January 30th Anime Episode Thoughts

it can be a little tough for me to find time to watch anime, so I tend to do it all in bursts over the course of a couple days each week. Today I watched the latest episodes of Rakugo, GATE, Haikyuu, PS02, and Utawarerumono. Here are my (brief) thoughts on those things.

 GATE: I feel like I enjoy this show more in concept than I do in execution. When it chooses to focus on the political maneuvering of people within the fantasy world, or its hilariously one-sided realistic take on modern military versus medieval gear and tactics, it can be pretty compelling. When it focuses on moe girls and otaku culture and... anime stuff... it strikes me as a far less funny version of outbreak company. Fortunately, episode 16 had a lot of the stuff I like in it - evil bunny girl is a pretty rad, unique villain with all her trickery, and the payoff of her plotting last episode was very gripping and satisfying. And little details like the military slyly scamming the locals out of oil drilling rights or fighter pilots discussing proper tactics for engaging a dragon really help to ground the story and make it feel more realistic. 

Just, please, more of this, less harem nonsense, and I feel like this series can end on a decent note. 

Phantasy Star Online 2: Boldly going where EVERY anime has gone before, PSO2 crosses the "he thinks it's a date but it isn't but really it is" episode off its checklist of cliches. And it uses the episode to advertise phantasy star online conventions, because what else would it do with the timeslot? I've already accepted at this point that PSO2 is gonna be nothing but a commercial, but for a commercial,  it's very earnest and enjoyable. It's almost like a PSA on mmo fan culture - how to deal with trolls, how online personas differ from real life, that sort of thing. There was even a scene this  episode explaining what cosplay is. Although sometimes the PSA can be a  little... wrong. like when a little girl immediately trusts a bunch of adults she only knows through the game.

Again, this show is pretty basic and dumb, but I kinda like it for that. With all the shows out there trying to hook me with their high concepts, it's nice - almost refreshing - to watch something that's more or less just a generic anime done well. with cute, light romance, it's a simple, easy to watch show.

that is what I was thinking up to about the halfway point of the episode, but then shit kinda got real. up to now the show has just been about kids playing an MMO, but there are growing hints at something supernatural behind the scenes. It's not quite  Samurai Flamenco level, but I do appreciate when a show turns into something I wasn't expecting, and PSO2 seems poised to do that. It's definitely the show that's improved the most this season relative to its first impression

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: This show continues to be incredible, showing us both the growth of its characters as the years go on and the evolution of Japan's post-war culture. the city of tokyo has transformed into something a bit more metropolitan - from dirt roads and traditional wooden buildings to pavement and brickwork. There's a lot you can learn about japan's history just by watching this series - almost all of it shown or implied rather than told through exposition. Few shows are this good at giving you a sense of time and place.

The same is true of how the characters are portrayed - the show doesn't have to tell you about sukeroku's vices, because you see them every time he leers at a woman on the street or begs for booze money. It doesn't have to tell you what his strengths are as a storyteller, because they're plain to see in how his performances are cut together and how people react to them - very rarely do we avert our eyes from his performance, except when kikuhiko gets caught inside his own head while watching.

I can't overstate how well this show is directed and edited. whereas ERASED is often bold and striking with its visuals, rakugo is very subtle, intimate and artful, mirroring the way that rakugo itself is performed. as Kikuhiko says in this episode "this story can either make them laugh or cry, depending on how it's performed." ERASED is great for learning to appreciate the broad strokes and grand flourishes of good direction. Rakugo is just as great for discovering the nuances of the craft.

 Utawarerumono - The False Faces: I'm torn about this show, because while I love the unique japanese fantasy setting,  it has some truly awful pacing problems. there have only been about six episodes worth of plot advancement, with 11 episodes of harem comedy nonsense sandwiched between them, and while I like the characters they develop in those filler episodes, they create some serious storytelling problems.

Those sort of came to a head in episode 17, which is basically a giant exposition jump (albeit a very well-written one). when you spend most of your episodes on faffing about, you end up having to cram a LOT into the few with real plot significance. with that said, I have to say that I've really enjoyed watching this series for its music and visuals, and for the hints of a really solid epic fantasy hiding behind the nonsense. and hey, at least they got back to the plot with more running time left to go than charlotte. if the plot keeps moving at this pace, it should be fine.

I can't say what happened this episode because it's a pretty huge spoiler, but suffice it to say, I like the themes they're playing around with here, and I'm eager to see where they go with them.  

Haikyuu!: My favourite sports anime, Baby Steps, is all about the psychology of tennis - the subtle things that go into winning a match. Haikyuu is not subtle. It's all about the build up and the big moments - the big wins, and the big failures. When baby steps wants to raise the narrative stakes, it presents an interesting, nuanced challenge for Eiichiro to overcome by thinking his way through. When Haikyuu wants to raise the stakes, it presents a simple but seemingly insurmountable challenge that the team can only beat by rising to the challenge.

In its last episode, Haikyuu threw up a big one: karasuno's captain, Sawamura, has hit his head and won't be able to play in a decisive match. The other team is very strong and steady, and without their leader, Karasuno risks spinning out of control. To the audience things seem pretty hopeless, but this gives some of the background players a chance to step up prove themselves.

Chikara Ennoshita - the boring-looking one - proves himself to be a surprisingly competent secondary captain, and does a great job balancing out the team's flaws. It's not enough to push them further ahead, but they do maintain the lead that sawamura cemented to win the round. the timid Yamaguchi is also given a chance to shine with his floater serve, but he ends up getting cold feet at the last second - they still win, but he feels like a coward. hopefully he'll get a chance to redeem himself by the end of the season - despite being a background character, his arc has been one of the most compelling parts of the season thus far.

This episode accomplished a lot in terms of establishing a character we previously knew very little about and advancing the arc of the team's meekest player. It also serves to hammer home how much stronger karasuno has become - they're no longer crippled by the loss of one key player. Still, they are on the back foot, and the next round of this match should be tense. I'm looking forward to it.

And that's everything I got around to watching today. Lemme know if you guys enjoyed reading this, and if you did I'll try to do more things like it in the future!