Impressions! Summer 2016, Week Five

Illness has mostly gone away, so I’m finally up for catching up on this season. The next intro paragraph for these Impressions won’t be about still being behind. Promise.

Impressions! Summer 2016, Week Four

Still a week and a bit behind. Still fighting off some illnesses. Not suffering as much as Subaru still is, though…

Orange

Seeing Kakeru be slowly drawn away from the group by Ueda was uncomfortable to watch. But Naho made herself worse off by only worrying about herself. The letter guiding her to fix her regrets may seem focused on her, but ultimately it has its attention on Kakeru, and caring for him. Naho assumes Kakeru’s actions coincide with his thoughts. But of course he still wants to talk to her. It’s just as hard for him as it is for her.

Ueda’s row with him in the corridor could be criticized as a heavy-handed way of confirming how bad a girlfriend she is, but te caricature of a personality she has contrasts so well against the subtle, flowing characters that make up the main cast. She feels like an outsider, not only because she’s from Tokyo. An outsider to the narrative itself. And now Naho has helped remove her from this story.

Our main couple become closer after having been pulled apart. The romance swells, and I’m only getting more enthralled in it. Great stuff.

Re:Zero

Subaru continues to only value himself, and pays the biggest price for it yet. Though Rem sacrifices herself so he can escape the White Whale, he only wants to go back for her, because he doesn’t believe in her strength. Only his own. But the driver is right: the greatest powers of Re:Zero’s world make everyone else look weak in some way.

As Subaru believes he can bargain with the force denying him honesty in some way, that force takes Emilia’s life instead of his own. He says he’s come to save her, but he remains to not care about her at all. Betelgeuse’s words really struck me as he saw her dead in his arms; rather than be the hero, it sounds like Subaru was brought into this world to serve the evil within it.

Subaru doesn’t want to die after he loses Rem, but he does once Emilia is slain. He remains pseudo-heroic: Emilia wouldn’t stand for the inequality in that attitude.

Mob Psycho 100

More wacko social commentary this week, and our first big development. Mob wants to be popular and belong at his school. Our dimpled cultist really wants the same. But Mob humbly lends his time to helps others get rid of the influence of spirits: this spirit forces its influence on others. And so Mob finds resolution in forcing his influence on him.

The idea of Mob burying his emotions clashes so well against the over-expressive fraudulence of his mentor and the over-expressive tenor of pretty much every other character around him. He has to disconnect from our world in order to fit into it; else he’d annihilate it. I love this constant conflict of Mob’s existence; it’s set a brilliant backdrop for every note of drama to follow.

Even though we have a percentage counter, there really is no telling how long it’ll be until the next ‘explosion’. Regardless, I can’t wait for it.

Amaama to Inazuma

These episodic cooking conflicts are great. This week: learning to like the things you hate. Vegetables. Ugh.

Every installment of this show gives us a new way to look at childhood through what’s now become the regular routine of communal cooking for our cast. It’s great to see Tsumugi’s dislike of vegetables immediately accepted as an obstacle to overcome; Amaama to Inazuma isn’t arguing against what’s been concluded as good parenting. It’s emphasizing our need, however, to be creative in our approach to those conclusions.

Tsumugi may have offloaded her green peppers onto her father, but it’s a far cry from crying at the taste of them. The little touch of defiance ironically brings her closer to her father, when her need to eat greens was beginning to draw her away from him. It plays out like Flying Witch did last season with the herbs Chinatsu at first couldn’t tolerate; though the examples of adults enjoying the natural things children are skeptical of, children can learn to love them too.

91 Days

An escape from the hubbub of the family feuds gives our two leads some time to understand each other. Their performance to the children carried a lot of meaning for me; while Nero has a go-getting spirit, Bruno succeeds before we realize he has, and uses Nero’s character to strengthen his own. He turns the tables of the act: I wonder if the wider plot will play out somewhat the same.

Overcoming the ‘Goliath’ was a great mini-thriller. Nero’s lack of Biblical knowledge, which he ties into not going to church, furthers the pseudo-religious slant of his actions. He has a devotional walk, but it’s not towards Christ. Though Bruno gets a further insight into how far his revenge will have to go, this episode also got me thinking about what exactly Bruno is living for, be it day to day, or fighting for his life. He may be an object of Bruno’s avenging, but he lives as a subject of his own motivations. Surely we’ll be seeing into him more and more as we move forward.

Short-Cuts:

• Bananya. A filmsy friendship that’s torn down by crowdthink? This is getting all too real…

The Drop Zone

• Kono Bijutsubu. Like New Game, while it’s a great CGDCT with some nuances, I’ve losing interest in blogging it. May still watch it irregularly anyway.

That’s all for this (belated) week. See you next time!

Impressions! Summer 2016, Week Three

Been ill and falling behind on blogging, so apologies if these episodes already feel like ancient history! I’ll be catching up in no time.

Impressions! Summer 2016, Week Two

The season’s in full wing and I’ve got a bit more to follow than usual. Maybe the seasons are getting better. Maybe I’m just broadening my tastes. Whatever’s the reason, there’s a lot to look forward to for months to come!

First Impressions! Summer 2016, Week One

New season! Old layout! If it ain’t Rewrite, don’t fix it.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Final Week!

It’s all at an end! Though some shows will continue into second cours, my memories of all these stories are only just starting to blossom.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Twelve

The season’s ended and I’m a week behind! You can tell how tired I still am from my exams finishing and such.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Eleven

Damn this post is late, but at least my first year of university is over now! Exams out of the way, all that remains to test is the quality of this season as it draws to a close.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Ten

Realizations of how little I’ve prepared for my exams are piling in faster than a bloodthirsty horde of Kabane. But on the plus side, even if I forget how to talk about Beowulf, some of the shows coming to an end this season are proving to be unforgettable.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Nine

Like my performance on my last mock exam, some of this week’s offerings took a rapidly downward turn. Lots of good surprises too, though!

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Eight

We’re past the midpoint, and while some of shows are clearly laying out their goals, others are still playing hard-to-get. But the latter should mean more surprises. Good surprises, I hope.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Seven

Halfway through this season, and I’m halfway doing 10% of the revision I should be doing for my prelims. But hey, anime’s always calling. If only I could write my essays on it.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Six

Some great developments this week for everything I’m watching! Boku no Hero and Kiznaiver are rewarding viewers with a good memory for little plot points you’d think would have been forgotten, and Flying Witch reminds us of how important our imagination is as we watch our way through all these shows.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Five

Shounen protagonists want to be the greatest and save the world, but I’m more like Makato, just wanting to get by and breathe in my academic life and this great season of anime along with it.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Four

It’s been a great week, and I’m slowly getting back on track!

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Three

Better late than never! Netoge keeps its harem hilarious, while Kiznaiver declares war on character cliches. Meanwhile, Flying Witch is as blissful as ever.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week Two

High School Fleet’s maiden voyage is a success! But Mayoiga misfires as it reaches its destination.

Impressions! Spring 2016, Week One

New season! New shows! A new exclamation mark in the title of these posts!

Impressions: Winter 2016, Weeks Twelve & Thirteen

It’s the end! Some shows lost their way; some were never going to recover. But it’s still been an enjoyable season overall.

Impressions: Winter 2016, Week Eleven

This week: Satoru gets emotional over these Impressions getting posted on schedule this week. That and some stuff about Kayo.