No Space for Stars

It’s been awhile since I put together a multi-show post, but I’ve finally caught up on 90% of everything as the season is about to close. So as I take a break from constructing the next season chart, lemme take a few minutes to praise or mock this season’s lineup.

 
 
 

Space Dandy
“What are we watching?”
httpss://twitter.com/tldranimu/status/447512572368261120
httpss://twitter.com/tldranimu/status/447513181360242688
httpss://twitter.com/tldranimu/status/447513966919827456

I hate to be a buzzkill for those of you who thought Cowboy Bebop was like this, but it wasn’t. This is what Cowboy Bebop would have been if it were made today, instead of back when anime meant something. Standards and poors aside, there are moments when this show can be rather interesting, but they’re so few and far in-between, it’s like watching an entire season of current The Simpsons expecting it to be like it was in the 90’s. There is simply a huge gap between what viewers want to see now than back then. If this show could nail more of its fifth episode in every episode, it would be fairly interesting to watch, but as it stands, this show is exactly what we would have gotten if Ren and Stimpy’s Space Cadets ever became a full-season show.

What’s worse is they green-lit a second season for this. Now I know how Shrek went down the shitter.

Seitokai Yaukindomo S2
“You heartless bastard, she lives on scandal and gossip. Like Arianna Huffington”
SYD is SYD, sex, jokes, and rock and roll. All together, but not always in that order. Of course, anything involving Hata is just gold-star status.

httpss://twitter.com/Cecil_234/status/447461461825056768

There was a time when I bought all sorts of DVDs, box sets, manga, and collectables. But after having moved five or six times in the last ten years and having to box all that shit up, much less living in places with small places for storage, almost all of that stuff is sitting in the basement collecting dust. I never watch it, and 50% of it is available on Netflix or some other service, or downloadable from the internet. So besides the Eva Rebuild BDs, and a Tenchi Universe set I bought last year, I have not bought anime on DVD in about eight years. Same with manga. SYD is good, but not enough for me to buy in physical media.

A Suzu Nendoroid though would be worth it.

Kill la Kill
“DON’T LOSE YOUR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY~”
I’ve quipped many words about this show, but in case you don’t care to look back, this show started out hot, got very cold for a number of episodes, and then superheated up in the final quarter of the show to be something I actually look forward to watching, even so much that I am willing to put through this sort of slop:

httpss://twitter.com/nyarth/status/447463944136183808

I don’t usually make it a policy here to comment on fansub groups, because they’re all equally shitty in their own right, but they bring us the cartoons in the englishes, so I look past the particulars of how things are translated. But having watched KLK all season from Horrible, picking up the Underwater subs on Thursday nights for that fresh catch feeling made me blink at the word “Godrobe”. Or, as Nyarth pointed out, “Omnisilk”. They just seem awkward. It’s not like I need every word translated, but I also don’t need “hot words” left untranslated either. We’ve all seen the memes of what I’m talking about.

As for the final episode, well, frankly, at this point it’s going to be a SPIRAL DREAMS ending or Trigger is finished in the anime business. With this momentum, anything less would be a complete cop-out. Mako has made this show what it is, even with tsundere-Satsuki. If I don’t LOSE MY PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANTS on this episode, I’m going to just crash my car now and get it over with. Love is over.

Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta
“Glad the characters didn’t get too attached to each other.”
Consistency is the key part of any form of media, among the finer things in life, and this show sucks completely at maintaining any sort of consistency. Bandai Visual is no stranger to killing off characters, thinking that they’re so important to the plot that their death will create genuine emotion in the characters as well as the viewers. But it was completely artificial. We didn’t spend enough time viewing these characters to care when they’re killed. But what is worse is that even the show’s characters don’t care about each other. Most of the main cast just shrugs and goes “Well it’s our duty!” and the senior officers considered them expendable in the first place. So no one really cares about anyone else, so why would I care? The only two characters they spend any time building up are Ka-el and Claire/Nina, and even there, it’s nothing really special. I mean, does no one in that country read a history book? It’s not like he changed his face to avoid detection. But given his genuine hate for Nina Vento, I expected more from him when he realized Claire was her. I mean, I guess that hate had to fade anyway, but it happened in one episode? Too much shoved into too little time. This show would have benefited from a full season run with more character development to actually make their deaths meaningful.

Golden Time
“EVERYONE A SHIT”
One of the reasons I like Golden Time is that when dealing with adult relationships, it still reminds us that most people still act like petty high schoolers when it comes to relationships, even in college. Kaga Koko still runs high in the department of being a huge bitch about everything, but competing for her throne are Miss Ultrasonic, Linda, Yana, pretty much everyone is dysfunctional except 2D-kun, who is the only sane character of the show. The problem is, I want to feel bad for Koko at times, because she really just wants to be loved, but then she goes and does shitty things and reminds you that all she wants is attention, and that she has no idea how to deal with Banri if/when his memories return. At the same time, Banri is a pretty big asshole for not understanding her very well. I get that he is afraid of losing his present memories, but it doesn’t mean he needs to turn his back on her. Linda is also kind of a bitch for taking advantage of all of this to be there for him when he does revert, but isn’t trying to get him more help and remove herself from the equation, which is likely making it all worse.

Good fucking god, I’m actually giving a shit about meta-analyzing this show. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck~

I think I liked it better when it was SUPER BANRI BROS.

Nobunagun
“Tentacle porn? In my historical-figures-with-weapons anime? Okay.”
I rather like Nobunagun for that one thing it does well, and that’s over-the-top monster-of-the-week action with very little in-between. There isn’t very much else special to it, but it’s a guilty pleasure I dare not remove from my docket because it keeps the palette fresh. But then, a wild other opinion appeared:

All the elements for a yawn-inducing Pacific Rim/EVA mashup are there, but there’s certain something that keeps saving the otherwise doomed premise. My closest guess would be the efficient pacing that prevents the show from dragging for too long on any specific cliché, like an anime production version of applying a motion blur filter and the [intensifies]-caption.

-Winter 2014 Pre-Finale Awards / Jinx

I would think any good MotW show would do this well, because even though you’re sort of resetting every week and killing the baddie in a slightly different way, there are still things happening in the background that carry over from week-to-week, culminating in the sort of ending you get from shows like GaoGaiGar where everyone has to put their shit on the line to save the world. I wouldn’t mind this show trying to develop the characters and plot a little more, but considering they at least spent one episode showing us where Grandma came from, I can’t fault them for at least trying in the short span they have. It’s still doing better than 98% of the other shows that knowingly squander a thirteen episode block by just doing random stupid shit for the first twelve episodes and then coming up with some shoestring plot in the last episode to convince some suit they’re worthy of a second season. Kampfer, I am obviously looking at you.

I’m sure this show will just end with Nobunagun winning, getting her LESBIAN END, and leaving Jack alone in a corner to cry with Gandi consoling him. I mean, best plot would be Tentacle Monster impregnating Nobunagun and taking over the world with evolved aliens with E-Gene powers. Some doujin artist needs to make this happen.

Wizard Barristers
“OBJECTION.. or.. whatever we’re doing this week.”
Honestly, Wizard Barristers has been one of my top favorites this season. It’s got the characters, the plot, the premise, and has been pretty good week-after-week. Even though the whole “fatten her up with magical powers” thing in order to awaken some demon seems a little cliche, the way they’ve slowly unfolded it behind everything else has been pretty good. The visuals still nag me in places once and awhile, but are tolerable. Wakamoto Frog though really sells it. BON.

Mahou Sensou
“The moral of the story is you shouldn’t have siblings. Especially back-stabbing shitbags.”
With two episodes remaining, I’m wondering why we weren’t getting the full story behind Wizard Brace and the Ghost Trailers much sooner, now that the wars have begun. Aside from that, there is the Nanase family and especially Gekkou, who is just so fucking annoying to watch on screen. WAH MY BROTHER STOLE THE GIRL I LIKED AND FUCKED UP MY LEG WAH. I might enjoy him getting REKTED whenever Sissy McSisserson gets his shit together and becomes this show’s Last Action Hero. I’m still waiting for Isoshima tit manipulation from the first episode. Waiting until death it seems. God forbid we do Mui fanservice but not Isoshima fanservice.

httpss://twitter.com/tldranimu/status/447399060849582080
httpss://twitter.com/tldranimu/status/447399282220744704

I had to cut the plot with some sort of joke. I mean, an organization created for the purpose of command and control that later turns into your friendly neighborhood magic school for the supposed benefit of new magicians? I guess every plot can’t be Harry Potter now.

Witchcraft Works
“I HUGGED A TREE AND THE SEVENTIES HAPPENED!”
Quite honestly, I wondered how JCSTAFF was going to run with this manga adaptation, given their LN adaptations leave less to be desired, but surprisingly, I have actually been enjoying the anime version of Witchcraft, where I wasn’t really excited by the manga. The premise is still pretty weak, but in a surprise turn of events, a lot of character-focus happens in this series that goes a little above cookie-cutter cliches associated with this sort of bullshit. I may also enjoy the fact Ayaka is so deadpan about everything from speech to jokes. I appreciate deadpan humor a little too much.

Noragami
“Power Word: Taint”
httpss://twitter.com/CirNobar/status/447718846892638208

I’ve been outclassed at my own TLDR game it seems. But seriously, if we want to talk about consistency here, every episode builds on the last, moving what I’ve referred to as American Gods: The Anime, further forward. Glamorous Hiyori aside, the rest of the cast are no slouches either. Bishamon’s crew reminded me of why Hayate was great in Nanoha, she herself was okay, but her surrounding cast were always a step ahead of her. Likewise, Kazuma stands in his own class, for reasons yet revealed. Kofuku cuts the thick air with her silly antics and keeps this show from becoming too emotionally dense. But really, Hiyori is the glue that holds this boat together, and she does it without overpowering any other single character in the show, including the headliner Yato. I really would like to pick this manga up again, because I sort of got bored and put it down after the lengthy opening chapters that the anime thankfully skipped, and having watched this out, I am willing to bet it’s much better in the book. Me and my shitty attention span sometimes.

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Few more shows to catch up on, hopefully I’ll be good for the final weeks to review on. Stay tuned for more on next season, or rather, JOJO SEASON. Oh, and maybe Goku.

But what this Sunday needs, is more Hiyori.