Ah! My Goddess (TV) + specials | 7/10
Not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but in a way I’m far more interested in seeing the historical value of this than I am the show itself. Character-wise Belldandy was such an integral step in the ‘fantastical fiancee’ sub-genre that Urusei Yatsura pioneered.
Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore no Tsubasa + Specials | 7/10
The Megami-sama anime has two canons, and of them this one can often feel a bit messy. It was already apparent in the previous season but becomes much more glaring here. Across the 51 episodes that make up the two seasons there are but two real plot points that get used for drama – Urd being a half-demon and Belldandy feeling insecure about her relationship with Keiichi. I’m usually a defender of the romcom statusl quo, but it gets, shall we say, a teensy bit grating after the fifth time having an arc where the main pair’s relationship is strained until someone spurs Keiichi into affirming his love to Belldandy, who is then overcome with joy despite having gone through this routine so many times before…
Ah! My Goddess: Tatakau Tsubasa | 7/10
Ah! My Goddess: Itsumo Futari de | 7/10
Ah! My Goddess (OVA) | 8/10
As one would expect from the era it has a nicer art style than the 2000s series. The newer one adapts way more content but these five episodes of OVA felt like they had more bite to them. And can I point out how amazing it was that Keiichi actually looks like a regular guy instead of the ugly muppet we got in the next adaptation? Urd’s hair here looks pretty glorious compared to the later design too.
Ah! My Goddess Movie | 8/10
Listen. I’ve seen a lot of Third Impact scenes in my time. But good golly this one was breathtaking.
Bakuon + Specials | 7/10
Offbeat motorbike K-On parody manga is still fun.
Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 1 | 7.5/10
Chobits | 5/10
Sumomo’s Big Day Out was a pretty good anime. There was some other stuff going on too but it’s not that important. I watched the first 17~ episodes rather rapidly and enjoyed it, but once it hits the sci-fi plot about the chobits series it totally lost me. The series really did not to be anything more than Chi cutely parroting Hideki’s actions and Sumomo being a spastic goofball, and actively suffered any time it strayed from that status quo. Was such a chore to actually finish, which really took me by surprise.
D-1 Devastator | 7/10
Well its “when you hit 300mph you get transported to a pocket dimension where monsters are waiting” was one of the more unique premises I’ve seen in these random sci-fi OVAs to be fair.
DanMachi S1 + OVA | 4/10
Re:Sword Art on Titanosuba sure was a pretty not that good anime. I always feel like it’s kinda pointless or silly to hate on things like this which are very unabashedly written for a hyper mainstream turn-your-brain-off audience, or pretend to be surprised when something you went in expecting to be dumb is indeed dumb. More often than not when I see someone go “wow popular show X is so terrible look at me” in an overly negative fashion, it makes them look more embarrassing than the show itself. Because that much should just be part of the deal. In watching something like this, one has no real right to act bewildered when it turns out to be a ham-fisted male gaze romp where you spend 90% of your time wondering how the seiyuu put up with this. But at the same time with this show in particular I feel like I do have to acknowledge that, yeah, it’s unapologetically moronic on so many levels. Hestia was fun as expected – though criminally deprived of screentime, the production qualities were solid enough, and the soundtrack was surprisingly great. But this was all in constant friction with the rest of the show deliberately trying to be as moronic as possible any time the characters opened their mouths. On to the next cour.
DanMachi: Orion no Ya | 5/10
DanMachi: Sword Oratoria | 6/10
It’s strange to see the unlikeable rival squad from the main series become more likeable than the original protagonist, and they even introduced a new perspective character who is for all intents and purposes just Bell but better.
Dark Guardian Takegami | 7/10
Susa was really cool to see since he’s a step in the Obari-derivative Tekkaman Evil design lineage.
Denshin Mamotte Shugogetten | 7/10
The better production qualities were really nice, and Shao’s moe points went way up this time around.
DS Anime Soushuuhen ’98 (Puyo Puyo shorts) | 5/10
Noticed these existed so I watched them. I just really love the idea of the franchise. An offbeat dungeon crawler establishing the characters’ comically messed up history across a large amount of years, that then randomly spins off into a cutesy puzzle game series at the end. Arle is so darn sassy and I am all about it. First person dungeon crawler was really not a genre I expected to enjoy, but if it’s of this level I think it’s a surprisingly addicting little experience, and I appreciate that dipping my toes in here might help prepare me for Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei further down the line too (Future note: It did not). I’ve also stumbled upon quite a few good tracks. Anyway all that was about the franchise whoops. The shorts were mostly nothing, but it was cool seeing the characters animated.
Expelled From Paradise | 9/10
Fate/Stay Night (2006) | 7/10
Nowhere near as bad as its reputation would suggest. Though I suppose it is pretty common for me to end up thinking shows are neither as good or as bad as the rest of the community does. Saber still worst girl tho
Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel III [spring song] | 7/10
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (Movie) | 8/10
Fate is a good franchise. This was mad cool. Apparently even dumb-dumb UBW can become an absolute joy to watch if you manage to separate it from Ufotable’s obtrusive compositing, uneappealing art style and braindead dialogue. They didn’t even mention “seigi no mikata” once! You have no clue how vindicating it felt to be presented with a version where I was able to fanboy during the Shirou vs Archer clash.
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season – sunny day
Final Approach | 6/10
Haha wow this sure is zany and fu- SUDDENLY DRAMA. It’s hard to make me dislike a cohabitation romcom or arranged marriage story and that does remain true here, but man this was badly written.
Girls und Panzer das finale 2 | 8/10
I thought this last film too, but I might need to do a rewatch of GuP. I don’t remember being particularly impressed with its TV series, but in the films so far the ensemble has been firing on all fronts.
Girls und Panzer: Taiyaki War
GR Giant Robo | 4/10
Giant Robo trying to be New Getter Robo, with Serial Experiments Lain sprinkled all over. I kept joking about B somewhat reminding me of Lain and the early 2000s TV reporter presentation being kinda similar, and then this stuff happened in the finale. Yet it was only while going to set it to completed that Konaka’s name finally caught my eye on the staff list. Which makes perfect sense. Anyway unfortunately this anime kinda sucked. It had a lot of things in its favour, such as the well-realised media aesthetic, politically ambiguous story, great soundtrack, and heavy metal themes to accompany a handful of fun battles. The mech designs were all interesting, and one in particular was cool enough to make me consider updating my old Mecha Megamix collage to slap it on there. The series had a lot of genuinely interesting ideas, and should have had a lot going for it, yet in spite of all that it was very much a chore to watch. Like, I want to praise a lot about it, but the series just sucks. The template seemed to be there, but “mega edgy Giant Robo” might just be a premise that would never work no matter how hard you tried. Except the last three episodes which for some reason were fantastic and a total joy to watch. The last episodes make me feel like I should raise its score, and I’ll probably settle for a 4/10, yet at the same time I just…don’t want to give it higher than a 3. What a problematic experience.
Granbelm | 7.5/10
A fantastic protagonist and a handful of good characters in what is otherwise a generally unremarkable battle royale with weird chibi-mechs.
Gunsmith Cats | 7/10
Fun.
Haifuri Movie | 7/10
High School Fleet is a cgdct. It’s no Das Finale since those movies are kinda nutty, but still a very nice outing since under ordinary circumstances I way prefer this cast and setting to GuP. The soundtrack had quite a selection of great tracks.
HenZemi (TV) | 4/10
When I read the “seminar for abnormal people” premise and saw the cute art style, I was expecting for it to be something quirky like Galko-chan. Definitely was not prepared for how genuinely uncomfortable it’d be, but I guess I respect that. Doesn’t mean I enjoyed it though.
Hibike! Euphonium: Chikai no Finale
Human Lost | 6/10
Because I’m apparently weak to the phrase “only available for 3 days” I watched this while it was up on Animelab. It was better than I expected, considering the title, synopsis and studio made me think I’d come out the other side giving it a 3/10. The script was pretty bland and the thematic exploration was super ham-fisted, but it was entertaining enough. The set design and colour design were both quite nice, which was a pleasant surprise.
Jinryoku Senkan | 6/10
Interesting mech designs and a mega cute girl (pretty much just inverse Mikumo), but not much else. It feels kinda nice to see Gainax doing a mecha again, but said mecha scenes themselves are such disappointments, the fight animation being incredibly sloppy and constantly off-model in very jarring ways.
Konosuba Movie: Legend of Crimson | 4/10
Adored the (wholesome) Kazumin moments since that ship is super precious, but beyond that I think the film centred itself on the worst parts of Konosuba. There was less of its genius comedic chemistry and more of the “haha boobs lol kazuma u so scummy” side. Was not a fan of the way it antagonized the villain for essentially being trans, and this dislike was only exacerbated by how everyone else in the theatre was cracking up at it. I guess a positive is that this film was so bad it finally pushed me to go and read the far superior LN?
Kyochuu Rettou Movie | 3/10
…What?
Love Live Nijigasaki! – Mirai Harmony
Love Live Nijigasaki! – Muteki*kyuu Believer
Love Live Sunshine (rewatch) | 10/10
Narrative brilliance and a rural setting that feels so much like home. Or in more words:
Love Live Sunshine 2 (rewatch) | Under the umbrella of S1’s 10/10
Sweet, sweet melancholy.
Love Live Sunshine: Over the Rainbow (rewatch) | Under the umbrella of S1’s 10/10
Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of my hitotsu hitotsu no omoide tachi ga daiji nanda zutto kirei na bokura no takaramono da yo donna tooku e hanarete mo kitto mieru itsumo no keshiki kokoro no naka ni shimatte aru kara aitaku nattara me o tojite minna o yonde mite soshitara kikoeru yo kono uta ga hora tsugi wa doko? Issho ni yukou wasurenai wasurenai yume ga areba kimi mo bokura mo narerun da naritai jibun ni wasurenai wasurenai yumemiru koto ashita wa kyou yori yume ni chikai hazu da yo hitori hitori wa chigatte ite mo onaji datta yo ima kono toki o taisetsu ni kizanda no wa zettai kienai suteki na monogatari minna to dakara dekita koto da ne sugoi ne arigatou aitaku narunda wakatteru minna o yobitai yo itsudemo kikoeru yo kono uta ga mada hashireru ne issho ni yukou tomaranai tomaranai atsui kodou ga kimi to bokura wa korekara mo tsunagatterun da yo tomaranai tomaranai atsuku natte atarashii kagayaki e to te o nobasou ima datte mijuku dakedo saki e susumanakucha sore shikanain da yo ne mirai e wasurenai wasurenai yume ga areba kimi mo bokura mo narerun da naritai jibun ni wasurenai wasurenai yumemiru koto ashita wa kyou yori yume ni chikai hazu da yo tomaranai tomaranai atsui kodou ga kimi to bokura wa korekara mo tsunagatterun da yo tomaranai tomaranai atsuku natte atarashii kagayaki e to te o nobasou
Love Live Sunshine! – Cotton Candy Ei-Ei-Oh
It’s an animated music video so sure. I love this.
Love Live Sunshine!- Dazzling White Town
Love Live Sunshine! – Kokoro Magic A to Z
Love Live Sunshine! – Miitaiken Horizon
Remembered that I had still yet to add Mutekikyuu Believer or Dazzling White Town to my list, then realised that I had never actually watched the full MV of this.
Love Live Sunshine! – Never Giving Up
chika is the cool cool
Love Live Sunshine! – Pure Phrase
It’s not animation but I’m already this many Love Live MVs deep and by golly I’m gonna pad that. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider just throwing in the Jimo-Ai Dash live action performance too.
Love Live! – A song for You! You? You!!
The song is just alright imo. Which is a shame. After seeing just how much the compositions have continued to compound upon themselves through the years of Sunshine and PDP, for the big musical revival of μ’s to be this is just…whelming. It sounds like the status quo. Not pushing-the-boundary μ’s. I like status quo μ’s, but is that really enough for the group’s comeback after four years in slumber? It’s a far cry from your endgame single Moment Ring which represents the traditional μ’s style refined to its limit, or the rare moment a μ’s member was permitted to sing freely in Arifureta Kanashimi no Hate. This could pass for an early track and when the rest of the franchise has already settled into music so much more dynamic I just don’t think it’s enough from this group in 2020.
For equivalent-sounding tracks have a gander at After School Navigators vs Strawberry Trapper or Anemone Heart vs Torikoriko Please. There’s a very distinct divide in composition clarity, and this single was their chance to cross to the other side. Looking at all the groups and comparing the characters to the seiyuu, it’s always been possible to perceive a seeming drive to have the actors value the character’s voice over their true vocal range. This lessens with Aqours (especially in the solos and post-anime content), and then PDP is afforded even more freedom. But μ’s has always been the group most chained by this. Look at Kussun or Pile outside of this, performing songs actually designed for them in the way they naturally want to sing them. It takes like five seconds for the vocals to be better than Nozomi and Maki’s entire discography (for which, off the top of my head, I think their respective best offerings are Onaji Hoshi ga Mitai -Nozomi Mix- and Aishiteru Banzai -Maki Mix-). This was their moment to finally bring that flair into μ’s. Through the rudimentary synths, comparatively primitive instrumentation and muddy sound mixing, being the group with the least bite is kind of their deliberate calling card. There faintly seems to be intention behind it when contextualised within the musical evolution of the other groups and I acknowledge that. But there still is room for more variety that could been injected into the song.
Seeing them in good CGI is an experience, though perhaps less impactful since the All Stars OP had already aired by this point. Similarly, seeing the cast drawn with 2020 art is quite endearing, but there are a shocking amount of scenes that are either off-model or plain sloppy and I lament that more care wasn’t put into an event of such prestige. The BokuHika kaleidoscope backgrounds were an unnecessary replication too imo. I wanted more and μ’s deserved better – I guess that’s how I’d summarize this MV. However I am a man true to myself and since there was at least one shot where Nico and Maki were in the same frame that means this gets a tenouttaten babyyyyyyy.
Now with all that said the B-side Natte Shimatta is acceptable however.
Macademi Wasshoi | 7/10
Fun enough.
SDF Macross | 6/10
I know I’ll offend both the Macross community and those who begrudgingly slogged through the last Ideon rewatch with me in saying this…but Space Runaway Ideon did it better. Although I enjoyed bits of it here and there, and didn’t feel especially slighted by it until the messy final arc, I ultimately feel that SDF Macross just wasn’t that good. No matter how much I wanted it to be.
SDF Macross: Do You Remember Love | 10/10
This, however, is that good. Unsurprising, given how revered it is. The r/anime watch_order wiki calling this film “absolutely gorgeous” is somehow the understatement of the (last) century, for the movie was two hours of pure awe. It benefits a lot from the tightened pacing and snappier combat, enhancing all that was good in the original, while rewriting, rearranging and restructuring the things that marred it. What a magical experience. With pretty much all media except Initial D, I’m the type to consider soundtracks spoilers. I pay a lot of attention to music, so I always try and aim to encounter things in their original context first. Hearing all the new, more dynamic arrangements of SDF motifs was great. But more than anything it was amazing to finally, finally listen to Ai Oboete Imasu Ka after all these years orbiting it (as well as properly getting context for a subtle story element that I’ve heard about Mikumo’s Ruchetto Arcan seemingly being the original Protoculture song Ai Oboete Imasu Ka was interpreted from). Before this I think the most exposure I’d had was once accidentally listening up to the chorus of the Walkure cover before realising what it was and stopping.
SDF Macross Flashback 2012
May as well knock it out before moving on. *Ai, Oboete Imasu Ka montage.* Yep. In the original I suppose it’s vindicating to see Hayase get some degree of happiness after being bullied by the narrative for so long, and in DYRL I really liked how the story was restructured to make Hikaru a regular soldier who happened to get tangled up with his idol, before ultimately realising that he really is just her fan and nothing more. And that all characters reconcile with this as the best way forward. But screw it, I’m still team Minmay.
Fever Macross Pachinko Music Clips
Neat.
Macross Plus: Movie Edition | 7/10
The same thoughts I had when I watched the OVA version: “the Valkyries’ high-octane transforming dogfights are still the coolest thing ever, Sharon is a babe, and Information High is the second best insert song in anime.” The human drama doesn’t particularly do anything for me here though.
Macross 7 | 7/10
It’s enjoyable enough. There are a lot of things I do like, and a lot of things I don’t. It’s for the most part just a better reinterpretation of the SDF story. Mylene is unbearably cute, and the creators clearly knew so too considering she’s the only character to get a different outfit every episode. Her parents being who they are is something I greatly enjoy. I’ve always loved that kind of generational interaction in media, another example being that Atelier Lulua’s protagonist is the daughter of the protagonist from Atelier Rorona. That kind of thing. Although I was initially put off by the friction between the two parents, I soon remembered that this is an infinitely more interesting use of them too, since their romantic development in the original was, uh, literally nonexistent (I don’t think I’ll ever get over the recap line “Max and Miria’s battle has ended in marriage”). Though for as eyecatching as Mylene’s design is, the best part of the show is definitely Gamlin. His chemistry with her is sweet, and all the growth that’s happened in his relationship with Basara far exceeds what I expected out of this character when he was introduced. There’s something quite humorous about the way that you expect this to be a Mylene-Basara-Gamlin love triangle but for a while there it sorta ends up becoming the Sivil harem. On that note, she was a huge surprise. Like my initial shock at first seeing the giant Zentradi tear out from a walker pod, the Protodeviln being such threats even outside a mech totally eclipsed the individual power scale I thought this franchise would ever reach.
The repetitiveness is hard to overlook though. It’s somewhat mitigated by the pacing being leisurely enough that I always think “yeah, I can watch three more episodes of this”, but like man is it repetitive. When it’s somehow more repetitive than the original show made in the prime era of stock footage you know something’s up. Hearing Planet Dance so much certainly didn’t make that any easier.
Macross 7 Movie
Secret best girl appears.
Macross 7 Encore
More secret Zentradi best girls appear and a very nice new rendition of Light the Light. On that note, when I finished the series I stated that there were a minimal amount of tracks I particularly liked. But now that I’ve had some distance from the torment of hearing Planet Dance three times in every 22 minute episode, I’ve been quite enjoying letting Fire Bomber autoplay on Youtube. They’re so nice! Anyway L͞è͢t̕’̡s͞ ̵͞ą̴ll҉̵ ̨l̵̨ó͢vȩ͝ ͠͏B̴͜à́s̕a̕r̸̛a͏.͏͡
Macross 7 Plus
Macross Dynamite 7 | 7.5/10
Aside from the obvious objections to the totally tone-deaf attempted date-rape of Mylene in what is otherwise a light-hearted story about a funny man singing aggressively at aliens, I find everything else was simply utilising the best parts of Macross 7 while remedying its horrendously repetitive snail-pace by being (what is effectively) a movie. Unsurprising, considering this franchise’s apparent affinity for film. Basara singing with the space whale was the absolute coolest thing! That might just be the best scene in the entire franchise. And I always love those kind of ‘boys will be dumb’ bromance jokes like Basara and Gamlin both flying straight past Mylene.
Macross Zero | 7/10
Very pretty. I have my reservations about it retconning to introduce Protoculture discussions even before SDF and the encountering of Zentradi, but meh. Delta also seemingly does that with Ruchetto Arcan altering the original statement about Ai Oboete Imasu Ka being ‘just a song that was popular at the time’ so I guess I can overlook this here.
Macross 25th Anniversary Special – All That VF (Zero ver.)
wow
Macross Frontier | 8/10
Probably the least ambitious Macross with the least punchy storytelling, but making up for it by just being generally solid. It neither dips nor peaks as intensely as SDF, 7 and Delta frequently do. Maybe that played a part in making it so easy to binge. Things definitely happened, but by the finale I didn’t quite feel like the anime had really made its point? It just kind of happened. I’m not saying I missed the whole narrative about overcoming your blood or anything, but I dunno, after the opening act nothing felt quite as weighty as it did in other entries. But maybe that’s my own fault for watching it in three days. Although with that said I did give it an 8, which is on the higher end of my Macross spectrum, so I was certainly a fan. That final 12-minute long mashup was one of the most potent musical moments in the entire franchise, and the anti-DYRL sequence in the first phase of the final battle was quite an interesting idea too, though Delta obviously fleshes this scenario out more significantly.
Sheryl’s legacy as a sex symbol precedes Macross as a whole so I had obviously known about that since long ago, but I wasn’t expecting so much snark from her. That was a welcome surprise. Ranka is not at all the genki girl I thought she would be, however. One cour bullying Ranka followed by another bullying Sheryl was perhaps not the most eloquent way of implementing a love triangle. Although I know it’s the major Macross debate, I’m still not sure which camp I’m in. Sheryl is an absolute riot, but I really root for Ranka’s happiness and found it quite refreshing how she’s immediately like “ah dang dat boy is cute and i wanna do dates n stuff”. But Sheryl is such a babe. So it’s hard to tell.
Also the soundtrack was incredible. I know this is where peeps will go “well obviously, it’s Yoko Kanno”, but honestly her compositions have never stood out to me before. Not enough to recognise her by name like I do someone such as Sagisu or Yasuharu. The only other thing I’m aware she did is Macross Plus, and that’s only remembering the credit, I don’t actually know that I had any impressions of the bgm. But the space symphonies were so powerful here.
Macross Frontier Movie 1: Itsuwari no Utahime | 8/10
It felt like they realised Frontier was Ranka’s story so they scrambled to slap Aimo into Sheryl’s setting in a bid to make her more narratively significant. The second I saw this I went “oh no, Ranka is losing this and it’s going to make me salty since she certainly wasn’t going to lose the original Frontier”. Other than that it was by and large the same deal as DYRL’s readaptation, though of course nowhere near as radical. Increased production values with better pacing, a more properly realised version of the setting, and a more organic progression throughout these new locations. Characters that were once more abrasive in the TV version (namely Brera, in a similar position to Kaifun) are rewritten to be more likeable, and plot elements that slow the story such as Ai-kun being illegal, or [the guy that was Ozma’s girlfriend’s fiance], are altered and mashed together in order to keep everything moving. This franchise just does film versions really really well. Also I thought it was kinda cute that they took Ranka’s weird freakish unexplained frog phone thingo and turned it into a whole setpiece where unique phone designs are a fad throughout the Frontier and Galaxy.
Macross Frontier Movie 2: Sayonara no Tsubasa | 8/10
Well lo and behold. What did I say. I was still a bit unsure after the TV series, but I guess I did stan Ranka after all. Am salty, because in part it just feels like they backtracked on their original decision. Ranka got robbed. Compared to the first few entries which felt a bit more haphazardly slapped together, it is interesting to see how the progression through Zero > Frontier > Delta has established a more fluent stylistic pathway.
Macross Frontier Music Clip Shuu: Nyankuri
Macross FB7 | 8/10
This was actually incredible, even though under no circumstances should it be. It’s just a Macross 7 watch party with the Frontier gang – and I adore it. What a brilliant little project. I was expecting this to just exist in a vacuum, so it’s bittersweet seeing everyone gathering without Alto.
Macross Delta (rewatch) | 8/10
Well, here I am again. Finally looped back to where I began the franchise in 2016. I flippin love Mikumo. Watching this as my first one I definitely didn’t appreciate just how crazy it is that Delta takes place with intergalactic society at long last in full swing.
Macross Delta Movie (rewatch)
Better pacing for the finale at the expense of everything else.
Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul | 3.5/10
Well this sure is Made in Abyss, for better or worse. Mostly worse though. It sucked. This is just concentrated MiA, with even more “but why” tryhard gore (torture porn, really) and even more good kevin penkins good soundtracks, and even more “man I wish these characters were older I really hope no cinema staff walk in”. It was devastatingly boring. “Look how cruel we are” by itself does not a good film make. Furthermore I’m extremely unimpressed with Bondrewd considering how frequent the praise for him as a villain is, when I found the only real noteworthy thing about him are his design and theme song. But I guess that’s always enough for the mainstream audience anyway. Beyond that his narrative was frankly insulting. No, film, you are not going to sell me on an abrupt, unearned reconciliation between Nanachi and her torturer just because you need an emotional climax to end this meandering story on.
Made in Abyss: Marulk-chan no Nichijou | 3/10
Mamotte Shugogetten | 7/10
It’s a pretty standard derivative of Megami-sama. Sadly I never ended up figuring out who the girl was reminding me of (it’s not Cure Selene, Belldandy, Ruri or Hikari).
Manaria Friends | 7.5/10
Something about the cast and setting really made me wish Gust would make a video game adaptation akin to Atelier. It was a super charming little show.
Maoujou de Oyasumi | 8/10
Fun fun. This is one of my top 10 manga and that was a really good adaptation.
Maris the Choujo | 7/10
I noticed at the title screen that this girl was one of the random background panels in UY. That’s so cool! True to form, this OVA also had appearances from the Urusei cast.
Megazone 23 | 7/10
Catchy 80s inserts yes please. The first part was endearing enough, the second was both much worse and much better than it at various points (the Himitsu Kudasai destruction scene deserves to be far more iconic than it is), and I have no particular thoughts on the third other than obvious remarks about its spotty animation. At the very least I appreciated its willingness to have every part be such a drastic narrative leap from the others.
Minky Momo in Tabidachi no Eiki | 7/10
This was dark and trippy, for some reason. Momo gets transported back in time and the ultimate conflict is about trying to stop a war orphan from committing suicide. I thought this was a children’s mahou shoujo.
Minky Momo in Yume ni Kakeru Hashi | 8/10
An incredibly endearing little piece. The idea of the entire OVA taking place people-watching on the one bridge is as ambitious as it is romantic.
Minky Momo: Yume no Naka no Rondo | 7/10
This ending theme is peak 80s anime.
Mirai Nikki | 7/10
Yuno was every bit as great as her reputation would lead you to believe, but man was Yukki a bad protagonist. Every character other than her was bad, really. Though silver-kun at least gets some points for just being Kaworu. Incredibly dumb show all up, but I feel like you can forgive that to a degree since it was also self-aware at many points. Episode 1 was directed really well but the art rapidly collapsed after that.
Mirai Nikki: Redial
As if he wasn’t Kaworu enough, that guy does the signature hands in pockets stance (which I apparently didn’t take a screenshot of before deleting the files.)
Netoge no Yome (rewatch) | 8/10
Nichijou (rewatch) | 10/10
Omoi no Kakera OVA | 7/10
One Room 3 | 7/10
It may have taken its time reaching this point, but this season was legitimately nice to watch.
Pastel Memories | 6/10
Plastic Memories | 7.5/10
(I watched too much that month and in all seriousness don’t remember anything about what I wanted to say for this)
Pokemon Special Music Video: GOTCHA
This is a 10 in my heart but an n/a in my rankings since I don’t usually like rating music videos. Overreaction, sure, but this 3 minute music video honestly feels like a worthy reward for following the franchise for over a decade of my life. This faux-cel animation style needsto be used for a more substantial piece.
Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution | 5/10
It’s effectively just a shot for shot remake of the original with a less interesting art style.
Prefectural Earth Defense Force | 8/10
Fun offbeat comedy. I don’t know who on the staff list is responsible since this isn’t a Rumiko adaptation (and am too lazy to check), but this OVA felt very Urusei Yatsura in terms of aesthetic and humour. The art style and a lot of the faces were straight out of it, and they had a cameo design from someone who looks like every black-haired Rumiko girl ever. They even did the signature UY thing of hiding bonus panels for 1 or 2 frames inside hit effects, and I swear that can’t be a coincidence. Same as UY they had a cameo from an actual Toho kaiju (Varan) instead of just a knockoff, and UY’s iconic camerawork of a super dynamic running shot with an excess of random background details. There were even more explicit references, such as Baradagi wearing the Urusei winter uniform when she infiltrates the school.
Re: Zero Frozen Bonds | 5/10
I like Emilia but everything that happens in this OVA is so, so dumb.
Saekano .fine | 9/10
Sickeningly sweet. On occasion I stumble upon romances that, in spite of their surroundings, are written with such an intimacy that it almost feels like one shouldn’t be peering into their world. This is one of them, against all odds. Megumi and Tomoya’s precarious chemistry – using its multi-layered motivations to create the illusion that it’s far simpler than it actually is – is frankly brilliant. Although it’s always been a component, the way that the film’s production overtly embodies the masturbatory tone their wish-fulfilment game scenario is centred on, feels more potent here than in either of the previous entries. The meta element isn’t anything new, but comes across as highly ambitious, incredibly well-realised and subtly genius this time around. I never expected it to, but it hits its mark. Fine is most certainly my biggest surprise of the year.
Sailor Victory | 7/10
What would be considered a mix of Patlabor and Sakura Wars, if it weren’t for the fact that it released a year before Sakura Wars’ first game did. The offbeat humour was fun. It reminded me of Prefectural Earth Defense Force a bit.
Sakura Kakumei – Hanasaku Otome-tachi | 7.5/10
Thanks to the curse of Vtubers I saw the trailer for that newly announced Sakura Wars smartphone game, and that it also had a special anime. So I watched it. I’ll never turn down idols and magical girls and coloured flames, but this certainly isn’t any Sakura Wars that I know. Though in fairness I suppose I only know the original game. It was unsubbed, but from what I can gather it’s an alternate sequel? Characters that appeared to be older versions of Shinguji Sakura and Tachibana Maria appeared, but referred to as Sakura Nadeshiko and Aoshima Kirin. Anyway, the new main girl Shino was very cute (I always have a bias for the Lain cut), and the special was quite well animated.
Seizei Ganbare Mahou Shoujo Kurumi-chan | 8.5/10
Inferno Cop in my colours. What a riot. I didn’t have high expectations for something in this niche based on past experiences, and the constant tsukkomi initially led me to feel I was correct, but the jokes landed a lot more than I thought they would. Very sad that the next two seasons don’t have subs.
Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV | 10
Gee, thanks for spoiling me on XV when I was just searching for a different SymphoSong Crunchyroll…except unironically because otherwise I probably wouldn’t have gotten back to this for another year or two. You have no clue how liberating it has been to finally, finally be able to say that I freaking love Symphogear.
Aside from the fact that XV immediately establishes itself as the best season of Symphogear by several orders of magnitude (I would have given the final episode of AXZ a 2 and the first episode of XV a 10), the accidental eight month gap I took means that I went back to it free from the frustration that had been building over the course of the prior three seasons (the OG was alright). This show can be so, so good when it isn’t hell-bent on tripping over itself. I’ve always felt like Symphogear should be the perfect anime. A lengthy anime-original combining the magical girl, mecha and idol genres, with a focus on fast-paced brawls, an excessive amount of insert songs, and a generally hammy aesthetic? Tell me that ain’t the sexiest pitch you’ve ever read. But unfortunately it seemed like they would systematically fall short of the potential in that design at every juncture, always diluting its own quality with writing that was just too distractingly dumb to avert your eyes to. Conversely, however, so too did I say back in August when I watched the franchise that XV seemed like it was setting up to be the show they had been trying and failing to become the entire time – and indeed that came to fruition. While all the other entries had to struggle to reach that 7 I currently have them sitting at (and think about significantly lowering each time I mention the franchise), XV storms out the gates as a 10/10…and then just never stops doing that. My word. The perfect marriage of my three favourite genres in a product that shines the brightest it possibly can.
I more or less binged the show in a single day, and I’m in shock at how brilliant it was. By the end of AXZ I had to begrudgingly say “You know what, fine. Screw Symphogear. I will never forgive it for that charade with the enemy trio randomly reappearing out of nowhere with the flimsiest of explanation, only to promptly die yet again in the most insultingly hollow dramatic tension I’ve ever witnessed.” And then it only takes a few minutes into XV for me to go “okay I forgive it”. The fanservice in this was insane. Genjuro fight. Carol fight. Miku fight. And how on earth did they jam that many sicko mode battles into a TV production? XV had it all.
Senki Zesshoushinai Symphogear XV | 7/10
Meanwhile this is the same as it’s ever been.
Space Runaway Ideon: A Contact
But like man is the Ideon an absolute beast of a mech.
Space Runaway Ideon: Be Invoked (rewatch)
What a bold way to close out the story. A first-time viewer may have predicted a lot of things, and I’m equally sure that a big ol space Macbeth into weird cosmic birthday party double whammy was probably not part of those things. I said it first watch and I’ll surely say it again in the next – what a damn cool narrative Ideon is. Settlers on a distant planet accidentally rousing a sleeping god, mistakenly believing the weapon they don’t even understand is their messianic trump card until they can avert their eyes to its hidden horrors no longer, reluctantly continuing to wrestle with the power as it corrodes their sanity, and in the end, yes, being destroyed by it. So striking a story that even despite being cancelled Space Runaway Ideon ended up quite influential within the anime scene, and its effects can be felt in many places.
The way I see it the Ide and Ideon are both quite unabashedly just referencing the “id” in Freud’s ego, superego and id consciousness model. The superego is that which values justice and morality, the id is the animalistic self which selfishly pursues survival, and the ego is that which mitigates between the two. So in that sense the other is not the enemy, but the self. Space Runaway Ideon, though it does dilute focus as it goes on, is largely about the humanity of war. Heavy, meaningful losses on both sides, and the tug of war between their desire to either pursue diplomacy or simply respond with equal hatred. It starts from a battle neither side ever meant to fight, and ignites through a series of circumstance and miscommunications. This is the question Ideon then poses: will the self move towards the reconciliation of the superego, or murder them in the blood of the Ide. As per the legend, if the mitigating humans were to be righteous of heart then the Ide’s malicious tendencies would be suppressed. But can they resist the seduction of its overwhelming power? Such is what Space Runaway Ideon sets out to explore.
The actual film ending is obviously a little bit harder to break down on account of how abstract it is, but I do think the Ide destroyed them. The celebratory tone of the final scene can be a bit of a distraction to make you think it’s somehow a happy ending, but removing yourself from the scene it’s clear to see that it is indeed still the Ide’s plan invoked. The old lives perish and their consciousnesses are absorbed by the Ide, leaving the new life to set out into the universe under its instruction. When actually watching the film it can definitely be easy to be misled that way, as it’s seemingly done intentionally, but removing yourself from it a bit and looking over the events once more you realise the ending is not a happy ending. The Ide successfully consumes all the old life and assimilates them into its own mass-consciousness, subduing them with a sense of fulfillment and ecstasy. Then it sends Messiah and Lou out into the universe to be its new agents. All of which is what everyone was originally fighting to try and stop in the film/latter half of the TV series, but by this point they’re too drunk on its power to oppose its plan anymore. Nobody here is really saved, but merely swallowed by its will. My understanding of the end hinges on A) the earlier discussion where they suggested that the Ide was trying to discard the old life and start anew through Karala’s baby, and B) the disembodied cast members specifically saying that Messiah was about to go on his journey. It’s his journey, not theirs. He becomes the hand with which Ide will touch the physical plane, and the rest are discarded into either the Ide, the ether, or the earth. I know that is rough in the sense that it’s perhaps difficult to reconcile the Ide taking them into itself, since that seemingly betrays the first part of that statement, but idk, it just clicks for me. Be Invoked falls in the realm of works like End of Evangelion, Lum the Forever or Serial Experiments Lain where there are as many valid explanations as there are viewers of the show, so you just think about it and choose what feels right for you tbh. And for me that’s this idea of the Ide stripping them of their ego and consuming them (not becoming the next Ide but being rewritten by the existing one).
I’m still not sold on the idea of the Ide being some sacred judge that suddenly values the balance of the universe and seeks to destroy evil. Yet Be Invoked does, at least on the surface, seem to put it that way, with its notions of fostering the pure of heart, and electing Karala as its prophet to ask for a ceasefire. But that just feels totally inconsistent with the TV series to me? Or what I remember of it, at least. I can’t help but wonder if the writers accidentally steered Be Invoked in a different direction when they added that “limitless power rewarding those who are righteous” legend to A Contact (which was a new addition). Because otherwise I feel there’s gotta be something more moving behind the scenes in order to properly contextualise it as the climax of Space Runaway Ideon.
In the series iirc it’s just presented as a raging titan, not as any kind of moral catalyst, and so everything I’ll ever say about Ideon depends on the notion that the Ide is malicious. It represents the Darwinistic, psychoanalytical id that values its own safety before anything else. It’s violent. It’s manipulative and uncaring. It exists primarily as a survival instinct, wanting to grow as powerful as it can, and swell until its essence devours the entire universe. The kind of monster where they lose their cool for only a few seconds and before they know it an entire planet has already been cut in half. The ship takes them wherever the hell it wants and carelessly spills as much of their blood as it requires, yet simultaneously treats the crew as its cattle who don’t even have the luxury of suicide to escape it. And indeed that sinister touch of the Ide is present in the film too. For as much as they try to attribute a whole slew of meanings to it, in the end Cosmo and Doba ultimately arrive at the conclusion they’re just actors in its game of total annihilation. If not the prior option of the writers just losing the original plot in the wake of A Contact, then for me Be Invoked, as a continuation of the TV series, has to be read from this perspective – a messy story of people misinterpreting its plans until the very end. The pregnant Karala feels she was warped into enemy HQ to ask for a ceasefire, but this merely heightens the hatred. Cosmo wonders if it’s aiding their victory in the battle against the enemy, but later realises that it was trying to wipe out both sides. Doba comes to believe that cooperation is the only remaining method to avoid the Ideon’s wrath, but this avenue is promptly jeopardised by Harulu, and as the conflict nears its end he learns he was mistaken – that the Ide simply wishes to erase everything that stands against it. That it isn’t seeking harmony at all, but merely inciting the final confrontation to eliminate pieces it no longer needed, as each time they think they understand it, that thought then leads them into more loss. That it’s not trying to purge evil, but rather purging those in opposition, removing them simply to channel itself into the more suitable life. It leads them to ruin for its own sake, because “even Ide wants to survive”, and they were no longer the key to its continued existence. Messiah was already shown to have been evolved by the Ide when he was energetic and capable of telepathy at only 4 months, and when he sets off on his journey he presumably does so flooded with the power and will of the Ide, an avatar to rebuild the universe in its own selfish design, not as some kind of neutral reset signalling a hope for the next generation to do better. The way I see it Be Invoked isn’t a fresh start for humanity, but a decisive end where the Ide draws the curtains on free will and takes over (or becomes, effectively) the universe. The invoked Ide wins, and the being formerly known as man collapses within it.
Star Twinkle Precure | 7/10
If nothing else Milky is a fun Lum homage. I like the space setting and characters but it’s hard for me to agree with how frequently and lazily this pulls music from A La Mode and Hugtto. It keeps stealing generic battle and sadness themes rather than composing it’s own, and it’s frankly pretty irreconcilable for me. Got a lot better in the second half.
Star Twinkle Precure Movie: Wish Upon a Song of Stars | 8/10
The art and animation were a clear step above the TV series which was nice
Precure Miracle Universe | 6/10
Precure Super Stars | 7/10
Super Gals | 8/10
Starts out really strong and remains that way for most of its run, but has a few key moments of frustrating and totally unnecessary relationship melodrama that stick out so strongly they end up very difficult to sit through. Regardless, the four main couples are really good, and indeed the entire ensemble is full of fantastic characters.
Super Majingga 3 | 4/10
The illustrious quest against President Andrew of the Andromeda galaxy. It’s a Mazinger ripoff that splits into three ships like Getter and uses equivalents to the Ideon gun and sword of light. Imagine Nadesico’s in-universe parody show Gekigangar 3 except sold as a proper ripoff, that’s what this feels like.
Tales of Crestoria – The Wake of Sin | 6/10
I suppose from the little I’ve seen and played any sense of thematic subtlety does not exactly seem to be this franchise’s strong point. But the “hurr durr am evil” dialogue aside, the mob mentality/cancel culture foundation of this entry seems like a neat idea, and is certainly a more fluent way of establishing anti-heroes than awkwardly-pretend-to-be-ambivalent-at-the-end-of-every-sentence Velvet.
Tamayura: More Aggressive | 6/10
It feels mean to say this but I’m so sick of hearing Potte talk about her late father. I love the characters and the setting so it was fantastic in the smaller OVA bursts that came before, but in a fully fledged series the repetitiveness gets grating fast. Every episode is just Potte whispering emotional things before tying back to her memories of her father at the end.
Tatakae Iczer-1 | 7/10
Obari designs are never not cool.
The iDolM@ster + special | 8/10
“Thanks, I’m cured now” the anime. Jokes aside, it was very fun. Only a handful of songs particularly stuck out to me, but the ensemble was quite endearing, and those fully 2D live concerts were so great! Doing them that way is a very ambitious undertaking, and one that I’ve seen severely messed up many a time in idol anime. But here they were low-key the peak of the show.
The iDolM@ster Movie | 7/10
The iDolM@ster: Shiny Festa
The iDolM@ster: Cinderella Girls + special | 7/10
I was lied to! The intro promised me Airi! She was the one character I really knew before starting the franchise , and I was so excited thinking she was gonna be part of the main cast… At least when it finally got around to an appearance from her she didn’t disappoint. The rest of the show was good too but tbh wasn’t particularly memorable like the first series was, but I do wonder if I perhaps set myself up that way when I didn’t move to stop my experience of this show being “moments with Airi” and “moments without”. In any case, it reminded me more of BanG Dream S2+ where its massive and unexplained cast very clearly indicates that its primary audience is those who have played the gacha beforehand – which I have not. I will say however, that this Producer was a much more interesting character than the last.
The iDolM@ster: Cinderella Girls Gekijou | 7/10
Fun fun. Not even gonna pretend I know any of these extra gacha characters tho.
To Heart + specials | 7/10
It was quite a pleasant surprise that the entire time I seemed to be bracing myself for a love triangle that never really came
To Heart: Remember My Memories | 5/10
Ah yes, there’s the messy romance drama I had been expecting. And a terribly cheap-looking art style to boot.
Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no Tomoshibi | 7/10
It’s Toji and Toji is good.
Tonikaku Kawaii | 7.5/10
Fun fun. I know it’s controversial but I think this is such a genius series. It commits to its premise so hard. “Tonikaku Kawaii”, or “regardless, she’s cute”. That’s quite literally the very point of the series. Why do they get married immediately? Well, that pertains to all the mysteries surrounding Tsukasa and the hints at her immortality, and thus the intertextual link established with this series as a derivative of Ah My Goddess, where at their first meeting handyman Keiichi asks goddess Belldandy to stay by his side forever. Yet the larger answer is actually just because Tsukasa is cute. It has all this complex conspiracy moving beneath the surface – and dares to actually keep it there! Making the very deliberate stylistic decision to have it be less important than Nasa and Tsukasa blushing at each other, like Mikakunin de Shinkoukei on crack. Therefore, “Tonikaku Kawaii”.
Tsugumomo 2 | 7/10
At the start of each new anime season I feel so guilty about the fact my laziness means that I’m still sluggishly playing catchup with seasonals I fell behind on over a year ago. Every time I get halfway through any anime series I think to myself “okay, after this I’ll binge through a bunch of that backlog” and then never do. So I decided to watch Tsugumomo 2. Before saying anything of the others, I at least wanna try and get back to the things I was a source reader for. The show itself was fun enough. Just like the first season it was cool to see that Tsugumomo’s production is designed in such a way where it tends to get better during the fight scenes, rather than the opposite. Cohabitation harem is the ultimate in genres that aren’t cohabitation romcom. Love it. I am disappointed that it mostly reused the same soundtrack from season 1 though. In any case, all’s well that ends well. Watch them not even do a season 3 after this.
Tsurune | 8/10
The finale for this was amazing.
Urawa no Usagi-chan | 4/10
Eh.
Urusei Yatsura Movie 4: Lum the Forever (rewatch) | 8/10
This film rocks. It is kind of interesting from an analytical standpoint though because for as ambiguous it is, it’s hard to glimpse any proper reasoning behind that form. Unlike your Serial Experiments Lains and Be Invokeds which have clear messages concealed within their excessive aesthetic, Lum the Forever feels like it wants you to make it say something, not quite that it has something to say itself. For the longest time my list comment was “full of densely symbolic imagery and ambiguous dialogue that must mean something but i’m too lazy to figure it out”. I suppose it feels somewhat similar to Flip Flappers in that regard. You wouldn’t necessarily be wrong in saying that Lum the Forever is confusing purely for the sake of being confusing, or that there isn’t a message. Reading it at the surface level the production ultimately just leads to the conclusion that everything which happens does so in order reiterate the single, universal truth that Lum is the bestest of best girls woah Lum so cute such a babe Lum all day every day forever and ever let’s all love Lum. The imagery doesn’t necessarily enhance the message in any capacity, and indeed with all that stripped away this is merely yet another version of a plot we see time and time again throughout the franchise. Anyway that sounds overly critical but I love this movie. On this rewatch I finally made some headway into understanding it, or at least contextualising the imagery into a personal reading, and I think somewhat on the right track with regards to those.
Yuru Camp OVA
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