Jujutsu Kaisen ep4
Nah, I think I’m done with this. I really wanted to like it, but the story and characters just aren’t grabbing me.
Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space (1982)
Rounding out the trilogy of compilation films for the original series, this is easily the strongest one, and looks well for having been mostly reanimated for the screen. The narrative again moves in strange fits and starts at times, with a couple of important characters introduced in a slightly awkward and unnatural fashion (Lalah in particular feels like she ought to have turned up a lot earlier), but the film still manages a surprisingly emotional finale, and makes for a satisfying conclusion, even if it’s hardly a spoiler to say that the story is far from over.
Patlabor TV ep8-9
I think this is my healing show, I always seem to feel a little better after watching it. 8 is fun, with the team dragged into an environmental dispute, that incidentally gives us the first look at a civilian labor used purely for recreation, but it comes as no surprise to learn that 9 was written by Oshii, demonstrating the kind of clever political farce that seems to amuse him, as Noa and Asuka are dragged into an increasingly convoluted spy story. It also dates the series very specifically, as public security (no, not them) are still tangling with the Soviet Union. I’m not quite sure why, but I always think of Patlabor as a 1990s anime, it doesn’t feel like a product of the 80s in the way so many other mecha shows do (usually because they are...)
