Musings and Reflections – Autumn 2016 Week 8

3-gatsu no Lion (Ep. 7)

     I’m getting completely uninterested with the story more and more each episode. When the start of the episode looked promising I thought that it will be a decent one with an unlikely friendship emerging between Rei and the baseball guy. It’s really a nice idea to show that every person in competitive sports actually has many similarities in mindset and beliefs with other sportsmen even if their sports have nothing in common. Well, it turns out we actually started a random mini arc of teaching how to play shogi. Sure, having a two-cour show (and being Shaft) gives you much time to use as you wish but once again –  I prefer the darker side of the show, or at least something that can play off the personalities of the characters and not just gags about how Rei is a bad teacher and that everything is awesome if you just add some cats. Nikaidou having to comment Rei’s match and shouting everything to a camera (live) in hope that Rei will somehow see that feels artificial. What are the chances that Rei who doesn’t own a TV will watch his rant? And who would invite a mentally unstable kid to comment a live coverage of a match in the first place? Maybe I’m just nitpicking but the show constantly fails to offer me something that would distract me from everything I’m not content with.

Natsume Yuujinchou Go (Ep. 7)

    No episode last week hardly enhanced the visuals this time. Yes, some background art was quite stunning but sometimes character designs and the animation were as unimpressive as ever. The story felt a bit cramped – of course there were episodes with random youkai doing some mischievous things but having one stealing the mask just for the sake of it certainly wasn’t as elaborated as it could have been. The old lady also could have used some more interactions and the festival itself as not a very frequent thing could have been used more. I wonder if the original manga story was as tight or did the staff thought it would be better this way. This season’s Natsume looks to be following more action based scenarios and I miss some of the peacefulness of lingering shots and contemplative moments of the previous seasons. Also my guess at the very start that this season will feature more of Reiko’s past seems to have been unfounded. Not that I dislike getting more knowledge about other characters. The show’s good but somehow I still find this season as a whole somehow lacking that special something that used to make the older episodes really amazing.

Yuri!!! on Ice (Ep. 8)

     The story didn’t provide anything exceptional, and even the title of the episode (Yuri vs. Yuri) didn’t live up to my expectations (there was barely any vs.). Well, you can say that the sudden need of Victor to come back to Japan is something and yes, it is (the idea to push Yuri psychologically more is a right one) but the pretext for that isn’t the most inventive. Well, I still enjoyed the episode very much – seems like many of the shortcomings of the animation were eliminated and we are left with some exceptionally charming avalanches of sakuga. Also, it’s still good to see that even if the other skaters are not given much time, their moments are used fairly efficiently by giving each of them some character feature that is very specific and in this way it helps to differentiate between all the characters quite well. Like I said before – every skater has his own motivation and despite being completely different people, they all share love for skating and wish to show it.

Fune wo Amu (Ep. 7)

    Another Nishioka based episode which is very good despite the fact that it wasn’t shown how Majime and Kaguya did meet up and did do something together. When I think about it, Nishioka may be even more likeable and relatable character than Majime. Yes, there’s nothing not to love about the clumsy hard-working dude but I think it’s easier to understand and connect with Nishioka – the guy as a specialist of relations and connections with everyone that could be needed does an amazing job, also infecting his colleagues with positive thinking. He would be a rather one sided character but his own problems, like how to cope with the transfer situation or how to maintain his relationship a secret, make him far more interesting. And I just can’t even imagine how Majime would cope with whimsical professors, difficult decisions and tons of work to be done almost by himself. Especially dealing with the professors. Nishioka’s perceptiveness and his little mind game certainly made for a really entertaining scene.
By the way, you should (if not must) definitely check post by Kyra from KYRA DESU YO! about the names of the characters of the show.

Posted by Aldael on November 25, 2016

https://aldael.wordpress.com/2016/11/25/musings-and-reflections-autumn-2016-week-8/