SEASONAL PRATTLE
And suddenly, six weeks have passed. Half the anime season is in the grave and we’re now coasting downhill until we reach Fall. In the meantime though, Summer’s crop of anime continues to be reasonable given the greater circumstances the season found itself in. So let’s start at the top with our lead and run down some choice titles from this past week in the usual fashion:
A large part of why Deca-Dence works so well in five is mainly because it favors taught fundamentals – an approach that’s always appreciated at Seasonal Prattle. This latest episode has a chokehold on the build and delivery of its drama and action, yet again demonstrating its grasp of more nuanced body motion as Kabu’s movements in battle are distinctively different from the rest of cast’s, and the same can be applied to Alpha Gadoll in relation to its peers. There’s constant attention paid to size and weight, whether it be the way a body reacts after being stabbed, or how close combat is executed – the proper details are in place and it all makes for engaging action.
Looking past the tangibles, our slab of writing is no slouch either. Deca-Dence has a very clear personality both on a micro and macro level: The characters are expressive in ways that always make them feel like individuals and their culminating actions provided more than reasonable emotional payoffs by the credit roll – granting us a rather effective cliffhanger.
Now there are some undesirable aesthetic blemishes in the latter half when Stargate arrives, but I’ll take that if we’re going to receive lovely episodes like this.
Oregairu 3 (5)
“Inconclusive ambiguity and earnest solutions to overcome that”
Oregairu pulled off a nicely polished episode this week, feeling both valid and smoothly-articulated when it came to Yukino and Hachiman’s interactions and quietly shining with Shizuka’s conversation early in. Through an overarching view, episode five lacks the sheer emotional push and pull of this series’ performance just seven days prior, but it makes up for it with a steady stream of writing that Oregairu absolutely flourishes on: Inconclusive ambiguity and earnest solutions to overcome that. Seeing Hachinman bounce off of Iroha and ultimately Yukino to position himself in a way that allows him to not only deal with the greater issues surrounding the prom, but also Yukino’s personal hurdles, was enjoyable and hassle free all the way to the ED. Good work.
Kanojo Okarishimasu (5)
“Narrative strokes which were executed with better care and sound direction than anticipated”
I was a little worried Kanojo Okarishimasu would veer off into territories that didn’t match its strengths after a solid previous performance, and while five didn’t consistently play to those strengths, on a whole it was still pretty capable here all things considered. Besides its bigger narrative strokes which were executed with better care and sound direction than anticipated, I really enjoy just how unapologetic this show is with Kazuya’s lust, and more so, how it utilizes that as a comedic base and even at times – a key narrative cog. For an episode that could have just fallen on formulaic hotsprings discourse, never paying off in a noticeable way for our cast or story – five actually dishes out some meaningful choices beyond its silliness and fanservice. The strictly wholesome thoughts of Chizuru (especially in comparison to Mami) during Kazuya’s fantasizing is a sequence that does more for Kazuya’s character than it even remotely gets credit for.
The God of High School (5)
“Good mileage out of some very nice late half creative sequencing”
Given the complete circus that we received last week, it’s good to see The God of High School not double down on that effort by actually presenting something that at least feels like a reasonable progression plot-wise from where we were. While undesirable riffs of writing (the tonal shift post-Mira’s ring appearance is likely the most noticeable for viewers) still blatantly thrive on, Han’s narrative thread that backbones episode five is at least coherent enough to not be a total liability.
Beyond that, this episode finds itself leaning strongly on its usual production strengths – getting good mileage out of some very nice late half creative sequencing and benefiting well from an overall keen grasp of direction for Jin and Han’s fight. At the end of the day “being better than episode 4” isn’t anywhere near a high bar to climb, but I’ll take it at this point.
The Misfit of Demon King Academy (6)
“Mechanically, episode six feels like the best so far”
The Misfit of Demon King Academy returns, surprisingly offering an episode that doesn’t come across as textually bankrupt for a change. Perhaps it’s due to the lack of overt harem shenanigans and middling genre plotting, but mechanically, episode six feels like the best so far – getting effective leverage off of mundane interactions like those that involve Anos’ family and being pretty sturdy when working more methodical scenes like Misha’s excursion. When this series just lets its fantasy world take over, showing off the town and related intricacies in the process, it can actually be reasonably charming.
Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai (5)
“Comfortably holding its trend of being as filling as a glass of water”
Lastly, checking in on Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai’s latest showing and it still remains phenomenal at meeting expectations – comfortably holding its trend of being as filling as a glass of water all while slugging through whatever loosely conceived idea it chooses to employ. This time around viewers are treated to the narrative climax of Uzaki ranting about the flavor mint-chocolate, a direction of writing that is as absolutely vapid as it sounds. Be that as it may, this series still has it occupy pretty much the entire back Uzaki-chan has become accustomed to delivering.
