crunchyroll

It tickles me to no end that the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure franchise has gotten so popular, especially with women. I’m hoping that the same sort of fandom attraction to the combination of weird artwork and masculine energy will someday happen to the manga/anime of Nobuyuki Fukumoto. Fukumoto’s stories portray the ups and downs of men embroiled in the seedy underbelly of society, usually through life-or-death gambling of some sort. Tonegawa, the titular character of this series, was originally an adversary in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, which I highly recommend if you like seeing a hapless guy suffer and just barely survive some of the most ridiculous betting games ever created. As far as what Tonegawa might have in store for us as a protagonist (anti-hero? Bad guy?), I’m not sure. But I’m curious to find out, especially since the title reeks of office politics and drudgery.

Categories
Book Club Special Features

Anime Book Club: Summer 2018 – Please Vote!

Hey all. I’ve been doing this anime blogging thing for a while now, and one of the my favorite things to do has been to manage an anime “book club” of sorts. We all watch an episode (or episodes) of an anime and then reconvene to discuss it once a week. While I like to watch anime on my own, it’s also great to get perspectives on series that I may not have come up with were it just me thinking about it. Does this sound like fun? If it does, I hope you’ll feel up to participating in the most recent incarnation of the S1E1 Anime Book Club!

Below is a poll of several potential series I’ve come up with. Some of the criteria for these selections were:

  • Series that I’ve already watched all/some of (and am confident that there’s some discussion to be had)
  • Series that are about 1-cour (12-13 episodes or so)
  • Series that either have not been watched in my local anime club, or at least not recently
  • Series that are available legally-streaming (in this case, Crunchyroll)

So how will we choose? Below is a poll where you can select all the shows that sound interesting to you (you can select multiple). Before that, though, I’ve posted some short descriptions of each, potential content notes I can think of, and links to their info at ANN.

Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World (2017) – Kino is a traveler who visits countries all over the world, but only for three days at a time. By visiting these places, Kino sees both the worst and the best that humanity has to offer.

  • Pros – Lots of variety. Many of the stories are interesting parables. This incarnation (technically a remake of the 2003 series) spends some time with other characters in Kino’s world.
  • Cons/content – Gun (and other) violence.

Library War – In an alternate future, government information censorship has gotten out of control. The people fighting to ensure freedom of information for the populace are the libraries and armed librarians.

  • Pros – Decent story about censorship and various character relationships.
  • Cons/content – Militaristic activities. It’s been a while since I’ve watched it (basically 10 years) so don’t remember if there’s more (apologies).

Bakemonogatari – Teenager Koyomi Araragi knows lots of girls who are haunted and empathizes with them, since he used to be a vampire. I watched this as it was broadcast but have not seen the full final arc, as Shaft hadn’t finished it in time (lol – this was many years ago).

  • Pros – Full-on Shaft visual style. Story arcs in bite-sized pieces. Interesting character banter and relationships.
  • Cons/content – Fanservice-y. Borderline (imo) stuff involving the younger characters. Can be violent at points.

No. 6 – The main character finds out that his utopia is a dystopia after meeting a counterpart from the wrong side of the tracks. Sci-fi with homoerotic undertones (or sometimes just tones).

  • Pros – Interesting setting and relationship between the main two characters. Lots of exciting moments.
  • Cons/content – Just kind of “ends” (show runs out of time). Bees!

Otome Youkai Zakuro – A fantasy romance taking place in Meiji-era Japan, where young women who are half-youkai team up with men from the military to defend against monster attacks.

  • Pros – Very pretty, with a historical flavor.
  • Cons/content – I can’t recall anything in particular (it doesn’t mean there isn’t anything)

Un-Go – In the dystopian future Japan, following several terrorist events, Detective Shinjuro solves “”””””Mysteries”””””” with the help of his (gender-fluid?) assistant, Inga, but almost never receives credit for his work.

  • Pros – Interesting setting, commentary on government censorship. Based on a famous novel.
  • Cons/content – Terrorism/war stuff.

Terror in Resonance – A terrorist attack strikes Tokyo one day, perpetrated by two individuals calling themselves “Sphinx.” Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, so character feels. Should note I have not watched this all or even most of the way through, but I feel like it’s my kind of show based on what I have seen.

  • Pros – Watanabe directing. Good animation. Character-focused story.
  • Cons/content – Terrorism (bombings and such). Also I have heard that, plot-wise, stuff is not tied up nicely (if that bothers some people – not me)

Flowers of Evil – Takao fancies himself an intellectual, and has a crush on a girl in his class. One day he’s compelled to steal her gym clothes, but there’s a witness to his crime. Thus begins a tense relationship between himself and the one individual who can see right through him.

  • Pros – Very deep, dark look into the hearts of several teenage characters. Incredibly artful (though the aesthetic is very “YMMV”).
  • Cons/content – Content is seriously dark and affecting (hard to describe). Painful teenage moments, dark intentions, human ugliness. Oh, and story will never be finished because the anime did so poorly on the market.

So, does anything strike your fancy? Please vote below for whatever series you find interesting. I’ll leave the poll up for a week at least, so check out the info above and let your voice be heard!

 

What Anime Would You Like to Watch and Discuss?

 
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