We have a trio of mecha anime that I watched this past year – the first of which to finish was Sakugan, something of an underdark exploration anime, combined with some Gurren Lagann-esque hot-bloodedness, and a well-done father-daughter dynamic with the leads.
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Takt Op: Destiny – the first part pronounced “Takt Opus” – is the second of the two anime I watched this season based on a mobile game – specifically a mobile game that wasn’t out yet. Unlike Pride of Orange – this was a show where how the ultimate game would work out in practice felt like it was a little more established from the get-go. This still left the question of whether we’d get a solid story out of the bargain.
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The past couple of years have had a wide array of new sports getting represented in anime forms, some of which I’ve reviewed on this blog – like Sk8: The Infinity, Re-Main, and Sport Climbing Girls. Well, this year we had not just the first hockey anime (which is a surprise right there), but it’s also the first girls’ hockey anime (and potentially the first girls’ hockey TV series – full stop), with Pride of Orange.
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When I learned that Hiro Mashima’s next project after Fairy Tail was going to be a science fiction series, I was intrigued to see where this was going. When I learned it was going in more of a science-fantasy direction, I wasn’t exactly surprised, considering his track record. However, when I finally watched the first season of the anime adaptation of this project, Edens Zero, on Netflix, I was absolutely surprised by just how dark the show is. There will be some spoilers for the show below the cut, mainly for early episodes.
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The year is wrapping up, so it’s time to a year in review video where I give my 6 anime that I recommend from 2021.
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Way of the Househusband, like Science Fell In Love So I Tried To Prove It earlier, is a comedy anime based around variations on one theme – the theme being, “What if a super badass retired yakuza was really goddamn good at domestic tasks.”
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Fena: Pirate Princess is the first co-production in a while between Adult Swim/Cartoon Network and an anime studio (in this case, Production IG), possibly the first major series since the second season of The Big O. With an animation style and plot that feels like it’s meant to evoke Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and The Mysterious Cities of Gold, while leaning into the “anime-ness” in a way that feels similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender, except in the sense of an anime studio looking at Avatar and going, “We can do this.” The question then is – can they do this?
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Re-Main is the latest of what I’d call a series of anime series made with the Summer Olympics in mind, highlighting various sports from the game, including Sk-8: The Infinity (Skateboarding), Sport Climbing Girls (Bouldering and Speed Climbing), and Wave!! (Surfing). While those covered some of the new sports at these Olympic games, Re-Main focuses a longer, more established Summer Olympic sport – Water Polo.
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I have, at long last, watched the (to date) final Evangelion film, Evangelion 3.0+1.01: Thrice Upon A Time. I have some considerable thoughts about this – and I’d like to talk about them with spoilers, so the entirety of my review will be below the cut.
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From the discussions I’ve seen online as the season went on, My Hero Academia Season 5 is probably the most divisive season of the show thus far, between those who have been reading the manga, and those who have been watching the show, and a lot of that comes down to the decisions made around the final arc of the season, the My Villain Academia arc. It’s not that the season is bad, it’s that the narrative decisions that were made about where they would include that arc in the season was very controversial.
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Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S is Kyoto Animation’s big return to television after the horrific fire of 2019, along with the pandemic, so it feels right for them to come back with something as cheerful and heartwarming – and also horny on main – as Dragon Maid.
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There’s a point, in a flashback sequence in The Detective Is Already Dead, where the titular Detective, Siesta, is asked by our protagonist and her sidekick, Kimihiko, why she calls herself a detective when she’s closer to being a spy. Siesta responds that she protects the interests of her client, which what a detective does, so she chooses to identify herself (professionally) as a Detective. This kind of encapsulates the show in a nutshell.
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Many romantic comedy anime series use misunderstandings as the focus of their humor. Something is misheard, or not told, and it sets up a snowballing series of events, like in Maison Ikkoku. Girlfriend, Girlfriend is the exact opposite of that. It is a series based on the fundamental premise of “What if people were maybe just a little too open and direct?”
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My Next Life As A Villainess All Routes Lead To Doom X (or HameFura Season 2 for short) – continues the adventures of Katarina Claes. In the first season she successfully survived the events of the otome game “Fortune Lover” after being reincarnated as that game’s antagonist – and in the process got every possible route (and rival, and the game’s protagonist) to fall for her, all without deliberately trying to do so, and she is still unaware of this fact. Now with a bright future ahead of her, clearly it’s all just slice of life comedy, right? Well… not exactly.
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I have been known to enjoy a fan-service anime or two in varying circumstances – even series with premises that, at first glance can be skeezy, can be executed well – as with What The Hell Are You Doing Here, Teacher? I had hoped that Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory would fit into that criteria – and it almost does. However, it has a few points that don’t quite make it work.
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I normally don’t review shows when I drop them, though considering my reasons for dropping Babylon in 2019, I probably should have done so. Considering that, and with how far I got in Night Head 2041, I feel I’ve watched enough of the show to make it worth reviewing. And, much like Babylon, it had done enough to draw me in, in spite of some serious red flags, that I do want to talk about it.
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I’ve gone and seen another recent/new release anime film in theaters, as a Fathom Event – this time the sequel to Shirobako, which I’ve reviewed previously.
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I’ve finally seen the last installment of the Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel Trilogy – which means it’s time to give my thoughts on Ufotable’s adaptations of these routes of the game.
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This revived version of Fruits Basket has been a long time coming – the original series came out while the manga was ongoing, and skewed more towards comedy rather than drama, and some of the core themes of the series ended up getting pushed to the side (along with some instances of mischaracterization). At long last, though, we come to the conclusion of the far more faithful adaptation of the manga, and the question becomes whether or not this can stick the landing.
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To be upfront – The World Ends With You is a game that I had no familiarity with going in. I never got around to picking up the DS version of the game, and I’d held off of picking up the Switch version mainly because I’d heard disappointing things about that particular port. So, when I learned that the game was getting an anime adaptation (just in time for a new game in the series to come out), I decided to give the show a watch.
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I will admit, I’m not as familiar with Konosuba as I’d like to be. I’ve watched some of the show in advance of my first Anime Appendix N video, but I haven’t read any of the novels (though I’m planning to rectify some of that). However, the show was very much a success, so it’s not surprising that a different series of novels from the same author – Combatants Will Be Dispatched – has also received an anime adaptation.
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The previous Gridman anime, from Trigger, hid the true meaning of those 4 S’s for that series until the last episode – “Special Signature to Save a Soul.” Dynazenon puts its meaning for those initials right up front – “Scarred Souls Shine like Stars.” The theme of this show is very much self-evident – this is a series about characters learning to cope with trauma and work through trauma, but also acknowledging that trauma is something that sticks around and doesn’t necessarily go away. And the show presents those themes through the framework of high school students working together to fight Kaiju.
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Of the past two cours’ mecha anime, Back Arrow is probably the oddest of the bunch. Like Real Robot anime, it has warring factions with what are, effectively, mass production mecha, with ace customs for more prominent named characters. Like Super Robot anime, no fucks are given as to the mechanics of how this works, to the point of the mechs effectively running on Gurren Lagann-style Hot-Blooded Gumption (fitting since Kazuki Nakashima, who wrote Gurren Lagann, wrote this) And, like Space Runaway Ideon, there are some mysteries about the source of this technology that lean towards the sinister.
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Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is a series that grabbed me by its premise – what appeared to be an alternative universe take on Lady Snowblood with some steampunk and supernatural trappings. While the show went off on its own directions from that elevator pitch, it did build up some goodwill that kept me engaged, even with some missteps at the start of the third act. So, the show wrapping up its run with a spectacular face plant was immensely disappointing. I will be getting into spoilers for that ending below the cut – because it strongly tainted my response to the show to an extent where I can’t really talk about my reaction without it.
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