Tag: Deca-Dence

Posted on in anime, Misc. Anime, Reviews

Ranking Every 2020 Anime (That I Actually Finished), From Worst to Best – Part 4

Before we get started, a brief reminder to check out the Introduction post and the previous 3 parts of the list before you read this one. Don’t wanna spoil yourself, y’know?

In any case; there were plenty of anime I liked in 2020, some of which I liked quite a lot. There were not nearly as many that I truly loved. But of those I did, they fall into one of two categories. Either they are sharp, questioning, and political. Or they are joyous reaffirmations of how art can affect us, and how it can carry us forward even through the darkest times of our lives. The two are dissimilar, but complimentary. The former is grounded in realism and the latter in escapism. They tend toward the pessimistic and optimistic, respectively. I think that reflects the character of the year–and I suppose, of myself–quite well. Hopefully you agree. On to the final five!

#5: DECA-DENCE

Not since Kill la Kill has a studio produced an original anime debut so immediately sharp and arresting. I have to admit, I turned that statement over in my head for literal days before committing to it, but it’s true. Nut Co. Ltd. have done TV anime before, but aside from an assist on the polarizing FLCL sequels, their most well-known work before Deca-Dence was The Saga of Tanya The Evil, which, whatever one may think about it, was a manga adaption that stuck fairly close to its origins.

Any flaws aside; Deca-Dence feels very much like a wholly-realized singular artistic vision, from start to finish. The sort that is fairly rare in commercial arts fields (which TV anime certainly is). What’s more, it is nakedly political, with a witheringly on-point cross-examination of the evils of capitalism and its dire endpoints as exemplified by its very setting; a post-apocalyptic world which is exploited as a “real life video game” by the ruling class. Which would maybe make it a slog if the show weren’t so damn fun. Visually, Deca-Dence pops with bright colors, steampunk-inspired machines, and a design sensibility for its robot characters that feels inherited from Kaiba, one of the all-time great anime of this sort. Narratively, there’s enough action and compelling character drama to keep things from getting stale or feeling preachy. Deca-Dence exists in solidarity, not on a pedestal.

The unified artistic vision that is largely a positive does, on the flipside, unfortunately mean that it has a few notable flaws. Its chief sin is a bait-and-switchy treatment of its two leads, which would be less of an issue if one were not a young girl and the other an older gruff man narratively empowered by her pain. It’s a mistake this kind of thing should be able to avoid, and that is primarily why it rounds out the bottom of the Top 5. So it goes.

Still, if Deca-Dence is any indication of what future Nut Co. productions, or those of director Yuzuru Tachikawa or writer Hiroshi Seko will be like, there’s a lot to look forward to.

#4: Kaguya-sama: Love is War?

For two years in a row; Kaguya-sama: Love is War! has been raising the bar for anime romcoms. What it may lack in innovation it more than makes up for in technique and heart, Love is War?, the confusingly-titled second season of the series, is top-to-bottom hilarious. Except of course, when it’s busy being surprisingly heavy instead.

It’s not entirely fair to put Love is War on a pedestal, but I really struggle to think of anything else in recent memory that works in this space so well. Original mangaka Aka Akasaka‘s technique of starting with a familiar archetype and then “filling them in” over the course of the story has kept Love is War‘s character writing consistently interesting. This holds true both when exploring the school-day trauma that Ishigami still suffers the aftershocks from and when breaking down the surprisingly complex character of the moralistic, blustery Miko.

But those are strengths equally attributable to the original manga. What puts Love is War the anime near the top of its bracket is the way the visuals elevate and enhance this storytelling. From a comedic perspective, the visuals breathe new life into jokes manga readers have heard before and really make them pop for newcomers. At times, new gags are even made up wholesale, often leaning on the visual element alone. Scenes like Kaguya randomly breaking into vogue, Hayasaka annoyedly bursting into Kaguya’s classroom, and even random visual asides referencing Dark Souls and Peanuts give the entire thing a wonderful, absurd edge.

On the more serious side, these techniques are instead turned toward invoking empathy. Faces have their visual features erased to signify disassociation, crowds coalesce into shadowy masses to project anxiety. Visual effect enthusiasts are given quite a bit to pour over in Love is War.

You might rightly ask why you should care about any of this, since at its core Love is War still is very much a “will they or won’t they” sort of love story. The sort that anime has seen many times before and will see many times again. To a point, that very question has kept it from an even higher spot on this list. But conversely, I would argue that resonant artistic depictions of the anxieties and absurdities of youth will never lose their place in the artistic canon. Not for anime, and not for anything.

#3: Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

If this list were ranked solely by how much the anime on it made my heart sing, Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club would hold a comfortable #1 spot. Earlier this year I began an earnest dive into the girl group idol anime genre after only idly (haha) poking at it for most of my life. My opinion that 2011’s The Idolm@ster is the genre’s gold standard remains unchanged. But I did not expect it to receive an even close to worthy contender to the title this year. But here we are, and I do genuinely think that Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, the latest entry in the rival Love Live franchise, makes a damn good showing of it. Why? Because of the sheer effort the series go through to convey to you one simple fact; these girls are born entertainers, and they love it, through and through.

The ways in which they love it vary wildly, and if I had to pin a single weakness on Nijigasaki it would probably be that its gargantuan cast size (eleven main characters!) means that some of the girls do only get cursory development. The flipside though is that almost every single one who does get some focus is so magnetic that the passion they have for singing transfers almost directly to you. In its best moments, Nijigasaki feels like holding a live wire of artistic inspiration. Without a doubt; the anime is best experienced by checking any cynicism at the door and just throwing yourself in, arms wide open.

And part of the reason it succeeds is how easy it makes it to do that. Nijigasaki‘s great writing triumph is how quickly and snappily it establishes each character within each arc. Part of this is down to sharp visual design; things like Setsuna’s pyrotechnic stage setup, Rina’s iconic digital “faceboard”, Shizuku’s black and white dress, and so on. But the show’s laser focus when it comes to establishing why each girl wants to become an idol and how she goes about doing so is an incredibly convincing argument for this genre in this format, proving you don’t need two cours here. (Not to say an extra 13 episodes of this would’ve been in any way unwelcome.) The final arc, where group manager Yu and idol Ayumu have a near-falling out over the former’s desire to become a composer proves that the series can also work in more delicate emotional shades, which (as with many things this high on the list) makes me hope for a second season.

In a broader sense; from Setsuna’s matchstick strike of a guerrilla concert in episode three to the blazing monster of a festival that closes out the series, Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is a celebration of communal art and performance in a year where, to paraphrase music critic Todd Nathanson, the very idea may as well be science fiction. Being so fantastically escapist emphatically does not hurt Nijigasaki, it is the very core of its strength. What makes it wonderful is how it is borderline utopian; a vision of a place where everyone’s dreams come true.

#2: Tower of God

I try not to think about these kinds of things too much when I write, but I suspect if there’s a “controversial” pick this high up on the list, it’ll be this one. Tower of God stands as one of 2020’s most polarizing and, in my opinion, most misunderstood mainstream action anime. Tower of God is two primary things: for one, it is a kickass battle shonen set in a truly unique fantasy world inherited from its source material, a sprawling webcomic that effectively wrought the Webtoon movement from the ground with its bare hands. For another; it is an absolutely dialed critique of systems of arbitrary merit. If you’ve been waiting for me to bring up capitalism again, wait no longer. Frankly I don’t need to, Tower of God does it for me. It’s not like characters having to pay off their own medical expenses within the Tower is exactly a subtle analogy to real life.

Tower of God‘s attitude towards its source material–adapt the interesting or the relevant bits, skip everything else–can definitely leave it feeling a touch hard to follow at times. But Tower of God makes its intentions clear in its final few episodes, where deuteragonist Rachel does exactly as the Tower incentivizes her to, and betrays protagonist Twenty-fifth Bam. And why wouldn’t she? Every detail of the Tower’s worldbuilding portrays it as a ruthless meritocracy where only looking out for #1 at the expense of everyone else is rewarded. Bam never understands this because he never has to. His natural talents; his vast reservoirs of shinsu (mana, effectively) and propensity for making allies, are rewarded in a place he has been deposited into by what is more or less random chance. Essentially, he’s privileged. Rachel, who has no such talents, understands it intuitively, hence her betrayal.

But Tower of God‘s critique of these systems goes both wider and deeper. It’s foreshadowed much earlier by minor character Hoh betraying his team during the “Tag arc” that takes up the show’s middle third. Elsewhere, the series touches on misogyny (there is something truly–and intentionally!–offputting about how it’s spelled out to us that the King of Jahad ties the powers of his “princesses” to their virginity) and frame-ups (whatever happened with Khun and his sister). Through it all, its central point remains sharp; the Tower’s world is fantastical, but the principles it operates on are very much like our own.

It is true that the show’s setup basically begs for a second season, one that’s yet to be confirmed. But even if it were to end here, with Bam washed down to the bottom of the Tower, the show has made its point. All of us are climbing, and the Tower still waits.

So with how high my opinion of Tower of God clearly is, what could possibly be better than it? Well, if you know my tastes, or indeed if you’ve simply studied the banner closely, you can probably guess. Scroll down to find out, and raise a hand if you saw this one coming.

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#1: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Fundamentally, my taste in anime hasn’t changed much since I first discovered the medium over ten years ago. I have a hazy, sun-blurred memory of watching the dub of foundational school life comedy Azumanga Daioh chopped up into pieces and uploaded on Youtube. Azumanga Daioh and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! are, very loosely, in the same genre, despite otherwise not being particularly similar. I bring the former up because I marvel at the many strange and wonderful shapes the school life comedy has taken over the past decade and a half. And Eizouken! certainly has the hallmarks of the genre. It is set primarily in a high school, centers around the activities of a small group of students, and uses the pitfalls of coming of age to set up relatable comedic skits. But it’s also more than that.

I place Eizouken! firmly in an emerging movement of anime that increasingly combine this genre with more serious and reflective elements, a logical step from its origins. (It’s not like AzuDaioh couldn’t be reflective when it wanted to be, after all.) I would happily shuttle it right up next to the post-apocalyptic melancholia of Girls’ Last Tour, or the contemporary but more adventure-oriented A Place Further Than The Universe, my own favorite anime of the 2010s, or the funny, wrenching dramedy of O’ Maidens In Your Savage Season! But its place within that movement is interesting, because while many of its genrefellows seek to perhaps evolve past the school life descriptor entirely, Eizouken! reestablishes why it matters in the first place. How it does this is pretty simple; it has perhaps the most well-considered thematic core of any TV anime to air this year.

History will probably peg Eizouken! as an “anime about anime”, but that’s looking at it narrowly. Eizouken! is an anime about the creative process in general, about what it means to be passionate about something, about turning that passion into reality, how that can be very hard, but how it is almost always worth it.

Our three leads correspond to an aspect of the inner world of art. Midori Asakusa, short, behatted, and kappa-like, is the pure ambition and the font of ideas. She spends the series half-adrift in a sea of drawings and daydreams, in love with flying machines and walking logos. Tsubame Mizusaki, of average height and with a sharp haircut, is the strive toward the perfection of technique, the desire to capture One Perfect Movement as cleanly as possible. (This is why it is she who expresses that she cares about animation, not anime. Contrast Midori who cares very much about anime-the-medium.) Finally, there is the tall, tombstone-toothed Sayaka Kanamori. The brains of the operation, someone for whom practical knowledge and the pursuit of money is a means to her and her friends’ collective happiness, a sort of person vanishingly rare in the real world. Alone, they’re incomplete. Together, they’re unstoppable. I’ve seen many anime whose casts compliment each other well, but Eizouken! might have one of the most well-oiled character dynamic machines in recent memory.

Eizouken!‘s beauty is in how it does not need to really explain itself at length. The series is an argument for itself. The skeptical may be inclined to ask the question back at Eizouken!; “what can sticking to your passions really accomplish?” And, well, the answer is Eizouken! Admittedly, as someone who writes for a living, I am predisposed to like themes in this general realm. But by the same token, pretending that Eizouken!‘s deep understanding of how the creative process functions, the diversity of motivation as to why people want to make art, and its celebration of the two didn’t move me would be disingenuous. I would simply not be doing my job as a commentator on the medium.

The show celebrates many kinds of people in general, really. Sometimes this is even surprisingly literal; Eizouken! stands as a still-rare anime that has a fairly racially diverse cast even though its leads are still Japanese. The series’ near-future setting seems to imply both a Japan and a larger world that is more heterogeneous (in every sense) than today, but this optimism shouldn’t be taken to be naivety. There is conflict in Eizouken!, the optimism comes from the resolution of that conflict. Short films are premiered, audiences are blown away. “We are all different, but truly great art can bring us together” seems to be the final message of the series. It’s a thesis that is so optimistic, almost utopian, that it can, to some, scan as corny. Whether Eizouken! “earns it” or not is where people are split on the series, but I think I’ve made damn well my case that it does.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! premiered at the top of the year, in the Winter 2020 anime season that now feels a lifetime ago. Yet, throughout this long, dark, bizarre year, I found myself continually turning it over in my head. I think it’s likely that I will be for years to come. If I may make take back one thing from my original review that predates this blog, it’s this; Eizouken!, with the benefit of distance, feels like it’s not really from this, or any, specific year. It feels like it’s always been there. And from now on, it always will be.

And with that sign-off by way of what is in my estimation the first truly great anime of the ’20s, that concludes our little journey over these past few days. To both old friends and new readers, I wish you the best possible in the new year. Hold each other close, and in all things help one another. Magic Planet Anime will see you in 2021.

If you like my work, consider following me here on WordPress or on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Weekly Writing Roundups

Weekly Writing Roundup – 9/28/20

Welp! It’s the middle of the night after another light week, but here we are. I hope you’re all doing okay out there. I don’t have much else to lead off with, so let’s get into things.

The Geek Girl Authority

THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL Recap (S1E12): FOX/GOD – I have actually completely finished the show (screeners!) as of the time of this writing. It’s still not really what I’d call a great anime, but the last two episodes are fun in how whole-hog they go on being As Shonen As Possible.

DECA-DENCE Recap (S1E11-12): “Engine” / “Decadence” – While Deca-Dence is not my anime of the year or anything like that (it’s been a pretty strong year, anime-wise, if nothing else) I’m really glad I watched it. It didn’t do everything perfectly and there are some changes I’d have made in an ideal world, but overall this is a really good little show and I hope people remember it.

Magic Planet Anime

(REVIEW): The Cat’s Out of The Bag: MAO MAO: HEROES OF PURE HEART – Here’s something rather rare, a review of an American cartoon! This was a commission so I wouldn’t expect it to become the norm (it kind of goes against this blog’s name, although I guess you could argue I’m using “anime” in the original Japanese sense, but that’s silly.) That said: I liked the series, it has a couple major problems preventing me from loving it, but it’s solid and I hope the forthcoming second season expands on its slightly more serious elements a little more.

Twitter “Live Watches”

Sailor Moon – We met Rei this week! Not sure how I felt about the Ikuhara episode, interestingly enough, but I loved her introductory ep.

Also, yes, Revolutionary Girl Utena will hopefully be returning within a week or two. I’ve just been busy with various things recently and haven’t had the energy. (Plus that last arc was enough of a drainer that I kinda needed some recovery time).

Other Thoughts N Such

I’ve actually been watching quite a lot of anime in my “off time” this past week. Chiefly, a Puella Magi Madoka Magica groupwatch with some friends, which has now finished the series proper and will be watching The Rebellion Story sometime in the next few days. Hoo boy.

I’ve also started Day Break Illusion, generally derided as one of the first “Madoklones”. I don’t want to get too far into my thoughts on it here, but it strikes me rather differently than that. I’ll probably end up reviewing it, so if you want more detailed thoughts, just stay tuned.

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Weekly Writing Roundups

Weekly Writing Roundup – 9/13/20

HELLO

It’s been a bit since I wrote one of these! I didn’t have much to report on on Tuesday since, as I mentioned in last week’s roundup, I was taking some time off. Since then though I’ve done quite a few things, so I’ve got plenty to write about here. I hope you’re all doing well!

Twitter “Live Watches”

BOY OH BOY HAS IT BEEN AN INTERESTING TIME IN TWITTERLAND THIS PAST WEEK.

Revolutionary Girl Utena (1, 2) – As you can see, I actually did two Utena livewatches this week. The second because the first one was so good. In the first pair of episodes there’s a funny Nanami episode and what is probably my favorite episode of the series so far, a dramatic ace in the hole where the rules as we know them start to change and Utena as a series begins to tip its hand. The second pair of episodes are another solid dramatic ep…and then The Egg Episode, a truly ludicrous piece of television so utterly surreal that it is infamous to this day. I really don’t know what to say about it! It was definitely something, I kind of liked it a lot but also hated it at the same time.

Sailor Moon (#FightingEvilByGroupwatch) – Fairly standard pair of episodes for Sailor Moom this week. I really liked the one about the musician. I only found out some time after watching that, funnily enough, it’s an Ikuhara-directed episode, thus providing a tangible link to the chronologically later Revolutionary Girl Utena that I’m also livewatching. Isn’t that neat? 🙂

The Geek Girl Authority

Deca-Dence recaps of “Turbo Charger” and “Brake System“ – I still love Deca-Dence a lot but it is revealing itself to have a pretty common issue with single-cour anime, which is that the pacing is kinda out-of-wack. They have a LOT to tie up in the remaining two episodes and I’m not entirely sure if they’ll be able to do it. Here’s hoping?

The God of High School (S1E10) oath/meaning – I think I’ve been fairly frank about the fact that I think of The God of High School mostly as a vehicle for neat fights. This episode is solid in that regard. Oh! And Jin’s mysterious rival is a furry, isn’t that fun?

Onyx Equinox Character Trailer, Cast, & Release Date Announced – Onyx Equinox is an interesting one. It’s not an anime, which makes it an outlier both in my writing for GGA and on here. (I’d argue it doesn’t even much look like one, being a very clear descendant of that mid-2000s Man of Action house style blended with some Avatar: The Last Airbender.) But the trailers have seemed really cool and the story’s premise draws heavily on Aztec myth which is not something that a lot of modern media tries to get inspiration from in the authentic way this is. I’m quite excited to see where this goes once it comes out.

Shenmue Anime & More Announced at Crunchyroll Virtual Expo – Just a quick rundown of Crunchyroll’s Virtual Expo. The big takeaway here for most people is going to be the announcement of a Shenmue series. I’m not familiar with the games personally, but I may check the anime out. It looks neat.

Other Thoughts N Such

I’m not entirely sure about the Monthly Movies thing going forward. I’ve gotten plenty of donations recently but no suggestions, which makes me feel like people aren’t super interested in the idea. I will of course keep my promise to watch the HeartCatch film, but I’m not sure, beyond that, if I’ll be doing more of those. I’ll try to brainstorm more ideas for how Ko-Fi donators and Patreon patrons can get involved. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter if you have any suggestions! It’s possible I’m missing something obvious.

As for other more minor anime musings this week. Goodness; I’m nearing the end of Eureka Seven and absolutely loving every minute of it, but I don’t want to share too many thoughts because I need to save those for the review.

On a more sour note, I watched the first two episodes of Vividred Operation. Which is….sigh. I’m not the sort of person who likes to constantly howl about how I think fanservice is bad. I’m an on-record apologist for Witchblade, Akiba’s Trip, Senran Kagura, and quite a few others. However, it can definitely kneecap a show’s reputation if it’s especially egregious or done in a particularly scuzzy way, and there’s valid reasons for that.

Vividred Operation has a lot going for it: a fun, outrageous tone, a mad scientist who is a weasel, cool power armor designs a la Symphogear (which also suffers from this problem, though not nearly to this extent), and the characters can even fuse, Dragonball-style, a really fun and underused storytelling mechanic. But I feel like I can’t recommend this show to anyone, because it takes about five minutes out every episode to focus the camera’s gaze on a middle schooler’s bum, and that is (completely understandably, mind you) just too high of a hurdle to reasonably ask most people to jump to get into a series. They will be grossed out and go watch something else.

I will probably finish the series and I’ll probably enjoy most of it, but that’s a really un-fun black mark on what’s otherwise an honestly kinda awesome anime. I have thought a lot in the past few days about this sort of thing and how it does seem to be slowly changing. (Compare a battle girl series like this from the earlier 2010s to something like Revue Starlight from the decade’s back half.) But it’s still prevalent enough to be actively damaging to the genre and consequently it bothers me. I wish I could share these anime that I often really quite (and in the case of some, like Kill la Kill and the aforementioned Symphogear, outright love) like with people, and consequently I wish they weren’t how they are in this single, specific way.

Anyway, I do apologize for the rant. You know how these things are and I’m hardly the first person to have this lament.

My Discord server started an impromptu group watch of Puella Magi Madoka Magica last night. I’ve only grown to love the show more since I first watched it last year and I’m thrilled to get a chance to again. My good friend Alice is the one who spurned the groupwatch and may well be reading this, so I’ll not mention any spoilers. It’s quite the great thing, though. One of my favorite anime of the ’10s for sure.

Anyway! That’s about all for this week. Saturday/Sunday, if things go according to plan, will likely be my new days for these roundups. So keep your eyes tuned in and your ears peeled! 🙂

Hopefully I’ll have a fair bit to write about next week….but I’ve also fallen into VTuber hell along with most of my friends, so who knows. Stay tuned!

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Weekly Writing Roundups

Weekly Writing Roundup – 9/1/20

Hello again ladies, gents, and nonbinary friends! It feels like it’s been forever since I did one of these, but the actual truth of the matter is that I’ve just been quite busy! I got a lot of writing done this past week. One administrative note! I ah, haven’t been great about keeping the suggestions I got for anime films recently. So the first #MonthlyMovie as I’m calling it will be up to a vote and from some films I picked out myself. I do apologize if you suggested something, your blogger is a fool. I have details on how you’re going to be able to suggest films to add to the pool going forward below in the Magic Planet Anime section.

But that aside, let’s not have further delays. The roundup!

Twitter “Live Watches”

Revolutionary Girl Utena – We finished up the Black Rose arc this past week! What the hell was all that about, eh? Well, I have some thoughts and some others have shared theirs with me, but it’s honestly kind of impossible to summarize the surreal weirdness the show’s started dipping into except to say that frankly, I’m here for it. My good friend Sredni Vashtar has described this as the “time is a flat circle” portion of Utena. She may well be right!

Sailor Moon (#FightingEvilByGroupwatch) – No new major developments on the Sailor Moon front. This week’s lineup included what is apparently widely considered one of the worst episodes of the series and true to form it was really not great. The other though was a lot of fun, and I have confidence we’ll get more of the latter going forward. Liking this series a lot so far!

The Geek Girl Authority

The God of High School recap (S1E09): curse/cornered – An episode where Yoo Mira finally gets to do stuff! She gets a charyeok! That part is really cool! Less cool is the weird vaguely offensive design of the guy she fights, who turns out to be a clone of another guy anyway. Also big into the sorta-inexplicable brief introduction of a gyaru kung-fu lady here. She’s great.

Deca-Dence (S1E08): Turbine – Deca-Dence is a heist movie this week! There’s some good stuff in this episode and I’m curious to see where the subplot with Minato goes, but it’s not one of my favorites of the series thus far. I hope we get an episode more about Natsume soon.

Magic Planet Anime

The Manga Shelf: Relentless Ribbing & Queer Longing in “School Zone” – My new column / sub-blog The Manga Shelf made its debut this week with not one but two articles! This one is about school life comedy School Zone and how it’s managed to portray some surprisingly nuanced maybe-one sided maybe-not relationship dynamics in a queer context without feeling exploitative or disrespectful. I like this series!

The Manga Shelf: A Goodbye To “The Night-Owl Witch” – This manga’s unofficial English run ended a few days ago. Made me a little sad! I’ve never thought The Night-Owl Witch was a masterpiece, but it’s a solid little series with occasional moments of greatness. I look forward to reading the mangaka’s current series when I have the time.

Monthly Movies – As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I have a plan for this going forward (other than this month which, as mentioned, is going to be kinda weird). From now on, any Ko-Fi donator will be entitled to suggest an anime film in the “send a message” box for their donation (no live action, I’ll have to think about non-anime animation but do please refrain for now. I don’t really want to stray from this blog’s mission statement too much). You get as many suggestions as you do donations! So go nuts. Likewise, Patreon supporters get a free suggestion per month, although due to some difficulties with the system, at the moment I will have to ask that those wishing to make such a suggestion contact me directly on Twitter. (I hope to have a more convenient method sorted out by next month).

At the start of the following month, I pop up a Twitter poll and the winner of said poll is what I watch and review for that month. (The September poll will be going up not long after this article.) Suggestions do not carry over! So if you suggest, say, Quasar no Blackstar this month and it doesn’t win the poll, you’ll have to donate again next month (or use your Patreon suggestion) to nominate it again. Phew! That’s quite a lot of text, but hopefully you all get the gist. Happy suggesting!

Other Thoughts N Such

I would like to mark the return of Twenty Perfect Minutes sometime this month. I even have an episode in mind, but we’ll see how things go.

My main Other Shows ™ thought this week concerns Yu Gi Oh SEVENS, which is surprisingly compelling for being a very goofy kids’ show. It’s got a markedly different feel from any prior season of the series and the rules (both in the series and in real life) have been changed, now belonging to a new format called Rush. It makes it a lot easier to follow and lets the focus be more on character interactions and such. I really quite like this one! I say give it a shot. It’s also where this week’s header image is from! Romin is an amazing character who has some truly great faces.

That’s all for this week! The coming week might be a bit sparse since Crusader Kings III just launched and history nerd BS is my other huge interest besides anime. So if you see me MIA, I’m probably uniting Ireland or something. See y’all around!

Oh! I almost forgot! I bought a redirect URL. So you can now just type “magicplanetanime.com” to get here. No fuss no muss! Isn’t that lovely?

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Weekly Writing Roundups

Weekly Anime Writing Roundup – 8/25/20

Hello folks! Not much to say in the lead-in here, we’ve got an old groupwatch ending, a new one starting, a couple stray articles here and there. Nothing too crazy this week but I’ve been able to keep up a good clip. Still not entirely sure about the film thing I mentioned last week, for now I’m just going to have Twitter vote on a choice and perhaps let donators and patrons suggest the films to me in the future? Something again to consider.

On with the roundup!

Twitter “Live Watches”

The Rolling Girls (#anitwitwatches) – This is over now! I’ve covered my thoughts extensively elsewhere but I still love this show a lot. I have a bit more to say further down, you’ll see why if you don’t already know.

Revolutionary Girl Utena livewatch – Progress on this has been slow just due to it being a bit hard to find the time. That said, the couple episodes I watched this past week have been some of my favorites. Check this out for a moment where the emotions run so high that both I and my screenshot software have a breakdown.

Sailor Moon (#FightingEvilByGroupwatch) – And here’s the newcomer! I literally just finished this up as I’m typing this so I’m still collecting my thoughts. I like the series so far, though it hasn’t immediately hit me in the same “oh god this is my shit” way that I was the first time I saw, say, Pretty Cure. That’s not really much of a knock though, these three episodes were all pretty fun and the show absolutely oozes 90s which would make it a fun watch all on its own. Side note: this groupwatch was started by my friend @himawari_town_ on twitter. Go give them a follow if you’re interested in this sort of thing! And check the hashtag! Lots of people have neat things to say about this show. Or heck, consider joining in yourself! Lots of options here.

The Geek Girl Authority

The God of High School Recap (S01E08): close/friend – Kind of a slower more transitional episode compared to last week. It’s solid as far as such things go, but gosh do I just want to see shark man get the tar beat out of him.

Deca-Dence Recap (S01E07): Driveshaft – I’ve finally found a surefire way to get people to watch this show and it’s this image.

They huuuuug! 😭

Burn The Witch Announced for Crunchyroll Fall Lineup – I don’t normally link this sorta thing but my hope is that Burn The Witch being easily legally available in the US miiiiiight possibly lead to us eventually getting a TV anime? Not that I’m unhappy with how the film looks, the trailer’s really promising and there’s not a single sign of whatsisname from the manga, which makes me hopeful that he’s been mostly written out.

Magic Planet Anime

The Idolmaster (2011): Full Review – Time is a flat circle and I know that because I was dead sure it had already been at least two weeks since I wrote the im@s review, but nope! It’s a very good show that I like a lot, and I’m glad some friends of mine got me to watch it. I don’t have a ton else to say beyond that other than what I said in the review itself, so get reading. By the way, there’s a not as nice looking mirror of this on Anilist if you prefer that, for some reason.

Under The Deep Pale Moon: Revisiting The Rolling Girls Five Years Later – It only occurred to me after I had already published it that this title is kinda misleading since while it has been five years since The Rolling Girls aired it’s only been just under one since I watched it, oh well. Either way; this show is a part of me now, I go through some effort to try to explain why I love it so much and to be honest I’m not sure I did it justice. This is going to be one that I’ll come back to a number of times over the course of my writing career I think. (See you all in 2025? One of my favorite pieces of anime commentary from someone who’s not me this year was a ten year anniversary article after all.)

Other Thoughts N Such

I have a plan to get a manga column called The Manga Shelf off the ground sometime soon where I just write a couple of paragraphs about whatever I happen to be reading, regardless of whether it’s finished, unfinished, bad or good. Look forward to that sometime this week?

I have been continuing with Eureka Seven, the series is going in some interesting new directions but I’m not sure I have a ton new to say on it. I’m 3/5ths of the way done, so look forward to the full review when I’ve finished!

I’ve also started watching Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS and gang, this show is bananas. I highly recommend it if you need a dose of goofy kid show energy in your week. If you want a small taste, please enjoy this thread I made about a recurring character who is a 37-year-old that looks like a gradeschooler and her deck themed around outdated fashion trends. Your guess is as good as mine.

Don’t have a ton else to say! Fall Guys has been consuming a fair amount of my time to be quite honest and that’s not anime so I’m not covering it here! (Or maybe I will, who knows.)

Kneel before your new God.

And goodness that’s about all! I had more to list here than I thought this week, but I suppose that’s a good sign.

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Weekly Writing Roundups

Weekly Anime Writing Roundup – 8/11/20

So it is Tuesday–Tuesday night at that–and I am only just now getting to this. A late one just three weeks in to my new schedule! Alas. You’ll have to forgive me, it’s been a rough few days here at the lakeside temple for reasons I mostly won’t get into here. On with the anime! I’m also formatting these slightly differently now, using bullet points was making it impossible to justify most of my paragraphs, which was annoying me. Just a minor note!

Twitter

The Rolling Girls livewatch for #AniTwitWatches – We only watched one episode this week, #9, which is about the only thing in the whole show I’d call a “transitional episode” since it’s where the series switches over from being pretty strictly arc-by-arc and pivots into its finale. This, in fact, is my favorite part of part Rolling Girls (narrowly beating out the Kyoto arc). And to this day I’m amazed that they managed to fit four distinct arcs plus the three-episode finale all into a single-cour twelve episode show without having it feeling rushed. Anyway, I won’t spoil anything about episode 9 itself. It’s a doozy.

Revolutionary Girl Utena livewatch – I got to the start of the Black Rose Arc, as it’s called, in Utena, and LET ME TELL YA FOLKS, people are not kidding when they say this is where the show really starts to amp up the weirdness! I speculate somewhere in that particular thread that Utena might’ve been an influence on some of the folks at ’00s SHAFT just because a lot of the wild architecture and particular visual setups are really starting to remind me of that. Regardless, I’m having a ton of fun with the show and in fact will probably be livetweeting more of it right after I finish this writeup.

The Geek Girl Authority

THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL Recap (S01E06): fear/SIX – “It’s slowly improving” is not an exciting way to sell a show to someone, but I would argue that that’s basically what GOH is doing. I’m interested to see how the already pretty stylized fights change now that actual supernatural powers are involved.

THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL Cast Q&A – I got to interview some of GOH’s cast! Kinda! It was just a short text Q&A I sent their way through my contact at CR and their responses were in turn fairly short, but I still think it’s cool that I get to do this kinda thing. I’m really interested who this “mob boss” character Mr. Tachibana mentioned is and why the auditions for him were apparently so amusing. Did you know that Jin’s VA was primarily a stage actor before this? That’s neat.

DECA-DENCE Recap (S01E07): Differential Gear – I’m running out of ways to tell y’all that this is the best thing airing right now. Please watch Deca-Dence it’s so good.

Magic Planet Anime

Hoo boy.

Apathy Is Not The Answer: The Anime Fan Community Needs To Defend Its Most Vulnerable Members – ‘Lo and behold, the most popular article ever posted to Magic Planet Anime, by an order of magnitude. (Somehow I doubt many of these will be repeat readers but I’d love to be proven wrong). I wrote this in response to some developments over at Anilist–the details are in the article itself–and I was really not prepared for the blowup it caused. I have nothing much else to say about the issues discussed within, I don’t think it’s a perfect article, but I think I expressed a very simple plea for empathy as effective as I could. Some people, unfortunately, do not think that I should have done that.

In the two days since it’s gone up I’ve responded to a number of counterarguments and read many more. Some of which are….let’s be polite and say “a bit rude”. I’ve also read and responded to a fair bit of thanks. My hope is that the ultimate result of the article is that some people open their eyes to issues that they’d previously not considered and, secondarily, hopefully more people check out my work. I don’t consider myself an activist or political writer or anything of the sort, and it’s more than a little frustrating to be pigeonholed as some kind of ultra-left demagogue less than a month out from writing a decently positive review of goddamn Akiba’s Trip. What can you do, I suppose.

Other Thoughts N Such

I’ve got several things to talk about down here this week!

I finished Oregairu‘s first season. No real idea what to make of it! It’s interesting and I liked it more than I didn’t but I’m not in a real rush to watch season two or catch up to the (currently-airing) third. It’s one I’ll be turning over in my head for a while.

I have also resumed watching The Idolm@ster after quite a long break. This show is still very good for many of the same reasons I outlined in my article about it way way back when this blog was in its infancy, although sadly Miki is not as present in the show’s back half. I am still not entirely sure what to think of the rival idol agency and its comically evil president, but hey! Also in that article I briefly mentioned that I was enjoying 22/7. Haha, how things change.

And finally, I’ve also been working my way through Eureka Seven. E7 occupies a really odd place in the popcultural memory and I want to talk about that more when I actually review it (as I’ve been commissioned to do, thank you patron, you know who you are!) but I’ve been enjoying it so far. I particularly love the character of Anemone who is, well, a lot. E7 in general is quite the wild ride and I’m really liking its particular brand of weirdness, particularly now, as the first eight or so episodes of the show were a bit slow for me. Side note! Connoisseurs of Mecha Anime Discourse may know that a few years back the Darling in the FranXX showrunners were accused of essentially xeroxing Anemone’s entire design. Having now seen some Eureka Seven, I get the complaint!

and GOODNESS. That’s about all for this week! I’ve been busy, I suppose! To that end, well, I’ll just direct your attention to the footer below.

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime

Weekly Anime Writing Roundup – 8/3/20

So it’s the middle of the night and I’ve committed to doing these on Mondays I guess. Whatever! Anime time.

Twitter

  • The Rolling Girls livewatch for #AniTwitWatches – An advantage of linking to the Twitter moments is that I can literally just copy and paste the links lmao. Anyhow: the arc of The Rolling Girls we watched this week, the Kyoto arc, is among my favorites. Mostly just tweeted this one out as normal but do take a peek at my last couple tweets which are about the song sung in the latter episode of the arc.
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena livewatch – I would like to say that things are heating up in Utena but I’ve been assured that things actually start *really* getting weird in the next arc, so I guess I’ll look forward to that. I maintain that Nanami’s purple epulet / yellow jacket combo is absolutely killer.

The Geek Girl Authority

  • DECA-DENCE Recap (S01E04): Transmission – BOY THERE’S A LOT GOIN’ ON IN THIS SHOW, HUH? I have the exact opposite issue with Deca-Dence that I have with God of High School. There’s so much going on in each episode it’s a bit hard to know what specifically to write about. That said: I love where this show’s head is at and I’m super excited to see how it develops from here.
  • THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL Recap (S01E05): ronde/hound – After several episodes that I don’t think would really move the needle for most people The God of High School‘s fifth is the first one in a while where I think it’s actually done something to improve. Granted; it’s still not being wildly innovative here, “talk with your fists” is fairly standard shonen stuff, but it’s done well here. Consider picking this up if you like that kinda thing and have been on the fence about this one?

Other Thoughts N Such

  • I started watching Oregairu (or as it’s formally known in English, ahem, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. Yikes) just out of idle curiosity and at the inspiration of seeing someone I’m mutuals with livetweeting it. It’s a neat little series, I’m only a few episodes in so I can’t make any sweeping judgments yet, but I like how it manages to juggle the rather difficult tasks of making Hachiman seem like someone representative of the lame cringelord in all of us without making it seem like it’s endorsing his mentality, which are two different things. Obviously not everyone is going to feel that way about it, but still, I’m pleasantly surprised with this’n so far.

And that’s all for this week. See you guys around!

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Misc. Anime

Weekly Anime Writing Roundup – 7/27/20

Hi folks! If you only follow me here on MPA you’ve probably not seen much of me lately. Iv’e been doing quite a lot of writing, but most of it not on here. From now on, I’m going to be trying to do a roundup of everything I’ve done in the past week related to my anime writing. Mostly, these will be on Sunday, but this week’s is the day after. It’s just that way, sometimes!

Twitter

  • The Rolling Girls livewatch for #AniTwitWatches – Livewatch of 2017 Wit Studio series The Rolling Girls. This is actually my second time seeing the show and I highly recommend it.
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena livewatch – Livewatch of the classic shoujo series. Aiming to update at least once a week, probably more than that much of the time.

Anilist

The Geek Girl Authority

  • THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL Recap (S01E04): marriage/bonds – Recap of the most recent GHS episode. I have to confess to struggling a little bit with GHS in general, it’s a very archetypal shonen and consequently I sometimes find it difficult to find things to say about it. However, this most recent episode is definitely interesting if nothing else, even if I’m not sure it’s really going to move the needle for those still undecided on the series.
  • DECA-DENCE Recap (S01E03): Steering – By contrast, I think basically anyone with an interest in TV anime should be checking out Deca-Dence. It’s a fascinating series even only three episodes in, and I have absolutely no idea where it’s going to go from here. I’m thrilled to be keeping up with it and I hope everyone else who checks it out loves it as much as I do.

Other Random Stray Thoughts:

  • It’s really good to have Healin’ Good Precure back. That said, I won’t be resuming my liveblog of it on here, it was kinda just too much work and not very many people read those posts.
  • I hope everyone’s having an alright summer. It’s rough out there with the pandemic and the heat, try to stay as safe and cool as you can!

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.