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Iaboo, Youaboo, Weallaboo for Anime!

Heike Monogatari ep 10: I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying!

I could probably write a master's thesis on this show, but two short little observations:

1) As I've said before, this story is about a society in transition between different eras. And it's always interesting to see how that ends up playing out in all of the little details of the show. One of the more stark ways this plays out is the combat attire. Early on, most of the Heike are decked out in very regal, mostly ceremonial armor that was indicative of a court official in the Heian Period. They even wear makeup to battle. None of this is irregular for the period, but it's a small detail that's visual coding that reinforces the themes here of these characters belonging to an old guard and not really being adept and adaptive enough to recognize the shifting of the times. A lot of the Genji Bushi wear armor that's a lot more visually recognizable as 'Samurai' armor to the uninitiated.

2) The title logo of the show in Japanese, the character for 'Heike' has one brush stroke that's off-color and blue versus the rest of the title. It's very obviously a reference to Biwa's heterochromia. That is kinda obvious though. What's a a little more subtle is that is that in the opening, every page of the credits also has one character that has the blue brush stroke. Also not that crazy, but it's cute. Usually it's the 'hei' character, but they pick others too. That's also not that crazy. But what I didn't notice before is that the Science Saru logo, one eye is also blue. No real deep meaning there but it's a fun easter egg.
 

FelixSH

(He/Him)
While I have absolutely no interest on the live adaptation of Cowboy Bepop, I started rewatching the Anime. Still fun (big surprise, I know). That said, I have only watched the show one time, something like 18 years ago. So, I didn't even remember Ed, and the only episode I remembered was the one, where rotten meat ran around on the ship, and bit/poisoned everyone. Everything else is essentially new, which I count as a positive.
 

Seven

Enters, pursued by a bear
(he/him)
I'm also currently watching Cowboy Bebop, but in my case this is my first watch. I remember seeing a little of the show years ago when it was on Toonami however I never gave it any attention until now. So far it's pretty good and once I'm done I'm thinking of checking Samurai Champloo since I heard it is something of a spiritual successor.
 

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Did you ever watch Trigun? I only watched that show once, three years ago, but watching Cowboy Bepop makes me think of that show from time to time. Maybe it's the sci-fi - western setting, even if the interpretation differs in both shows. But if you like this show, and haven't watched Trigun, maybe give it a chance.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
So apparently One Piece had its 1000th(!) Episode, and to celebrate they reanimated the original OP with the modern designs and characters


And honestly, this just reminds me of how much better the anime used to be. This song will always be the spirit of the show to me, even if it as been replaced by We Go as the main musical motif after the time skip.
 

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Thanks, that's pretty cool. I love the beginning, with Gold Roger, grinning, at his execution, and then a ton of ships setting sail. Having everything else modernized (including a recognition that, yes, Ginbe is a member of Lufeys crew now) is pretty nice to see.

I still enjoy the current arc (despite the length), but I'm really looking forward to whatever comes inbetween, the stuff where we learn more about the state of the world, as we get when big arcs are over. But that is probably not for here, and more for the manga.
 

Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
Did you ever watch Trigun? I only watched that show once, three years ago, but watching Cowboy Bepop makes me think of that show from time to time. Maybe it's the sci-fi - western setting, even if the interpretation differs in both shows. But if you like this show, and haven't watched Trigun, maybe give it a chance.

Just the other day I was half-jokingly grousing about how bad of a start I had with "getting into" anime in the early 2000s as a kid, when those personal filters and tastes hadn't really developed yet and you're much more susceptible to just going with other people's, and importantly, popular recommendations. A lot of stuff at the time I would categorize as falling within the comfortably interchangeable guns and machismo "genre", with things like Bebop, Trigun, Outlaw Star, Hellsing, Gun x Sword leading the charge--similar cut of the protagonist as a visual presence, similar aesthetics, similar hatred of women--in this medium-wide selljob that there was maturity at display because the stories veered slightly older in the subjects and because violence persisted. It really was an uphill trek to shed off those assumptions that this was what the medium encompassed or was categorically striving for creatively and find things I actually enjoyed.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I still enjoy the current arc (despite the length), but I'm really looking forward to whatever comes inbetween, the stuff where we learn more about the state of the world, as we get when big arcs are over. But that is probably not for here, and more for the manga.
Oh yeah, the manga's still a banger, even if the current arc is waaaay too long and Wano should replace Namek as the common 'this story has been in one place too long' complaint in shonen manga, but I haven't looked at the anime in ages.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Did you ever watch Trigun? I only watched that show once, three years ago, but watching Cowboy Bepop makes me think of that show from time to time. Maybe it's the sci-fi - western setting, even if the interpretation differs in both shows. But if you like this show, and haven't watched Trigun, maybe give it a chance.
Did you check out Blood Blockade Battlefront, from the same creator as Trigun? It's pretty good. The premise that Hell and New York basically crash together, creating a new city. The residents are now a mix of humans and Hellraiser-style demons and people have learned to live with giant monsters roaming around and an extremely high body count during their everyday life. It's weird considering how in Trigun, the lead tries to protect all life but while in this series, the heroes fight overt, direct threats but there are ton of everyday threats no one seems to be fighting (like a restaurant with man-eating stools). It's a weird tonal mix but it works, feeling a bit like Men in Black if the aliens weren't secret and were mostly friendly cenobites.

It also has a great ED.

 
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Seven

Enters, pursued by a bear
(he/him)
Did you ever watch Trigun? I only watched that show once, three years ago, but watching Cowboy Bepop makes me think of that show from time to time. Maybe it's the sci-fi - western setting, even if the interpretation differs in both shows. But if you like this show, and haven't watched Trigun, maybe give it a chance.
Nope, that's another show I missed out on so I'll add it to my watchlist; Thanks for the recommendation, I would have replyed sooner but my covid booster shot had me out of commission for a while.
 
Heike Monogatari's final episode hit today. And oh my goodness. Just magnificent. Instant classic. In the afterglow, I don't have the words to express my adoration of this show enough, so I might come back to it later.

A short disclaimer: if you're sensitive to shows that discuss/feature suicide, know going into this that there's a bunch of that happening here.

Some background information that I feel is necessary to get the most out of the series finale: Heike Monogatari is directed by Naoko Yamada. She'd spent nearly her entire professional career at the studio Kyoto Animation, which she helped put on the map in a big way. She's one of the mediums powerhouse creators. She probably would have stayed there her whole life, had a deranged fan not set the studio on fire and killed a good 40 or so of her colleagues, and left dozens more too wounded to go back to work. That she didn't return to work with them, but instead freelanced at Science Saru signals that event was a very affecting event for her. With that context, I couldn't help but see the final episode as Yamada working through her own grief in a very public and revealing way. And in a way, perhaps even recontextualizes this entire show as semi-autobiographical. I don't think it's a coincidence that in her first work since the arson attack, she chose to tell a story that's inherently very religious and deals with the central theme of loss and suffering.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Though it wasn't my favourite show of the year and there was definitely stuff lost on me, I really liked it a lot. There were two shows where I feel I didn't follow everything (the other being Sonny Boy which, man, that's a show that doesn't hand hold) that I still really responded to. I think, though, both had barriers that kept me at a distance from loving it more; for Sonny Boy, it was simply it's experimental storytelling and with Heike story it was simply a lot of context that was lost on me. But in the macro sense, I definitely got the bigger messages and with Heike Story, it's the messy story of a family who are pretty much villains in history (though the people against them aren't exactly heroic, save maybe the fresh-faced guy in the last leg of the series, who I'm sure I'm supposed to go nuts over when he appears if I knew the significance of him). But interpersonally, while there are still shits, like the family's patriarch, there is love in humanity within them. It's a tragedy of hubris and inability to sympathize with people outside your circle that causes them harm, a fact not lost on some members of the family. Koremori (I think. I tended to get a lot of the names mixed up) definitely seems aware towards the end and the line he gives risks being too on the nose but I feel really works; that the Heike expect loyalty they never extend. I also think it's interesting Biwa does what the Taira family fails to do; meets and cares for people she has every reason to hate.

JBear pointed something out that I'm curious of; there's one character whom I don't remember the name of but is essentially a sheltered antagonist who constantly comes off completely sheltered, soft and baffled throughout, despite his side being the winning side, basically adding very little actual help aside from OKing other people's moves. I can't help wondering what he did to be so unpopular in Japan that this guy is presented this way?
 
Though it wasn't my favourite show of the year and there was definitely stuff lost on me, I really liked it a lot. There were two shows where I feel I didn't follow everything (the other being Sonny Boy which, man, that's a show that doesn't hand hold) that I still really responded to. I think, though, both had barriers that kept me at a distance from loving it more; for Sonny Boy, it was simply it's experimental storytelling and with Heike story it was simply a lot of context that was lost on me.
I followed most of what Sonny Boy was putting down. A lot of it was simply exploring through allegory a lot of typical coming of age issues in very imaginative ways. And especially later in the show, it mixes those in with a lot of Buddhist concepts for dealing with grief and existential dread. I finished this show not long ago and it was also a really really good time. The ending is not what anyone wanted or expected, but it worked very well to reinforce and more clearly spell out the themes of the show to the viewers.

JBear pointed something out that I'm curious of; there's one character whom I don't remember the name of but is essentially a sheltered antagonist who constantly comes off completely sheltered, soft and baffled throughout, despite his side being the winning side, basically adding very little actual help aside from OKing other people's moves. I can't help wondering what he did to be so unpopular in Japan that this guy is presented this way?
I believe you're talking about Minamoto no Yoritomo? It's not totally consistent with how he's characterized in primary sources and other historical accounts. But IMO it's editorializing to accentuate the fact that 1) his control of the situation was always tenuous at best (there was historically lots of in-fighting in his clan) and to also highlight 2) his reliance on his wife's family, the Tojos. A clan who basically coopted and took over his Shogunate and ran things for him once he passed away. (You might recognize the Tojo clan for their family crest that is just straight up the Triforce.)
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
I followed most of what Sonny Boy was putting down. A lot of it was simply exploring through allegory a lot of typical coming of age issues in very imaginative ways. And especially later in the show, it mixes those in with a lot of Buddhist concepts for dealing with grief and existential dread. I finished this show not long ago and it was also a really really good time. The ending is not what anyone wanted or expected, but it worked very well to reinforce and more clearly spell out the themes of the show to the viewers.
Oh, in the macro sense I definitely got a lot of it. But not necessarily from scene to scene. I feel like the coming of age dread is even more specifically about knowing you are going to leave school, a completely structured world, and realizing how few of the rules that you needed to adhere to matter anymore and trying to figure out what does. Ironically, the fact that the main character is a somewhat well-intentioned milquetoast does keep me at arms length a little but also fits perfectly since it is a lead who was just going one with whatever and now needs to find a direction in a world(s) unmoored from anything familiar and safe and into a world of endless possibility that is beautiful but also scary and full of pitfalls.
 

ThornGhost

lofi posts to relax/study to
(he/him)
There's a teaser video that's basically a 10 minute episode for Kaguya-sama Love Is War Season 3. After the sketchy OVA this feels like a good return to form for the show.

 
Super Crooks came out I guess. I had no idea. Thanks Netflix, for once again pooping a whole show out at once and sending it to die. I normally find Mark Millar stories anathema to having a good time, but I will always give something by Studio Bones an honest shot.

Ranking of Kings is just straight up magical. I'm so glad that Studio Wit moved on from Attack on Titan to making shows like this, Vivy, and The Great Pretender in recent years. It's so much more interesting and it's a much better use of their talents and ambitions. I'm very excited to see what they do with Spy x Family next year.
 
They're hit and miss. Brain's Base is certainly capable of doing good work. (In recent memory, they've done both To Your Eternity, and In/Spectre.) But they've made plenty of poopers in between. Only time will tell, but I can't imagine them doing a worse job than Geno Studio, which always seemed way in over their heads with GK, biting off more than they could chew.
 
That's a big RIP. Even if she hasn't had much to do with the industry for a while, the stuff she's left her mark on has been some of my most favorite media of all time. I made a big effort post a while back about it (I think on TT2 maybe?) but I implore people to go look up and give Wolf's Rain a chance. I think I might go rewatch it and pour one out for her. It's a masterpiece, and a really good example of Mono no Aware, IMO.

I think it's ok to level criticisms or discuss how she wrote female characters. Many around here object to how Macross Plus treats its female cast, and I'll be the first to admit that Cowboy Bebop relies on a lot of tired tropes for many of its female characters. But she always managed to imbue a level of depth into her female characters that her male contemporaries in the industry just straight up don't do. Most of the characters in her stories are intensely flawed, but relateable characters that experience growth arcs and exercise agency in ways that most contemporary female anime characters are happy to just have one dimensional, static, inorganic stereotypes for its female cast.

Edit: Also, speaking of Macross Plus, the film version is gonna be in US theaters this Tuesday for select showings.

 
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Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
Cancer sucks and creators dying sucks, but to cast Nobumoto as exceptional within her industry specifically in terms of as to how she approached writing women to me is nothing but hagiography--you can't deny her legacy but it doesn't extend there. Much of her career is inextricable from Watanabe's, so that informs those impressions, but she was perfectly capable of maintaining her voice in collaboration with others too. I'm not fond of any of her work.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Also looking fun; the newest Dragonball Super movie trailer


I like the idea of the return of the Red Ribbon Society as a superhero team with them either being villains pretending to be heroes or real heroes being manipulated by their superiors to beat up our favourite warriors. But more than that, I love Gohan's look of "Piccolo in nerd glasses", though if there were a better time for the return of Saiyaman, I couldn't think of it. Oh, and it looks like it's a bit of a time jump again, for what it's worth.
 

Sprite

(He/Him/His)
Husband and I just watched season one of One Punch Man and loved it. Definitely my favorite take on the whole “being Superman would suck” trope. Very impressive to see a show manage to have such a high body count while consistently feeling low-stakes.

Is season two as bad as people say?
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Is season two as bad as people say?
I don't know but as I understand it, if you like it also watch Mob Psycho 100, which is the same creators take on the Psychic Action genre. I've yet to see it but people love it about as much and it has a Hell of an intro.

 

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
Is season two as bad as people say?
If what you care about is animation quality, don't watch season 2. The manga (the Yusuke Murata illustrated one, not the original webcomic) is better animated. Don't think I'm exaggerating.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Bad news, good news time.

We are going to have to wait another year for a new Dr. Stone season.

But this next year we are getting a TV special. So that's good.

 
So some series had their season finales! And you damn well better believe I've got some thoughts!

First up is Takt Op. Destiny. Despite being based on a mobile game, it wasn't beholden to following some premade storyline. I liked both Takt and Destiny's growing relationship, even when they were both being jerks to each other. The ending kind of felt like it came out of nowhere, with the reveal that the head of the defense group was behind the recent events. But at least it left things on a hopeful note, even if Destiny is now gone and Takt is in a coma. I highly doubt this is going to get a second season, but I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Worlds Finest Assassin became a bit of a hate watch partway through. Look, I get that Lugh is a teen and will have wet dreams, but the insistence of his maid and adopted sister that they "take care of him" multiple times got gross. And then they upped the gross factor by revealing that Dia is his cousin, and now is pretending to be his sister, and Lugh is in love with her. Just...no. At least the Celtic myths are more involved with the reveal of Setanta and his Gae Bolg. Too bad he went out by way of "a wizard did it." Of course he wasn't the Hero, with a capital H, leaving things open for a second season. So look forward to more people thirsting after Lugh's man juice if this get another season greenlit.

Finally, there's my favorite of the ending ones The Fruit of Evolution an show that never took itself too seriously and loved to giggle at isekai tropes. Does it make sense that Seichii can create magic and is being asked to be an instructor at the magic academy that his fellow students are at? Nope! But does this show care that it doesn't make sense? Not at all! In fact, you could call this the "Hang a lampshade on everything" show and that would be pretty accurate. I'm hoping it gets another season, as I like it.

Digimon Ghost Game is still ongoing and I'm still enjoying it. The Faraway Paladin is one I fell off at the recap episode, but I do want to catch up.
 
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