And something fuwafuwa I watched. Definitely the strongest first episode out of all of the seasons. First half is a typical Hidamari skitche with the four girls we know and love but now in ACHE DEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WIDENESS, while the second half is the introduction of Nori and Nazuna. The girls are all nervous to meet them but through unforeseeable circumstances their meeting each other is not as grand as they had hoped. Writing this, I'm wondering if this is actually my favorite season instead of x365. Well let's find out!
Many people felt that, after Blood-C, CLAMP could do nothing more to show their contempt for humanity; after all, how do you top
bunnies viciously murdering an entire town
in ludicrous ways? So, the expectation, aided by the misleading trailers, was that The Last Dark was going to be a cathartic experience, giving us a straightforward revenge/action flick. What people need to understand, going into this, is that the whole reason the movie exists is to be the final backstab from CLAMP to humanity, and in order to effectively communicate that they had to use an entirely different method than the one they employed in the show.
Every aspect of the writing in the film was carefully chosen to subvert audience expectations. You expect an action-packed film, but most of the first half is filled with unexciting talking scenes. We expect wacky and crazy
death scenes for the lame, cardboard cutout side characters, but surprise, everyone lives fairly happily ever after except the traitor
. We expect a finale that
awes us, but instead, Saya kills a ninja-monster offscreen and then kills a giant CGI monster in five seconds with all the difficulty of a quick-time event. And then Fumito basically kills himself.
The Saya we know is a bubbly airhead whose catchphrase is an ironic joke, but the Saya in this film is a taciturn and cold being
who is surprisingly competent
.
I think the characterization of Saya needs to be talked about in more detail. One thing I couldn't understand, watching the film, was why Mana was so entranced with Saya. The Saya in this film has no personality, she's cold to everyone she meets, and she's an
inhuman monster
. Then it hit me- that was exactly the whole point. The first appearance of Mana in the story, she's reading about rumors of monsters and Saya on her twitter feed. She later tells Saya about how the internet thought she was really interesting because she was walking around at night despite the curfew law. Mana never knew a thing about the real Saya; she was just relating to a romanticized mirage, and projecting her own feelings onto her. CLAMP is mocking all of us for so easily being manipulated by the power of narrative; we can easily end up cheering for protagonists and heroes with terrible personalities who do awful things, because we delude ourselves into relating with them. The fact that Saya
unwittingly killed Mana's father
is just the icing on the spite cake. In the end, Fumito really was the only person who understood Saya, and accepted her for who she was.
And in the end, he gives up his humanity for a chance to just briefly be with the one he loves, and have her understand him
. That's the final insult: the only moment of truly honest emotional intimacy in the film happens
How is Black Lagoon? I was going to start it. Kinda looks odd. The girl looks like sh'es basically just fanservice and nothing else. The main guy looks like a coward. Am I wrong? is it any good?
How is Black Lagoon? I was going to start it. Kinda looks odd. The girl looks like sh'es basically just fanservice and nothing else. The main guy looks like a coward. Am I wrong? is it any good?
It's okay. You'll find Revy is a bit more than simple fanservice and Rock starts cowardly,
but fills the shoes of his new environment in his own fashion.
A big strong woman manages to overcome such incredibly oppressive gender roles and finds true happiness, so progressive~
The first short was easily the weakest of the three this week as it touched upon the same old hateful stepmother but with an evil spirits twist. The second one was an interesting tale about a man seeking a woman he met at a Hot Springs to save her from being enslaved in a loveless arranged marriage. It also had some pretty nice and out there art (see below). The third one was about an incredibly boyish woman who marries someone in the city. Her mother's rather worried about her mannerisms and tells her to put an "o" in front of everything so she'd sound more polite and feminine when speaking, this of course backfires on her eventually but it all works out in the end as the family she's married into loves her all the same.
Hmmm... Can anyone recommend a good comedy? I've been watching some heavy stuff lately and I need a bit of a break. Preferably something not on my list.
There's no place for warrior in theses times of peace,summon me when the new age of a console wars begins once more, till then the evil that is cwarrior shall slumber only to be awaken when the time is nigh.
Hmmm... Can anyone recommend a good comedy? I've been watching some heavy stuff lately and I need a bit of a break. Preferably something not on my list.
Hmmm... Can anyone recommend a good comedy? I've been watching some heavy stuff lately and I need a bit of a break. Preferably something not on my list.
Hmmm... Can anyone recommend a good comedy? I've been watching some heavy stuff lately and I need a bit of a break. Preferably something not on my list.
I've seen a bunch of episodes of Cromartie, but never in order, so I'm sort of in this limbo where I want to see all of it cohesively, but I don't want to tread over ground I've already seen. Good suggestion, though.
Wasn't a bad episode. Even if it did basically ship off one of the few remaining females in this show, it was a nice self contained story. I was amused by that insert song it kept playing.
Yes, the plot's getting all kinds of stupid, but I thought the execution and voice acting in this episode was really good, especially the confrontation outside between Sorata and Nanami. For a rookie seiyuu, that was a great job by Mariko Nakatsu. She's certainly been putting more than enough effort into her role to make up for the fact that Ai Kayano barely has to ever emote as Mashiro.
Also, the piano version of "Days of Dash" is fantastic BGM.
Yes, the plot's getting all kinds of stupid, but I thought the execution and voice acting in this episode was really good, especially the confrontation outside between Sorata and Nanami. For a rookie seiyuu, that was a great job by Mariko Nakatsu.
Also, the piano version of "Days of Dash" is fantastic BGM.
I like watching Sorata get daggered every other episode. It could only get worse for him if Mashiro steals Aoyama away with her talent...Actually that's probably the next twist lol.
How the hell are you a ClariS fan and not know about the OreImo OP? It's easily the best song they've done, everything else after it is pretty meh, especially the Nise ending.
The way they were playing it off, you'd think Miki would have died if she did two songs right in a row. And you'd think that they would have informed the audience that Ryugu Komachi will be late. But I guess in the end they did a good show.
Had this only been a one cour show, this would have been a pretty good end. They definitely make it feel like it is, with the flashback ED and all.
I guess I should update the list too. It's very important you know!
Yes, the plot's getting all kinds of stupid, but I thought the execution and voice acting in this episode was really good, especially the confrontation outside between Sorata and Nanami. For a rookie seiyuu, that was a great job by Mariko Nakatsu. She's certainly been putting more than enough effort into her role to make up for the fact that Ai Kayano barely has to ever emote as Mashiro.
Also, the piano version of "Days of Dash" is fantastic BGM.
The way they were playing it off, you'd think Miki would have died if she did two songs right in a row. And you'd think that they would have informed the audience that Ryugu Komachi will be late. But I guess in the end they did a good show.
Had this only been a one cour show, this would have been a pretty good end. They definitely make it feel like it is, with the flashback ED and all.
I guess I should update the list too. It's very important you know!
Since all the cool kids are watching it, felt I had to get on board.
Wolf Children
It's well established that I'm a freaking crybaby when it comes to movies, tv, books, etc. Man, guys, this one got me. This one got me good. It's a beautiful little story. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel at first. I went I'm completely blind and didn't really enjoy the first like 1/4 of the movie. It was a very corny setup. It felt like it was trying a bit too hard. That back 3/4, though, man they are really something. Just a wonderful experience.
What impressed me most was the vivid attention to detail. It's detail I haven't ever really seen outside of a Ghibli project. Every frame is packed with beautiful animation. It's really clear that this was a passion project for Hosada. It was filled with a loving touch I haven't seen from an anime film in quite some time.
Honestly, outside of that, there isn't much I can say about the film that hasn't been said more eloquently by some other poster. I guess I'll end by saying I have a lot of hope for Hosada's future work. I'm unfamiliar with him outside of his work on Digimon. It's amazing to see how much he's grown as a filmmaker. I'm excited to give The Girl Who Lept Through Time and Summer Wars a shot. While I don't expect to be as blown away by those as I was by Wolf Children, this guy has really shown he deserves my full attention. I'll gladly give any future projects he has in mind a go at this point.