SEASONAL PRATTLE
A month has gone by already, can you believe it? At this point, Spring’s hierarchy has taken reasonable form – with the vast majority of seasonal anime viewers appearing to be more or less aware of what’s a safe bet in the short term to be good and what’s a roaring dumpster fire with no extinguisher in sight. However, the picture isn’t so clear when attention turns towards those in between and forecasting quality long-term. What might look good now can very well be ugly by week 9 and that anime you thought was “just okay” can pick up in the second half and give you something worthwhile. Only time will honestly tell, and of course, finding out is part of the fun with keeping up with all of this week to week.
That aside, we do have a job to do here in the present, so moving onto our lead for this latest Check-In, we have Princess Connect! Re:Dive – taking this position for its very favorable and relatively slept on visual armory. Having a healthy grasp of composition and a keen vision for how sequences are realized and blended typically does most shows plenty of good, but those touchpoints feel especially beneficial here in this latest Princess Connect. The trend of light scenario writing and scant characterizing pushes on in this third performance, so it’s great to see this show being able to reliably find ways to generate engagement and sell key scenes through notably pleasing design – doing a particularly surprising job at conveying tone all throughout the run. Whether it’s upbeat, social-oriented routines or pensive frames, Princess Connect looks comfortable landing them with grace and style. Good work for a show that plenty of viewers consider to be towards the bottom rungs of the season.
Kakushigoto (4)
“Accentuated by really digestible segmenting that’s easy on the viewer”
Kakushigoto appeared to be determined to keep the good episodes coming, and thus, continue building it’s very clean resume with another batch of inherent silliness – relying once again on its underrated toolset to steer viewers to another satisfying end. Episode four’s structure feels brisker than past showings, designed with more quick-hitting jokes and accentuated by really digestible segmenting that’s easy on the viewer. Be that as it may, the fundamental flavors of this series make it a treat with copious amounts of adorable Hime, dedicated Goto, and what’s really shaping up to be a very nice complimentary secondary cast – all in fit comedic form!
Kaguya-sama 2 (3)
“Good dialogue choices that particularly lent Miyuki’s exchanges more pop”
It’s really easy to appreciate Kaguya-sama’s range this week and the little details that Mamoru Hatakeyama gets right in visualizing how plot beats tie together and unfold. For an episode that’s essentially working in two contrasting tonal halves, there was absolutely no problem stepping up to the challenge of feeling natural in either of them: The writing and sequencing of our initial stargazing narrative was fluent and amusing, with good dialogue choices that particularly lent Miyuki’s exchanges more pop – and the second half council breakup made for a better dramatic piece than expected. This series did well drumming up the somber feel and tension they needed to shape the emotional picture they’re going for, ultimately making episode three’s relieving finish just that much more effective. Good stuff!
Kami no Tou (4)
“Flexible expressional work and fun sequencing”
Yet another week, and with that, another positive turnout for Kami no Tou – perhaps not one that’s as dynamic as it could’ve been in more talented hands, but still firm enough visually to get by. Given last week’s large cliffhanger that pointed heavily towards Rachel’s appearance, it does feel like a bit of a letdown that’s hardly followed up on here, and even worse, used as a cliffhanger once again – but the secondary cast does a lot to satisfy in the meantime. Four is filled with a healthy amount of flexible expressional work and fun sequencing mainly thanks to Shibisu being a delight no matter who he’s bouncing off of, and Anaak getting more hands-on making for some welcomed patches of action that keeps this episode propulsive. Narratively, Kami no Tou still primarily rides on its inherent curiosity as opposed to any distinctly appreciable writing, which works for now. It’s going to be interesting to see how this show handles itself textually once more of its pieces are in place.
Gleipnir (4)
“Granting this story with a firmer backbone”
Gleipnir rolls on, making a decent showing out of an episode that was largely dedicated to exposition, granting this story with a firmer backbone through four’s alien discourse and containing enough of a hook along the way to tune in for more. Although it’s not as thorny as previous weeks on a whole, it’s kind of hard not to be okay with an episode like this given the context it particularly finds itself in. There’s a heap of works that dabble in mystery that pull the curtain up too early on the more tangible cogs of their narrative and even more that wait too late. Here, the timing seems to be just right. There’s enough information relayed to piece together some of the more preliminary questions surrounding Clair and Shuuichi’s circumstances without being too bloaty or disinteresting.
Yesterday wo Utatte (4)
“Falling prey to a direction of writing that’s a bit too on the nose and not sticky enough”
Lastly, Yesterday wo Utatte offered a middling episode this go around, partly because Rou’s internal conflict isn’t exactly the most compelling and partly because Yesterday’s execution of exploring that very same struggle is fairly sluggish. Beats like Takashita and Rou’s conversations regarding art are designed to – but weaky land – reflective retorts purely due to how transparent it is in the process. And the pulp of the episode never really rallies to a point that’s truly impactful. Shinako’s desires and how Rou inevitably decides to proceed forward upon our ending are all relatively narrow in how they’re scripted out – both falling prey to a direction of writing that’s a bit too on the nose and not sticky enough all together. If you want to be exceptional at intimate and precisely focused character drama, you can’t come up short like this.
