SEASONAL PRATTLE
Welcome back!
Seasonal Prattle is basically still in “next season mode” as outlined in last week’s piece (if anything that’s only intensified) given we’re even closer to Summer’s official start anime. However, we do have some coverage this time around. Small it may be, but it’s something so let’s get into it:
Finally running out of gas, Yesterday wo Utatte’s clown car disguised as a grounded romance series comes to a screeching halt – ending on a note nowhere near where it began quality-wise. Even after multiple watches of this finale, it’s still hard to determine exactly which point Doga Kobo’s staff consumed the copious amounts of alcohol needed to both reach our ending and then subsequently green light the episode on a whole for the public’s eyes. The way this series has jaggedly constructed a sluggish, cliche-filled romantic push and pull often built on questionable logic and decision making for essentially eleven weeks, only to inelegantly drop it all in the span of roughly ten minutes is a true feat of incompetence. What a shame for a work that had legitimate potential day one.
Kakushigoto (12)
“Tiny, appreciable interactions that add up better in hindsight”
Just one week away from Spring wrapping up for good and Kakushigoto is still an enjoyable product, working hard one last time to find payoffs through Goto and Hime’s adorable relationship as it comes to a close. This episode’s finale actually works better on a second run through than the first – having more tiny, appreciable interactions that add up better in hindsight that makes Hime’s feelings that more resonant, and Goto’s post-accident anxiety for his daughter’s wellbeing more heartwarming. Kakushigoto on a whole has pretty much been a sturdy show all season long, never offering anything too flashy for its genre, but still whipping up enough of a positive effort to be a respectable watch. It’s always nice to get little sweet shows like this!
Kami no Tou (12)
“Please just do yourself a favor and read Kami no Tou”
As with most episodes of Kami no Tou, the only trait reliably worthy of praise is the music composed by an artist that already had a notable track record of strong performances coming in – as for the actual show’s material, it remains thoroughly disappointing. Twelve’s direction is unnecessarily sporadic which only further adds insult to injury as notable chunks of the source are compressed and reimagined into distinctly worse choices yet again. With every departing twenty-minute chunk of this series, it becomes harder to write without being deeply redundant how inferior of a product viewers are receiving from what they should be getting had there been a more conventional adaptation in place. So I’m not going to elaborate too much here on the ins and outs on what when wrong (you can view the source and the difference is strikingly apparent). Please just do yourself a favor and read Kami no Tou, what you’re receiving in its anime form is unexcusably poor.
