Iaboo, Youaboo, Weallaboo for Anime!

[MarcAlan]

One thing I was surprised with regarding Rock is a Lady's Modesty is how well the motion capture is for the performances. Because let's be honest, they could have simply done something and most people would have been fine with it. Instead they got members of Band-Maid to play and have done a decent job getting that animated. I mean, you can still tell it's CG but it's pretty good CG.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Witch Watch

The Premise

A young teen descended from ogres is tasked with acting as the body guard of a clumsy witch.

It Gud?

So far… so-so. Really hit or miss. The misses aren’t painful but they are a bit bland. I’m told that it eventually becomes a parody of battle shonen as well as being an actual sincere battle shonen. The animation is good though not as eye-poppingly gorgeous as the incredible opening credits sequence. But as it is, it’s more a traditional rom com with a bit of extra goofiness.

I do think the way it presents the magic shenenaigans that it also structurally is sort of similar to Doraemon, replacing future gadgets with magic spells and the elementary school dipshit with a cool dude and his magic cat with a silly witch. OK, maybe my comparison went to far afield but it's like "magic = antics" and that's sort of similar to Doraemon, I guess. And Bewitched. And it works OK in that format. But as a comedy, it was only sporadically funny and the rest in the realm of fine.

But I will give this one a chance. I could see it getting weaker but I could also see it getting a lot of fun when it actually gets to a plot. I already have scene a wild selection of characters coming up. My hope is this is one of those series that overcomes my initial hesitation and wins me over. But as it stands, I like it OK.

EDIT: I actually like the next two episodes better, even though it really leans into "hey, we just made an anime/manga reference". (And some are deeper cuts for young and non-Japanese fans).

I've been reading along with the manga since almost day one. And while avoiding spoilers, I will say that so far your impressions are both impeccable, and completely off from what the show will turn into. The author of Witch Watch is the same guy who got his start as an assistant on Gintama, and went on to make SKET Dance and Astra: Lost in Space. If you're familiar with SKET Dance, or Gintama, then you might have a better idea of what's to come. As the show's structure is more or less like those two. Episodic adventures with an overwhelming comedic bent than anything else, with some well written drama and suspense sprinkled in between as welcome pace breakers.

There will be romantic storylines, but that's not all this show is going to be. Much like those other shows, it's going to be an intersection of different genres and varying tones. Kenta Shinohara's sense of humor isn't as crass as his mentor's Hideaki Sorachi's. But the irreverence, and foundation in traditional Japanese comedy (specifically the Manzai Duo act), and the usage of pop culture are all the same. A good number of jokes will fly completely over the viewer's heads, and the localizers here are not doing the audience any favors (a show like this demands translation notes) but most of the Japanese-culture-specific jokes you ought to be able to infer enough to understand what's happening in the abstract, and a lot of the humor is going to break through translation barriers anyways as fairly universal themes, versus simply being pop-culture references.

The romance in Witch Watch is much more of the puppy love variety, and after a certain point in the show will just be almost completely written out for a while for plot reasons. You're much more likely to have platonic, friendly bonding than anything else. And it honestly gives the show a pretty comfortable, wholesome vibe as a result.

 

[SpoonyBard]

Recently watched Part 1 of Sakamoto Days, and it was... hm... aggressively fine.

It was an entertaining watch, some fun moments, and good performances on the English dub (I guess I'll watch anything with Matt Mercer in it, haha), but nothing truly great or memorable. It's anime junk food, and that's fine. Maybe Part 2 will raise the stakes some more when it comes out in a couple months?

Speaking of.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Takeshi Koike keeps making Lupin III things. Which is a whole-ass vibe. Next he's making a theatrical film it seems:

 

[Kirin]

… I’m interested.

Good to hear B’z still doing their thing too, heh.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Yeah, B'z doing music for it is a welcome throwback for sure.

Kirin, I know your spare time is increasingly fleeting, but Imma need you to watch the new Gundam show now airing. Ain't nobody around here watching it and that feels like a shame.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I’ve been watching it. The word I’d use to describe it is “messy”. I did like the second episode with those cool seventies designs, then was a bit let down when it went back to Pokémon trainer characters the next week.

 

[Kirin]

Yeah, B'z doing music for it is a welcome throwback for sure.

Kirin, I know your spare time is increasingly fleeting, but Imma need you to watch the new Gundam show now airing. Ain't nobody around here watching it and that feels like a shame.

Yeah I’m hoping to get to it! We actually just installed a new media streaming setup that’ll make it easier for me to get back on the anime train if I can just make time for it, heh.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

I’ve been watching it. The word I’d use to describe it is “messy”

I read a description online that was like, "Watching GQuuuuuuX is like watching one of the Gundam Film Compilations" and that felt about right. The show is going through plot beats and story progression pretty fast in a way that I find it understandable if people have trouble keeping up with it or feeling certain ideas in the show are underbaked.

I still think it's brilliant. Anyone who is a fan of the old UC Gundam stuff, or a fan of the FLCL/Diebuster/Evangelion side of Gainax owes it to themselves to watch this I think.

I did like the second episode with those cool seventies designs

Well you're in luck because it's coming back for an episode next week. But I honestly love the Character Designs. Yeah, they look a little Pokemon-y, which is expected considering they tapped Take to do the designs. But IMO she did her homework and understood the assignment. Her original designs for the show all look like close cousins to Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's work. Particularly his designs for Nadia. Like, the leader of the Pomeranians looks exactly like Grandis with a bob-cut. And you can't convince me the characters running in the OP isn't an intentional homage to Nadia's.

 

[Violentvixen]

While we were in Japan there were approximately 1 billion posters for the newest Detective Conan movie One-Eyed Flashback, and while I'd heard of the manga series before it made me curious about both it and the movies. On the plane ride home they had the The Fist of Blue Sapphire and turned out Lumber had never seen anything in the series either so we watched that.

What a dang spectacle. Never been to Singapore but have of course seen all the landmarks. It looks like this movie is much more action-focused than others in the series but I had a good time, perfect movie for the plane. Definitely a bit silly but in a good popcorn-movie way.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Detective Conan films are an annual event. They've been doing them once a year in the spring every year like clockwork since the 90s. Everyone brings their families out to see them b/c everyone watches the show with their little kids. The TV show spins its wheels in the same way every show that has perpetuated itself through four different decades does. But the movies are always a good time with relatively high production values, solid action, and good stories that manage to progress character development arcs. Keeping up with the TV show is a fool's errand, but watching a movie once a year is pretty dooable and something I've tried to do. Most of them are good fun, so if you liked that one, you've got like 30 other ones to watch as well.

 

[spines]

Kirin, I know your spare time is increasingly fleeting, but Imma need you to watch the new Gundam show now airing. Ain't nobody around here watching it and that feels like a shame.

i've been watching it! but my familiarity with gundam is mostly "i've heard of that" or "oh, that's a gundam reference i don't really know" (like, a couple weeks ago i learned for the first time that one of the doujin musicians i follow's "circle name" is almost certainly a reference to rick dom, lol) so before this episode i haven't really had that much to say...considering i'm aware this has been a series that's pretty heavy on direct allusions to older series and i don't know most things the show might expect the audience to know, i've been kind of letting a lot of it wash over me.

which is a good thing in this case. there have been times where i've wondered if the things i'm wondering about are actually super obvious to most of the audience, but i overall have really liked how it's been developing and unfolding. not that i'd mind if it was a slower show either, but i think the economy of the storytelling has really hit for me. you learn a little more about everything each episode while new questions emerge. although again, i certainly have wondered if some of those things that feel like open mysteries are actually super obvious to most of the audience.

and then this week happens and i have much clearer expectations of the kinds of things this show is building towards but still not feeling too sure about how it's all going to end up since it hasn't been beating me over the head with super obvious foreshadowing. except for maybe the credits, but i'd say that remains to be seen. lol

 

[Violentvixen]

Detective Conan films are an annual event. They've been doing them once a year in the spring every year like clockwork since the 90s. Everyone brings their families out to see them b/c everyone watches the show with their little kids. The TV show spins its wheels in the same way every show that has perpetuated itself through four different decades does. But the movies are always a good time with relatively high production values, solid action, and good stories that manage to progress character development arcs. Keeping up with the TV show is a fool's errand, but watching a movie once a year is pretty dooable and something I've tried to do. Most of them are good fun, so if you liked that one, you've got like 30 other ones to watch as well.

That's really fun. The manga and TV show seemed overwhelming to pick up, but I'll check out more of the movies if I run into them. I don't have many subscription streaming things but if I get a trial and one of these shows up that'd be cool.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Yeah, there is an overarching narrative to find the mysterious criminal group who turned him into a child but the series is mostly "case of the week".

 

[Tomm Guycot]

Ain't nobody around here watching it and that feels like a shame.

Hi I'm watching GQuuuuuuX.

I think it is good.

EDIT:
I do think people are so focused on which Khara-adjacent anime it's constantly referencing that they are missing which Khara-adjacent anime it's constantly referencing. Say outfit styles and hair colors.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

...before this episode i haven't really had that much to say...considering i'm aware this has been a series that's pretty heavy on direct allusions to older series and i don't know most things the show might expect the audience to know, i've been kind of letting a lot of it wash over me.

Glad I was wrong! Also glad people are enjoying this so far. I'd actually be more interested in hearing what people thought of the show if they weren't that familiar with Gundam in the past, haha. There is a lot of stuff in there just for hardcore fans, but so far the story seems like it's got enough to it that new fans should be able to follow along and understand the important parts. But I'd like to hear from people actually in that position rather than me just hypothesizing.

I do think people are so focused on which Khara-adjacent anime it's constantly referencing that they are missing which Khara-adjacent anime it's constantly referencing. Say outfit styles and hair colors.

Oh there's definitely plenty of that, yes. But IMO there's just references and allusions to *everything*. Be it Yoshiyuki Tomino's face on paper money, to this last week's reveal of the _______GFreD________ where I assume there won't be a single person here that will miss *that* reference. Like, they could not have possibly laid anything on thicker without crossing the line to violating trademarks.

 

[Tomm Guycot]

Glad I was wrong! Also glad people are enjoying this so far. I'd actually be more interested in hearing what people thought of the show if they weren't that familiar with Gundam in the past, haha. There is a lot of stuff in there just for hardcore fans, but so far the story seems like it's got enough to it that new fans should be able to follow along and understand the important parts. But I'd like to hear from people actually in that position rather than me just hypothesizing.

I had only watched Gundam Wing back in the day, and while I was considering "finally watching Gundam" for a while I hadn't pulled the trigger. The night I tried out GQuuuuX I was actually deciding between it and a Macross Plus rewatch (now on D+/Hulu), but Japan Twitter had been flooding my feed with a lot of stuff about GQuuuuX (and I saw Anno was involved) so I decided to give it a chance. There were 2 episodes available.

Episode 1 - I enjoyed that it was its own thing / take on the UC but with its own main characters, who were compelling and to a degree felt like they were in the wrong anime (not a negative). I could tell there were tons of Gundam fanservice drops but they didn't detract from anything.

Episode 2 - It is pretty obvious without any Gundam knowledge that this is referencing the original show to some degree. The conceit of "but what if Char got in the Gundam" is very clear even without any knowledge. Char is pretty compelling, it turns out. I was sold on the show here, and it's where I started questioning if I should take up Gunpla. Having the Red Gundam immediately pop up from any Gunpla search certainly contributed.

Episode 3 Onward - I no longer fit your demographic because I immediately dove into watching MS Gundam UC 0079. But there were a lot of happy coincidences, such as the Black Tri-Stars episode occurring the same night I saw that in the og show, or finishing the original series the night before Episode 8.

PS. I've started Gundam The Origin, finished Requiem for Vengeance, and just started Zeta last night

 

[Kirin]

Welcome to the fold, Tomm!

 

[Tomm Guycot]

Welcome to the fold, Tomm!

 

[spines]

last summer we watched the rose of versailles. i was instantly into it, especially because oscar is so similar to my main high school oc. hahaha. less funny is how relatable the feeling of social unrest was. anyway, pretty much right after i dove into the first series of aim for the ace, also directed by dezaki. it's a less impressive and far-reaching show but i found myself relating to hiromi in a painful way. i've seen people say she's annoying and pathetic and it's true. but i've said the same things and felt the same things as she does. it's easy to say someone else shouldn't talk about themselves like that, but you see, i'm different

(i'm not different)

then later dear brother got a blu-ray reprint and i scooped it instantly. for most of the series i was enjoying it but it didn't really connect with me in a similar way. the final arc completely changed that. i quickly saw my parents in it and i suddenly felt like i understood them and the world they grew up in so much better (despite the series' obvious technological modernizations to the 90s). in many ways, it's all still the same, even now...

this post is actually about aim for the ace 2 though, but i really had to mention all that other stuff. even outside the dezaki connection it's really hard not to see this as close to dear brother, with its intense melodrama and powerful (and occasionally silly-cool) late-80s style. hiromi has become successful and confident...by leaning on munakata. but his longstanding illness, hinted at in the previous series as the reason he coaches at all instead of dominating the court professionally, has finally come to collect. he deflects by finally acting more open and honest with hiromi, but passes as she leaves for an intense tournament in new york. his peers are shown learning immediately, as if through the force, but his charges only find out one by one, determined to see hiromi's last tournament under him through before she learns the truth. this all happens by the second episode, and while we see highlights of her performance in new york, it's immediately clear the show is putting it in the back seat compared to the dramatic irony of her eagerness to reunite with him as she's surrounded by grieving friends. when she finally learns, she doesn't want to play tennis. she doesn't want to live. in this show, they're the same thing. to give so much of your life and spirit to something is to face the hardships of life through it too.

2025...has been a very bad year, and i'm far more aware than ever that one day i will vanish from this earth, maybe very suddenly. and i am old now and frustrated by the state of pretty much everything. of course i believe that my way of thinking is right, and know that everyone else does, too. like munakata, i don't believe i'm going to have children. so what would i like for someone to believe in when i'm gone? what would i hope for them to do? that question may be simple for the coaches, who hope to one day see hiromi as one of the greatest athletes in the world, but it's something i've started to find very relatable.

hiromi finally catches herself at the bottom and the show returns to the familiar beats of the first series. hiromi's athleticism has degraded greatly from neglect, and she loses overwhelmingly to a younger and less experienced competitor, fostering her lingering doubt just a little longer. she begins the same kinds of harsh and challenging training she did so often in the first series and faces off against familiar rivals. but the showdown with ranko ends anticlimatically and the final match is left unresolved entirely. it's not about winning at tennis anymore, but remembering that you have the strength to fight and live on. great series overall...i'm absolutely going to be on the lookout for discotek to license the final one. hahaha

 

[Peklo]

You're working through my absolute favourites there--although I haven't seen Dear Brother and Aim for the Ace past the movie yet. I thought none of this stuff would ever get licensed after all these decades, but now that much of it has been, with The Rose of Versailles being available in English manga volumes too... I'm really happy that works that are so incredibly good and what should be staples of their mediums are more widely available.

 

[Kirin]

Yeah this set of shows is also pretty much the exact playlist watched by the spin-off of my old anime club that formed to watch stuff that was a little too old-school and/or too shoujo for the main club to vote onto it’s schedule. Though I also haven’t seen the Ace sequel series.

(We also watched Patarillo, which kind of defies description other than being comic nonsense with retro shoujo visuals and is still pretty hard to track down afaik.)

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

PS. I've started Gundam The Origin, finished Requiem for Vengeance, and just started Zeta last night

I'll be interested in learning how you feel about that stuff! Are you watching the Zeta TV series? Or the compilation films?

 

[Tomm Guycot]

I'll be interested in learning how you feel about that stuff! Are you watching the Zeta TV series? Or the compilation films?

Gundam the Origin is very good / interesting. I think a faster/cleaner way to get into the core serious would be to watch this and then the compilation movies of 0079 - rather than watching through the entire 0079 series.

Zeta - I feel like Anno based Shinji off his take of Amuro, and Sadamoto based his manga Shinji (who he said was a troublemaker) off of Kamille. I'm about ten or so episodes in and it's interesting. Did anyone not realize who Char was? I'm watching the series, by the way.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

I was a toddler in America when Zeta came out, so I can't speak to the experience of what it was like watching Zeta as a fan as it came out. But there is zero shot anyone but the smallest of innocent children wouldn't have immediately picked up that Quattro is Char. Shuichi Ikeda's voice is iconic, and he didn't do a single god damned thing to even attempt to disguise it. Char is by far and away the most popular character in the entire franchise, especially at that point, and bringing him back for Zeta would have been something everyone would have immediately noticed. Also, the framing of the story and narrative all make it blatantly obvious, as well as the initial dialog when he's infiltrating Side 7.

 

[Tomm Guycot]

I was a toddler in America when Zeta came out, so I can't speak to the experience of what it was like watching Zeta as a fan as it came out. But there is zero shot anyone but the smallest of innocent children wouldn't have immediately picked up that Quattro is Char. Shuichi Ikeda's voice is iconic, and he didn't do a single god damned thing to even attempt to disguise it. Char is by far and away the most popular character in the entire franchise, especially at that point, and bringing him back for Zeta would have been something everyone would have immediately noticed. Also, the framing of the story and narrative all make it blatantly obvious, as well as the initial dialog when he's infiltrating Side 7.

My closing thought of GtO movie 1 was how on earth could Kycilia have allowed herself to be surprise defeated by Char when, at like age 10, he vowed an eternal vendetta TO HER FACE?

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

The answer is that The Origin is not canon, and also in the original show Kycilia doesn’t know who Char’s secret identity is

 

[spines]

You're working through my absolute favourites there--although I haven't seen Dear Brother and Aim for the Ace past the movie yet. I thought none of this stuff would ever get licensed after all these decades, but now that much of it has been, with The Rose of Versailles being available in English manga volumes too... I'm really happy that works that are so incredibly good and what should be staples of their mediums are more widely available.

i got those too! it's really interesting to see the different vibe, since ikeda's work is hardly frivolous but it's less thoroughly serious. i'm really interested in reading more of her stuff, especially as i've been working on my japanese vocab and grammar again lately i think i can maybe get through some stuff i don't think has really been translated. at least if i can find/get it, haha

 

[Peklo]

Seven Seas put out Claudine from Ikeda some years ago, so that's an easy one-volume pick-up... just so long as you're up for late '70s trans tragedy and all the related content warnings. As with all the shoujo titans, it's remarkable the subject matter was explored with any gravity at all.

 

[spines]

i got that from the library a bit ago but didn't make time to read it. i'll try again soon