Weekly Seasonal Watches 5/20/18

Every single anime that I am watching is kicked it into high gear this week and I am so happy to have so much good anime to watch. Seasonal anime can be a lot of fun to watch sometimes.

For myself, I might have some job opportunities calling my name. At least, I think that’s a possibility. Who knows for sure. It’s hard to tell.

Dororo Episode 18

Another stunning episode of Dororo with a lot of thematic elements, beautiful backgrounds, fights, and character moments. So many action moments that was either one after another or there were cut betweens during pivotal action moments that were going on at the same time will still being completely comprehensible. So what I’m saying is that this episode of Dororo was incredibly well written, well thought out, and well directed. Now for the story stuff.

The first things that happened were Itachi and his crew headed for the gold and Hyakkimaru saving Dororo from the shark demon. Afterward, Tahoromaru showed up and caused a massive havoc where Itachi’s gang and Dororo/Hyakkimaru had to work together. Too bad that didn’t work out to well. A lot of fighting happened, a lot of people died includinng all of Itachi’s gang and Tahoromaru’s troops, and Hyakkimaru’s right arm. Also in the end, Dororo did find his families gold. He just doesn’t know what to do with it all right now. So a very action filled episode with great character moments. Can’t wait to see what the fall out is next episode.

Sarazanmai Episode 6

Sarazanmai had it’s most beautiful and less formulaic episodes while also being the most easy to explain and talk. Especially since there wasn’t a needless Kappa transformation sequence that was just a copy and paste of the first one like the past four episodes. Kazuki, Kuji, and Enta are already Kappa from last episode. Yay, we have some more fun and well directed sequences to watch.

So this episode rather simple, Kazuki has a break down in Kappa form and he tries his best not to show it even if it was immediately obvious. Haruka, Kazuki’s brother, gets captured by the otter cops, and Kazuki and the others work hard to save Haruka. It’s simple things, but the powerful emotions come from the simplicity of it all. Kazuki finds his way back to himself and possibly finds a way to move forward with his family. So that part is good. I honestly wish the otter cops didn’t exist, because I still don’t think they add anything to the show at all. One cop died at the end of the episode and I just didn’t care. They don’t do anything meaningful in this story.

Fruits Basket (2019) Episode 7

Another very simple but powerful episode this week. This one just centered on Tohru’s visit to the Souma’s house hold and more about Hatori’s backstory and Momiji’s general cuteness. Hatori’s backstory also set up the I’m guessing evil Akito? I mean, Hatori did have a significant other that he wanted to marry and it was Akito, the head of the family, that yelled no and hurt both of them. Hatori and his left eye and Kana with her whole being. Her memory being erased was horrifying. I’m perfectly fine that Tohru reminds Hatori of Kana because it works with this story. From a character perspective, this show is on fire.

The visuals are a little questionable for me. Especially when the backgrounds look sort of flat. Let me see if I get you to understand what I am saying here. When Tohru opened the gate to the Souma family mansion, the insides felt like a wall then a court yard. It was just a wall painted like a court yard. I’m not sure what the differences would be from an art stand point because I am not that keen on art, but there was something obviously wrong here and I didn’t like it.

JoJo Part 5 Episode 30

I really like the way part 5 has all it’s fights be group fights. In Stardust Crusaders and Diamond is Unbreakable, they were always one on one stand fights, so it’s nice to see Part 5 understand how our group fighting two or more stands at once could be insanely difficult to fight. This episode centered on a creepy guy who makes mold that kills you when you go down in elevation followed by a mole character, a perfect combination of death. No one stand user can survive without the other in this combination. This episode is like a sandwich because the mole is defeated in the first half somewhat, the everyone escapes for a little bit at the middle, and then the two enemy stand users work hard to defeat them in the last part.

That middle part is pretty harrowing stuff. I think I put together weeks ago that Bruno is actually dead and is only living by Giorno’s stand a while ago, but I am not a character in this show. Giorno hearing about the reality of this event happening scared him to death. Bruno is literally driving the crew forward despite his obvious death and the show makes it obvious by having him drive the car in a zombie mode to being himself again. I wonder how this is going to end up in a sad manner moving forward.

Senryu Girl Episode 7

I wish this show left a larger mental impact on me, because I am definitely going to forget about this show after it’s done. This episode had slightly more impact, but it’s still forgettable because it wants to be just fluff and it does that very well. The gag of people not understanding Eiji is getting a little old, but it’s not going away anytime soon it seems. He built the rabbits a new hutch with the help of the friends he’s gathered in this show, but he still has to hide from members of the student body bring back the runaway rabbits. Still, the cute moment with Nanako and Eiji underneath the umbrella at the end was very endearing, so I’m good with this show. Keeping doing your thing you two. I hope you become an official couple. Everyone is rooting for you!

Demon Slayer Episode 7

I’m kind of surprised and amazed by Demon Slayer; a thing that happens all the time to be sure. I thought this episode would just focus on Tanjiro and Nezuko finishing off the capturers that hate the smell of older women and just finish this episode. Yeah, against my better thoughts, the arc was wonderfully concluded with Tanjiro jumping into the demon’s territory and killing them, then jumping out to defeat the last one. The emotional scene behind guy following Tanjiro and then Tanjiro telling him to live on despite the horrors he faced was very thoughtful and touching. Shows such great insight into his character that we haven’t seen before. Demon Slayer really does nail the small moments that mean a lot and I’m so happy about that.

And immediately after that, Tanjiro and Nezuko make it to Tokyo because the talking Crow told them to go there. There was a beautiful sky shot, and then an instant feeling of clausterphobia from Tanjiro. Yeah, he’s definitely a country boy whose not used to the city. He gets a quick bite to eat then he smells something incredibly foul. The smell of Muzen Kibutsuji, the demon that killed his family. He’s living like a human and even has a family. Knowing instantly what Tanjiro is, Muzen swipes on civilian and starts something similar to a zombie apocalypse. I think we all know why he hid in a city now. Damn, what a way to end an episode.

Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2 Episode 4

So holy crap, there is a lot of craziness to unpack in this episode. Especially since humankind itself is losing the battle for supremacy and in desperate need of some help. Armin losing confidence with himself and making Jeane call the shots for now against the Colossal Titan is what’s happening on one side and the Beast Titan throwing rocks and taking out members of the scouting people on the other side. What is a human going to do? Probably die, but die bravely. Erwin’s strategy is charging at the titans while having Levi kill the beast titan from behind. The battle on the colossal side? Who knows yet.

This episode was far from visually stunning with the cg colossal titan, stock footage, and long shots of damage to the city itself. Still, that didn’t matter. All that was needed was the human drama to sell everything in this episode and it worked amazingly. I do have some questions for the mangaka though. Are they a fan of soccer and baseball? The beast ball was using pitching throws to chuck rocks at the survey corps and I doubt titans actually know what baseball is. The Colossal Titan soccer kick against Eren could just be a thing that happened, but it was still a soccer kick. Saying this has made me ask so many questions about the world beyond playing sports.