SEASONAL PRATTLE
The Winter season halfway point has arrived at last! Despite the surprisingly limited discussion from the largest anime content creators in our community (and even some of the smaller, yet still fairly well-known ones), our airing batch of anime has actually been pretty good. Sure it has its clunkers, and if you’ve been following these weekly check-ins I’m sure you’re thoroughly aware of that – but there’s plenty of positives too! Magia Record, Haikyuu, Hanako-kun, Eizouken, Somali to Mori, etc – the list goes on of works that have held their ground and showed more than reasonable merit to be embraceable products. Winter looks to be in good shape as it begins its second-half run to the finish line, so without further ado – let’s hop into this week’s check-in.
Leading us off and pushing forward, Somali to Mori no Kamisama’s latest offering extends its mix of charming slice of life beats and philosophical undertones to yet another week – once again easily conveying the felt, sensory experience of Somali’s journey with grace. While it’s particularly commendable how well the lighting, sound design, and evocative layouts this series is accustomed to using doesn’t dampen the impact or pull the viewer away from the drama episode five whips up, the drama itself is nice in its own right. Uzoi & Haitori’s actions might have been fairly predictable, but our content works carefully enough to that reveal where it’s still entertaining and effective as a cliffhanger to sell next week. Good showing!
Bofuri (5)
“Maple’s persistent yet gradually more horrific use of poison still makes for a fine gag”
Bofuri moves on, continuing to be sneakily good in its visual craft and plenty manageable when it comes to the ins and out of storytelling. For a while now, this series’ biggest strength has been how smooth the juggling act is between the genres it wants to occupy – and this latest performance echoes that to enjoyable results. Maple’s persistent yet gradually more horrific use of poison still makes for a fine gag and is blended in well through many playful Kasumi and Sally reactions – eventually being rounded out by the underlying blend between five’s quieter and propulsive material. Bofuri doesn’t lose a step regardless if it’s selling its action or its tone, and that steady delivery pulls of the landing.
Pet (5)
“Quickly gaining steam as a complex yet entertaining lead”
Pet has come along quite nicely in the last couple of weeks and this latest installment only furthers that trend. The way this series approaches storytelling hasn’t been the most generous in terms of its explanations, but there’s enough present to keep viewers from starving, and the characters are sculpted to the point that their base interactions can carry a sequence on their own. Hayashi’s desires refracting off of Tsukasa’s has been interesting to follow in five, and Tsukasa himself has been quickly gaining steam as a complex yet entertaining lead. It’s hard to tell if this show can maintain this forward momentum, I get the sneaky feeling that it can, but time will inevitably give a concrete answer. Until then, I’m just going to enjoy this good ride and hope for the best moving ahead.
Darwin’s Game (5)
“At its heart, this is still a pretty incompetent, edgy shounen”
Darwin’s Game attempts to counter its downfall by delivering a thrilling episode loaded with our cast standing around a table, looking at their phones, and theorizing the possibility that maybe – just maybe – this game has some vague twist in its rules to help them clear it. When that’s not occupying the bulk of this showing, viewers get the pleasure of being reminded that at its heart, this is still a pretty incompetent, edgy shounen. From Shuka’s poorly executed “drowning” cliffhanger (Kaname is right there to save her) to the show’s visual inefficiency even after a delay, Darwin’s Game manages to come up short.
Infinite Dendrogram (5)
“Characters simply fail to resonate”
Embarrassing itself once again, Infinite Dendrogram is back with its ever fading grip on pacing and animation – rolling out another twenty-minute chunk of story that’s as captivating and innovative as a Sword Art Online B-plot. Ray continues to be dull as a lead, struggling with distinction even when the spotlight falls completely on him and the supporting cast isn’t much better. No matter which new faces come along, scenarios that are baked up or shoddy narratives carried out – the result is the same. These characters simply fail to resonate and the toll that takes on this series brightly shows.
22/7 (5)
“Unremarkable drama and trivial conclusions”
At this point, 22/7’s limp storytelling has solidified into the expected standard of quality one can get from this show, as yet another girl (this week it’s Miyako) gets her single episode arc of unremarkable drama and trivial conclusions – all backboned by conventional idol scenario writing. Whatever “hope” this show can deliver beyond the genre average is quickly slipping out the window.
Plunderer (5)
“Fundamentals are laughable even with thoroughly lowered expectations”
Last and certainly least, Plunderer engineers another flop stacked with uninspired writing and visuals. As it stands, framing it as “underwhelming on its best days” is being extremely generous, as this entire episode feels phoned in, leading off from the moment that Licht, for whatever ludicrous reason, doesn’t simply step to the right of the giant metal bar coming at him from Jail, but instead – grinds his sword against its side to induce some pseudo power struggle. That would only be the tip of the iceberg as cliche heroism, poorly animated hand to hand combat and stubby banter would all take course from there – eventually closing out the episode equally flat. It’s clear this series is tumbling downhill. Further episodes will tell its falling speed, but it’s reasonable to assume that it’s fast.
