The Story

Hisone to Maso-tan is in a real interesting position this season, with a relatively low viewership but some of the larger voices in the community singing its praises. You can find everything from claims of it having the best start this year to its comedic sense rivaling Konosuba’s. There’s lots of chatter about the work being an underrated gem and an easy lock for anime of the season among its watchers.

Those are some pretty big claims

They are and unfortunately overselling works in this hasty fashion tends to be an ever-growing problem in the community, especially this year. For example, you can look back at this past Winter season where claims of Devilman Crybaby being anime of the year were seriously proposed and popularized. Mind you, this was occurring only 8 days into that season, 5 days after Crybaby released and only 10 days into 2018 on a whole. Despite all of the praise that even extended to larger outlets flat-out calling it Netflix’s first masterpiece of 2018 – the work would ultimately be overshadowed by A Place Further Than The Universe for Winter’s popular pick for AOTS, and after that, hardly even talked about. 

Sounds like we shouldn’t be so aggressive and fast with these claims then

We certainly shouldn’t. While people are naturally going to be passionate when discussing works that they’re high on, it’s helpful to temper expectations for those unfamiliar and curious to decrease the potential for disappointment (especially if it’s sill early in that series’ life-cycle). It’s so easy to toss around words and phrases like masterpiece, gem, AOTS etc in today’s community, but keep in mind that it’s perfectly fine if you describe a work as okay. “Okay” isn’t a bad thing.”Okay” is a reasonable entry in this medium and a label that sees less and less daylight.

And Hisone to Maso-tan is just okay?

To us, yes, just like the title of this read suggests. To be perfectly fair, Hisone to Maso-tan is a sturdy work that’s not necessarily going to blow you out of the water with its brand of storytelling or character writing. It even has a possibility of rubbing viewers the wrong way with some of its fetish implications. It’s okay and there’s no shame in saying that. Not every work has to be some overt masterpiece, good or some variant of bad as they’re often labeled. There’s nothing wrong with having an okay work that isn’t flashy but just gets its job done.

The Bottom Line

Always be level-headed when approaching a series, especially if the claims surrounding it are ridiculously charged. No one wants to end up disappointed, everyone wants to have a good time with their media choices and this practice is a relatively simple and safe way to more frequently ensure that. Furthermore, if you’re someone who is really excited about a work, try to be reasonable when selling it. There’s a big difference between “Hey check out this title that not a lot of people are watching, it’s pretty good for these reasons ” and “OMG this is the best episode evaaaarr by far this year! You definitely can’t miss this series this Spring. It’s like better than Made In Abyss!!!!!” all while we’re still in week 2. 

 

 

“QUOTE OF THE WEEK”

– A Tokyo Ghoul:re comment that we can easily agree on. Taking bets, next to go is the directing

 

 

SEASONAL PRATTLE

Find what you’re looking for fast
Megalo Box
Steins;Gate 0
Mahou Shoujo Site
Golden Kamuy
Gegege no Kitarou
Hinamatsuri
Boku no Hero Academia 3rd Season
Caligula

Megalo Box (4)

Megalo Box’s recent entry wasn’t quite as bulletproof this time around as the first three, but it was still a fine effort that held a respectable amount of weight. What Megalo Box does well is all in the details, TMS Entertainment has shown a level of finesse when sculpting its world but also when landing their more visceral scenes. Joe’s fights tend to have a high amount of adrenaline behind them, paired with sharp execution that gives the corresponding punches and movement notable snap. Here, not so much. It’s not enough of a drop off where it’s alarming, but this fight certainly could be a whole lot more dynamic.

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Steins;Gate 0 (3)

Steins;Gate 0 is just on a tear right now, with a third straight episode of beautifully executed storytelling and well placed dialogue. Amadeus and Okabe’s interactions lead the pack on the enjoyment list, but the Christmas party on a whole had enough charm to give it a run for its money. With some emotional wrapping and cliffhanger bow, this episode was a fine gift that I wouldn’t mind unwrapping again.

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Little Girls lost

Mahou Shoujo Site (4)

At this point Mahou Shoujo Site is my weekly reminder that you can vomit out words onto a handful of pages, spill coffee on them and then turn them in late and somehow — SOMEHOW — get that cleared for an episode script. And sure, while this isn’t actually the reality of the situation, this work’s recent offerings still felt this way nonetheless. Shoujo Site pulls off the astonishing trick of one-upping last week’s nonsense by blessing its cast with the beautiful gift of paper-thin motives and equally thin plotting. Bravo.

Golden Kamuy (3)

Sugimoto’s turning out to be a perfectly competent lead, and Geno Studio’s efforts appeared notably more composed – a wider range of character animation, especially when it comes to the expressions and just overall more polish on a scene to scene bases. But this week’s big positives are fixed on our leads’ dynamic. Sugimoto and Asirpa’s connection is strong, and their shared screen time leads to plenty of well placed comedic bits that gives this gritty narrative another dimension of entertainment. Golden Kamuy is already a pleasing work, but if we can keep on selling scenes like we did today, than this one can be truly exceptional.

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Gegege no Kitarou (4)

I could get lost in the beauty Koji Ogawa’s boards brought in the latest Gegege no Kitarou, but that would be a disservice to the substance that solidifies them. Rarely are this week’s batch of cuts “just pretty” – a lot of them are thematically purposely playing up the separation between humans and yokai with physical division and excellent use of scale. When they aren’t directly contributing on a thematic level, they’re aiding tonally. Gegege has an array of shots that are crisp with flavor, often giving their fantasy elements extra depth to immerse the viewer.

Hinamatsuri (4)

Studio feel is just in a really good place right now, and all of their narrative momentum is paying off in the form of some well deserved character moments. Anzu and Hina’s beats this week were good, but largely overshadowed by what Hitomi and Anzu can create when they coexist on the screen. There’s solid comedic potential between this duo, but also a recognizable amount of sympathetic lining that makes their dynamic fuller and not so one note. It’s great to have another gear like that when other works would just be limited to their gags.

Boku no Hero Academia 3rd Season (4)

I can point to its wonderful shot framing, or the way this week manages to spin genre standard pieces of dialogue into deeply felt reflections for both Midoriya and Kota’s characters – but really the pure amount of emotional context Hero Academia oozes takes center stage here. This fight had weight, both physically and mentally in spades with each blow landed feeling like its own particular message. It’s so well constructed that it’s almost a shame, as even its voice acting overshadows a lot of positives coming out of this episode.

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Caligula (3)

I’m starting to really warm up to Caligula’s consistently drunk vision and introspective character writing, even if the greater narrative still feels rough through three weeks. When Junichi Wada wants to make a scene pop, he makes it pop – there’s a batch of commendable shots and accompanying dialogue here that hints and carves out Mifue and Sweet-P’s core character concerns. It’s a more polished effort both textually and visually than it will likely get credited for, but hopefully viewers give this episode some semblance of respect.

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