T.P BON Episode 12 Discussion

Bruh. When I said I wanted an episode taking place in the future I didn't mean THAT far into the future. It's not even the post-apocalypse Earth. More like post-post-apocalypse Earth. Either way, it was a good episode. Good to know that Ambrose Bierce and the other time-trippers were real people.

But I'm not sure if it was a good finale. It ended way too abruptly. Why did Ream drop that bomb that she was gonna leave Bon so suddenly?! That ending is way too sad... It also recontextualizes the whole ED which already had a pretty sad theme...

MAL isn't listing the anime as completed. And it says it's aired from May 2, 2024, to July 17, 2024. So I'm guessing there might be another batch of episodes on that day in July... But it could also be that MAL mods are being lazy again and they forgot to set it as a completed show and the air date is about its weekly airing on TV or something... I really hope there will be more episodes since I heard there are more stuff to cover from the manga.

If it's not then I guess this is the end... That ending probably would've destroyed me as a kid. Heck, I think it almost destroyed me now.

I loved T.P Bon. It reminded me of the anime I watched growing up but a bit more mature. I guess I gotta thank Netflix cause I'm sure it would've been heavily censored if it aired on TV. I just wish they tried a bit harder with the marketing.

But there were a few things I disliked. The first episode said that Bon was a historically important person. I wish it was a little bit more than just him kicking a pebble in Episode 4. The Egypt episode implied that there was gonna be a romantic development between Bon and Ream but that never happened. Maybe it was my fault for having false expectations. Also, it would've been cool if we got to know more about Ream Stream. The only thing I know about her is that she's an American middle schooler from 2056. Would be cool if her character was explored more. The same goes for Buyoyon. Seriously, wtf is he?

All things considered, it was a very good anime. Idk why they decided to make T.P Bon to celebrate Fujio's 90th birthday instead of making something about Doraemon which is arguably his most popular work, but I'm glad they chose it cos it was very good. Kid me would've loved watching this too.

My favorite episodes out of the 12 were: Episode 3 The Secret of the Pyramid, Episode 4 An Ancient Man Crosses the Pacific, Episode 5 Witch Hunt, and Episode 8 The Beautiful Girl on the Battlefield.

I hope there will be more episodes. I mean, there needs to be more. The ending didn't feel like an ending and there are some loose threads. Like Ream's missing senpai. I know that the author Fujiko F. Fujio died before he finished the series but that just means the anime needs an original ending... Hopefully a happier one.

@0451 Season 2 is coming on July 17th so yeah
Btw Doraemon already gets a new movie every year and the one for this year gets a budget boost (i think?) For the 90th anniversary since the animation is so beautiful
There are 15 chapters left to adapt for season 2, and they have to make an original ending too. I hope it will turn out well since some have to be cut

I also loved the art style in this anime. It was a throwback to the whole classic aesthetic and compared to a lot of what's come out lately, felt so so refreshing. I still feel this style looks better than a lot of the ones which took over in subsequent decades. Also reminds me of Astro Boy, Kaiba which was also a Tezuka homage, etc. Again, most fitting for a series about transcending time. I wish we could also all transcend time and go back to cel animation.

One drawback of this series, as I see it, is that the characters were a little "simple" in development and depth, but that's more in line with the way a lot of characters were in older anime and cartoons - especially younger ones and/or ones aimed at a younger audience, and which ran for many dozens or hundreds of episodes. Most of the time, they filled their roles well and were likable enough, but that limits things like potential romantic development, their relationships with their family and friends (to the extent they're portrayed at all), showing the internal psychological effects which their spacetime odyssey has had on them emotionally and how it's disrupted their daily lives practically. This series has continuity, but is also somewhat episodic and a lot of more episodic series (again, like many older anime, cartoons, and otherwise) teased certain minor developments and small changes in the characters stretched out over many episodes and multiple seasons.

I would encourage though anyone who still appreciated the positive aspects and similarly took a great deal away from this series, as I did, to check out another time travel series from eight years ago, which is Time Travel Shoujo: Mari Waka to 8-nin no Kagakusha-tachi from 2016. As the title would suggest, a girl character serves as the main protagonist instead of a boy. It's also based on older source material released decades prior to the actual anime's debut. It contains many overlapping similarities but differences too and focuses more on real life historical figures, inventing, and technology (specifically pretty random niche topics in anime like electromagnetism, electrochemistry, and electrical engineering). Some minute details like the main mode and mechanics of the time travel are also different. And I'd say that it does areas like the character development a little better while still remaining a largely family/all-audiences friendly and educational series. I also made it an official recommendation on the archival webpage for T.P. BON.

I also loved the art style in this anime. It was a throwback to the whole classic aesthetic and compared to a lot of what's come out lately, felt so so refreshing. I still feel this style looks better than a lot of the ones which took over in subsequent decades. Also reminds me of Astro Boy, Kaiba which was also a Tezuka homage, etc. Again, most fitting for a series about transcending time. I wish we could also all transcend time and go back to cel animation.

One drawback of this series, as I see it, is that the characters were a little "simple" in development and depth, but that's more in line with the way a lot of characters were in older anime and cartoons - especially younger ones and/or ones aimed at a younger audience, and which ran for many dozens or hundreds of episodes. Most of the time, they filled their roles well and were likable enough, but that limits things like potential romantic development, their relationships with their family and friends (to the extent they're portrayed at all), showing the internal psychological effects which their spacetime odyssey has had on them emotionally and how it's disrupted their daily lives practically. This series has continuity, but is also somewhat episodic and a lot of more episodic series (again, like many older anime, cartoons, and otherwise) teased certain minor developments and small changes in the characters stretched out over many episodes and multiple seasons.

I would encourage though anyone who still appreciated the positive aspects and similarly took a great deal away from this series, as I did, to check out another time travel series from eight years ago, which is Time Travel Shoujo: Mari Waka to 8-nin no Kagakusha-tachi from 2016. As the title would suggest, a girl character serves as the main protagonist instead of a boy. It's also based on older source material released decades prior to the actual anime's debut. It contains many overlapping similarities but differences too and focuses more on real life historical figures, inventing, and technology (specifically pretty random niche topics in anime like electromagnetism, electrochemistry, and electrical engineering). Some minute details like the main mode and mechanics of the time travel are also different. And I'd say that it does areas like the character development a little better while still remaining a largely family/all-audiences friendly and educational series. I also made it an official recommendation on the archival webpage for T.P. BON.

I hate how Netflix just produce one of the most important anime but casually release it like it's no big deal, it's not even create the official Twitter account for this anime. I think the least it could do is weekly release so it can maintain the popularity throughout the season, even better if it can buy airtime slot from TV channel. And TP Bon is not the only anime that suffer from Netflix management. Last year's Pluto, also one of the most important anime, was casually released by Netflix like it's no big deal.