Farewell, My Dear Cramer ep 13 (complete)
Ambitious Goal.
A sports show with some fun characters. I wouldn't say it was like other sports shows I've seen as by the end of season in others the team in question has usually won something either prefectural or national whereas this was very much about the first steps of finding out about themselves and actually coming together as a team before, I guess, going on to the winning stuff part. Hopefully there'll be a second season, if not I think I'll pick up the manga at some point. Also as a football fan I like all the references and tactical talk.
The character designs were fairly unique although some of the less out there secondary characters looked similar to others. The animation wasn't the best and during matches used frames sparingly, but some times that worked to show a piece of skill in slow motion.
7/10
Osamake ep 11
Interviews.
Higehiro ep 13 (complete)
Goodbye?
I think I'll have to agree with
@Dai here. I'll add that it did make me feel sympathetic with Sayu, but didn't really ask the viewers to really think about it, in the end she
sheepishly went home to her terrible mother and graduated and then, seemingly, went back to live with Yoshida. This totally disregard the other characters who I'm not sure what they really brought apart from "Yoshida likes older women, honest" and better female role models for Sayu than her mother. The end meant he, sort of, just went back on his words just because she's an "adult" now. Seems in Japan it's controversial, not because a child had been put in a situation where she had to run away, but because Yoshida broke the law by taking her in. I mean he could have talked to the authorities, but compared to the other men she met he was a saint, even though he points out he isn't really. Seems there's a bit of a cultural disconnect there as well.
Art and animation were pretty standard fair, seems a lot of the time when things get animated characters get simplified, especially by smaller studios to make it easier to animate, but it comes off as rather bland.
6/10
86 eps 10 & 11 (complete)
The last trip.
Pretty simple message of "War (and discrimination) is bad, mkay", but I didn't really care too much about the characters and the ending wasn't that satisfying. They
just, possibly (there's apparently a second season coming), just die instead of fighting back or finding a quiet place to live ! I saw an interesting post on MAL that said you're not really supposed to get to know the 86 which is why we spent a lot of time with Lena, the handler (ie the oppressor) who starts to oppose the war, but is powerless to actually do something. But we did spend plenty of time with the 86. Only Shin got enough screen time to get to know him, but he was quite emotionless.
The art and animation were fine, but the mech looked a bit stupid and too big to be as manoeuvrable as they were animated to be and the battles too dark and hectic.
6/10
Combatants Will Be Dispatched ep 9
Desert is served.
Shadows House ep 12
Plan into action.