Tag: Himitsu no AiPri

Posted on in The Weekly Orbit

The Weekly Orbit [5/20/24]

The Weekly Orbit is a weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week. Mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and assume familiarity with the works covered. Be wary of spoilers!

Hi folks! Sorry for the very late article today, I had a lot of reformatting to do, and, as I’ll get to shortly, was catching up on a few things before I put the article up. Enjoy!

Anime – Seasonal

Train to The End of The World – Episodes 7 & 8

More than one person told me that episode seven of Train to The End of The World was “bad,” and as a result I ended up putting it off until today, where I watched episodes seven and eight in tandem. I understand why someone would think that, certainly, and overall this two episode stretch is pretty puzzling. But, I’m not sure I agree, if only because even Shuumatsu Train‘s worst ideas are so confounding that calling them outright bad feels inadequate. A misstep, though, that might be true.

Episode seven is essentially a bizarro inversion of a traditional fanservice episode. These are, themselves, not necessarily super common anymore, and for many kinds of anime they’ve been relegated to the no-mans-land of bonus OVAs and such. Shuumatsu Train’s engagement with the concept is very much Shuumatsu Train-y in that it’s flatly inexplicable. For the most part, there’s not a lot of cheesecake or anything here—which is good, it would be wildly out of tone with this series, and the one shot that is like that is pretty jarring and bad—instead, the girls find out that the zombie horde from episode 6 are weak to ecchi. As in, they are weak to even hearing about it. This leads to a pair of climactic (har har) scenes where Akira dryly intones a scene from an erotic novel aloud, which makes the zombies explode. Later, our main four sing a bawdy song on top of the train, which has the same effect. In essence, I think this is a parody of the entire concept, undermined by the actual panty shot late in the episode. Even if we disregard that, it’s still a very odd direction for even this show to take.

There’s also the matter of three of the four main characters spending most of the episode wearing colored greasepaint. Reimi’s is black, and while it’s not my call to make whether or not that’s racist exactly, it definitely feels weird and uncomfortable in a way that the rest of the show really hasn’t.

Thankfully, the episode’s denouement is actually one of the better ones, preventing this from being a total wash. In it, the girls speculate whether or not Mito (the zombie queen) was bullied when she was younger. Akira says that it doesn’t matter, but Shizuru is quick to point out that it actually does, since we are all shaped by our past; who we are today is who we were yesterday, and who we are today plots who we will be in the future. There’s something to that, and this thread keeps Shuumatsu Train tied together in even its most unhinged moments.

It’s also worth noting that, strangely enough, this is one of the best-looking episodes! The animation is fluid and stylish throughout, the backgrounds are great, and there are some neat effects used to portray the zombie horde as a singular shambling mound of uncanniness. (I want to say the effect in question is some version of Live2D but I’m not actually sure.)

Episode 8 on the other hand, opens with first a brief comedic bit, and then a very much not comedic bit, as the girls pass through an area that seems to amplify their fears and regrets, condensing them all into micro-blip flashbacks that we see for only a split second each. After the credits, we somewhat puzzlingly cut to a different scene entirely, where the girls are planning to enter a town based on that in-universe anime NeriAli, first brought up back in episode 1. (I kept expecting this initial bit to come back but it never did. I suppose the idea is that they got through things eventually just fine? I don’t know.)

The bulk of this episode is probably best understood as self-parody. NeriAli as described in Shuumatsu Train‘s owns text is already incomprehensibly strange, and combined with Shuumatsu Train’s own proclivities, it produces an episode that reaches a level of surreality normally reserved for short-form comedy anime (your Teekyu and Ai-Mai-Mis and such). It is genuinely hard to parse what all happens here, but the very basic gist is that one of the stations has been turned into a warped parody of NeriAli, a version of the show where its bad guys won. But this frankly makes the entire affair sound much more coherent than it actually is. This is probably the strangest episode of Shuumatsu Train thus far, and that’s really saying something.

It is also, unfortunately, one of the weakest, and there are a number of jokes here that land with a thud, a few of which are truly tasteless. (A character from NeriAli shows up who is a magical girl with suicidal tendencies that wears a noose around her neck and over the course of the episode she does in fact kill herself, albeit in a weird roundabout manner. Were the manga more well-known, this would almost come across as a mean-spirited shot at Suicide Girl.) Self-parody doesn’t really work for Shuumatsu Train, while it’s clear that this episode is in some sense an attempt to replicate the feeling of being dropped into the middle of a series you know nothing about, the main series itself is already so bizarre that trying to “amp the weirdness up” just produces the anime equivalent of white noise, and while other episodes of the show have certainly had their ups and downs, the entirety of episode eight here is easily the weakest the show’s ever been.

As with episode seven, the denouement segment at the end does at least prevent it from feeling like wasted time. We learn that Yoka, or at least someone named Yoka, is ruling Ikebukuro as its “witch queen.” This is a big revelation, and confirms what was earlier implied about how the 7G Incident actually functions, externalizing Yoka’s inner world.

There are four episodes remaining of Shuumatsu Train—it was one of the earlier premieres of the season, recall—and my hope and assumption is that this episode was a purging of all the show’s most out-there ideas before we bring things home for its final stretch. Worst case scenario, this ends up being another promising original anime that flames out in its back half. That said, with something this strange it’s hard to make definitive calls on its quality until we have the hindsight of the full series, and I will completely acknowledge that there are a ton of references in this episode I just didn’t really understand. (There’s a whole shogi motif in here? Just as an example.) I suppose we’ll see what things look like in a week’s time.

Pokémon Horizons – Episode 50

Most of this episode’s important moments are within the good ol’ fashioned Pokémon battle at its heart. I have to call out a specific moment in the middle of the battle here, where Dot gets really frustrated by Bellibolt spamming Slack Off, because it’s extremely funny, and is a relatively rare instance of something feeling directly ripped from the games.

Relaxed. Thriving. Moisturized. Unbothered. In my element.

The episode’s real highlight, of course, is the climactic moment of Dot getting her bit of terastalization sakuga, and Quaxly’s Low Kick actually turning into Liquidation is really cool. An arrangement of the terastalization theme music from the games also plays here, which is also really fun. This is the second very solid Dot episode in a row, and I think she’s probably my favorite of the three protagonists at this point. Oh, and Iono [Hondo Kaede] is absolutely great here, too.

Wonderful Precure! – Episode 16

This was an odd episode. More so because unlike a lot of the other strange one-off episodes Pretty Cure has done in recent years, it’s actually plot-relevant! It’s surprisingly sweet, too! This one contains multitudes.

The most obvious thing of note here is that it’s a crossover with long-running gag anime Crayon Shin-chan. Shin’s appearance itself is really more of a quick cameo that sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of the episode.

It’s hardly bad or anything, but it does feel strange, especially considering what comes after. Still, it probably delighted a certain kind of 5 year old (and 45 year old for that matter), so I guess it’s all good. There’s a second part of the crossover in this week’s Shin-chan episode as well, which is a lot more in line with that show’s (admittedly amusing but decidedly crude. It is for little boys, after all) sense of humor. It is noteworthy for giving us Shin-chan-style Precures, though.

Back in the actual Pretty Cure episode, the main thing here is that Iroha’s parents more or less find out everything—not literally everything, but way more than is usual for Precure parents— from the sheep butler Mehmeh [Tachibana Shinnosuke, because I think this is incredibly the first time I’ve actually named Mehmeh on this blog? I’m not sure]. I feel like it’s been a long time since the series has done something like this? They still don’t know the full extent of what Iroha and Komugi are up to, but given that this actually sticks, it seems like it might be setting up a later development. Iroha’s parents’ reaction to what they do learn is very sweet, though. Her dad especially doesn’t seem to really understand what’s going on, but is very supportive, which is super cute. (I’ll say it. I’d date Iroha’s dad. Is he my type in terms of looks? Not especially, but good looks are temporary. A good personality is irreplaceable.)

Sidebar: Komugi’s impression of Mehmeh is very funny.

Himitsu no AiPri – Episode 6

This is probably the best episode of this show in a minute, after a couple weaker ones. There are still some strange decisions though; debuting Ruby=Lazuli together makes sense since they’re a duo, but it’s a little weird that we don’t get a clean run of their song here, since it’s the emotional centerpiece of the episode. The episode’s editing is also exceptionally poor. This has been a problem throughout the whole show so far, enough so that it’s sometimes kind of hard to follow. I will say that Sakura [Hibi Yuriko, in her debut named role] treating the entire thing like a shonen tournament arc is really funny, and her relationship with her partner in Ruby=Lazuli brims with lesbian subtext, which gives me a lot of hope for the future of this series.

Ruby=Lazuli’s staging is really nice, as well, and easily surpasses anything we’ve seen in the show so far. Also, hey, a cliffhanger! I wonder where this whole “AiPri is forbidden now” arc is going to go.

GO! GO! Loser Ranger!

We’re entering the weakest story arc of the whole series and the production seems to be kind of melting. Uh-oh, gang.

Ultimately, you’re always going to be comparing an anime against its manga if you’ve read the latter first, but I usually try to accept anime adaptations doing their own thing. This has been a really good one so far, and while I know some of the rearrangement of events in previous episodes has been contentious, I just don’t really agree with that criticism. This episode, on the other hand, seemed unusually weak visually—in terms of directing, animation, even just basic drawing quality—so I’m a bit worried.

On the positive side, hey, it’s Footsoldier XX! [Youmiya Hina] One of the cooler characters, all told, and her feral anime girl-meets-disgruntled hardcore loyalist soldier shtick is already in full force in her first appearance here. I’m hoping the production woes are a temporary thing and we’ll be back on track next episode. I guess we’ll see.

Girls Band Cry – Episode 5

It’s good that this show’s strengths mostly lie in its staging and how it handles conversation and conflict, given that that’s most of what this episode is. The reveal that the new Diamond Dust vocalist is someone Nina used to know, and furthermore someone she had a huge falling out with, is pretty wild. I like how it builds another connection between Nina’s past and Momoka’s; it makes the entire thing feel like destiny, and an element of that kind of romance is always nice in a show like this..

Two side notes: One, what’s with the guy with the emo hair at the end of the episode who seems to be flat-animated? Two, I love the band’s shirts. I would wear those if I could get away with it, which probably says something about me that’s not entirely flattering.

Mysterious Disappearances

This is the first time in several episodes that this show hasn’t felt completely superfluous as compared to its manga, but that really just exposes how workmanlike this adaptation is.

However, on the topic of the story itself, it’s worth noting that 2014 is awful recent as a setting for an urban legend, as is the case in the one brought up here. This is actually something called out in the text of the show itself, and I think that’s a neat detail. Visually-speaking, there’s a cool moment near the end of the episode where a bit of a fisheye-esque effect is displayed, although it only half comes across.

Also the two random maids in the Maid Café, rendered in color and subject to a bit more adaptation than perhaps the main characters are, end up looking sort of like Pokémon characters, which is kind of funny and very off-tone for this series.

A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics

I have nothing to say about this episode but this; the racehorse names are funny as hell, and whoever translated them needs a raise. If you know, you know.

Anime – Non-Seasonal

This section was big enough that it needed its own subheading this time! I probably should’ve also done this a few weeks ago when I wrote an entire article about Air in one of these, but oh well.

Precure All Stars F

My third time watching this film! This time with my friend Josh1. I cried at the climax. Again. It’s a good movie! Not one without problems, but a good movie.

Something that I don’t think fully dawned on me the first time I watched this movie is how well they set up Cure Supreme [Sakamoto Maaya] as an antithesis to the ‘real’ Cures. There’s the obvious stuff—she’s a loner and treats her fairy poorly, for example—but it’s even down to little details. She doesn’t call her attacks, has no bank animation except for a brief clip we never get to actually see in full, doesn’t have a transformation sequence, etc. She understands the form of a Pretty Cure, but not the function; she’s all power and no compassion. If you wanted to interpret this as metacommentary I don’t think anything’s really stopping you. (Although I wouldn’t go in that direction myself.) Although I wonder how that would lead to interpreting the ending of the film, where she and her fairy Puca reunite and reconcile. I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

All this said, while I don’t like ending these things on a complaint, this one still sticks out in my mind: it still bothers the hell out of me that Cure Supreme’s super powerful evil mode entails giving her darker skin, especially in a franchise that still really only has one prominent character of color otherwise. It’s just disappointing and offputting, especially in a movie that’s otherwise so good. Kids deserve better.

Gabriel DropOut – Episodes 1-7

I was a bit depressed a few days ago and needed a pick-me-up, so I chose a comedy anime from my plan-to-watch list basically at random and, as a result, watched some of this. I like it! In absolute terms it’s nothing crazy innovative, just a fairly standard character-driven comedy, but it’s done very well and the comedic rhythm is very strong. I love how much of an absolute shit everyone, especially Raphiel [Hanazawa Kana], who is probably my favorite, is. I’m also very fond of Satania [Oozora Naomi], mostly in how she eats absolute dirt in 90% of all situations. The show is just very amusing all around, and I’m glad I’m finally getting around to it.

I don’t suspect my opinion will majorly change at all during the series’ back half, and if I don’t write about it next week, you can assume I finished it up, stamped it with a 7/10 or so, and carried on with my life with no further comments. I will say that if you plan to watch it yourself, it’s probably at least worth keeping in mind the somewhat higher ecchi level than is necessarily the norm anymore. It’s not a sex comedy or anything, but there are boob jokes and such, just as a friendly heads’ up from me to you.

Also I must give a brief shout out to my friends Alice, Alexis, and Julian2, who I watched most of the series with. We had fun.

Asura Cryin’ – Episodes 1 & 2

Goodness, they don’t make ’em like this anymore.

Asura Cryin’ is a 2009 anime based on a light novel, and you can really, really, really tell. Our plot concerns a hapless young high school boy thrust into the midst of a three-way conflict over a magic lockbox that has a mecha inside of it. All the while, multiple pretty girls vie for his attention for reasons ranging from actual affection for him to trying to manipulate him into aligning with their specific goals. At the end of the first episode, a surprisingly intense firefight breaks out between the three factions, which, among other things, involves a girl with glasses popping shotguns all over the place.

So what I’m saying is; Asura Cryin’ is very trashy in that endearingly late-aughts way. These days, light novel adaptations tend to be isekai or at least isekai-adjacent, and this particular flavor of enrapturing goofball shit that stems from a time when “light novel” implied “every genre ever in a blender” doesn’t really exist anymore. The very fact that the three factions are called The Divine Guards, the Takatsuki Clan, and—no, really—the Dark Society should tell you a lot on its own. This is the ol’ Proper Noun Machine Gun at full-tilt, and what a sight it is indeed. We’ve got, as mentioned, a harem setup, we’ve got not-quite-giant mecha in a box. We’ve got knockoff stands in the form of “Spectral Apparitions” (ghost girls). We’ve got a demure girl who’s secretly a demon with heterochromia and a manipulative girl, the aforementioned shotgun-toter in fact, who’s like, some kind of ghost hunter or something? We’ve got the student council controlled by a bunch of kids cosplaying as medieval crusaders. We even, as of the end of the second episode, seem to have a time loop plot. There really is everything you could want in here, assuming “what you could want” is some anime trope or another. This is all in the first two episodes, mind you.

It really all is quite a lot. I have a nostalgic fondness for this sort of stuff, even if I’d be hard pressed to claim it’s “good” in the traditional sense. These are the B-movies of a certain period of anime, and like B-movies they often make up for what they lack in the plot or themes department with strong visuals. Asura Cryin’ isn’t the best-looking of these I’ve ever seen, but it has a strong, stylish directorial sense, and it looks surprisingly good given that it’s in a dead-zone of being old enough to be noticeably dated but not old enough to trigger nostalgia buttons just yet. (At least, not for people who aren’t weirdos like me.)

Shows like this also, and this is crucial, tend to be very watchable. I had to tear myself away from the second episode here because I had some prior commitments when I was watching it. Unfortunate! I could watch a whole half cour of this in an evening, easily. For a certain kind of like-minded person, this is the sort of thing you could easily slam through in a few days, occasionally posting out-of-context screencaps and telling your friends how Peak it is, only to give it, generously, a 7/10 on Anilist when you’re done with it. But damn it all, sometimes that’s just what you want out of an anime.

Manga

The manga that stood out to me this week the most is the one I wrote a whole article on, so do go read that article if you’re interested in my thoughts on DEEP RAPUTA. As for everything else….

Dai Kyoujin

A oneshot collaboration written by a mysterious fellow named Tojou and drawn by Hidano Kentarou (maybe best known for Super Smartphone? He draws a Kaiju No. 8 spinoff manga these days. That’s assuming it’s even the same Hidano Kentarou! Dai Kyoujin looks nothing like anything else I’ve ever seen by him.). A quietly spellbinding story about two witches tasked with an ancient and sacred duty. Of all fictional depictions of witches—a topic that matters a great deal to me, due to my own neopaganism—this ranks very high for me. The entire story feels like we’re seeing a depiction of this secret ritual, and because it doesn’t overplay its hand, it feels as though you’re never entirely sure what to make of it. Interestingly, it’s presented in a long-strip “scroll” format, making it feel even more like some ancient spellbook. I really recommend this, it’s amazingly lovely.

Flan Wants To Die

An oldish Touhou Project doujin by Girls Last Tour creator tkmiz about Flan experiencing a depressive episode because she’s old. Suffice to say, I relate. There is a persistent feeling here of the melancholy that comes with knowing that life is passing you by but also knowing you can’t really do anything about it. Flan tries to, and all she’s rewarded with for her efforts are some rather upsetting sights. She is almost-literally haunted by the ghosts of dead friends throughout this oneshot; that’s how it goes, sometimes.

Of course, this all is of relatively marginal relation to the actual Touhou canon. But that’s OK, the same is true for a lot of Touhou doujins I like a lot. The manga’s single line description is “Flan Scarlet is tired of existing. It’s probably awful to be locked in a form, without the ability to change or live out a story.” Which is interesting, because Flan actually is part of the actively-ongoing portion of Touhou again after many years in narrative purgatory. The same isn’t true for many other characters though, and Flandre as depicted here isn’t really necessarily just Flandre herself, but rather a symbol for all of us who struggle with this sort of depression.

Psych House

I should probably be catching up on all the manga I’m behind on, but me being me I decided to check out some new Jump titles instead, starting with this here, Psych House, which seems to be the first serial from its author, Omusuke Kobayashi.

The premise is very simple; in this particular version of Anime Japan, some people have supernatural abilities called Psychs. Our protagonist, Nemuru, is a kind but somewhat cheeky young boy who can change his size, and in the manga’s inagural chapter he helps out a girl named Kotone, who’s been using her ability to teleport objects to filch from a local grocery store.

I’d describe the manga as….endearingly amateurish, maybe? The bones of a good series are here, but it’s difficult to take too seriously anything that treats stealing—especially petty theft of food, by a starving person, no less—as a huge moral dilemma. Especially when, as in Kotone’s case, her situation is so ridiculously pitiable. Her mom’s in a coma for no obvious reason! She’s been starving herself because she knows stealing is wrong! She’s a good girl at heart who just wants to make her ma proud by going to college and getting a good job! Oh no, oh my! It’s all a little much.

Keeping in mind that Jump’s target audience is still at least ostensibly young boys, maybe this kind of pat Morality 101 stuff isn’t the worst thing in the world, but kids deserve nuance, too. Maybe that’s why Kotone gets off scott-free here when Nemuru invites her to live at the sharehouse alluded to by Psych House’s title.

I could see this becoming funnier and more compelling with a bit more focus, so I’ll probably keep up with it for at least a few chapters. After that, who knows?

By the way! Don’t confuse this with Hiimote House, an anime of a somewhat similar name. That series has basically the same premise but could not be more different from this one. Although, that said, give Hiimote House a try sometime if you’re in the mood for something delightfully weird.

That’s all for the main body of the article today. Before you go, I’d also just like to alert you to the existence of these two trailers for upcoming projects by the studio Kinema Citrus [Revue Starlight, Made in Abyss, etc.], respectively Goodbye, Lara, and Ninja Skooler, for no particular reason than that they both look very promising. Sadly, neither of these projects has an actual release date (or even release year) yet, with both trailers ending with a vague “Work In Progress” note. But still, it’s nice to get excited about things when you have an opportunity to do so.

As for today’s Bonus Thought….why not try some Devilish Actions?

See you next week, anime fans.

1: Hi Josh
2: Hi guys

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Posted on in The Weekly Orbit

The Weekly Orbit [4/22/24]

The Weekly Orbit is a weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week. Mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and assume familiarity with the works covered. Be wary of spoilers!

Hello, people of Earth! As the season rolls into its third main week, I’ve picked up an additional show, checked out a Netflix series that I think is probably worth diving into, and just all around had a pretty solid time. Hopefully you will, too, as you read on.

Anime

Mysterious Disappearances – Episode 2

I have been somewhat down on this show’s visual direction but I like the “cut in half” motif at the very start of this episode. Overall, this is an alright episode that forms the first half of the—yuck—Dribblers arc. I maintain that this series doesn’t entirely work in motion, to the extent that it works at all, but I think this is about as well as they could’ve done it? The ecchi scenes continue to stick out like a sore thumb. Also, it must be said that the whole “drooling sickness” bit is significantly more viscerally unpleasant in motion than it was in the manga, and it was already kind of gross, there.

The Grimm Variations – Episode 1

The Grimm Variations is a hell of a thing, and essentially my big ‘discovery’ for this week. (To the extent that getting into an anime that recently released on Netflix counts as any kind of discovery of anything.) I really liked what I’ve seen so far, and not just because this is the first anime with CLAMP character designs in a good long while. I’m going to spoil much of the first episode, which is a self-contained story as this is an anthology, right here. So if you’d prefer to just get a quick yes/no recommendation, I’d say skip this entry and go watch the first episode for yourself to see what you think. Although do be aware that it, and indeed every episode of this show, is double-length. Personally, I would say the first episode is pretty great, though not without some caveats.

Essentially, this is a twist on the Cinderella story, wherein Cinderella is evil. Kind of. It’s nuanced, but she’s definitely at least an antagonistic force. This version of the story is transplanted to Japan in, if I had to guess, roughly the 1800s, and our Cinderella figure is named Kiyoko [Kugimiya Rie]. There’s also a frame story featuring the brothers Grimm themselves and a young girl named Charlotte [Fukuen Misato], but they’re not a major factor here.

The main force of this tale is the stepsisters’ own greed, at least at first, since they move into Kiyoko’s home as their mother marries her father. But there’s more going on here, and it’s difficult to tell where the dividing line quite is between what happens to the stepsisters being the result of their own actions vs. it being a consequence of Kiyoko being actively malicious. The slide from the former to the latter is gradual, and the episode’s final moments make it unclear if perhaps this entire thing wasn’t her plan from the start. The fact that Kiyoko displays no obvious malice until the episode’s halfway mark actually makes her more unsettling. The living doll in her possession is an interesting development, as well, especially since she looks like Charlotte from the frame story and seems to actively dislike how ruthless Kiyoko is being.

In the episode’s last act, Kiyoko, of course, unexpectedly shows up at the ball outshining both her sisters, propelling us to the end of the Cinderella storyline in which it is inevitably her, and not her stepsisters, who is wed to the prince. (Or, in this interpretation, the heir of a noble family. Same difference. As a sidebar, the show’s translation of various Japanese noble titles into words like “Count” and such is a little strange, although given that this is ultimately based on a European story, perhaps it works.)

It’s interesting how open to interpretation the entire story is. When the stepsisters first arrive, the affection Kiyoko gives them seems genuine, but over time, she begins mocking them, and it seems to grow into a twisted thing where she thinks of them as her playthings. (That she feels this way at least by the end of the story is one of relatively few things we know to be true.) Is this some kind of twisted vengeance? Is this the entitlement of the upper class? Maybe a bit of both? A conversation with a friend of mine (hello, Lexi) led me to think it’s interesting how the stepsisters’ fate can be read in a number of different ways if one is so inclined. For example, as the tendency of moneyed society to shut out anyone who tries to rise above their station. You can see this with how Kiyoko relies on the trust of the house servants, despite throwing one of them under the bus in order to frame her sisters, and how she arranges events such that their “impure” tendencies from their upbringing, their poor etiquette and gaudy dress sense, are exposed and mocked.

On another note entirely, the show’s visuals are worth praising. Overall, it mostly looks good, but I do wish it looked just a little more so. In its best moments it really captures the sickly elegance and sumptuousness of a rich household, but it falters just often enough that it only works some of the time instead of all of the time. Notably, the characters look significantly better in profile than they do dead-on, which is mostly to the episode’s benefit but occasionally saps a bit of impact out of closeups and such.

But these shortcomings are more than made up for by specific, highly stylish moments. The shot of Kiyoko in a bloodied kimono, juxtaposed over herself as she stands in the ballroom, is lovely. As is her expression, visible for only a frame or two, of a sadistic grin when she’s (correctly) accused of killing her stepmother.

The final reveal; that the stepsisters are also acting, is quite the twist, but makes sense with what we’re presented beforehand, and leaves the tale on a suitably unsettling and disquieting note. All questions, no answers.

A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics – Episode 3

This is easily the best episode of Salad Bowl so far. It’s also really weird! The two things are connected. In general, the series continues to have a very modern and satirical sense of humor, which is not really something I was expecting when I started watching it. There’s an unstated irony (and perhaps an implied parallel being drawn) between the actual genre of fiction this show occupies and the roped-off world of the Branch Hill cult, who are the main element introduced in this episode. They’re a cloistered, faux-positive, new-age hack religion, of the kind that is very prominent in Japan, and seeing an anime tackle this at all, much less this brazenly, is pretty impressive.

The absolutely incredible parody of a cult recruitment video would be the highlight of the episode were it not for Livia inadvertently turning herself into the cult’s Jesus by healing a stab wound in its final act. I’m sure we’ll see the Branch Hill folks more as the show goes on, and I’m interested to see how they factor in to the series’ overall goals.

Unnamed Memory – Episodes 1 & 2

I watched the first two episodes of this with friends because I heard from some other folks that it was amusing, and also because one of the main characters is a witch and that’s a whole Thing with me. I’m not sure what I think of the series on the whole so far, but it’s definitely at least decent. The first episode is extremely dry and expository, though, so if someone got a bad first impression of it I wouldn’t be that surprised.

So, what is Unnamed Memory on the whole? Well, something with the very broad structure of a fairytale, basically. The crown prince Oscar [Nakajima Yoshiki] needs an heir but has had his, ahem, manhood cursed by a witch. He sets out to find, and conquers, a mystical tower, petitioning the (unrelated) witch of the tower, Tinasha of the Azure Moon [Tanezaki Atsumi], to free him of his curse. When she can’t, he tries to convince her to become his wife instead, since the curse won’t affect her. (It’s complicated.) When she refuses, he instead asks her to live in the capitol for a year, which she agrees to. Implicitly, this is also to give Oscar time to woo her over.

Fundamentally all of this is basically fine, but it’s a little dry. That said, as someone with very strong opinions as to how such characters should be written, Tinasha, to my own surprise, works a lot more than she doesn’t. She’s powerful, mercurial, a little silly, and full of secrets. Still, her ultimate purpose in this story is to eventually marry Oscar, a fact that the show, in its first two episodes, circles around but (perhaps unsurprisingly given how we’re not very far in), doesn’t directly address. Tinasha says herself that witches are objects of fear, but does the narrative fear her? If it doesn’t, it’s hard for us to do so either, which makes it difficult to buy into the series’ central conceits. The additional fact that she occasionally is played as nothing more than a staid tsundere is pretty bad, too. So it’s a mixed bag on that front.

On the other hand, Unnamed Memory is hardly the anime actually responsible for reducing the sorceress archetype to a gag character, and Tinasha is still given more depth here than many are, and when she’s on she’s on. There’s a particular scene in the second episode where she takes out a cadre of evil wizards and a giant wolf imprisoned in a chunk of ice all on her own, and it’s far and away the best thing in the entire show so far.

Basically, the impression I’m getting here is of a story carried by one of its characters having a lot more appeal and charisma than the rest. (Not a unique phenomenon at all. See The Detective is Already Dead, by this same studio, for an example from a few years ago.) Oscar is broadly Fine as a protagonist but he’s hardly worth talking about compared to Tinasha, and I’ll acknowledge my own biases there, but I really just can’t imagine this show working with a less interesting female lead….and it’s entirely possible they’ll fumble that aspect, anyway. So I’m not sure if I’m going to stick with this or not. If I am, it will mostly be for Tinasha herself.

Also, it’s worth addressing the visuals since this is a series, as mentioned, this series comes to us from the infamous jankmeisters at Studio ENGI. All told, it actually looks pretty much fine, at least not any worse than any of its narou-kei anime contemporaries, and there are actually a few scenes where the animation pops in a nice way, so that’s cool. Will it keep that up? Who knows! But I’m interested in finding out, so that’s definitely one thing in the show’s favor.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night – Episode 2

Great second episode from this one.

I do not see enough discussion of how unique this show’s soundtrack is. I haven’t heard this many analog (or at least analog-sounding) synthesizers in an anime OST. Not recently, and possibly not ever? Certainly not in something released this decade.

Let’s talk about the new character, Takanashi Kim Anouk Mei [Shimabukuro Miyuri]. She seems to be a little older than the rest of the cast, but more to the point, is a hardcore idol otaku to the point where it’s actively offputting to the other characters. Especially offputting to Kano, whose old idol persona Mei is a diehard stan of.

This is, on the surface, a very strange move for this show to be making, but I think I see what they’re doing here, casting Mei as someone who is clearly working through her own stuff by burying herself deep in idol fandom. And indeed, we soon learn she was bullied, possibly for being biracial and perhaps neurodivergent. The text isn’t technically explicit, but it’s fairly clear that these things are factors. One of the people bullying her literally just outright says that she’s bad at social cues, and her hair, apparently naturally a reddish-orange, sticks out, as does her name, which she’s openly mocked for. When she first met Kano in a flashback, she was adrift and purposeless, but it’s clear that over time the sincere connection they made at that point has curdled into something sour. It takes realigning herself with Kano the person, and finding an internal acceptance of how she’s changed, that lets her open back up. The show playing this whole very idol anime-y “prior meeting of destiny” bit completely straight is a little surprising, although it can’t resist playing with it as Mei makes a bunch of goofy gay disaster faces the entire time, but I think that by the episode’s end it works out pretty well, with Mei accepting Kano as she is now, and allowing herself to move on.

On another note: there’s a whole thing with hair dye (and more generally, changing one’s appearance) as a motif through this series. Kano goes blonde to avoid any association with her past life as an idol, Mei dyes her hair black both to emulate Kano-as-Nono-tan and to hide her unusual hair color, and this even sort of extends to Kiui, who we haven’t really met yet, who doesn’t physically dye her hair but has a VTuber rig with a different hair color. (Kiui’s hair being pink puts a kink in this whole thing, but not a major one.)

Overall, this was a really strong second episode and I’m glad that this show has kept up the momentum so well.

Delicious in Dungeon – Episode 16

Another good episode this week. I don’t have a ton of thoughts, this time around, but I do have a few minor observations.

In general, watching Laios say entirely too much while talking to Shuro is a lot more uncomfortable when it’s animated and voice acted. This is one of the least visually-impressive parts of the anime (which isn’t to say it looks bad. It looks quite good and TRIGGER delivers well on what is there, but there just isn’t a ton to draw), but it’s one of the most effective. Especially when Shuro absolutely freaks out on Laios during the pivotal scene where he finds out just what Laios and company have done to resurrect Falin.

We get a little more acquainted with Shuro’s retainerate (is that the term?) here, as well. I always wished we could spend a little more time with these characters, so I’m savoring every moment they’re on-screen, they’re all super fun. Inutade [Furuya Yoshino] will probably emerge as the fan favorite but I like all of them, personally.

As for that final little reveal at the end, what can I—or anybody?—say? She’s here! I’m very excited for the next few weeks.

Pokémon Horizons – Episode 47

With the delinquent, rude rival trainer involved and the battle itself being preceded by some unrelated challenge, this felt oddly like a season 1 episode of the original Pokémon anime.

Largely that’s not a complaint; I think Liko’s ongoing internal struggles are compelling. If I can criticize something though, the “losing the battle doesn’t necessarily mean failing the test” thing seems like it might do weird things to this series’ structure? I guess we’ll see.

Wonderful Pretty Cure – Episode 12

We get a surprisingly moody and starkly-directed episode of Pretty Cure this week, and I am very much here for it.

Cure Nyammy [Matsuda Satsumi], as teased last week, is real! But she’s also a brooding loner and kind of a hardass, and it seems like the disjunct between her more violent method of dealing with the Garugaru and our original duo’s caring, hug-it-out process is going to be a conflict for at least the next few episodes. It is wild how strongly her violent approach contrasts with Wonderful and Friendy’s, and I am a little surprised the show goes there.

Visually, this is the best episode of Wonderful Precure so far. Lots of really stylish animation, especially with the fight scenes, and in general, a surprisingly eerie vibe throughout much of the episode’s back half. If I can make a potentially controversial claim, I actually think this season has (so far!) had a higher batting average of great to merely decent-looking episodes than Hirogaru Sky. But then, we’re only a quarter of the way through Wonderful, so perhaps the comparison is meaningless as of yet.

Anyway, yes, Nyammy. It’s been a while since they’ve done the Cure Honey approach of having a character become a Precure offscreen and then be introduced to the other characters in a piecemeal sort of fashion. I really like the approach here, given Nyammy’s antiheroic personality and general moodiness. Since we already know her backstory, we can make some educated guesses as to how she ended up this way and what she’s prioritizing. (Hint: it’s protecting Mayu.) Although I do wonder if this might be a little intense for your average kid? That aside, Nyammy might be my favorite Precure overall in a hot minute, to be honest.

Himitsu no AiPri – Episode 2

This show is so wonderfully incoherent that I only barely know what actually happened in this episode. Everything else is just a pure sugar rush of digital imagery, only loosely tied together by this whole plot of Himari and Mitsuki trying and failing to keep a mutual secret from each other. I liked this episode, but gosh was it a lot to absorb.

Girls Band Cry – Episode 2

A very good second episode, although one I could not really wrangle my thoughts into a coherent whole about. Have a bulleted list instead. Also I must say, I could relate to this episode a lot, as someone who also often fails at basic household tasks and ends up crying on the floor.

  • I like the sky-patterened bird cutout as a metaphor for bottled-up feelings. I wonder if it’ll recur in later episodes.
  • We learn more about Nina’s weird rich girl country family and her bad school experiences.
  • The meal becomes an immediate metaphor for both Nina’s own past and her emotional baggage in general. It’s clear that she wants to devote herself to music, despite her own protests, but can’t bring herself to focus on anything but studying.
  • NOT THE EMOTIONALLY RESONANT ENGLISH HOMEWORK?
  • Momoka bringing her a light fixture literally vs. symbolically “giving her light” is very funny.
  • The subtle alienation in the scene where Momoka and her new friend/bandmate Subaru invite Nina for a meal and largely talk with each other without involving her is really sad.
  • I really liked the lashing out and making up scenes at the end.

Train to The End of the World – Episode 4

It has been a while since an anime made me think “what the fuck am I watching?” verbatim. Shuumatsu Train really probably should have joined this illustrious club a while ago, but maybe it took four episodes for it to really sink in just how utterly weird this series is. Episode 4 continue the stretch of the show that I’m tentatively referring to as the “Akira just has a generally quite bad time” arc.

I was right last week, she had a mushroom growing on her backside, and she spends most of this week’s episode hiding it from her fellow travelers as they go through an increasingly esoteric series of whacked-out train stops populated by bizarre, sometimes hostile creatures. We don’t get a long look at any of these, which is possibly for the better (sometimes it’s best to let the audience’s imagination fill in the gaps). Angry goat people who compulsively run at and headbutt the train? Screaming plants that cackle insanely as the train rolls past? Floating internal organs? Hails of golf balls? Why the hell not? Reimi openly speculates within the text of the show itself that these might all be former people, which is an even more mortifying thought.

Akira’s dilemma is the real central concern here, though. When the others find out about her mushroom, they yank it out, and in what I believe is a reference to the idea of a shirikodama, seem to take her soul with it, leaving her a babbling, sleepy mess who can barely sit upright on her own. The entire thing is pretty sad, and with this being the show’s first two-parter, we don’t see how or even if Akira will be returned to normal. I’m worried for my girl! Even though her normal personality is basically outright said to be a coping mechanism for the depressing state of the world both before the 7G Incident but also very much after it!

I also have to point out an excellent piece of analysis I saw elsewhere. I generally check /r/anime (as well as a few other places, namely, the relevant tumblr tags, Twitter hashtags, and BlueSky hashtags) for shows I’m keeping up with, because I like to have a general feel for the timbre of conversation about a given series while it airs. Usually, I do not see anyone make any inferences I didn’t make myself, but this post on the former by user 8andahalfby11 postulates an interesting—and sensible!—source for all of the weirdness in the series.

And that’s all for this week. Putting this column together took several hours, which is a lot more than I thought it would! I need to streamline my process, perhaps.

Here’s this week’s bonus thought: things that seem insignificant to you might mean the world to others, so mind what you say when speaking to people.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Anilist, BlueSky, or Tumblr and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

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 manually typed and edited, and no machine learning or other automatic tools are used in the creation of Magic Planet Anime articles, with the exception of a basic spellchecker. However, some articles may have additional tags placed by WordPress. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in The Weekly Orbit

The Weekly Orbit [4/15/24]

The Weekly Orbit is a weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week, mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and assume familiarity with the works covered. Be wary of spoilers!

We move into our second week of the new season, and things are mostly going steady with only a couple of comparative curveballs. Plus; an interesting manga and a pretty cool OVA series a friend showed me. Forgive me if I’m a little brief, here. I don’t feel like doing much extra typing today; yours truly is recovering from a doctor’s appointment where I had to get bloodwork done. (Nothing serious! Just regular HRT checkup stuff.)

Anime

Bucchigiri?! – Episode 12 (Series Finale)

A good finale to a good show! That was one hell of a final battle. I loved how by the end, Arajin and Senya’s roles have almost reversed in their respective duos. (Conversely, Matakara and Ichiya’s fundamental insecurities were close enough that they were able to merge permanently.)

I’m glad that Arajin and Matakara both end this series with a sense of what’s really important. I won’t lie and say this show was perfect, it has a couple issues to be sure, mostly boring structural stuff like pacing problems, but overall I quite enjoyed it and I’m really happy with how neatly everything wraps up in this last episode. The story of life goes on. Perhaps we must all bucchi our giri in our own way.

Mysterious Disappearances – Episode 1

Ah, this is one hell of a mixed bag.

Here’s the thing, I like Mysterious Disappearances. As in, I like the manga this is based on. At its best, I actually like it quite a bit. But I also like it with many caveats, the biggest of which is that it is a pretty shameless ecchi thing on top of being a horror-mystery series in that “Japanese urban legends all connected by an overarching metaplot” genre. (Think of it as Otherside Picnic‘s heterosexual, fanservicey cousin and you’re in the right ballpark.) I won’t pretend I’m immune to this kind of material, and one of the reasons I started reading the source at all is that the main character, Sumireko, is absolutely gorgeous in her normal form (we’ll circle back to that specificity in a second), but a lot of these scenes, translated to the anime, just don’t do anything for me. Not to mention, I think a lot of people who might be interested in the mystery half of the premise are going to be put off by the ecchi material. Not that the series has any obligation to capitulate to those people, but it is at least worth thinking about. The simple facts of the format shift makes the tonal clash a lot more obvious than it might be on the written page.

I think the smart thing to do might honestly have been to minimize this stuff, but they were never going to do that. That in mind, going in the other direction and getting a team who could really amp up the raunchiness would’ve been an approach that at least engages with the source material, too. (If nothing else, original mangaka Nujima clearly really loves drawing Sumireko.) Unfortunately, and to be probably too blunt, the team from Zero-G working on this just aren’t capable of making normal Sumireko as hot as Nujima draws her in the manga. Sorry, but it’s true! A lot of the more egregious cheesecake shots in here, especially the ones we get while Sumireko is thinking about the state of her life, don’t really do anything except remind me of the “everyone is so mean to me :(” meme. Funnily enough, I’ve also seen the exact opposite complaint; people who are more all-in on what the manga’s doing than I am complaining because the show isn’t as explicit and crying censorship. I think this is an unfortunate case where the necessary compromises of an anime adaptation have left no one particularly happy.

And as for Sumireko’s other form, her childhood self which she reverts to by reading a magic poem, well, I’m not into that kind of thing. Is the show into that kind of thing? Honestly, in the manga it was an unequivocal “yeah I’d say so,” given how it was presented, but here, I’m not entirely sure. There’s definitely some camera angles in here that I did Not Enjoy, and I can’t imagine putting that in a series where that’s not at least part of the intent. On the other hand, Sumireko’s actual transformation is evidently painful, and by the episode’s end she’s bleeding out of her eyes, which seems to indicate to me like we are perhaps meant to find this gross and offputting. This was an equally strange thing, in terms of tone and presentation, in the manga, so I can’t really blame the anime itself here, but it’s pretty unpleasant all around and I’m not a fan, and the anime definitely makes all these shortcomings more obvious. Also, there’s a ton of crude humor directed at Sumireko by our other protagonist, Ren. To my recollection, this eventually becomes more tolerable as Sumireko starts to give as good as she gets, but I forgot how much of a snot he was in the first couple chapters, and he just comes off really badly here for all sorts of reasons. Cool eyes, though. I’m glad those survived the transition to the anime.

As for the actual horror / mystery / urban legend / whatever elements, those survive more or less intact and I think are what works best here. The nighttime city shots are suitably liminal and creepy, and as weird as the execution is, in terms of characterization, we get a good sense of the kind of person Sumireko is from her abuse of the poem book’s age regression spell in order to feel like a child prodigy again. Also, Fairouz Ai absolutely kills it as Sumireko, and I think the decision to cast her here was a smart one. So despite everything I just said, I do intend to keep up with this. I think every season needs its C-tier Decent anime, and that is the role this looks to fill for me.

Delicious in Dungeon – Episode 15

A good episode, and a return to what probably qualifies as the series’ “formula”, even if I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing.

This is one of the visually wilder episode’s of the series, which surprised me a little. I haven’t looked up the staff credits but just from watching this it’s obvious that a lot of animators with strong individual styles were brought in here. (Sakugabooru identifies at least part of the very stylish fight scene against the dryads as being the work of Kanno Ichigo, and I’m inclined to trust them on this.)

Some other points; Marcille is just great up and down this entire episode in all sorts of ways, and I love how absolutely done she is with everyone else. A lot of the animation for the dryad flowers was incredibly horny (not a complaint, just an observation). The cockatrice being introduced with boss subtitles is the funniest thing ever. Even when it’s preparing a familiar course, Dungeon Meshi continues to be just really great.

Go! Go! Loser Ranger! – Episode 2

Good episode this week, definitely a bit speedy, but I think the key points were done very well, mainly Soldier F’s untimely demise. I will also confess that a huge chunk of the reason I was fond of this episode was the extremely obvious; Suzukiri first makes her role in this story known here and the entire scene where this happens is just really, really good. Arguably, it’s even better in the anime than it was in the manga. Speaking of which; Suzukiri is, as far as I can tell, the first role of any real note played by Yano Yumika. Whoever found her and decided to cast her here needs a raise, because she is an absolute delight as this character. If you’re not watching this show, and women with ambiguous morals and crazy eyes are a thing you’re interested in, I would recommend at least checking it out.

A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics – Episode 2

This show is weird! I did not like basically the entire first half of this episode, but it brought me back in the second. (They’re basically different stories entirely, and I assume they were separate in the original light novel.) All told, I’d say I don’t really understand its sense of humor super well, but sometimes it gets a chuckle out of me, and I guess for something I’m watching with friends that’s all you can really ask for.

Train to The End of the World – Episode 3

This was an interesting, and very fun-gal episode. I think it illuminates some of the show’s main concerns. But I have to admit my first reaction was “poor Akira!”

This show has a very unique way of structuring its dialogue that I struggle to put into words. The characters talk over each other a lot? This, combined with the fact that the rest of the main four just dismiss Akira’s concerns out of hand even before the mushrooms start influencing their thoughts when they eat dinner gives me the feeling that learning to listen to each other is going to be a running theme going forward. (It makes sense; the 7G incident was caused by a communication network gone haywire, after all.) I’d kind of had this thought as early as the first episode, so it’s nice to see it reinforced here. The girls are each others’ only real peers, and they’re friends in a loose sense, but they don’t seem to really respect each other very much.

We also get our first straightforward spook of the whole series with Akira’s “dream” of being pursued by the mushrooms. But the episode doesn’t let up there, and I’d call the entire thing fairly unsettling, especially toward the end where Shizuru, mushroom-bearing, is questioning if she was ever even really friends with Yoka at all and all three of the non-Akira girls seem pretty ready to give up. Although I think it’s interesting that the mushroom cult’s way of life is ultimately not immediately dismissed by the series, a lesser show would just write these people off entirely. Train to the End of the World doesn’t do that, it’s at least open to the idea that their sort of pseudo-carefree doomerism might be a valid, if flawed, approach to life, even if it’s not the one the show wants to take.

Also, that cliffhanger. My thought in the original version of this writeup was that Akira had a mushroom growing on her in an inconvenient place, but a person replying to me on tumblr (specifically a user named dream-about-dancing) pointed out that she might actually be turning into an animal instead, and also postulated that the next town seems to have a kitsune theme going by the doodles on the map from episode two. So who knows what’s going on there! I remain extremely invested in this show, and I’m glad it’s kept up the intrigue.

Pokémon Horizons – Episode 46

Pokémon Horizons opting to establish its characters over its first major arc, and then going into a loose adaptation of the recent games for its second, is, in my opinion, kind of brilliant. It allows them to eventually move the same characters to the next games’ setting when the time comes, and it makes sure we already care about the core cast before introducing a number of game characters here, also making it a good way to ensure Liko and friends aren’t overshadowed.

That fun little narrative trick aside, this was just a really great episode overall. The Floragato / Dewott battle was really exciting, and the episode as a whole was a fun way to get any new viewers up to speed but also get all of us into the swing of things going forward. I’m really excited to see where all this is gonna go, since the Explorers are clearly going to still factor in somehow.

Also, I will wholly admit that a good chunk of me watching this episode was just pointing at various characters from the game I like and then kicking my feet like a schoolgirl because they’re on the silver screen. Many such cases.

Himitsu no AiPri – Episode 1

Himitsu no AiPri is my second total Pretty Series show, and a lot like the previous, Waccha Primagi, it’s very zany and goofy, with the idol stuff as an outlet for the main character being a ball of anxiety trying to express herself. (As a sidebar, I ended up watching the premiere a week late and will probably be a week behind the JP airings for most of this series’ run, but it’s hard to say for sure, this being another fansubs-only release.)

There are just tons of strange little elements crammed in here that give the premiere a ton of charm; a “good luck charm” between two characters that consists of tapping one’s heads together, the inevitable titular idol competition taking place in some weird cyberverse, a principal who disrespects the show’s entire premise and is also so old-school that she’s an ojou character named Victoria, a background character whose hair looks chimera-fused right down the middle. The fact that we’re introduced to over a dozen characters here (albeit most of them only briefly) is pretty crazy, too, and signals that this is a show that’s going to be on the lighthearted and goofy end for the most part. Our main character literally falls into the technomagic bracelet that turns her into an idol. We’re in for a good time.

There’s also the show’s bizarre cyberworld, which provides a distinct feeling from the already-zany main setting. It must be noted that, of course, our main girl passes the cyber-idol entrance exam she’s subjected to without any prior warning here with flying colors. (Personally, I wasn’t that won over by the song itself, maybe it will grow on me?)

Also there is a truly overwhelming amount of pink in this episode. And it’s pretty gay, to boot.

Giant Robo the Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still

A non-seasonal bringing up the rear, here. I watched this with a friend (who tends to go by zhagu on the internet), and I have to say, it was quite interesting overall, and I enjoyed it a lot.

In terms of scale, it plays out something like a cross between an old-school sci fi anime and a Greek Tragedy. Everything is huge, stylish, and feels inevitable. It doesn’t really fall into a single genre, something representative is that the enormous final battle, otherwise a contest between two enormous mechanical beings, is interrupted with a fight straight out of a samurai series and it doesn’t feel strange or out of place at all. I’ve been told that some of this is an attempt to make the series feel like an incomplete adaptation of a nonexistent original work; this is the alleged “second to last arc,” of which the rest of the show, obviously, does not exist. This structure gives the series a surreal and sometimes even hallucinatory feeling, even as it remains distinctly grounded in its 70s sci fi anime / raygun gothic visual style.

Also found within: interesting ruminations on what a sacrifice truly means and is, familial legacy, and cycles of vengeance. I’m going to be thinking about this one for a while, and I would not be surprised if I rewatched it at some point and think even more highly of it. Good show, and I broadly recommend it.

Manga

A Story About A Hallucinatory Girl

Let nobody ever tell you that there’s no interesting stuff on Mangadex.

This is a very short Pixiv comic (split into nine chapters but they’re each very brief. I think this totals to 30 pages or so?) about a guy who gets in a car crash and starts hallucinating that a girl is following him everywhere. It’s….odd. I kind of like it a lot.

I’m not necessarily sure I’d call it the most sensitive handling of this material, but it turns out a lot better than what I think many would be inclined to assume from its oddball premise, especially around the halfway point when the girl starts interfering with his love life. It goes some places in a way I think is actually pretty arresting, I wouldn’t mind reading a full series of this and I think the author is talented enough that my first reaction upon finishing it was that I hope they continue pursuing art. (More on that in a second.)

I’m going to spoil the ending now, which I think is best experienced for oneself, so if you’d prefer to get the authentic experience, go read it quick, and then read the next paragraph.

OK, so!

The case turns out to be this: there actually was no guy at all, the girl is the real protagonist, and what she’s been experiencing is some kind of syndrome, brought on by brain damage, where she doesn’t recognize herself as herself, and thinks she’s a man. By the end of the comic, she’s been hit by a car again (!!) and improbably, this seems to return her to her normal condition, and she can recognize herself again.

This is quite an interesting place to take a story like this and I have to be honest in that, perhaps naively, I did not see it coming at all. Like I said previously, this isn’t a terribly sensitive handling of this material (I don’t think the solution to receiving brain trauma is to get more of it, if I had to guess), but it being….sort of a metaphor for self-acceptance in the end? Is pretty cool. Even moreso because you can choose to read some trans subtext in there if you’d like, which is always a bonus. It’s far from a perfect comic, but as a rough draft from someone who clearly has a lot of ideas (and a knack for character design, shout out to the absolutely gorgeous polyamorous queen in chapter 6), I think it’s a solid hit from a wild swing.

As for the mangaka making more comics, well, it turns out that Hamita, the mangaka in question, actually has quite a deep back catalog of mostly-independent manga of this nature, which I’m excited to dive into this coming week. (They also have a few manga that have been published, it seems, in actual magazines, but the majority of their work seems to be doujin in the broad sense.) Finding a new rabbit hole to explore like this is always fun, and I have to give a shout out to my friend zersk for alerting me to the fact that this manga existed in the first place. Evidently, I need to snoop around scanlation sites a bit more often.

And that’s all for the week from this past week. I think after this article goes live, your favorite anime blogger is going to take a nice, long nap. But before I do, please contemplate this week’s bonus thought.

Note: Magic Planet Anime is not responsible for any legal actions that may occur as the result of hiring a child wearing a tiny hat as your lawyer.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Anilist, BlueSky, or Tumblr and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

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 manually typed and edited, and no machine learning or other automatic tools are used in the creation of Magic Planet Anime articles, with the exception of a basic spellchecker. However, some articles may have additional tags placed by WordPress. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.