Iaboo, Youaboo, Weallaboo for Anime!

[WisteriaHysteria]

Lazarus was sold in a way that really leaned into the visual and audio legacy of Cowboy Bebop. Which I think did the show a big disservice, but also got it attention and an audience it otherwise would have never gotten on its own. I knew from the very first trailer that this was going to be a bad idea. Layering on sky-high expectations like that is mostly a recipe for disaster if you don't meet them. Especially in this social media landscape where over reactions and hyperbole are encouraged and selected for visibility.

Also, your casual anime viewer probably isn't even aware of what Watanabe has done in the last decade or so, which has honestly been middling shows at best. Terror in Resonance and Carole & Tuesday had similar issues with unengaging stories and a cast of uncompelling characters.

Cowboy Bebop worked in large part because it followed a near flawless story structure and character archetypes that's been well honed over decades by other great minds. Centering a 26 episode show around 3.5 main characters meant every character got more than enough screen time to be fleshed out as individuals the audience can grow to love as they get to know them. Lazarus tries to squeeze 5-6 main characters into a 13 episode series. That's just not enough time.

Further, Cowboy Bebop's episodic nature means that if an episode falls flat, or if the story does not grab the viewer, then the show has 25 other chances to win over the audience. With a serialized show like Lazarus, if that main story is no good, the whole show suffers for it, regardless if its components are technically solid.

It's funny, back when Champloo was airing I felt that was trying too hard to be Bebop again, and was the lesser for it.

Now the common wisdom seems to be the Champloo is another 10/10 while something like Lazarus gets reamed for failing to recreate Bebop.

tl;dr - bro it is CRAZY people think Axel is a Spike rerun but Mugen isn't.

Cowboy Bebop also worked not just because it had style and substance. It felt like something completely brand new to international audiences, who by and large were not exposed to the decades long legacy of shows that it borrows from. I guarantee if anime viewers in America had grown up with Lupin III, Cowboy Bebop/Spike Speigel wouldn't have felt nearly as novel.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

This isn't new news, but it's an update on Science Saru's new Ghost in the Shell production. I'm cautiously very optimistic. If Science Saru can put in the production values and skill they put into DanDaDan, then this should pop off.

Personally, I'm very heartened. As so far, this looks like it might be the first GitS thing ever to actually LOOK like Ghost in the Shell (The PS1 game's cutscenes not withstanding). If we can get the first faithful adaptation of GitS, I'll be a very happy person.

 

[Peklo]

Disaster lesbian Kusanagi needs to be reintroduced to the populace.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Finally caught up with Rock is a Lady's Modesty. The highs are... rather high and the lows were fine actually. The resolution to the big arc is fine but the epilogue felt a little too "ok lets end the season" and just not as interesting as the climax. I also feel like they skipped a really interesting conversation for Lilisa and her sister to have. I don't know if they skipped some manga stuff to make the 13 episodes fit into an arc but it's kinda disappointing. That said, the episode where she meets the former noble lady is some good drama within the school they have largely stopped doing and is a really good way to set up the frustrations of the lead. Solid series where there are a couple things I wish got done better or we saw more of but still a strong recommend.

 

[SpoonyBard]

Late to it but I finally finished the second part of Komi Can't Communicate.

The show is so messy. It has heart and there are definetely moments that hit me specifically, dealing with my own social anxieties ever since I was young, though not nearly as extreme as represented in Komi. But I feel the message it wants to present is lost a bit because of every other incomprehensible advantage Komi has (literally every one of her classmates is outright obsessed with her and wants to help, she finds a best friend who is able to interpret what she wants to say to an uncanny degree, misunderstandings and coincidences constantly happen in her favor), and part of that is due to it still being an anime with a comedic slant so characters with outrageous personalities are par for the course. But some of those characters grate horribly against the shows purported mission statement. (looking at you, Yamai)

The second half also introduces Katai, a large and intimidating male character who has similar, though not as extreme, social anxieties as Komi and at first I related to him quite a bit. Unfortunately the series seems to prefer to use him as a joke rather than treating his anxiety as seriously as it does Komi's, because haha shy man is pathetic so funny.

Still, despite how some of the characters are grating, and disappointing, the show still had moments that got to me. One of Komi's rare lengthy speaking moments, where she reveals her specific anxieties to Tadano before their class trip especially stood out. Her description of her social paralysis due to her inability to tell what her classmates thought of her, that inability to read people and retreating inside of yourself out of fear of misinterpreting and saying the wrong thing is something I know well. I wish the show had more moments like this and less time spent on Yamai being an insufferable sex pest.

There's been no word on continuing the anime and I haven't read the Manga so I don't know if it would get better or worse. Ah well.

Anyway, anyone have any recommendations of other slice of life anime? Preferably with a good dub on Netflix?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Anyway, anyone have any recommendations of other slice of life anime? Preferably with a good dub on Netflix?

I don't know about of you want a similar premise but Hitori Bocchi. Its less wacky but also takes a lighter and less incisive touch. It means we'll and mostly does well but the premise is the main character's friend refuses to see her until she makes friend with all the kids in her class. That's some bad friending. Otherwise the series is good. It doesn't have much to say on the subject of social anxiety but it's a fairly cute little show.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

"Laid-Back Camp" is a recent favorite of mine. It's a no-stakes, chill show about a school club of girls who go camping in their free time