Some other odds and ends of opinion before I leave the year behind for good.
Show that just went for it:
ID: Invaded – This is a weird little under the radar show that looked hecka good and was a unique and creative show. The premise is that there’s a machine that goes into serial killer’s mind palaces where a detective must unravel the meaning behind the symbolism within. It leads to a lot of fantastic visuals within the show and it doesn’t hurt that the animation is very nice. Its not perfect: its pretty easy to predict the main villain and a lot of the large cast doesn’t have time to develop. The science, even for this kind of show, is silly but I don’t mind because I feel it works thematically and the show is a real trip.
Show with weirdest structure:
In/Spectre – So far it seems like the first Crunchyroll original is the best. The premise is a young woman is abducted by yokai and when she returns has some body parts removed in exchange for a special gift: the ability to see and talk to yokai and act as an intermediary between the human world and the spiritual one. This seems promising but a little basic. It is talky in a way that quickly reveals it is, in fact, based on a novel series. But then there’s a story where a guardian snake spirit asks the lead to tell her about the nature of a murder near her house. And she doesn’t solve the mystery so much as conjecture A LOT for an episode and a half and then there’s a three-year time jump. The whole conjecture aspect seems bizarre but it soon becomes apparent that it is actually locked into the thesis of the show: that stories and myths are how people try to figure their shit out and might be more important to people than reality. The story culminates with the lead heroine essentially trying to hi-jack a tulpa created by many people but using it as a segueway to a different, sexier narrative until the original doesn’t matter as much. Overall, I ended up being kind of iffy on the whole show. On paper that sounds really interesting but in actuality I found it far too slow paced and felt that a lot of conclusion jumping was necessary in the construction of the new narrative. But I am interested in what a second season could do.
Song Lyrics That Hurt My Brain Every Time I See Them:
Moriarty the Patriot
I… can someone make heads or tales of it? I think I get the intent of it based on what the show is about but… huh?
Quality First Episode to Last Episode complete inversion:
Look,
God of High School was never going to be conventionally “good” but it looked like it was a stupid fun action series where wacky teens beat the shit out of each other. But then they decided to have a “mythology” that continually makes less and less sense as the series builds to its first and hopefully only series climax. Good animation in favour of a the fever dream of a Shounen geek that I couldn’t make heads or tales of even in a fun way.
Show I noped out of the quickest after the first episode
Plunderer
Here’s a show with an interesting premise: In an alternate reality, people are born with numbers on their bodies representing some sort of task or achievement and if the number goes to zero, they are dragged to Hell. OK, interesting. Then the show immediately pushed in my face the concept that sexual assault from the main character is hilarious. Fuck you, TV show.
Best show that would have fit in really well on a Saturday morning animation block:
BNA
Like, there are a couple of slight moments that would have been edited out, like elements of the last big fight, but BNA was just a fun, poppy show that hit me in the right ways. A fun and mostly episodic show with an adventure of the week format until the end of the season. Like Beastars and Zootopia, its probably a show that falters a bit under one-to-one scrutiny of its metaphors but like those things it doesn’t stop them from being great. If Beastars is Zootopia by way of adult soap opera, then BNA is Zootopia by way of 90s/2000s superhero cartoon.
Show that doesn’t need “cliffhangers” as much as it thinks it does
Asteroid in Love
As a yuri cute girls doing cute things show, I have NO idea why this sleepy low-stakes show needs to have cliffhangers. I’m pretty sure one is the announcement of a party next week. And that’s one thing but then the narrating main character has to ask “A party? Next week? With my friends? What will happen next?” I’m pretty sure while this isn’t ver betim, it is the weird tenor the show felt the need to take on when they could have ended most episodes on the lead character saying “I like my friends.”
Show I liked despite questionable metaphor
Drifting Dragons
There’s no getting around, unless you are being willfully ignorant, that Drifting Dragons isn’t romanticizing the whaling days of yore. Seeing how cruel it is in the modern age, its something I’m not really in favour of. The show even acknowledges them being made of rare species within the series. But beyond that, its cast of characters and very pretty animation make for a great slice of life with some adventure fantasy series set in a world of docile dragons being hunted by our heroes for resources. I suspect the original manga has some beautiful looking art, as well.
Happiest Post-COVID Delay Returns
Though neither made my end of the both year list,
Appare-Ranman and
Millionaire Detective are both delights. Both are mid-tier shows: good animation, plotting, characters, etc. Not particularly deep or nuanced but with such a sense of fun, they were both great shows to look forward to week after week. Their comebacks also aligned with me and JBear finally able to hang out again, so that probably helped.
OK show whose ending made me mad
Sing Yesterday For Me
It was a perfectly OK show but I wasn’t expecting it setting up
the 20 something main characters leave each other (fine) for the younger “just turned 18” people who have been pining for them. Neither of these seem like good relationships though the woman who is dating the her dead BF’s little bro who is kind of a creep is bad. Even not considering the actual ages of the characters, in borh relationships one character is much more in every way mature in both relationship that seems unhealthy.
This was also nice to watch
With a Cat and a Dog, Every Day is Fun
Each episode is a minute and a half (including 9 seconds of end credits) and is basically a manga-ka saying “cats and dogs, boy are they different.” Still, while I wouldn’t put it in my favourite of the year, it is a pleasant show to watch. Always like it.
EDIT: Almost forgot
Show I'm glad I gave a chance
The Day I Became a God
Don't take this as a complete recommendation. It's a C show, I think. But I found the first episode extremely annoying in its "shouty comedy" and only kept watching because it got a bit funnier at the end with a potentially interesting hook. The hook didn't plan out as interestingly as I hoped but it turned into a show that didn't quite annoy me, mostly, as much as the first episode. Sometimes the humour falls flat (like the Mah Jong episode) and they also introduce an adult TV host who tries to coerce the under 18 main character into sex, which is played for laughs and then keep her around as the main characters friend despite... THAT. But its not a bad show and weirdly oscillates between kind of sad and "wacky" and also some sci-fi stuff. Again, I won't go to bat for it but despite its failings, it is interesting.
OH MY GOD, WHAT IS IT!?!
The Gymnastics Samurai
I will never trust
bigbird and the second I lose sight of him, I'm scared. Also, this show takes place in the real world (specifically 2002) except this thing. My working theory is its Danny Devito in a costume and he's in too deep to admit it.
