Friday, December 29, 2017

The 4 Strongest Winter (2017 Anime Favorites):

2017 is coming to an end, I'm almost done watching stuff from the year. So clearly it's time for a top ten list, right? Not in my case. Instead I will look back at each season and for 3 of the seasons showcase my number 4-1 of the sead. However one for one season, I will reveal my number 5-2 instead because my number one of that season is for me the show of the year. This first entry is focused on the 4 best shows of Winter.

 Kobayashi's Maid Dragon


On the negative side, sometimes the show would push things a bit too far. Which to be honest is not a surprise. I"ve looked at some of the other works by the creator of this and without going into too much detail, let's just say I sometimes had to double check to make sure it was the same person. Plus I kept dreading certain appearances based on my manga experience. Some of which thankfully never came up and hopefully they never will.

Aside from that, the relationship between Kobayashi and Tohru is a strong selling point.  It's also interestign to see magical beings have to interact in our world. Some fun and touching moments are to be had. Plus the show is a reminder that Dragon girls are a a treasure. On that front the show delivered.

    Gabriel Drop Out

I was familiar with the manga before seeing the anime so I had some level of anticipation. Thankfully the anime didn't let me down. Everything used to anime-ize the series from the animation to the voices chosen was just right or at least right enough to avoid disappointment anyway. Still we know the main reason to watch the show.

The trials of our Queen Satanya. She pretty much made the series. Actually I'd say the demons interested me more than the Angels. Not to say the angels were bad, they were definitely good. (That's both accurate and inaccurate), but  if you make eveyrone the favorite then there are no favorites.

  Kemono Friends

This was in some ways the surprise of the season. I had first dropped it because the show felt too lacking in anything worrthwhile, but after a bit I gave it another try because of varying reasons. It was definitely worth the time spent on it. It might have also helped I watched multiple episodes in a row when I did go back to it.

The show starts to develop a certain charm to it. It has the type of story that is actually kind of interesting if you read between the lines. And I will admit I am a sucker for one of the scenes in the final episode. Hint, it has to do with orders.  I guess a good analogy for the show is this. It looks dusty at first, but once the dust settles, it shines.

      Urara Meriochou

By far one of the best anime to come out of the Winter Season for me. My dream of having an anime about a girl seducing other girls with her belly has come true. Ok, I never had such a a dream, but this series told me I should have. It also told me these girls have so many uh magical moments together. I mean that both in the fanservice sense and the actual development sense.

The interaction between them was solid. It was the type of series where it became harder and hard to tell who to pair up aside from the obvious "All of them together" route. If there was any downside sometimes the show seemed to hint at something more, but it couldn't quite reach it. At least not without a season 2 or 3. Which we will sadly never get. I was looking forward to more belly development.

Regardless, these are four of my favorite series from Winter. Is there a Winter series even stronger than these that is the show of the year? Or did another season contain the show? That will be revealed later. No, I will not forget I have a blog for over a decade again, maybe.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

The Moments I Remember A Show For Are Not As Common As I like To Believe



So I've been rewatching scenes from stuff I watched years ago and I've come to realize that I often trick myself into thinking the "rare epic moments" were more common in a show than they actually were.  That by only rewatching the "stronger" moments, as a way of telling myself the weaker moments, the down time was not as present as it was. I keep lying to myself in a sense.

I'd like to believe episodes like the 1st Christmas Special, Time Capsule, Lost City of Yore etc were the common episodes of the Srmurfs.   I want to believe  War Down is the common episode of Transformers. I want to feel most of Thundercats was close calls with Mumm-ra. So on and so forth.

Yet all of the series had more "downtime" episodes than I'd like to believe. The generic and silly episodes that don't really amount to anything epic are the norm. I think part of the issue is I want the pay off without the "work" involved in it. I want to skip to the victories, to the moments. I want to see the Giga slave being used, I don't need to see the set up before hand.

Now to be fair, no one should be requireed to fully rewatch a series just to see select scenes. However I think tricking myself into thinking those select scenes are the whole series is a definite problem. Heck it can be a bigger problem in some cases.

Sometimes scenes in a show can be an exception. Ie a character can be mostly none-violent through a series. They might only fight five times in a series (and only with no other choice) with one hundred episodes or more. If I were to only rewatch those fights and remember the show for those fights, am I doing the show  a disservice? Like I'm saying "Screw all that development, I only care some due punching another"

Still to be fair, sometimes the rarer moments are more memorable because they're rare and thus why we pay more attention to them. We might get to see a fight that doesn't usually happen. We hear dialog we wouldn't in standard episode. Essentially something that calls for our attention.

I doubt I will stop being selective in terms of what scenes/episodes of shows I rewatch. However some of my more recent rewatching beings have made me come to realize the issues caused with it. Feel free to judge me on my viewing habits and the diservice I might have done to some series.

Friday, December 01, 2017

Urahara : More Misa Speculation

First let me say that Urahara as a series has already made me double check scenes from past episodes at least thrice. Part of it is that I do have memory issues. Ie scenes from episode 4, I won't remember while watching episode 8. Other times it's wishful thinking that perhaps all I need to do is watch episode 3 again and a problem in episode 9 will suddenly be fixed. Note these are generic examples. In any case, let's get on to Misa.

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, Misa has had moments in the series of showing actual concern and those moments have happeend during times where putting on act isn't really needed because there is no audience around to act in front of. She's also shown moments of having conflict with the Scoopers despite supposedly being one.
One major question about Misa's character is her status as a Human vs her status as a Scooper. In this scene from episode 5, Ebi seems to indicate her as a human and even tries to remind her of the fact. This is also the same episode where she's getting upset over Scoopers messing with creations despite that being their role in the series. I mean whether it's to steal creativity in general or train the girls, one could argue they're just doing their jobs. One would assume, Misa would be realize this and be used to it. Yet,  it becomes clearer and clearer that she's not used to it.
Before I go any further, let's be blunt here. If this bracelet isn't referenced during the eventual "Save Misa" scenes then I'll be kind of shocked. Yes, I think ultimately saving Misa is going to be the end goal for the series and they'll show the bracelet during several select flashback scenes to drive hom the point. I think they're making it a bit too obvious here. Or it could be again wishful thinking.


One thing the show has tried to hammer into us is the idea that Scoopers are incapable of creation. Here we have Misa trying to create something, but being a failure at in part because she seems to have no direction. She's just putting everything together well randomly without any real reason. To be honest, thinking about some of the things I tried to make in the past I can relate to being directionless.

Directly after that scene however, they show that with some actual direction Misa can create something that isn't just well aking to throw a bucket of paint on a wall and hoping you get something out of it. Instead she makes something with a purpose, a plan and a result.  Also this can relate back to the show's theme about creativity becasuse Rito was essentially sharing information and information is learned. Learned either by experience, by studying, etc. It's not just instantly known.
It's hard to decide how to read this scene. If we're to assume that she is indeed a Scooper, Ebi could be saying this as an off hand reminder. Ie being shocked that a Scooper made something. On the other hand, Ebi also tried to remind her that she was human back in episode 5, At least back then.

This was indeed the none shocking reveal that made at least me think of her as simply the cute master mind. At least until later scenes in the show made me rewatch earlier scenes only to realize that for someone who is supposed to be a master mind, she sure seems to way too shocked and concerned by events in the series she should be used to by now.  Also side note, the Shrimp does way too much of the talking for her. That can't be an accident. Probably anothther sign that she's lacking experience.
If we are to actually trust Ebi-Aku (sorry too easy) for even a minute here, if we assume that Misa is a Scooper and a strong Scooper one could assume her "human form" is a result of this too. That she's appearing to others in a form that she's assuming will be acceptable maybe even pleasing to the eye. Because cuteness has a way of lowering people's guards. This might also mean Ebi's reminder that she's human from earlier could have just been him reminding her of the role she had to play.

So after multiple Misa scenes of her being worried and scenes where it becomes clear that either Misa is new to "recruitment" or things are not going the usual way she's used to, we get her reaction to Rito's speech about false power and the way she reacts, you can tell she took it personally giving another sign of her actually being Scooper or at the very least her being convince she is one. Thus we reach possible scenarios for what might be going on with her character and the Scoopers in general.

The far fetched idea is that she's the source of the Scoopers and that they might be a coping mechanism. Ie defeating the Scoopers and even the Shrimp will boil down to what the girls tell Misa.  Come to think of it maybe Ebi is like an imaginary friend out of control. One that you give too much power to because you lack confidence in speaking for yourself or in your own abilities.

There's also the angle that she's a human being used by the Scoopers to capture other humans for their purposes and she's spent her whole life manipulated and that manipulation has to be undone. Sadly it will probably be underdone in an unrealistic fashion, but keep in mind this is a 12 episode series. So expectations for how they will handle things will have to be kept in check.

It's hard to say for sure exactly what Misa's role will be in the final arc of the series other than the series is making it blatant something bad is about to happen to her. (Those scenes are framed too suspiciously for it not to be the case.) Whether that bad thing is because of actions Ebi decides to take or because Misa takes what she hears to heart and starts to feel terrible is another story.  Honestly it might end up being a combination of both since after all this show isn't above manipulation.

Regardless, I'm now  convinced that the final arc is mostly going to be about how the girls "save" Misa and that saving her is likely the real key to defeating the Scoopers. Note by saving her, I mean they keep giving speeches about creativity until she gets better and more confident in herself.. After which, stuff will happen (some of it cheesy) that will result in everything being fine and the end.