Dragon Raja -The Blazing Dawn- ep 0: A lot happened in this extra-long prequel episode, yet somehow at the same time very little progress was made. Our embattled hero is living a frustrating life under the thumb of his cruel adoptive family when he gets scouted for a mysterious college by a foreigner who claims to have known the lead's parents. He's not completely on board with doing as he's told, though, so a feisty redhead girl is enlisted to attempt to coax him into making the only interesting choice for the sake of the story (its ultimate direction feels kind of obvious). The narrative is all over the place; it feels as though a reasonably competent reincarnation (?) story has been pasted onto an extremely average magical school show, by way of an awkwardly one-sided romantic confession scene which didn't make any sense at all. The animation is good, if occasionally bizarre (one early scene showing the lead gaming made me laugh) and I liked the Sawano theme song. Not a keeper but not completely terrible.
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! ep 1: I'm disappointed that I didn't like this anime more. It's a big, flashy parody of sentai shows and on paper it sounds fantastic, digging into the ridiculous behind-the-scenes politics of the defeated enemy soldiers destined to play out doomed losses week after week in order to entertain the masses. With its musical style and mildly uncanny use of CG, it reminds me of Tiger & Bunny, which took a similar poke at superhero genre conventions (albeit in a slightly less silly way), but I found myself tuning out watching Go! Go Loser Ranger! several times. The reason was the pacing, I think; if the episode had burned through its material twice as quickly it would probably have held my interest better, but as it was everything felt as though it was dragging the same jokes out for an eternity and the lingering on the least interesting parts of the visuals (unfortunate as some of the designs are quite fun). Perhaps the manga would work better for me?
Tadaima, Okaeri ep 1: While I've been passively aware of the omegaverse for years now, I think this is the first mainstream outing that it's had. And though the hallmarks of the subgenre are not hidden, they're also not thrust to the forefront of the narrative because the leads are already settled and comfortable in their relationship by the time that the story starts. I learned something about myself while watching this gentle story about a cute pair of married guys and their adorable kid, though, and that was that while the characters and core story were all fine, the omegaverse isn't for me. I can see the value in exploring discrimination by examining it through the lens of imaginary social dynamics instead of the issues we get in the real world... but it makes me feel personally weird for people to have hardcoded traits which fit into particular categories, and because this series wants to be soothing at the same time as it questions the discrimination against people who marry outside of their 'type', it ends up confusing me tonally. I don't think that I can judge this series objectively because of the discomfort I feel (which is a shame, because its family dynamics are sweet).
Tonari no Youkai-san ep 1: Watching them back to back, this show's world felt like the opposite of Tadaima, Okaeri's; it's so fluid! We're quickly introduced to a corner of a version of Japan where ordinary people live side by side with youkai. Some of them are born that way but the first episode introduces us to a nervous house cat who transforms into a new nekomata towards the end of their expected lifespan. The former cat, Buchio, then has to learn to deal with their new form by getting acquainted with their fellow youkai. The people of the community - youkai and human alike - are supportive, accepting and friendly, but there are undercurrents of sinister happenings going on in the background which promise that there's more to the story than wholesome everyday fluff. And even the everyday fluff has a spiritual weight to it. I'm intrigued. This earns a second episode.
R
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! ep 1: I'm disappointed that I didn't like this anime more. It's a big, flashy parody of sentai shows and on paper it sounds fantastic, digging into the ridiculous behind-the-scenes politics of the defeated enemy soldiers destined to play out doomed losses week after week in order to entertain the masses. With its musical style and mildly uncanny use of CG, it reminds me of Tiger & Bunny, which took a similar poke at superhero genre conventions (albeit in a slightly less silly way), but I found myself tuning out watching Go! Go Loser Ranger! several times. The reason was the pacing, I think; if the episode had burned through its material twice as quickly it would probably have held my interest better, but as it was everything felt as though it was dragging the same jokes out for an eternity and the lingering on the least interesting parts of the visuals (unfortunate as some of the designs are quite fun). Perhaps the manga would work better for me?
Tadaima, Okaeri ep 1: While I've been passively aware of the omegaverse for years now, I think this is the first mainstream outing that it's had. And though the hallmarks of the subgenre are not hidden, they're also not thrust to the forefront of the narrative because the leads are already settled and comfortable in their relationship by the time that the story starts. I learned something about myself while watching this gentle story about a cute pair of married guys and their adorable kid, though, and that was that while the characters and core story were all fine, the omegaverse isn't for me. I can see the value in exploring discrimination by examining it through the lens of imaginary social dynamics instead of the issues we get in the real world... but it makes me feel personally weird for people to have hardcoded traits which fit into particular categories, and because this series wants to be soothing at the same time as it questions the discrimination against people who marry outside of their 'type', it ends up confusing me tonally. I don't think that I can judge this series objectively because of the discomfort I feel (which is a shame, because its family dynamics are sweet).
Tonari no Youkai-san ep 1: Watching them back to back, this show's world felt like the opposite of Tadaima, Okaeri's; it's so fluid! We're quickly introduced to a corner of a version of Japan where ordinary people live side by side with youkai. Some of them are born that way but the first episode introduces us to a nervous house cat who transforms into a new nekomata towards the end of their expected lifespan. The former cat, Buchio, then has to learn to deal with their new form by getting acquainted with their fellow youkai. The people of the community - youkai and human alike - are supportive, accepting and friendly, but there are undercurrents of sinister happenings going on in the background which promise that there's more to the story than wholesome everyday fluff. And even the everyday fluff has a spiritual weight to it. I'm intrigued. This earns a second episode.
R
