Finally done with most all the premiers, time to run ’em down – and an astounding episode of Attack on Titan. Hit the jump, and let’s get going!
The shows that I am watching are in bold, shows my wife and I are watching together are in bold italics, and strikethrough marks dropped shows.
So I’m a Spider, So What?
Kumo desu ga, Nanika?
Normally, I’m put off by huge slabs on internal monologue… But Aoi Yuuki carries it off with panache. I’m really enjoying the character of the unnamed spider.
But… there’s a lot I’m not at all fond of. This is yet another gamified isekai world. Better done than most, but it’s still there. And I’m really not fond of the “human world” half of the show. The characters are jerks, and it’s not at all clear what’s up with them. It felt strongly like it was tacked on at the end as something of an afterthought. Maybe they’ll clear that up next episode.
Idolls!
The scenario, a unit of scrappy idols desperately to make a go of it is right up my alley. But the animation was, well shitty (not to put too fine point on it) and the talking Tiki idol pointlessly weird.
Dropped without the faintest shred of regret.
Horimiya
Hori-san to Miyamura-kun
I like it. I have some concerns going forward (and they’re not all the creepy ass teacher), but I like it. The scenario of a misfit romance isn’t exactly new, but the characters are carrying it off well. I kind of like how Souta serves as an unwitting intermediary, even though that’s been done before too. But none of these are my real concerns.
My real concern is “where are they going with this?” I mean, I’ve got My Love Story and Tsuki ga Kirei under my belt – and those are some pretty high bars to compare to. But I just can’t help it. I’m OK if they don’t confess, or if things move slowly, just don’t bore me. And don’t play silly ass “will they or won’t they” games either.
Which sounds harsher than I intended… I did enjoy it, I do plan on being back next week. The series succeeded in making me interested.
Non Non Biyori Nonstop
A full minute before the first human figure appears on screen. Two full minutes before the first (and very ordinary) line of dialog is spoken. A full episode where almost nothing of consequence happens… And finally the most ridiculous conclusion you can probably think of.
Classic Non Non Byori. Despite a five year absence from the screen, it’s back! And it’s still right at the top of it’s game.
Yes, I’ll probably spend a good chunk of the next three months gushing over this series. It’s my blog, I’ll gush if I want to. :) :)
Also, having grown up around sandspurs (cockleburs), I’m with Renge. They suck.
Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season
Starting from the disclaimer (which I don’t think they’ve ever used before) to the final image burned into my brain… WOW. This episode put the pedal to the floor and never let up.
I have to wonder about Reiner though… From the scene at his parents forward, I’m wondering just how much guilt he carries. How much conflict is tearing him apart…
That being said, this (attack) is much bigger than Eren. He’s not the only Paradisian in town… His letters went somewhere. The separation and incarceration of Marcel and Pieck was a deliberate act. Are the Paradisian’s after the Jaw and Cart Titans? Where is Armin and the Colossus Titan? (Annie appears to still be in the the cocoon she encased herself in way back in the first season.)
It’s going to be a long wait until next week. And I think I’m going to be saying that a lot over the next few months.
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That sums up the week… And wow, it’s been a tiring one on the watching/blogging front. And I haven’t even gotten to Uma Musume or Otherside Picnic yet today!
I’m think that this season posts will come out on Tuesday. Which means I’m going to be perpetually late to the party on Promised Neverland. But that’s pretty much my only option given how crowded this season is. Some weeks, some shows are going to get short shrift because there’s no way I can write credibly about fourteen shows and maintain my sanity. (And I’m actually watching sixteen because Oishinbo posts two episodes a week.) Not to mention I do have other hobbies and interests…
Other than the two shows mentioned above, pretty much everything is fair game. Of the shows that have premiered, I’ve watched all I intend to.
So, drop a comment and let’s chat!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
@Shingeki no Kyojin: This is it, the episode I’ve been waiting for since I read the manga chapters over a year ago. I wasn’t disappointed. There’s very little action… it’s mostly just two guys talking in a basement, with a stage play going on outside. This episode was always going to live or die on the voice acting and the VAs for Eren, Reiner, and Tybur knocked it out of the park, slowly building up the tension until… that scene at the end. The Ride has started and it can’t be stopped any more. Keep your hands and feet inside until the Ride has come to a complete stop… at the rate they’re adapting, I’ll say three weeks.
@Horimiya: Went in with no expectations, liked it enough to keep it. Weird pacing for a rom-com, and that’s coming from a guy who liked Tonikaku Kawaii, the rom-com where the couple got married in the first episode then started dating.
@Kumo desu ga, Nanika?: Haven’t watched it yet but may give it a shot.
@Non Non Biyori Nonstop: Not caught up on it, and this season is way too stacked for me to consider binging to catch up, so sadly it’s gotta wait.
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Is that great when it happens? When the anime just nails a scene?
On the subjects of VA’s, I kept getting this niggling feeling I knew Willy Tybur’s voice… Turns out he voiced the main character in Oishinbo, so I’ve been hearing him twice a week for a couple of months now. (It’s a 1988 anime that’s getting an official release on YouTube, first three and now two episodes a week.) Kinda blew my mind. His acting was decent back then, but yeah, all three of them aced it this week in Titan.
@Horimya: Yeah, it’s got a weird start, which leaves me (as I mentioned) puzzled as to where it’s going. In my post, I should have mentioned Tonikaku Kawaii as it’s a better fit than Tsuki ga Kirei.
Non Non Byori is, for me, one of the handful of shows I’d shed others to make sure I had time for. I’m an unabashed fan.
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@Spider: I can’t say I mind the human part too much. It’s obvious that the entire class including the teacher have been relocated and re-incarnated rather unevenly. It’s sort of both a backdrop and also a bit of scene balance. But they’re definitely not the selling point. As expected, the show’s major assett is Yuki Aoi playing a spider.
I noticed that the spider doesn’t actually eat like a spider, liquifying the food before slurping it up. That might have been too off-putting to watch? Or is there actually an in-world explanation for this?
In any case, this was fun, and want to watch it, but as I said last week, I have severe motionsickness issues during CGI action scenes and rapid camera motions, and it’s not good enough to brave this. Two possibilities for me to continue watching: the camera erratics don’t occur during important scenes so I can get away with watching certain stuff out of the corner of my eye, or there’s more to it than meets the eye. I don’t have much hope for the latter, but the former’s quite possible; many shows are worst early on (a sort of show-off effect).
@Idolls: Can’t say much about this. Dropped in under two minutes.
@Horimiya: I liked it, but all the plot so far is basically what’s been covered in the OVA (even if that one was based on the original web-toon rather than the manga). Now I know that the OVA isn’t very popular, but I liked it a lot, and I think it does a lot of things better. It’s just more grounded. For example, in this episode we get a shot of Miyamura walking meaningfully past Hori and her little brother (a staple shot of the genre), before we see Miyamura suddenly shows up on Hori’s doorstep with the brother in tow. In the OVA there’s no meaningful walk, and we see the scene unfold from Miyamura’s perspective, starting with meeting the little brother. The OVA’s approach allows a natural progression: the pierced guy is kind and not scary, children are naturally less prejudiced if they didn’t puck up the prejudice from others, etc. The tv series on the other hand gears everything towards a romcom, focussing on the surprise that Miyamura’s appearance creates. That’s precicely what I worried about when seeing the PVs. It just feels a little less special.
That said, I still liked the premier a lot, and they pull off the comedy pretty well, too. One of the better premiers so far, but it could have been special in a way it isn’t. It’s entirely possible that that’s what you do when you transition from amateur to professional, but to me that just means that more professional doesn’t always make things better.
So what does this mean for worries? I don’t know, but I’m actually optimistic, because I think that sort of stuff is just a surface layer of polish that attracts genre fans and disguises what makes the show’s heart a little. But it still shines through, so the show should stay every bit as much fun as it has been during its first episode. One thing I liked is that the show can address prejudice without resorting to bitchy characters. And Hori just says what’s on her mind, while Miyamura doesn’t wiggle out of addmitting the truth when it’s unpleasant, so a lot of the genre-common misunderstandings are pre-empted here. (Note that people who read the manga, and maybe even original web comic, will know more about the direction the show will go than I do – I’m mostly just guessing.)
@Non Non Biyori was Non Non Biyori. I loved this episode, and that’s sort of a relief, as I wasn’t quite as fond of the one movie I’ve seen in between (it was still good, but didn’t quite measure up).
Curious: are you still watching Gekidol or have you dropped this? I find there’s something to the show that makes it better than the avarage show, but – well – not necessarily good enough to survive a stacked season like this one.
Also, after episode 2 I’m totally aboard with Last Dungeon/Starter Town. It’s played as a zany comedy but takes its implication seriously. If I read the ending of episode 2 correctly, our cute and kind protagonist would have killed his sparring partner if his caretaker hadn’t intervened. Not to mention that various people who can gauge his strength want to use him. I’m not expecting the show to be deep or anything, but there is a story in the background that doesn’t make this a powerfantasy. There are also elements I wish that weren’t there, like playing a potentially interesting character as a yandere instead… But on the whole it’s one of the better shows in a stacked season.
I also quite liked the premier of Kemono Jihen, though it’s probably going to be a rather straightforward shounen monster-of-the-week show. At least that what it looks like the way the show introduces a rather typical team near the end of the episode.
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@Spider
I haven’t seen an in-world explanation, but it’s probably just anthropomorphizing the Spider. Also, the way actual spiders eat could take too much time/explanation?
@Idolls: You didn’t miss much by sticking it out another two minutes and finishing the episode… It didn’t get any better.
@Gekidol: The second ep just dropped this morning, and honestly I’m struggling. I’ve still got two episodes from yesterday to catch up on before getting slammed on Wens/Thurs. Given how low my motivation is to watch it, I’m thinking a pre-emptive drop may be in order. As you said, just not quite good enough given the already steep time demands of this season.
I’m also being hyper aware of my tendency to stick with stuff long past where I should. Even in a more normal season that sometimes leads towards verging on burn out. And burn out is almost certainly in the cards this season if I’m not careful. Between 2019 and 2020, I’ve still never gotten back in my groove.
@Horimiya: I’ve seen nothing of any of the source material (webtoon, manga, OVA), so I’ve got nothing to compare it to. But in the anime’s defense, it pretty much has to do things differently – it’s got one episode and one episode only to “set the hook”. Different media have different choices… And it depends on where the anime is going to go with it. Strikes me as more “drama with comedic elements” than straight up rom com, but that’s based on slender evidence. They certainly didn’t hold back Hori upbraiding Miyamura there at the end of the episode, there was real feeling there.
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I enjoyed the first episode of Gekidol. I thought it had something different about it which I liked. I do feel it could swing either way though yet. I haven’t seen episode 2 so hopefully that will reveal more. Talking of idols I also thought Idoly Pride had a sweet premise and looked good for burning up half an hour of idle time (hehe).
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Gekidol wasn’t necessarily bad, but there’s nothing standout about it sufficient to keep it around in such a busy season. (IMO, YMMV.) I think I’ll check out Idoly Pride tomorrow… I’ve done very little related to anime today, a refreshing break after the last week.
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