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If this show’s telling me anything, it’s that P.A. works is really good at adapting shows. But terrible at making their own in-house ones. This is like the third adaption in a row they’ve knocked it out of the park, and if those aren’t results, I don’t know what is.

Story:

Tsukimi Eiko is a young hopeful artist hoping to make her name famous in the Japanese music scene. On Halloween night, she meets a man that calls himself Zhuge Liang, otherwise known as Kongming, who becomes enthralled by her songs. Eiko accepts after being offered his services as her tactician to make her well known (since ... he’s THAT Zhuge Liang that got isekai’d into the future), and the two embark on a journey into the world of music. In hopes of making Eiko’s dream of performing on the big stage a reality.

I don’t know what Yotsuba Yuuto was smoking when they came up with the idea of combining the modern Japanese music scene with ancient Chinese war tactics, but whatever it is, I fucking want it. Paripi Koumei (cause there’s no way in hell I’m putting ‘Ya Boi Koumei’ as the way I’m referring to this series here) is effectively a twelves episode run that focuses on the underground music scene in Japan. Every few episodes more or less has Eiko participating in an event devised by Kongming. These events can vary from small time events and music showings, to much grander showings with fresh faces showing up once in a while. Effectively, the show gives the audience a brief look into how multiple facets in the Japanese music scene works, ranging from small indie bands and rappers, to larger names that’ve had their own struggles to get to the point where they are today. All while the whims of an ancient Chinese war tactician applies his own techniques in the modern world in order to accomplish what’s asked of him.

While the show is admittedly by the numbers, I never felt like that really detracted very much from the experience. True, Eiko doesn’t really suffer that many pitfalls in her rising career past an undetermined amount of time prior to the show starting. but I don’t think that really matters in the grand scheme of things. As what really makes the show enjoyable are really the lives and careers of the characters shown. Friendly rivals in the same business or just learning about what events or tricks people use to gather an audience. It’s all a surprisingly well-informed look into what struggling or aspiring artists in that scene deal with. The quality and passion of the music, the marketing and networking, as well as the random spouts of inspiration all come together in a well-paced adaptation. Which is sold really well due in part to the show’s aesthetics.

If there’s something I wish would be better incorporated, it’d definitely be the past characters that serve as the ‘antagonist of the week’. After about three episodes, whatever foe that Eiko and co. have to face effectively drop off the face of the earth. Which is a damn shame because they should have some kind of stake in everything that goes on even if they’re not currently battling Eiko in a significant manner. Maybe a mention or two after a few episodes with an Instagram mention every once and a while could remind us that they still exist. The war tactics used by Kongming also feel a bit deus ex machina as well. Pretty much nothing bad happens in this show, as it’s practically just an upward trend towards jumping Eiko to the top. It makes Kongming way more infallible than I think he should be, but that’s surprisingly not as big of an issue as I thought that would be.

Cause ultimately, Paripi Koumei’s story is about the music and how its passionate artists tackle the music scene and produce the songs they want other people to hear, ranging from the big concert moments, to the more quiet harmonizing sections with just someone and a guitar. It’s really pleasant, actually. And it’s the kind of thing in storytelling that works so well when the heart and soul of the series is given the correct time of day.

Characters:

Zhuge Liang, or Kongming, is a bit of a mixed bag unfortunately. As the famed historical tactician, Kongming definitely falls under the extremely smart man stereotype, being the one person who always seems to be five steps ahead of you in any given chess game. As a result, this leads to him being a sort of ‘messiah’ character, where so many things go right that it becomes a bit expected since he’s so smart, and he’s so capable of manipulating the public to do whatever the hell he wants. By contrast, he’s also a man who laments his situation. (At least during the early parts of the series.) As he realizes that the world that he once knew is gone, everyone he knew is gone, and he no longer has a place in the area he first came from. Heavy stuff that certainly does make a small impact later on, but his character for the most part stays within the realm of funny ancient haha man interacting with our modern world. Something that becomes less prominent as the story switches to actually feature him less, preferring the lives and stories of the artists to make up its runtime instead of Koumei’s scheming. Which he still does plenty of, mind you but it just feels more like the plot in the background. As such, I actually think Koumei is one of the show’s weaker aspects. Since it’s clear that his character is vitally important for the show’s progression, but his relevance is more or less a plot device than a character with an extremely relevant or meaningful story.

Eiko, by comparison, is…well she’s also a bit of a mixed bag. But less so than her tactician. The crux of Eiko’s character is her drive to become a top performing artist and shoot for a big showing in front of a live audience. Which is, of course, the dream of many young hopefuls that get in this business in the first place. I wouldn’t say her character is completely by the numbers, as she has a lot of quiet and personal moments that give her time to stew over things and come to conclusion herself. But since she’s aided by a story that will not let her fail, there aren’t a lot of dramatic downs to contrast her many ups. So there’s not really a significant amount of leeway for character growth as there are for other characters. A trait that’s made worse by the fact that the series actually uses her less during its middle portion, which is understandable given how she’s not the focus, but is still a shame because one of your key characters is basically not in the story for a good chunk of it.

The last slot for the character section features the various artists that the show features. Ranging from similar indie stars, to bands, rappers and their own scene, producers, as well as big time names signed on with a major label. These characters, as well as their interactions with Eiko and Kongming, are what I believe to be some of the series’s high points. Each and every one of these characters encapsulate a story or snippet within the Japanese music scene. Who talk primarily about the way things go and what sacrifices or choices they made to make in order to get where they are today. There’s some clear favoritism in the show’s presentation at which scenes get more focus than others, but I think their stories and what they represent for real world counterparts in terms of image, music, and marketing doesn’t make that discrepancy as bad as it could’ve been.

As for other side characters, I think they’re more ‘fun’ than anything else. The owner of the BB lounge that our main duo works at is certainly a fun character. And the rest of cast doesn’t really fall short of that either since everyone seems to like making a spectacle of themselves when they show up. It’s fun. And it definitely adds to the overall energy of the show in a positive way.

Aesthetics:

While it’s made by PA works, it doesn’t…look like PA works. You know? Which my be indicative of the fact that this is an adaptation of a work and not an original. But I think it’s important to put that out there. Because holy shit is this art amazing.

The bright lights and Shibuya, as well as the absolutely stunning color scheme of stuff like Eiko’s eyes really show off the kind of care and attention that went into the art. The aesthetic of this entire show really screams ‘party scene’. Which really shows as the series is filled to the brim with flashing lights and bright colors. There’re also a few historical scenes every episode that either flashback to Kongming’s past, or talk about one of his exploits. Animation also gets a nod from me as well, as the show’s attention to detail on the movement while singing during the show’s quieter moments really showcase the flow of the music being played. Characters sway side to side in time with the music, moments of feet tapping and fingers moving as the rhythm flows through the characters. It’s a nuanced detail about the whole show, but it’s one that I really appreciate since it shows that time and care was put into how the show was presented as well as the influence music has over these characters’ lives.

And of course, we can’t go an entire review without mentioning the best part of the show, the music.

The fucking OP needs no introductions, as “Ciki Ciki Bam Bam” by Queendom is a goddamn bop and addictive masterpiece. I refuse to elaborate any further, just listen to it for yourself because this thing is catchy as hell and not a damn thing is going to convince me otherwise. “Jibun Joujou” by a mix of the singing voices and VAs of the characters is an energetic party mix that does a good job at finishing off an episode with a positive spin. Something that’s greatly aided by Shouya Chiba spitting bars to give the song some great variance to mix up the flow of the song. Again, a highly recommended piece to listen to.

But really, I think what makes the music so good is its OST thanks in part to the efforts of 96Neko and Lezel, the singing voices for Eiko and Nanami respectively. The show is absolutely littered with ballads and rock pieces performed by these two, and it really helps sell the image and energy of the music scene that surrounds this series. It really makes it feel like these girls, and by extension, the characters in this series are genuine in their dreams. Elevating the story to another level simply because the sound aesthetics of the series help sell that image as best they could. Something that’s also aided by again, Chiba Shouya, who brings the rap side of the music scene into the spotlight by constantly spitting out rhymes and bars in his own sections of the story.

Final Thoughts:

Congrats, PA Works, you knocked it out of the park. The weird and wacky ideas that this company either comes up with themselves or adapts always seem to be the most well produced ones. And that extends here as Chinese war tactics are mixed with music from the modern day.

There’s not really much else that I think I can say about this series that I haven’t said before. This show does a fantastic job at showing a rose-tinted look into the music scene in Japan. Ranging from its different levels of music events and audience sizes, to the importance of image and marketing, and how those factors can influence the artists’ futures in both positive and negative ways. While Eiko’s success story certainly isn’t a whirlwind rollercoaster of emotions, it does paint an image of what happens when someone gets ‘lucky’, as well as serving as the basis for how things start changing when one starts to find success. Personally, I do wish that she did get some kind of hard hit or major fail somewhere along the lines. Since the supposed slump towards the last third of the series didn’t really cut it for me, and was mildly undercut by a few other factors in the story. Still, I do think the execution of the whole thing was very good from start to finish, and it’s a shame there doesn’t seem to be a second season since I would very much like to see what being on the ‘big stage’ is like.

So, yeah, watch it. Paripi Koumei is certainly a bit of an odd show, but I think what you can get out of watching it is well worth the weird introduction and mixture of Chinese and Japanese culture. Also the memes. Because good god this past season was full of memes about this one.

I’m at a point in watching anime where I’m starting to feel bad for the popular shows that fall out of favor once the season ends. Because as good as Spy x Family is, seeing it fall to the wayside now that its time in the limelight is over is…disheartening to say the least

Story:

The target: Donovan Desmond, chairman of the political party that seeks to destroy relations between the West and the East. The man for the job: Agent Twilight, the man of many faces. His objective? Formulate a fake family with the intention of getting close to Donovan and prevent the breakdown of the ... East and West. Surely this mission of preserving worldwide peace won’t be so hard, right?

A series built on a web of lies, Spy x Family is a slice of life oddity that I think rightfully deserves its place as one of the popular shows of the season. While it initially portrays itself as a spy flick with the twist of family life, the series quickly devolves into a comedy of errors that combines slice of life with high octane espionage and action. Though that latter point fades a bit the longer the series goes on. Throughout the whole show, we’re taken on the ride of this fake family consisting of a top-tier spy, an Esper who can read minds, and a world class assassin. All of whom fumble (and fail) at the idea of a normal family life. All while doing a relatively poor job at keeping their secrets hidden since a) one of them can read minds, and b) everybody slips up at one point or another.

It’s this misfit nature that I believe is the reason why Spy x Family is so much fun to watch. At its core, it really is just a slice of life story. But everything surrounding it like the 80’s spy flick tropes and Anya’s bizarre school life make the viewing experience so much more entertaining than what it would’ve been otherwise. Episodes can go from extravagant castle raids to Anya figuring out how to go to school and interact with kids her age. Before devolving into a one-sided dodgeball match that references more shonen than I’ve seen in the past two years. It’s the kind of wacky fun that makes a show entertaining while maintaining a sort of heart to it as these fake family members grow closer and closer together with each new event.

If I had one complaint about the show though, I think a lot of the high octane stuff does get drowned out in later parts of the story. Since the story moves from ‘spy movie’ to ‘family life’, the show’s tone switches to a more mellow tone that sacrifices a lot of the action you see in the show’s early parts. Yor for instance, despite being a masterclass assassin doesn’t really showcase her job in any meaningful fashion after her initial showing. Mostly being relegated to the cute, socially inept fake wife and mother that occasionally shows her true strength and weird thought process to remind the audience that she’s supposed to be a natural-born killer. This point gets even more exacerbated once we transition to Anya’s school life. Where, while the plot of silencing a dangerous man floats in the background, the plot of Anya trying to exist in a prestigious school takes precedence. These aren’t necessarily bad parts of the show, but the show becoming a slice of life show with spy elements instead of the other way around does cause some episodes to feel more like filler rather than progressing the story in a meaningful way.

In spite of that though, I still really liked this story. We’re still in the early parts, but already there’s a lot of interesting character dynamics and room for character growth and story that stems off from this rather bizarre setup. I do wish there was a bit more action happening in the latter parts of the story though. Since, as it stands, the show’s more violent or action-y nature gets relegated as side comedy and gags instead of an integral part of the series’ identity. Which feels like such a shame considering the professions of Anya’s fake parents. And how their professions have warped their perception of reality and professional skillsets to the point of always striking first, ask questions later.

Characters:

Starting with the father of the family, Loid Forger, or Agent Twilight, is a stoic man who always puts his mission first. Connections, bonds, feelings, none of those matter when the fate of the world is at stake. That is, unless you have to put him in a situation where he has to create those things out of thin air, even if they’re supposedly ‘not real’. The show admittedly doesn’t put a lot of time into developing Loid’s background. His backstory is hardly ever shown, so a lot of what we see is all we get. Instead, we get character growth that works more towards cracking the hard exterior that he’s made for himself. A lot of his screentime revolves around how much he softens up around his new fake family. Particularly in terms of Anya, where he attempts acts more as a father instead of a spy. While his goals and motivations are still centered on Operation Strix, the rigidity of solely focusing on the mission starts to fade away as episodes roll by. Which is quite heartwarming to watch cause it makes them all seem like a family instead of a bunch of strangers put together for personal circumstances.

Yor on the other hand is a hot mess. And that’s putting it lightly. As a master assassin who takes out her marks without leaving behind a trace, she’s coincidentally only good at two things: Killing, and cleaning messes. The quality of everything else she does is up for debate. Compared to Loid, a lot of Yor’s story is more centered around trying to make up for the things that she lacks. Being a good mother to Anya and trying to not be a burden on her new family are among the more important traits of her character. And remain persistent throughout the show’s run. That being said though, she really doesn’t get too much time in the limelight. As she’s mostly relegated to being a supplement to what’s happening rather than being the focus. And when she is the focus, I feel like the story doesn’t necessarily paint or use her in the best light. Her presence as the ‘Thorn Princess” is hardly ever used throughout the twelve episode run. Being only really showcased when the show needs her to do some fancy acrobatics or feats of strength to remind the audience that she is a bit of a weird one. Fun character, but just kind of underutilized. Ironic considering she’s the only one of the three with a significant backstory of some kind.

And finally, Anya Forger. This small Esper child really is the main character of the story in a lot of ways. Her unique mannerisms, speech pattern, and desire to help her parents are all wrapped up in a mischievous package that’s generally clueless about the things around her, but earnestly tries to do good based on the somewhat dysfunctional things she’s been taught. I’ve always been a sucker for well written child characters. Mostly because writing interesting children is a herculean task to begin with, but also because the potential for their character growth is nearly limitless. For Anya, that comes in the form of her trying to meet her new parents’ expectations and start to interact with the world after some unknown trauma involving experiments of some kind. Unfortunately though, these aspects don’t come up as often as I’d like, and she’s mostly relegated to funny meme material due to her funny speech patterns and mannerisms. That being said, she is still an intrinsically interesting character thanks to her current character progression. Whether or not it’ll go somewhere significant alongside the rest of the Forger family is up for debate. But as it stands, she’s certainly a memorable little girl to watch.

Other characters in the story usually fall into the realm of ‘association’. In that each character is primarily associated with one member of the Forger family and helps flesh out that member thanks to their relationship with them. For Loid, that involves his organization and info network. For Yor, that’s her brother and the coworkers that don’t really show up that often. And for Anya, it’s her classmates. Anya’s subsection of characters are the only ones that I would see as having any kind of character growth. As her group involves Damien Desmond, second son to Loid’s target, and walking inferiority complex thanks to societal pressures and a pink-haired girl that seems to talk to him an awful lot. Which the show puts a lot of stake and time into developing despite him more or less being a side character all things considered.

Aesthetics:

At the start of the series, I heard quite a bit of talking regarding the dual efforts of Wit Studio and Cloverworks producing this show. Namely the fact that the two studios would have drastically different quality and you could tell which studios produced what episodes. Which is something that feels a little detrimental for me, especially since Horimiya, Dress Up Darling, and Shadows House are in Cloverworks’ wheelhouse. None of which are shows that’re lacking in quality in any way, shape, or form. But I digress.

In terms of quality, I don’t think we really could’ve gotten anything nicer than what we got here. The cold-war era architecture and look is detailed while hardly losing any points in regards to its inaccuracy or any possible missing details on account of being handled by two companies. Animation is top-notch as well, with the bigger spy and action scenes fluidly animating the scenes with the respect they deserve. As well as giving the proper attention to detail for any explosions or ridiculous moments that needed just that much more oomph in order to make the scene pop.

But I think what really pulls through in Spy x Family is the visual comedy. Anya, of course, exemplifies this on account of her numerous deformed faces that’ve spread like wildfire on the internet this season. But it’s not just her. As everybody in this show seems to have a flair for the dramatic, heightening the scenes with bizarre shots and excessive body language to make the show that much more entertaining to watch. And this shit happens every episode; it’s like a roulette wheel not knowing what kind of wacky thing you’re gonna get next episode.

Official Hige Dandism’s ‘Mixed Nuts’ is a joy to listen to, and perfectly encapsulates what it means to watch this show. It’s a big band and showy song mixed with a surprisingly warm and upbeat tone. Perfect for a slice and life comedy that romanticizes the spy life alongside its relatively happy family life. And the fact that it starts out like a song you’d hear out of a spy car chase is the perfect icing on the top to make this a song that’s both fun and memorable. (Also Peanuts.) Gen Hoshino’s “Kigeki” is by comparison a lot softer and muted to its loud and noisy brother. This is what I like to refer to as a ‘cooldown song’. As it serves as the perfect antithesis to what is normally a high-energy episode full of whatever weird shit went on in the last twenty four minutes. Probably not as memorable as its sibling, but serves its purpose well, and has a melody to it that makes it an enjoyable listen in its own right.

Final Thoughts:

While I would’ve liked more meat to the characters and the story, the presentation and comedy of Spy x Family is where I think the show shines the most. Pretty much everything Anya does is funny, and the dynamics of the three Forgers create some genuinely entertaining scenarios that feels somehow fresh and interesting due to the series’s lack of any traditional anime tropes that would’ve otherwise made this show less enjoyable. On top of that, this show is quite the juggling act. Juggling spy action with comedy, slice of life, and school life all the same time while making everything make sense in context. Which, while praiseworthy, ultimately did fall short in a few aspects in spite of how well everything was handled.

Yor I believe is the biggest victim in all of this due to how little her initial traits show up. The black dress that brands her as the ‘Thorn Princess’ barely shows up to begin with, and when compared to Loid and Anya, who routinely show their other sides to the audience at least, Yor has basically none of that. I would’ve liked to see her on more assassination missions. Maybe make it so that she comes home really late (like Loid’s shown to do) because the mark is a little tougher than she thought. Or, have her on a mission, but she’s freaking out because she’s late to a meeting with Anya at the school. Just something that has her do the assassinations that she’s supposed to be known for. Even in the episodes that’re focused on her pay more attention towards her new life with the Forgers instead of her hidden identity as a killer.

While I would say that this show is good enough to be strong recommendation for entertaining fun, ultimately I say that with some hope that we get some sections of the show that go away from the slice and life medium that the show seems a bit too comfortable with. Loid certainly gets his lion’s share of the secret identity, as he’s always calculating the next step to take in order to make the operation a success. But it always felt like including that stuff became more of an afterthought or gag rather than an integral part of the series’ identity. Gunfights and action basically don’t exist in the latter half of the series if it doesn’t serve some comedic purpose. And if there was some way we could do an equal split between the series’ two identities, then I think we’d really get a series that’s worth its salt as a memorable anime instead of an entertaining piece for the season that’ll get forgotten once the final episode airs and everyone’s ready to roll over to something new.

If you ask me, at this point, I’m just hoping that this series doesn’t look like utter trash by the time we finish Volume 22. How can a series that apparently has a large fanbase and good enough popularity still struggle to find its footing?

Story:

In a rather predictable set of events, two new spirits, codenamed “Sister” and “Zodiac”, join the fray as potential targets that our protagonist Shido must save. As our full collection of sephirot on the tree finally reveals itself, darker secrets about the origin of the Spirits and what the opposing forces seek to do with them urge our protagonist to do ... what he does best: Date the girl, kiss them, save the world.

Date a Live to me always felt like a story that had a lot of potential. The Jewish mysticism themes and representation created a surprisingly well interconnected lore tree that both made sense and never strayed away from its intended path. Which, combined with relevant Archangel and mythological references combined with some clever wordplay in the naming scheme, created a series that felt like it had a lot more thought in its inception compared to many other harem series at the time. With its fourth season starting to dip its toes into the series’s endgame, the appreciation and admiration that I once had for the series starts to wane with what we end up getting here.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think DAL’s story is anything to write home about. If anything, the general plotline in this season is more or less the same thing as we’ve seen in the previous three seasons. Find a spirit, date the girl, fail the date, girl really screws things up, and then Shido comes in as the savior to, in essence, ‘save them from themselves’. Sprinkle in a little bit of decently well made backstory, move one step forward to finishing the entire puzzle, and boom, an entire arc of Date a Live is made. So, if it’s the same thing just repeated again with a different coat of paint, what’s really all that bad about this season?

My biggest gripe with Season 3 was the show’s wonky pacing on account of the fact that J.C. staff shaved down Natsumi’s time in the limelight to barely over a third of the season’s runtime. As well as the fact that they tried to adapt an entire volume of the LN in only one fucking episode. Season 4 does something extremely similar, and it makes me mad. Covering the entirety of volumes 13-16, DAL 4 is a season that feels rushed in its execution, and unsatisfying to watch as an experience. Each volume is given only about three episodes to cover its entire run. Which at first doesn’t seem that bad since we’ve practically been doing this from the start. But when you consider the fact that these later parts of the story have a lot more lore to them that ties into some earlier parts of the series, rushing through those story beats starts to become a major point of contention. Since now we can’t just sit on a particular moment in the narrative to let things sink in because we HAVE to reach a certain point in the story so DAL 5 can start on a fresh volume.

As a result, the story just makes it seem like things just happen without much rhyme or reason. Yes, the loredumps are helpful and help flesh out the series beyond a battle harem that’s slowly collected more girls over time. But I can’t really enjoy that part of the story when you treat very important information as just kind of another thing you have to put in the narrative, now can I? The repetitive storytelling also doesn’t do the show many favors too. Since by this point, we’ve known that none of the dating sim choices that the show tries to do actually work. So why does the Fraxinus crew even bother trying it out when in at least eight different instances, it’s helped create a generally unfavorable outcome? Am I still a fan of the story as a whole? A hesitant yes, as sometimes the writing in the show is genuinely amusing to me since Shido has some pretty good comedic timing. But if we’re looking elsewhere, that becomes kind of a harder sell given how fast everything feels. Made especially worse by a number of other aspects of the show that make the show seem a lot more dramatic than it actually feels.

Characters:

By this point I’m kind of tired of trying to compare what Shido is supposed to be rather than what he is. Throughout the series, this season included, we’ve seen Shido as a harem protagonist with a heart of gold and a willingness to save the poor spirits in distress. Cookie cutter at worst, but what made him interesting to me were some of his dry mannerisms, as well as the fact that against whatever threat was happening at the time, he could at least somewhat hold his ground in a fight. Something that’s more evident by the fact that he’s been able to use the abilities of all the girls he’s sealed in tandem with one another. And while this Shido does exist, I’m constantly reminded that he is, at the end of the day, just kind of a boring harem protagonist that finds himself in way more sexy situations than he really should. Which really is a shame because Chad Shido pushing three girls that crawled under his bed out of his room unfazed because he wanted a good night’s sleep is by far one of the funniest subversions I’ve seen of the trope. And shows us that given the attention, he could unironically become a very good character in his own right.

If we’re talking girls though, we have Nia and Mukuro for that, codenamed “Sister” and “Zodiac” respectively. As a hardcore otaku with affections only the the two dimensional and a somewhat infantilized yandere, these two are certainly…choices, for the last two spots on the Sephirot tree. ‘Underdeveloped’, again, is the word that pops into my mind when discussing these two with Mukuro suffering the most out of the two of them.

Nia to me is one of the more interesting spirits introduced in the series, as her presence is largely plot related with an unfortunately small amount of time actually devoted to her character. She’s certainly an expressive character, probably the one with the most personality next to Miku, and has a few charming moments to express herself no matter how awkward they may be. But how she got to this point is kind of unknown/underdeveloped. And I think this is largely due to the fact that she generally doesn’t have a lot of time devoted to her in the light novel itself, so translating it created an equally underwhelming representation in the anime. Which is a shame too considering there was time spent on making a rather fun and contrasting character compared to a number of the other girls, but her most significant contribution to the series was to be used as a plot device to progress the series’ events. Instead of making her also a character who really should have a lot more to say considering the reasons surrounding her situation.

Mukuro unfortunately gets even worse treatment, seeing as how her two volumes get only got about four episodes to tell the whole story. Which translates to a very rushed character arc that feels only somewhat satisfying, if not wholly confusing because her backstory feels very incomplete and very unsatisfactory to witness. As with Nia, Mukuro is, in the best terms, a rather bizarre character, being the magical girl with a key capable of locking away her own heart in order to not feel pain. It’s a pretty good story hook that’s unfortunately bogged down by execution on account of the fact that many of the things she does don’t feel like they come from a place that makes sense in context to what we’ve seen. Just having a little bit more time would’ve made her arc that much more impactful as a story beat. But as she is, she feels like she’s just a part of her story instead of being the reason why her story, motivations, and character exist in the first place. Which again, is a shame. Since it seemed like the original intent was to make a fleshed out backstory that ends up just not having that much weight to it.

The rest of the Spirits I feel get the worst treatment of all of this (sans Kurumi). Tohka, Yoshino, the Yamai sisters, Natsumi, Miku, Origami, and Kotori all feel like they’re part of a collective entity instead of individual characters. At best their shallow, individual characteristics show up to remind the audience the kind of people they are, At worst, they’re the convenient cavalry used to help resolve the dire situation with little actual autonomy regarding what’s happening at the moment. In a way, they don’t even feel like characters anymore. Just mantlepieces that contribute to the overall story, but don’t do a whole lot unless they’re needed. It feels extremely wasteful, especially now considering we’ve now found all ten spirits. Kurumi is the only one that’s been able to escape this cycle to an extent due to her place in the story as an enigmatic, autonomous entity. A fact that’s also helped by the fact that the next section of the story after Mukuro heavily features her with again, mixed results as the story rushes itself to try and complete a checkpoint instead of telling a story. Kurumi somehow just also feels out of character too, especially towards the last episode of the season. Which somehow is the most damning part of this whole thing due to the payoff for all of the buildup we’ve had so far of this big titty goth gf resulting in something I’d regard as ‘less than stellar’. Since now everything’s kind of out in the open, and maybe some of the things that we saw in S1 compared to S4 don’t quite match up snugly as it should in terms of character progression and growth.

The rest of the characters admittedly don’t really have much immediate significance as I’d like. Issac and Elliot, while vitally important to the show’s story, don’t feel like that at all. Partially due to their expository nature as the old guys that know everything, but also because they don’t really show up that often. And Issac’s motivations aren’t really that well known as of yet in order to keep mystery. Much of the other important characters like the various wizards and side characters working for either DEM or Ratatoskr really only exist to join in the battle for a moment before fucking off. Which are hardly reasons to consider them as characters since you could easily replace a lot of them as sexy fighting robots. Which admittedly, is a lot more true than I’d like to admit.

Aesthetics:

As is tradition, Date A Live is handled by yet another production company in a style that’s a lot more different than its previous seasons. Now in the hands of GeekToys, the quality of the art (compared to season 3 at least) is better, but is still missing the mark in a lot of areas.

While Tsunako’s artstyle is understandably difficult to replicate, the shortcuts and design decisions for DAL IV are admittedly worse than I liked to admit. At least compared to JC staff, what Geektoys has made in terms of character quality and consistency is far better than what’s been previously seen in the season before it. Which would a boon towards this season if not for the fact that the series still doesn’t look great. Color-wise, the characters look incredibly flat and lack a lot of the polish that the early two seasons had. Not to mention character proportions look a lot more off than they really should be. It’s a weird point to bring up, but a substantial number of the girls’ chests are a lot flatter/smaller than they should be when compared to their LN cover art. Or showings in previous seasons. Which really shouldn’t be a thing that matters in all honesty. But, when you consider that this show is an ecchi series with still a surprising amount of sexy content, trying to accomplish those scenes with characters that look significantly nerfed compared to their previous outings is really strange.

My biggest gripe though is the usage of 3D models and how unappealing the fight scenes are to watch. Previous seasons had a lot of effort put into the fight scenes, with a lot of effects and particles to make these otherworldly girls and machines have the impact that it should. What do we get here instead? 3D models of various characters fighting awkwardly clashing into each other with none of the oomph or power behind it. It’s not just a downgrade to the action, it actively hurts the flow of the scene. Since it makes what should be the penultimate part of the arc one of the most awkward and underwhelming sections to view on account of how little movement happens when swords, lasers, and magic powers should be clashing with each other and coat the sky in a rainbow of colors.

Miyu Tomita’s “OveR” is not particularly an opening that I’m that much of a fan of. It definitely has parts to it that’re similar to the ops of previous seasons, but compared to the song that Sweet Arms have produced for the series, it pales in comparison. Which is a shame because in its on right, it’s decent. But it really doesn’t stand out. (Certainly not against ‘I Swear’.) And of course, since their entire career is basically built on the back of this show, Sweet Arms is still involved with this project, though now being relegated as the ones responsible for the ED, “S.O.S.”. It’s admittedly also not that great, but it at least still has the usual harmonics that I’m used to from this group. With a mysterious melody throughout the whole song to echo the more mystery solving elements of the show’s story now that a lot more parts of the show’s story are starting to be revealed.

Final Thoughts:

It’s been nearly ten years since I first watched the first season of Date a Live and became a fan of this series. While my tastes have changed as I’ve grown older and I understand this series isn’t that amazing, DAL still holds a special place in my heart as a sort of comfort show that I look forward to because a large part of the show’s lore and storytelling I feel are genuinely interesting and have a lot of potential.

But as the series’ has continued onwards, a lot of my initial enjoyment of the series has waned for a great number of reasons. And this season really hammers in the fact that every season will be handled by a different company, with everything from the quality of the story to the accuracy of the character designs being decided by a dice roll. Which really doesn’t give me a positive vote of confidence for DAL’s future. We only have about five volumes left for the rest of the main story. And I have a sneaking suspicion that they’re going to try and squeeze all five of those volumes, some of the densest and most action-packed portions of the story into a single season of twelve episodes. Which if you’re actually going to do that? Please don’t. If Season four should have taught the people responsible for DAL anything, it’s that rushing important story content really doesn’t help the pacing at all, and for me that’s why I’m not that thrilled about the result.

All in all, I’m mostly just disappointed about the result, lamenting the fact that we’ll never get the kind of care DAL II got ever again. Which, despite that season being the shortest with ten episodes, was the most well-paced season with good art direction and effects that made what was happening feel impactful. In a way, it feels like the people responsible just kind of want to get this project over and done with as soon as possible, not really giving two shits about the quality of what they’re making since they’re just trying to race to the finish line. If that’s the case, then just quit while you’re only slightly behind. Better to make an unfinished product that’s good (or at least decent), than ram your head against the wall to finish a project that’s only going to suffer diminishing quality as time marches on.

You know when you watch something because you think the concept is cool? But it ends up flopping because it’s trying too hard/too much? Yeah.

Story:

In an artificial and isolated island in the middle of Tokyo lies the ’24th ward’. The people who govern this island for better or worse have a desire to officially join the city of Tokyo as an official district. But are required to pass a certain threshold of ‘safety’ in order to do so. As such, the system known as the ‘Kanae System’ monitors the threat potential of its citizens in order to take out any potential outliers that threaten the ... safety of society. It’s here where we meet our three protagonists, affectionally called the ‘RGB boys’, who’ve drifted as a result of an incident several years back. Now in their young adult years, the city’s threat system contacts the three boys and offers them a trolley problem under the guise of a familiar name/figure in order to solve the ward’s problems. Giving them the chance to change the future with…mixed results thanks to conflicting motivations.

On paper, Tokyo 24th Ward is a series that really should’ve worked. It’s in the same vein as psycho-pass and similar shows like that where the narrative is wrapped around proposing a question. In this case, we ask whether or not the order of a computer that governs society and restricts privacy is better than one without. Sacrificing privacy for safety and safety for potential social unrest. A fair question to ask in our current day society. One that I’m sure could’ve worked if it was an idea that was well-implemented. But for this show…that’s debatable at best.

Trolley problems are kind of the main thing this show tries to do. Every few episodes bringing forth a new issue that the RGB boys must deal with that tests their ideals for the future as well as their cooperation. Not only that, but we’ve got backstory. A lot of backstory. Ones that deal with not only how the RGB boys drifted apart, but also why the security system is the way it is. As well as character backstory for a myriad of side characters who all have a stake in the narrative as a whole. Oh, and did I forget the one episode where one of the boys just…grabs his chest for a whole day? Or the one time there was a cooking competition? Tokyo 24th Ward is a classic example of a show that bites off more than it can chew. The show only spans around 12 episodes. But with about 8-9 plot threads throughout the whole thing, the show feels a lot less like a cohesive narrative and more like spaghetti being thrown on the walls.

As such, nothing in this show really sticks for longer than maybe a few minutes. Whatever’s shown either in the last episode or several minutes prior is typically cast aside and replaced with something else that’s about as equally important. By that I mean it should be important to the story, but the show really doesn’t make a strong case for letting stuff last longer for more than a few minutes. Hell the whole graffiti war happened all of a sudden and just kind of ended for no reason? Honestly I still don’t understand that whole thing, and I doubt the series does either. Pacing suffers immensely because of this, and I can’t really make a strong argument for the narrative threads the show tries to make because the end result that culminates in the last two episodes just feels hollow and empty.

Admittedly, I did have some hopes for the series. Thinking it was going to be at least an entertaining piece of media that wasn’t typically anime fare- But I see now that my hopes of getting another dark horse of the season correct was swiftly snuffed. Admittedly, the story conceptually isn’t bad. It’s just that with the insane amount of fluff padding out the runtime, the numerous plot threads, and the poor pacing not executing on the theme/ideas very well just kinda made the show fall unceremoniously without any real takeaways to be had. Like sure, the trolley stuff is cool and all, but maybe a little bit more time on the cutting room floor to make sure the narrative…made sense as a whole would’ve been nice.

Characters:

The RGB boys consist of a graffiti rebel, a wannabe hero, and the dude with glasses who thinks he’s got a better sense of morals because his daddy is the mayor of the entire ward. Very different characters. And at no time do they ever agree on anything. While I think the dynamics make for some fantastic character contrasts that could result in some fantastic character interaction…the truth is often more disappointing than you think. The three characters constantly fight throughout the series, never really being on the same page on anything after the first episode. Made even more egregious because they kind of go off on their own separate things but are mostly just…bystanders to the plot? It’s a really weird viewing experience having the protagonists just watch things happen as the 24th ward erupts in flames. And they don’t really do much aside from interact with their immediate circles and make some indirect impact on the plot. Suffice to say, the RGB boys aren’t really that compelling of a group, and even less so as individual characters since the poor pacing and scattered focus really hemorrhaged their ability to be actual characters in their own story. Which is a shame cause the few times they actually get together are really cool. It just doesn’t have many lasting impacts because it happens so few times that it’s more of a spectacle than a natural narrative point.

Side characters aren’t really much better off since any and all screentime they get is devoted towards building up the world. Or showing off why the place is such a shithole. Backstories are almost entirely shown to give significance to why characters should matter instead of who they are. Without their connection to whatever’s happening in the moment, I’m almost certain that the side characters wouldn’t have anything meaningful to them. Even the ‘antagonist’ of the show isn’t really worth mentioning because the actual role they play is again, geared towards building the world. Like everyone’s just following a torn up script and doing their best to follow along with what’s happening on the screen.

Truly one of the most underwhelming casts I’ve seen in recent history. And it’s a little sad given again, the potential of this series.

Aesthetics:

I’ve said before that Cloverworks is a coin toss in quality. And truthfully, if 24th ward has anything going for it, it’d definitely be its look. On the surface the show isn’t really that interesting to look at. And…it isn’t. But, there’re a few aspects I do like about this show, chiefly in the background art and the designs of the RGB boys.

On the note of background art, Ran’s portfolio (or the R in RGB) and all of the other tagging that goes on in the series is genuinely impressive to look at. Props to the artists that made those cause all of the tagging that goes on in the show’s Shantytown looks really good and I would really like to see all of the background cels that show all of the different pieces of art that was shown in the series. On the note of character design, I personally really like how the RGB boys look, as everything from their clothing to their hairstyle is reflective of the kind of people they are as well as their goals. (I.E. Ran has more of a wild hair to emphasize his loose/anarchic way of life whereas Kouki is more put together and well-dressed to show off his organized and higher income bracket lifestyle.) That and the boys are literally colored Red, Blue, and Green with their eyes swapping colors in order to give them an extra bit of connection with each other. It’s cheesy, but it’s a touch I appreciate.

Survive Said the Prophet’s “Paper Sky” should by no means be as good as it is. It’s a weirdly inspirational rock song that sounds like something you’d here at a concert. It’s a really enjoyable listen for me that was undoubtedly one of my highlights when watching this show. Maybe it’s a little generic for what it is, but considering what this show is, I’m more than willing to give this song a pass because it at least stands out for me. “255,255,255” (They were proud of the RGB puns they put in this show weren’t they?) sung by the RGB boys’ seiyuus is a song that I’d say is as good as its OP sister. It’s a lower energy and comfortable song that stands out to me because it’s just a chill beat that, while maybe a little generic, has an energy to it that I really like.

Final Thoughts:

The word of the day is disappointment. And I’m sticking by that. There’s not a lot about the 24th ward that I think is worth mentioning aside from the fact that the showrunners bit off more than they could chew. The potential for a good series that maybe would become a sleeper hit was there. The first episode was honestly a pretty good first episode that set the standard for what I thought the series would become. Didn’t think that would be the peak. Yeesh.

In spite of that, I still think the showrunners tried to do something good here. Within the show I could tell that there were good nuggets of ideas that they really wanted to show/portray. The struggle between a life of safety vs. a life of privacy did have some genuine merit here. And the issues in the ward definitely weren’t just haphazardly thrown in there as the very idea of the Shantytown full of poor, starving people being restricted even more certainly strikes an uncomfortable note. But they just weren’t able to bring these ideas to fruition in a way that truly made sense. And for that, I lament Tokyo 24th Ward just kind of falling to the wayside, never to be spoken about ever again once the season’s been finished.

Even so, I still wouldn’t recommend the show. There’re far too many narrative problems for it to be even worth someone’s time. If they had maybe been given more time or thinned down the plot threads to be more streamlined, I’m sure we could’ve ended up with something good. As it is…yeah, not really feeling this one. If you’re giving me a full cour of content and it’s unclear on how we got from Point A to Point B then I think the story needs another pass on the drawing board. Like seriously, what was the whole point of the graffiti war if was hardly there for an episode…

There are no good men or women in this show anymore. Only survivors. Survivors that carry the sins of their past and the ones before them as they look on towards the future. Hoping that one day the killing will end with their freedom intact.

Story:

As the conflict to bring the two brothers together comes to limelight, the war on Paradis Island rages on. Yaegerists, who radically nationalized their small island seek to destroy the world that vilified them. Marley, the aggressors that seek to stop this dangerous island from threatening the world with their titans. And in the middle, the small survey corps, sitting amidst ... the warring factions as they watch Eren and Zeke get ever so closer together to enact their plan on the world. But something comes, a rumbling that itself may choose the direction the world will take once this war is over.

Now, I’m not really a fan of seasons chopped up in half. And picking up directly after ‘The Final Season Part 1′ is certainly not a good look for the story. That aside, the most I can say about this particular season is just the atmosphere. There’re two major points I’d like to bring up, namely the remaining lore bits and the series’ full reflection as it works towards the end. As well as the accompanying tone that the show takes in order to make it clear where the author’s intentions lie. Previous reviews I’ve made on the series have talked about just how unambiguously dark everything is. The mountains of bodies, the heavy dialogue as people quite literally fight to exist, and the sheer anger everyone feels towards one another. This season is as expected, no different from that, and does so without an ounce of remorse as the characters we’ve grown to know and understand commit tons and tons of murder, constantly fighting both themselves and others to achieve what they think is right.

There’s not really much else to say for this tone and the brutality of it all. Nobody in the show cracks even a single smile, and the answer to every problem is guns and steel so they can keep drawing breath. Leaving behind rotting corpses and broken families in order to move forward.

Lore-wise, the show pretty much wraps up all of the important backstory events that the audience needs to know about. The great founder ‘Ymir’ is given a heavy spotlight in the early parts of the season as we get to fully understand what the great vow was and how the world came to vilify the Eldians for sins committed millenia ago. A few other loose ends regarding Eren are also patched up too. All done in a way that feels organic to the series and helps give a clearer picture of who is at fault here, whether or not we can actually point fingers to a single person or not. Regarding the lore though, I don’t really have any complaints. The titan stuff had already been soundly wrapped up a season or two after we had reached the basement, so what we got here was just the icing on the cake towards the morphology of stuff that led us to this point.

In spite of my praises though I do think that this part is a little weaker to what we got in Final Season Pt 1 mostly because this section was more of a lull working towards what’s going to be the final confrontation of the series. The tone had already been set in Part 1, so this season just kind of continued that. And we needed to finalize who was going to be at the end and who wasn’t, so we needed to do that here so we had an idea of who exactly was going to be present when we finally went up against ‘The World’. A very necessary part, and still undoubtedly a very good section as it sets up the endgame. But one that has a little bit less oomph cause it’s mostly transitional and is made to stack up the stakes and motivations that the ‘Conclusion’ will most certainly knock down when we come to it.

Characters:

Characters continue to remain as caricatures of their previous selves as the context of who they are and what they’ve achieved drastically change them for better for worse. Mikasa and Armin for example still hold onto the hope that Eren is going to come back to them, mistakenly believing that Eren is in any way the same person he was before. (Or rather don’t want to believe he isn’t somehow.) The entire cast that we’ve known since Season 1 is basically like this. And it’s great that the show has this lull period in order to let everything stew and bubble over. They’re not kids anymore. And they’ve all killed a lot of people intentionally or otherwise. To me, one of the best episodes was the time when everyone just sat around a fire and ate a meal. Reflecting on all of the shit that’s happened up until that point. It’s uncomfortable. It’s gut-punching for some of the cast members. And it really shows how far everyone has come to get to this point. This is the height of characterization for me, as it really puts a lot of perspective into the things that’ve happened to this point as past incidents get brought up as a way to either gut punch or remind others of the sins they’ve committed.

Eren I feel like isn’t as impactful this time around as he is more of an ever present threat now. We knew in the season prior that this protagonist was a ‘good guy’ no longer. This season just sort of solidifies that fact while also pushing a very interesting narrative direction. See, no one person in this show is entirely wrong. Misguided in most instances, but never ‘wrong’. And this is very true for Eren. The ideology of trying to protect Eldia remains as a focal point of his character, as he’s changed from killing all titans to protect people, to killing everyone else to protect his people. Same concept different flavor. So he’s no longer just a character in the series but more of an ideology that in the latter half is just kinda…there in the background. Figuratively and literally speaking. I certainly wish he took more of an active character role than just being the fucking huge plot point moving around in the background, but I think given how threatened everyone is of him now, I think I can kind of give it a pass.

Background characters take on an…interesting flavor this season being entirely entities that again, reflect back on the stuff that’s happened up until this point. They’re almost throwbacks in a way, as a few notable characters from Season 1 of all things show up and have very notable appearances that impact the plot in a meaningful fashion. It’s the kind of fanservice that I like for long term fans. Since it gives these seemingly long forgotten characters a moment in the limelight, as well as gives them a way to voice their opinion on these changing times. Again, reflecting on how far the series has gotten up until this point since a lot has happened since…2013 when this show first aired. Admittedly I wish their contributions didn’t just amount to…what happened to them. But the fact that we even got this in the first place is commendable considering a lot of shows that do stuff like this don’t really use their characters in a meaningful way.

Aesthetics:

I mean the CGI titans look a little better at least. There’s not really a lot that I can really say about this season in terms of the art because it’s still a far cry from the scenes that Wit Studio were able to animate. There’re certainly a few cool shots here and there, but I think the overall look of the show is more or less the same. This certainly isn’t helped by the fact that there aren’t really that many intense imagery shots (we’re never gonna top Erwin sitting on a mountain of bodies), but with what we do have, I’m satisfied.

All of that being said, I think this season is the best in terms of faces. Memes aside, you can really see the pain, suffering, and anger in the characters’ faces as they fight both each other and themselves. It adds to the visceral nature of the show. And really showcases how bleak everything is as the shine in everyone’s eyes are basically gone and is replaced by crosshatching lines that emphasize the dread everyone feels. Is it a replacement for the cool animation? No, and it never will be. But this standout quality I feel is still worth mentioning because never has a season of AoT had this amount of facial quality before. And the internet definitely showed us that that was the case.

Aptly named “The Rumbling”, SiM’s opening is uh…not my cup of tea. Now, I don’t really like metal or metal screams in general, so I already have my biases. That being said, the song itself is at least memorable since metal openings in anime aren’t really that common. It has grown on me as I’ve listened to it more as the season’s gone on, but I still think we have better openings. (My War and Sasageyo come to mind.) Akuma no ko by Ai Higuchi by comparison hits those high emotional beats that I expect out of the endings of this series. I really like it, especially since it’s accompanied by bird and cage imagery as well as Eren just solitarily standing out in the distance as if he’s searching for his freedom. The song while nice to listen to I think does better because of the symbolism being portrayed, and for that reason it stands as one of my more favorite endings of the series.

Final Thoughts:

Ok, now the next one has GOT to be the last season, right? Like come on, there really isn’t that much story left now that the Rumbling has started and we’ve got everyone on a boat.

I don’t think I have much to say for Attack on Titan that I haven’t already said before. There’s something so captivating and visually depressing about watching a series that’s so anti-war and portrays the conflict of interests of opposing factions of humanity as everyone being in the wrong somehow. The window into how war affects everyone and how everyone is participating in the fight is not hidden whatsoever. And it was nice to have these character moments present to really show how far we came from being a gratuitous gorefest of naked people that was a laughinstock for the anime community for a time. I just hope that the anime does stick the landing akin to the manga because I for one actually like the manga ending (well most of it), and being able to cap a series off at the story’s true, final end is an honor that most shows won’t ever get to have in its lifetime.

And I for one am happy that I will be able to witness it through to the end.

There’s something to be said when a series makes you uncomfortable…in the good way. Or make it possible to laugh so heartily in one scene before triggering your flight or fight response in the very next scene. Maybe it’s just me, but that about sums up my experience with watching this show.

Story:

As the story continues for our unlikely duo of Noe and Vanitas, new characters come out from the fray and end up as folded parts of the narrative. With a call for the elimination of the Beast of Gevaudan, the story that unfolds digs up some unsightly memories for our main cast as ugly ... or long forgotten truths start to resurface and corrupt the fragile relationships that have been built so far.

My last look into the story of Vanitas no Carte had me perplexed at where the story was going to go, but hopeful that I was going to get the answers I wanted. While I don’t necessarily think I got everything answered, I got pretty damn close. Compared to its first cour, this second ‘season’ really likes to poke at and dig into the stuff that I wanted to see before. Knowledge of the enigmatic Vanitas as well as a further looksee into the pasts of Dominique and Jeanne become prominent story beats in the narrative as the weight of their characters becomes ever more present in the narrative. Which I think does well to flesh out their characters (and traumas more). Again, character study is the theme this time around, as entire episodes are dedicated to explaining the pasts and other various aspects of the show’s characters. And why their emotional attachments lie where they are.

It again touches on the topic of how the negative aspects of our lives affect how we live. The chilling grasp of our regrets and traumas chaining us to events and memories that we want to forget. Drowning ourselves in a false hope of moving forward when all this selfish desire is doing is forcing us to run away from our problems. Dramatic and quite raw in its presentation, I feel like this season just elevated this part of the story so much more as the visceral imagery and topics shown in the characters’ backstories paint really grim pictures at how their twisted motivations became what they are. It really doesn’t let up, and this being one of the series’ boons (as well as Mochizuki Jun’s signature at this point) is why I think Vanitas no Carte is so captivating to watch.

That being said, the story quality in terms of pacing is where I think this presentation starts to break apart. Particularly in the section regarding the Beast of Gevaudan. Vanitas no Carte is by no means a simple series to digest. There’re so many moving parts, character motivations, and raw human emotion that’s being portrayed here. On top of an entire world populated by a variety of vampire, human, and magic laws that build up the background. And we have…12 episodes to talk about it. Suffice to say, the show is very dense, and at times I felt like either something was missing or I had to stop and rewind a bit just to fully understand why and how everything was being done. At the end of the day though, I don’t think I still got it. Now this may just be a part of me not understanding everything, but I’m willing to bet that the showrunners struggled in some way to make everything fit and stuff had to be cut. Especially since they apparently progressed the series up to the point of where the manga currently is, so…that’s pretty fast all things considering. Because of this, I think the pacing in Vanitas no Carte is quite wonky and breaks apart at times. Not at all helped by the fact that rushing something like character breakdowns, a notoriously important story element that cannot be rushed, can make certain scenes or moments feel cheap or less impactful.

In spite of that though, I don’t really have many qualms about the story. Sure there’re confusing aspects of the story…as well as a lot of ‘NOPE’ that triggers my fight or flight response, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with this show. I would hope that there will be a sequel season sometime in the future. Because there’s something awful to be said about shows that end just when they’re about to get good. And I really don’t want Vanitas no Carte to be one of those shows.

Characters:

Vanitas at last getting a backstory episode was uh…not as impactful as I wanted. The enigmatic part of his character is still present since I’m pretty sure we’re still missing a chunk of his backstory, but I will take the nice helping of information I got anyway. My opinion on Vanitas has not changed since the first season since he still kind of carries the same role of annoyingly cryptic bastard that’s occasionally helpful, but doesn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart. My expectations going into this was really if we were going to get a revelation to his backstory or if he was going to change in any significant way that would put a positive spin on his character…and we kinda got half of that. In spite of that though, my verdict really is to just call him a good character. He certainly carries a lot of narrative weight, but does so in tandem with the rest of the cast instead of being the sole provider. Something that’s helped by the fact that he definitely has a standout personality that makes him memorable. With the backstory we did end up getting at least putting in perspective some of his character traits and why he acts the way he does. Does it answer everything though? Absolutely not and I still don’t know what the deal with his terrible personality is. We might get the answer to that in time, but for now, not having it just kind of makes him an irritating puzzle to figure out.

Noe by comparison kind of gets the short end of the stick with most of his attention being put more towards trying to push his character beyond his traumas instead of sullying on them. It’s certainly refreshing in a cast that relies so heavily on what hurt them in the past. But even if it is a standout trait, Noe himself…doesn’t really get that much attention. Because the narrative this time is so centered on what affected people in the past, he kind of just takes a backseat or is put in front of the audience’s view to deal with someone who clearly has a lot going on. A helpful role for sure, but not one that has so much narrative weight that it drastically affects anyone he’s fighting or himself. His little bit of introspection is nice though, so I’ll give him that as an upside.

Chloe and Misha are our two standout characters by virtue of being new faces in the narrative that each take up half a season each. (Maybe Misha less so, but he definitely shook things up quite a bit.) Each is slapped with a rather hefty backstory that almost immediately puts their motivations and character in perspective. Personally…I’m not really that much of a fan? It doesn’t break up the narrative as much as I thought it would, but it certainly breaks up pacing since important action or story beats stop in their tracks to give a lot of story context before we can progress forward. For me, story writing like this feels a bit forced since it’s made solely to get the audience to care about the immediate character we’re talking about instead of folding the backstory in a more natural way even if the backstory is good and adds really helpful context. Especially since this kind of stuff eats up a lot of runtime and adds more to the overall density of the story’s presentation. Astolfo also falls into this category, but less so since he kind of just shows up as a part of the narrative in the moment but isn’t as heavily focused as the characters listed above.

Much of the recurring cast like Dominique and Jeanne, as well as other lesser known characters get somewhat thrown to wayside, but less so than I initially expected. They mostly take a backseat to what’s going on, but for the girls in particular, participate in the plot ever so slightly in their own way through you guessed it, more backstory. (Admittedly I may be making the story and characterization sound worse than it actually is. I swear, the characterization is really good. It’s just entirely told through backstory.) The most I can say about the rest of the characters is that the show up in snippets that matter to their character and form relationships with other relevant characters, but do little else beyond that. The girls certainly get some character development, but something about the way their characters were approached in the story feels a little cheap to me. Maybe it’s just because they didn’t get as much time devoted to them, but they lacked the oomph that I expected them to get in the story even if the nuggets of info that we ended up getting about them were actually pretty good.

Aesthetics:

With Bones once again taking the reins of the series, Vanitas no Carte is no less spectacular than it was in its first season…and might actually be more harrowing to watch. Indeed, Mochizuki Jun’s visceral imagery and pained emotions are audibly painted on the screen. But something about this season feels harder to watch. Maybe it’s because the sexual imagery/forceful contact is painted as even more of a bad thing than the previous season. Or the fact that the characters this time often look even more dead inside with more disheveled or mentally exhausted appearances for the characters taking center stage as the traumas of past events resurface for this cast of broken individuals. It’s all very…uncomfortable to watch. And I felt really queasy at times watching this because the atmosphere in Vanitas generally feels really heavy what with the sense of dread and a desire to end one’s life taking over the psyche of multiple characters in this series.

That being said, the show still does have its lighthearted moments and often come at the cost of some hilariously drastic whiplash that I don’t think I can recover from. The deformed chibis with how Vanitas physically abuses and yells at people complimented by ludicrously simple frames for comedic purposes are just…fantastic. It’s such a nice (and dramatic) contrast to what’s normally on-screen that for a second I forget the show that I’m watching and I can just have a laugh. Plus this shit just comes outta nowhere, so you can’t really anticipate it until it happens.

Little Green Monster’s “Your Name” is a good song. But it is not as good as the first op, I’m sorry. It’s more of a yearning ballad that focuses more on its vocals rather that its choice of instrument. While it has that nice mysterious beat to it at the beginning I really don’t think it’s that standout of a track when the first opening last season just absolutely killed it in the memorability factor for me. Similarly, Mononkvl’s “salvation” just isn’t that interesting for me. It’s a similar ballad-style song that just doesn’t do it for me. Like it sounds nice and all, but nothing about it really makes me search it out to listen to it again. I’d say that OP wins out this time, but neither songs stand out that much to me unfortunately.

Final Thoughts:

Between the first season of Vanitas and now, I’ve read the entirety of Mochizuki Jun’s previous work, Pandora Hearts, in its entirety. So coming back to Vanitas with fresh eyes on understanding the kind of story this woman is capable of…well I can certainly see the similarities.

The raw emotion of how negatively the human psyche reacts to trauma and how desperately it will cling onto the things that it perceives as pillars of safety is a fascinating topic that flows effortlessly into the narrative of this series. While real life certainly isn’t going to devolve to the point of people being so broken that they’ll only become dangerously suicidal, it does bring up an interesting narrative point at how toxic and twisted the bonds and memories we have can become if we chain ourselves to them. (Which chains seem to be something Mochizuki Jun is fond of I’ve learned.) Presentation aside, the narrative beat that the story revolves around is so well done that I can’t really say anything bad on a narrative level about this series. Technically though, I’ve definitely got my issues. But the core is good enough that I’m willing to forgive a few blemishes here and there because I’m sure there’re some things behind the scenes that caused those issues to appear. Either that or because she’s so annoyingly cryptic about making a domino effect that she’s just waiting for the narrative to reach a tipping point before letting everything fall apart and for all to be revealed.

I certainly hope that this series gets another season some time in the future because there is so much potential for good stuff here and I don’t want it to end. Read the manga endings were annoying ten years ago, and they’re still annoying now. So if you have any mercy on me, Bones, you’ll at least say “Hey we’re gonna do another cour” later in a year or so. That’s all I need.

And because I held my judgments until I knew a bit more to the story, I can definitely say that Vanitas no Carte is good…for the right audience. While the show is very good, I will say it has a lot of sections in it that would have issues doing well for a broad audience. Quite frankly, if you’re not interested in the complex interpersonal relationships of people, male and female, interacting each other in ways that are a wide spectrum of gray, then I don’t think this show will be for you. There is a lot to take in with Vanitas no Carte, all of it not very PG with even less of it being happy in most contexts. But if you’re willing to break past those relatively uncomfortable topics, you’ll be rewarded with a series that isn’t afraid to tackle the issues of its characters and how ugly and hard it is to climb over those traumatic mountains.

Would I say that this one deserves all of the hype it’s been getting this season? Not particularly. Would I say that it has some merit to it that makes it worth watching? I’d say so. Is Marin cute? I mean…is there really any other major selling point that the show has at face value? Girl’s all over the marketing.

Story:

From a young age, Wakana Gojo has loved his family’s business of making Hina dolls: traditional Japanese dolls used for decoration in homes. However, because of an unknown girl’s opinion (seriously I don’t know who she is), Gojo has lived his life ashamed of the hobby ... that brings him joy. Isolated because he’s got unusual interests, he hides away one day in the sewing club, awkwardly talking to the Hina doll head that he owns whilst making clothes for it. Then a gyaru pops through the door and sees everything he’s doing. This girl’s name is Marin Kitagawa, and after finding out that Gojo is exceptional at making clothes, asks him if he could help fulfill her dream: become a cosplayer with custom made/fitted outfits since her efforts so far have been…lacking. To say the least.

So, we’ve got a typical romance set up where an unlikely duo of downtrodden boy meets the super popular/beautiful girl through some circumstance. A question. Does this show have any merit to it that makes it remotely interesting compared to dozens of other shows like it out there? For my money…yes. Two standout qualities of the show are: its presentation on the logistics of cosplay, as well as the slice and life aspect of its two main characters. Both of which are aspects that contribute to the overall identity of Dress up Darling.

On the cosplay side of things, Dress up Darling spends a lot of time focusing on the logistical aspects of what goes into both a cosplay and the subsequent shoot for a picture album. Everything from fabric choices to the nitty gritty aspects of makeup and application of various tools like cosplay tape are commonly woven into the narrative as both of our main characters get more and more familiar with this hobby of turning into different characters. They also learn just how expensive everything can be, which due to things like good cameras, renting venues, and actually making the damn outfit, often create a lot more comedic situations than I expected. All of this to say that one of Dress up Darling’s boons is how informative it is about this topic with me personally going into this with a lot more intrigue about it than I thought originally.

The other half of this is of course the slice of life aspect of the series where the main duo just live their lives in relative ease. A common thread for this half of the show is how often the theme boils down to getting Gojo out of his comfort zone, as his partner drags him around place to place to experience life and touch grass. Something he’s not entirely familiar with because he’s spent his life inside around hina dolls. It’s a lot more quaint than I expected, with a lot of quiet moments and casual conversation taking over as the show’s focus. More than that, it feels…genuine. Something about it that feels almost not…anime-like? Cause it’s just two kids interacting and living their lives with as much freedom as they can, and I quite like that. Since these parts of the show go mostly undisturbed and are allowed to reach their little conclusions without worry.

That being said, Dress up Darling’s fanservice admittedly hurts more than helps. While Marin is a bit of a loose cannon character-wise, the fact that the show flaunts her so often in such a blatant and unapologetic fashion is a bit of a red flag for me…considering what that means for the overall quality of the story in terms of Gojo. Cause it leads to scenes where we see the protagonist fluster and struggle to deal with the situation for long periods of time because the girl he spends time with is in front of him basically naked for certain parts of the show. Not only that, but the show constantly trying to make certain scenes sexy for…reasons isn’t really that compelling for me, and I really think we could’ve done away with those. Since trying to inject sexy into a scene tends to change the entire mood of what’s on-screen entirely, and I’d rather not deal with such drastic mood shifts in something I’m trying to be invested in.

All in all though, I think Dress up Darling has its story merits as an entry in the romance genre with a few unfortunate things bogging down its story. The pacing towards the end could’ve also been better cause stuff just kind of…happens without a rhyme or reason why, and I think the showrunners were just kind of running out of things to put in in order to wrap the season up in a bow. At least the cosplay information was really fun to learn about. Which is not what I think the intention of the show was supposed to be.

Characters:

Gojo I feel is more of a character defined by his shift more so than anything else than he started with during episode 1. Because Dress up Darling is more or less a story about how he’s coming out of his shell, a large portion of his screentime is devoted towards learning new things (such as making cosplay outfits) and exploring more of the world outside of his workshop surrounded by hina dolls. The shift is a positive trait, but I’d be remised if I didn’t talk about his more negative aspects. Particularly his constant flustering and- look, having a guy freak out over a girl being slightly indecent just isn’t fun, ok? Like we’re seen this so many times, and I’m sick of it. Objectively one of the worst aspects of the show, and it eats up so much more screentime than it needs to. On the plus side, at least he’s not just generically…nice. His passion for his hobbies and craft is rather nice to watch, especially when it ties into the broader narrative and the more informative aspects of cosplay that I talked about before. I don’t think Gojo is a bad character per say, I just think that there were a lot better things you could do with him that didn’t just default to conventional romance tropes. Especially since his little thing with making clothes (and doing stuff like playing eroges for actual research) are charming aspects that stand out to me.

As is tradition with romance shows, Marin Kitagawa is the marketable waifu with enough personality to drive the entire show by herself. Which is definitely not an understatement considering how much emphasis the show and marketing alone has put on her. She’s written as a popular girl that opens up to the people who share in her nerdy hobbies, always wearing a smile on her face no matter the situation. Which does beg the question a bit…is she too perfect? Which from my perspective, I’d say yes, but only because this isn’t really the kind of show that needs characters with major flaws in them. She is by all accounts the catalyst that brings Gojo out from his little self-deprecating cycle and opens him up to a new world of possibilities. All the while forming a bond with him that during many parts of the show feel more comfortable than outwardly romantic. Does this mean she needs something to counterbalance that outside of little flaws like bad cooking that only add to the charm? Possibly, but I don’t think it’d change much considering this show isn’t meant to have major drama in the first place. My one point of contention though is her eventual crush on Gojo, which feels just a bit too sudden and weirdly infantilizes her in a way that I’m…not comfortable with. It’s the one bad blemish on her character that’s there probably for moe points, but misses the mark for me because having her go ‘I wuv you’ in any serious context feels like an insult to a girl that has, in the same show, expressed her affections for the boy she likes through more indirect and realistic means that make their bond more compelling to watch.

While there aren’t that many side characters to go through, I’d say most of them past the halfway point in the show don’t really matter as much as they could. Because the show focuses so heavily around the relationship between Gojo and Marin, there really isn’t very much wiggle room left for anyone else to interject. The most we get is the Inui sisters, who show up halfway and give some additional perspective on the cosplay world while also contributing to the plot with some of their own personal grievances. After that though, they don’t really have much of an impact, and we go right back to the establishment of the status quo where Gojo and Marin continue with whatever they were doing before.

Aesthetics:

I feel like Cloverworks was banking on this show to pop off because they put in a lot of effort to make this show look as good as it did. While Dress up Darling’s visuals are mostly muted with lighter pastel colors, the quality and detail of the various close-up shots of both the cosplay and Marin herself are a lot more detailed than they have any right to be. Again, leading into the idea that the show’s marketing and focus is so heavily centered around her.

Animation in this regard is also a big contributor to this, as most if not all of Marin’s scenes and movements are handled with so much care and attention that I wouldn’t be surprised if members of the team were dedicated solely just to drawing her hair and body movement. Seriously, this girl moves around with so much fluidity she’s got about an entire show’s worth of animation put into that fashionable body of hers. It’s actually kind of unfair how good she looks because almost no other characters gets the same level of care put into them (not like they show up for as long as she does anyway). Gojo certainly gets his bit in the spotlight, having a good chunk of fun smear frames and snappy movements when he’s in a tight spot with Marin, but comparing the attention that the two have against each other is almost laughable at how much of a one-sided victory it is.

Factoring in the fanservice though…at this point I think the only difference between ‘anime’ and ‘hentai’ now is whether or not we can see the characters’ privates or not. Dress up Darling gets away with way more shit than it has any right to, and I am decidedly not very comfortable when watching portions like the second halves of episode 2 and episode 11. The show puts in a lot of detail for these parts: closeups, animated breath, shots of the characters’ mouths and eyes…like there is so much to this that I almost feel bad for criticizing it because it does genuinely look good from an art perspective. And yet it adds absolutely nothing to the story because it both eats up screentime and shifts the mood in such a way that just end up tuning out while it’s happening. Arguably the worst aspect of the show and while I understand that Marin likes sexy cosplay…animating her cupping her breasts for about eight seconds of continuous runtime feels excessive, no?

Personally I’m not that big a fan of either the OP or ED this time around. They’re cute poppy sings that don’t really have much in the way of memorability for me, so I’d say that these picks are skippable more than anything. I maybe prefer the ED more than the OP, but they’re still not very compelling for me.

Final Thoughts:

Dress up Darling feels like a show that’s meant to give you that small boost of serotonin because of the cute girl being a perfect little waifu for the season before quickly being put away to the side in time for the next waifu of the season to show up. Which I think kinda sucks because I do genuinely like the show’s education on how the industry of cosplay works as well as its overall presentation due to its mix of high energy and laid back moments.

It’s nice. And that’s…about all I can say about it? For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to just like a show for being a nice experience, but it definitely doesn’t stand out beyond that. Personally I think the last few episodes of the season could’ve been a lot better than just the duo a bunch of random stuff, and the fanservice could’ve been dialed back by a lot, but I think these parts are balanced out by the sections of the show I did enjoy. Did the romance really go anywhere? Not at all, but that’s just expected of romance shows that only last a cour. Plus the manga isn’t even done yet so like hell we’re gonna get a conclusion any time soon.

If you’re a romance fan or you’re just looking for something cute, then I’d say this is worth the time. It hits that sweet spot for me as a romance fan that has me enjoy the show and what it has to offer, but not really anything else beyond that. I would like to see a second season though because I feel like at the going rate, the sugary-ness of the show is sorely untapped. And I kinda want more Marin cause she’s a fun character and the dumb shit she does is honestly a lot more enjoyable than it has any right to be. In spite of whether she was designed to be marketable or not.

There was once a boy named Bojji, who walked the streets with no clothes. Despite his appearance, Bojji was a prince, and aspired to fulfill the duty of his people and become a worthy king following in the literal giant footsteps of his father. But the world wasn’t kind to Bojji, for he was deaf and knew little of the world beyond his reach. But if he was, for a moment, showed even a little bit of kindness, then he would surely return that noble deed tenfold and defend those that needed help, no matter who they were.

Story:

A tale of adventure, hardship, broken promises, and ... misguided bonds and affections, Ousama Ranking is a surprisingly complicated story that showcases a surprising amount of facets of humanity that change the statuses of its many characters in ways that after first impressions, seem almost alien by the end of the show. For the most part, the story follows Bojji and his growth as he ventures beyond the walls of his kingdom to seek out ways to get stronger. Before ultimately becoming a part of something bigger as an evil witch seeks to destroy everything around him. A simple fairytale setup that accompanies its similar storybook style, but beyond that surface level detail lies a huge cast of characters that are vastly different in both personality and tone, all harking back to one thing: the desire to do what they think is right.

Personally, I regard Ousama Ranking as a story that speaks more about its characters and the things that they’ve had to endure rather than the actual plot of the witch taking over the castle. Each episode brings new life to one or several of its cast members, chipping away at their cookie cutter, over the top character roles in order to grant the audience a new perspective and shed them in a new light. Seeing things like the noble hero not at all being a good person deep down due to selfish or cowardly reasons is entirely possible in the narrative of Ousama ranking, and this character study is truly what I think makes the story something worth experiencing.

Not only that, but the constant recounting of past events where we see how certain characters became the people they are truly does ask the question of whether or not their past justifies their actions, as constant, horrible atrocities or traumatizing, character defining events are regularly brought up in the story in such a visceral way that it sometimes makes the show hard to watch because of how direct the presentation is. This show is undeniably dark in much of what is shown, and the act of even thinking that anyone isn’t guilty of one thing or another is a testament to the complexity of its cast and how no one, despite whatever noble impression they give, is ever entirely blameless of the things they’ve done or the actions they’ve taken.

I will say though, some of the middle and especially the ending portions of the show feel a bit muddy. I feel as though the show ended up biting a lot more than it could chew in its ending arc and kind of toppled over itself in terms of pacing and relevant details/worldbuilding in an attempt to make sure that everything resolved itself in the end.

Which leads me to one of the worst aspects of the show…the ending. Much like its storybook presentation, the story ironically really doesn’t fit with that kind of narrative no matter how much it tried to give a happy ending to everything. I feel like the show was trying its best to be a dark bastardization of a fairytale story without fully committing to the part. Which is especially disappointing because the multiple nuggets of tension, confrontation, and the mystery of the show’s resolution were set up in a way that if it stuck the landing, the show would’ve effectively gotten full marks on story for that reason alone. As it stands though…I’m not fully convinced everything wrapped up the way it should’ve. Something that’s made even worse because I feel like half of the characters at the end really shouldn’t have had a reason to trust each other, but for the sake of a common goal, I can kind of understand why bygones would be bygones for a brief moment.

Still, a bad ending isn’t the complete end all be all to a story’s quality, and I think that in spite of it, Ousama Ranking manages to capture a lot of raw emotion in regards to the human mind and conscious, showing us that not all heroes are good, and not all heroes need to strong in the traditional sense. Going into it, the show definitely earns its spot as a dark horse that deserves a watch with fantastic presentation and storytelling moments. Coming out of it though…I feel less inclined to give it the positive ranking that I so heavily thought I was going to give it during the first few episodes.

Characters:

Let’s start with Bojji, the small deaf prince that truly deserves the world. For a character that doesn’t actually speak, Bojji is a character that speaks louder than any other character, and embodies what it means to give back what you take. While not physically strong like his father, Bojji is without a doubt a character that possesses the mental fortitude in order to keep moving forward in spite of any adversity, doing so with a smile on his face while he bottles up the things that’ve hurt him so that he can try and be the hero the people deserve. An admirable character that surprisingly doesn’t really get used as much as you’d think he does. Due to the complexity of the entire cast, Bojji only takes up a small chunk of the show’s focus, mostly being shown at the beginning before slowly being petered off towards the end and showing his resultant character to the other cast members who’re going through their own character arcs. To me, it’s a bit of a strange narrative choice. And I think it was a decision that helped make the ending a lot less good than it could’ve been. I think this is mostly due to the fact that Bojji for the latter half of the series is pretty much relegated to just being called ‘a lot stronger’ as he faces against foes that seem to outmatch him since by that point, his ‘character arc’ for the show has already been finished and resolved. I’m not sure if giving him more agency or screentime would’ve helped him more due to being a more prominent character in the latter half, but I’m willing to be that had his training arc not finished halfway through the series, he could’ve been a lot more compelling than what he is already.

Kage is the next character and serves primarily as Bojji’s mouthpiece (since Kage can actually speak and relay Bojji’s words), as well as his cheerleader/moral support. Which was something that had so much narrative weight at the beginning of the series that without it, I’m almost certain Kage wouldn’t really have as significant of a role as he does. Now, I like Kage. He’s a bit of a snarky dickhead with a heart of gold and really good housekeeping skills on account of some really unfortunate backstory. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. But beyond his connection to Bojji and most of the early stuff he does, Kage contributes so little to the overall plot that I’m honestly a little disappointed that he’s as underutilized as he is. He kind of just gets relegated to either a cheerleader or a convenient exposition giver, which neither roles give him the agency or emotional weight that he had at the beginning. There really was a lot you could do with him, especially since he’s literally a black blob with two eyes that can apparently morph into things, so having that interesting character design be almost unused is disappointing to say the least.

The last character spot I want to give to our fair witch Miranjo on account of how little I care for the ending she got. Miranjo I think contributes to both the best and worst parts of the show’s character building, providing a lot of complexity towards her actions with a very mixed empathetic reaction from me that I believe is the intended way her character was supposed to be reacted to. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the more sympathetic beats that she’s supposed to have (like every character seems to get in this show) doesn’t feel earned. There should’ve been a different ending for her because her basically getting a slap on the wrist after everything that we’ve dealt with for about twenty three or so episodes feels like a major cop out in order to keep in line with the ‘spirit’ of the show. Noble in its pursuit, but ultimately flawed considering the implications of pardoning everything even if she’s supposed to ‘atone’ for it later.

As mentioned before, the sidecast is chock full of individuals who’re complex in their own right thanks to shifting motivations or priorities, as well as their own bouts of trauma or desires that cause them to act either irrationally or occasionally ask themselves why they’re doing the things they do. Noble characters like the Big Four and even Bojji’s father can be characters that aren’t deserving of sympathy while egotistical dickheads like the Prince Despa could have more noble or honest motivations beyond their initial showing may reveal. No one is ever who they are on the surface, and while some of the more important characters seem to be lacking, this colorful cast of terrible individuals more than make up what is lacking by being the parts that help carry the show to the end.

Aesthetics:

So…instead of Attack on Titan, Wit studio took up this project, huh?

As mentioned before, Ousama Ranking looks more like a children’s storybook than a conventional anime set in a fantasy world. (Either that or my perception of what a fantasy world should look like is HEAVILY skewed.) Everything from character designs to the architecture and look of the series is more child-like and simple, never going off course from the pastel colors or bulky, round armor that clearly define both the characters’ body shapes and the trope that they’re supposed to represent. A nice contrast to the complexity of the characters’ personalities and roles, but ironically serves to impact the weight of the characters’ titles negatively. See, when you tell me that some big dude in round, yellow armor is the fearsome leader of the strongest army in the world, to an extent, I feel like you’re pulling my leg because he really doesn’t look as threatening or powerful as he’s made out to be. This is a weird constant that the show has given how almost every ‘powerful’ character really doesn’t look that strong, even in context to the show’s fights and bouts since the presentation is almost too simple. Which again, is probably because Isekai/fantasy genres kind of powercrept what it means to look/seem powerful, but the fact that the strongest characters don’t really look all that strong is a bit of an unfortunate takeaway due to the series’s artstyle.

On the note of presentation though, the show does not pull any punches…most of the time. Disturbing imagery, raw moments of children getting beat up, and dramatic framing of both betrayal and trauma are surprisingly commonplace, and I adore it. Scenes like these really sell the emotion that the show is trying to convey, and does so with the kind of visual storytelling that adds up in so many layers about an individual character’s motivations and regrets. And because Wit Studio took care of the overall look of the show, the animation and fluidity of the fights are spectacles, featuring nothing but simple sword slashes and fast paced movement in order to convey the bouts. The simple characters and lack of anything over the top really help with making the fights both easier to follow and easier to animate, so I’m glad they only had to sacrifice some animators to make the fights look good instead of most of them.

For the first time in…I think ever, both OPs are standout tracks that I can’t really decide which one is better. King Gnu’s “Boy” is a memorable ballad that’s upbeat with higher, cheerful vocals while its brother, “Hadaka no Yusha” is a more dramatic song that hits more on the show’s emotional beats and dramatic moments that fill up the latter half of the show. So, to take the easy path, I’m just gonna say that both songs are worth the listen because I think they add so much more than a generic seiyuu song or something similar.

Similarly, both EDs are just as good as their OP counterparts, as bot “Oz.” by yama and “Flare” by milet hit the emotional chords of the show. Oz is the more somber of the two while Flare is a bit more hopeful and energetic by comparison. Like the OPs, both songs I feel are worth a listen to because they connect so well to Bojji’s story and journey that I think on that fact alone, they deserve the credit they deserve.

Final Thoughts:

When the chips are all down, when you’re down on your last leg thinking that there’s nothing and no one left for you, as long as someone out there thinks you’re worth something and wants to be in your corner, then life is worth living. And you get back up to make the most of who you are. For what it’s worth…I don’t think you can get anything more perfect than the first two episodes of Ousama Ranking. The visual storytelling coupled with the visceral imagery of the two boys getting beaten by the world around them only to come together in a symbiotic friendship is one of the purest things I’ve ever seen and remains as one of the strongest starts to a show I’ve ever seen.

While I certainly have my reservations about the ending of this show, I think the overall theme of asking whether the ends justify the means and how people in spite of their mistakes are able to change for the better if they’re shown even just a little kindness and guidance towards the right path is a unique and deserved takeaway that should be respected and honored even if it gets a little muddy in the end. No character in this story is perfect, and the very real lens of what life is like for people harboring physical and mental scars is shown so eloquently in a story about fantasy kingdoms that it almost feels wrong to criticize the show for being so unabashedly genuine and upfront about the stuff it’s trying to show the audience. Not only that, but the little things that we see throughout the show like the characters using sign language to talk to Bojji (until Kage just told everyone what Bojji was saying), as well as all of the animation detail that they went into the main pair to make them so expressive and full of life are just so nice to see for a show that’s about the character and a leading boy who can’t speak a single word, but says so much with his actions and body language.

Is the ending still kind of lackluster? Yeah. But I think the journey makes the ending a lot less damning than I think it should be. Even if I feel like there’re way too many loose ends at the end that just…don’t get fixed. I certainly would’ve liked there to not have a neat little bow at the end, and for there to be lasting consequences that mattered to the future of the story rather than just the past impacting what is happening now, but I suppose the show runners just didn’t have very much time in the end to resolve everything as neatly as they wanted, so some corners had to be cut. Regardless, Ousama Ranking is a fantastic show that unironically speaks volumes about how complicated, impulsive, stupid, and noble people can be, and for a show that I expected to be an exceptional dark horse of the season, this one certainly did not disappoint.

I want to preface this by saying that this is a HISTORICAL piece of fiction. Meaning that the customs, cultures, and events of the story are both integral to the plot and very outdated for the modern era. Because this is a point that I’m going to be talking about at length and for the most part, does affect my feelings towards the show.

Story:

During the height of the Taisho era of the 1920’s, a man of 17 named Tamahiko Shima becomes a victim of a car crash with his mother passing away because of the incident. Tamahiko himself loses the use of his right hand ... as a result of the incident, and is thusly deemed by his family as useless and is sent away in order to prevent any further embarrassment for the family. There, he becomes bitter, resentful, and depressed as a result of his isolation. On one wintery night, he hears a knock on the door, where a young girl by the name of Yuzuki comes in and introduces herself as his future wife, having been bought from her family by Tamahiko’s father for a sum of ten thousand yen in order to repay her family’s debt. Here, the two foster a new life together and grow ever closer in spite of the rather troubling circumstances that brought them together.

Now, is buying a 14 year old girl to become an unknown person’s wife extremely suspicious and morally incorrect? Definitely. But in context to the story with the time period being a time where women married and bore children very young with their main purpose being the household caretaker, I’d say it’s a lot more bearable for this reason alone, though still incredibly shady. In spite of this, Taishou Otome is a sugary romance doused with the ideas and events of the time with the main focus of the story being on Tamahiko as he slowly opens himself up to the world around him. Every few episodes is centered around a new character that steps into Tamahiko’s home, whether or not that be his family or random people that show up on his doorstep. Wherein thanks to some gentle pushing from his wife and a lot of pushing from other parties, slowly has Tamahiko blossom out of his enclosed shell in order to become his own person instead of the abandoned son with a disability that no one is willing to give a second chance.

In addition to that, a good chunk of the story is dedicated to solitary moments with his betrothed, turning a what would otherwise be a monetary transaction into a love story that has the two people involve make you forget at times that Yuzuki was bought to repay a substantial debt. Logistics aside, the romance is a lot better than I expected to be. There’s a lot less ‘I love you’ and generic ‘love’ words said, as the show focuses more on the actions and gestures that Tamahiko and Yuzuki have with one another to show the kind of care and affection that comes with a well-mannered couple. I do wish that the show didn’t just skip through several years of the Taisho era in order to relay its story so things could settle, but it’s not really that much of an issue because it does end up making the relationship between the two easier to digest with a few years together being shared between them.

Something I personally wasn’t a fan of though with this show was just how much the show likes the beat the audience over the head with the various talking points of Tamahiko and Yuzuki as if the audience doesn’t already know them. Time and time again, the series really likes to remind Tamahiko that he has a lame right arm and the fact that his soon to be wife is a bought commodity. Truths in name, but feel incredibly cumbersome to listen to again and again on account of how little that stuff matters later on due to the characters trying their best to grow out of those initial starting points. As if the show is really trying to hammer in the fact that there’re some fucked up situations even though we already know that things were never 100% peachy to begin with.

Personally though, I think the story of Taishou Otome is one that uses its romance tag well without overbearing the audience too much with sugar and sweetness that a lot of examples in the genre like to use. The story of Tamahiko’s growth is one that definitely feels earned and the relationship that he has with his wife feels surprisingly genuine in spite of some gripes I do have with Yuzuki’s character. And as someone who really likes historical stories, seeing the culture just ooze throughout the whole series from its customs to its way of dress and societal concepts just made watching this show a lot more fun than I had initially expected.

Characters:

While I have talked about Tamahiko in length already, I want to first start out with his wife, Yuzuki. As I think there’s a bit of an unfortunate dichotomy with the show that I’m not particularly the biggest fan of. Yuzuki, being the wife and homemaker of this little family, is entirely a character that’s both devoted to her future husband and wishes well on his prospects and future. Her undying support and eventual love for him is one of her biggest character traits, alongside her unwavering ability to be strong for him in the face of any adversity that they may face together alongside actual durability because the woman is somehow just a tank. In other words, the ‘perfect wife’ and maiden with no real ambition of her own. Yuzuki is effectively tied to her husband by the hip, and is ironically the anchor point/motivation that keeps Tamahiko going. It’s a very sexist dynamic, but again, historical context. Personally though in spite of the history of ‘traditional Japanese values’, I wish there was something more that Yuzuki was working towards. Having an ambition that wasn’t just being the homemaker for the family I think would’ve done wonders for her character and give her a sense of individuality. As it stands now, Yuzuki, while not a terrible character, is also not a very compelling one aside from being the ‘ideal wife’ that keeps the story going. She is cute, but cuteness can only really go so far.

Tamahiko on the other hand gets the majority of the character development as he becomes a more open (and happier) person instead of the self-proclaimed pessimist that he starts out as no doubt thanks to the unwavering support that he gets from Yuzuki. A lover of books and a loner at heart, it was honestly a joy seeing the depressed, vulnerable, and aimless boy become someone who wanted to work towards something brighter and happier, and gradually cherish the person that became his pillar of support in order to make sure that he becomes someone worthy of her in the long run. Which is why I feel comfortable with calling their dynamic a lot more satisfying than the series really likes to call it contextually speaking. There’re a few bumps, but ultimately the series showed that they had honesty and care for one another, making sure that the other is ok and that in spite of the cultural/societal roles that they may have, their relationship has equal ground that works best when there’s communication and attention towards one another.

The other girls that pop up in the series: Tamako, Ryo, and Kotori all vary on the spectrum of characters by either starting out bad to becoming good or starting out really bad to only becoming mildly tolerable. Personally though, I think Tamako has the best arc of the three, but all of them feel somewhat rushed oddly enough and that if given enough time, could’ve become more compelling characters arcs in the long run. Ryo is definitely the worst of the lot given her contribution was just to be an obstacle for the series, but I think in spite of any downsides to the series that ended up happening as a result of their involvement, the relationship between Tamahiko and Yuzuki ends up being strengthened in the end in some way as a result. Which I guess is a boon, but I can’t help but think that there was another way that could’ve been achieved without having most of that be wrenches into their relationship.

Other characters in the side cast aren’t really that prominent, but do have their places. The kids in the village that the couple live in as well as some members of Tamahiko’s family are more notable background characters, but there’s not really that many people to speak of cause they’re more setting placers instead of notable side characters that matter to the major plot.

Aesthetics:

I’ve never heard of SynergySP prior to this show, but man they really nailed that slightly old-timey aesthetic of this show. While yes the character designs are kind of generically cute no thanks in part of Yuzuki being a shortstack with big eyes, the overall aesthetic of the show just has this comfortable charm about it that makes it an enjoyable piece of media to look at. The backgrounds are done with this slight texture like it’s paper, and the everything has this kind of paintly style to it that make it all the more unique to look at.

More than that, the architecture and style of everything from the clothes to the buildings really nail the time period. And the details just hits that right note of being complex but not too complex so everything keeps that gentle storybook feel.

The OST is not entirely what I thought it would be because I didn’t expect Garnidelia to be the person who did the OP for this show. It seems a bit out of her style, but surprisingly enough it’s a fun song if not a little ill-fitting considering the big band feel of the song not…really lining up with the more gentle emotions in the show. Still, “Otmoe no Kokoroe” is a lot better than I thought we were gonna get for an opening song, so I’m satisfied. “Makagoro ni Kanade” by Shunichi Toki is by comparison a lot less energetic than its OP sister and is more of a palette cleanser to end the episode off than anything else. It’s a lot less memorable by comparison but serves to fulfill that comfortable ballad that helps along the comfy image of the couple resting on each other on a cold night.

And what else would a historical series have but more traditional music to go along with it? I think the real kicker to this OST is having the entire series be flooded by a set of songs sung with strings and bells to give that gentle and daily slice of life vibe that I had expected coming into this series. Thanks to Kotori being an idol singer of sorts for the series, we get a lot of these showing up over the course of the show’s runtime, and I for one really liked having the show take the time to just not say anything and sing so that the OST shine as brightly as it needed to.

Final Thoughts:

In spite of rocky circumstances, Taishou Otome Otogibanashi is a sweet, historical piece that echoes a time nearly a hundred years ago during the height of the Japanese industrial age where tradition and modernity were meshing with each other. True, a lot of the values and customs that were present at the time are incredibly frowned upon and even illegal today, but in respect to the time period, what we ended up getting in spite of that is a period accurate couple trying their best to care for and love each other in the best ways that they could.

Tamahiko’s story is one of growing confidence and losing that initial cold-hearted pessimistic attitude he once had so he can cherish those around him. And while Yuzuki didn’t nearly get as much development as her soon to be husband and is arguably worse off because she’s just kind of the ‘perfect girl’, I think what she represents for Tamahiko and the values she keeps for herself to do her best for him is a fitting compliment. Would I prefer that she had some kind of ambition of her own instead of just hoping to have a lot of kids and continue her housewife role? Absolutely. But oddly enough, I would file that under lost potential for the series instead of something that actively hurts the series in the long run.

As for me, I just really like sweet romance stories. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one, and the historical factor is just an added cherry on the top. Yes there’re a few bumps that I’m not particularly a fan of, but the whole is a lot more enjoyable to me than any minor infractions that the series had. Especially since the history means that tragedy is 100% going to happen, and the characters will have to work around that fact no matter how perfect their lives are. And given that this show only adapted about half of the main story for the Taishou Otome Otogibanashi manga, I really hope we get a second season to close off the story. Because I need more sugar for my cold, dead heart damnit to keep it going.

If you’re a romance lover like me, I would highly recommend this show in spite of any period accurate flaws or any faulty character writing it may have. Yes the unfortunate sexism of the 1920’s is a major contributing factor why I think Yuzuki isn’t as developed as I would like her to be, but it oddly enough doesn’t detract from the show as much as I think it does, and Tamako certainly does make up some of that by being a more independent woman with her own goals in mind by comparison. Hopefully we do get a proper ending for the story in animated form because man, I just know there’s much more crazy shit for Tamahiko and Yuzuki to deal with with the 1930’s coming up.

I’d like to imagine that the boardroom meeting when deciding how to write this show went something along the lines of “But what if we did THIS thing too?” and the other members just shouted “Write that down! Write that down!” because it sounded like a good idea at the time.

Story:

In the underground world of the labyrinth exists different colonies that’re interconnected by the various tunnels that allow the people of the colonies to export goods and mingle with one another. In the colony of Pinyin lives a father and daughter named Gagamber and Memempu who help excavate the mines as a means to both ... make ends meet and contribute to the colony. But Memempu wants something more. After discovering a secret stone that might lead to a tower that she’s repeatedly seen in her dreams, Memempu tries to get her father to let her go on this journey to find this place somewhere in the labyrinth. When mysterious beasts named Kaijuu (because that’s real creative) attack the colony, Gagamber finally, after much whining from his daughter, finally lets her with him in tow go on the journey that she so desperately wants.

Marketed as a daddy/daughter journey through the underground, Sakugan feels more like a melting pot of genre ideas that in spite of the what the showrunners probably thought, really does not go together all that well. Every episode within the show’s 12 episode runtime focuses on a completely different subplot from anything that came previous to it. What this leads to is a plot that’s incredibly disjointed, and a narrative that either just bandages everything before it as a means to move on from that situation, or just forget it altogether in favor of doing this cool new thing that’s most definitely relevant to the plot.

So what do we get from this? Well, we get stories like toppling the local government, to parodies of castaway, to wanton terrorism, and the mako factory in Final Fantasy VII where we have a casual teatime because I honestly couldn’t imagine a better thing to do when you’re trying to spread the idea of environmentalism. Because of this, nothing really matters in Sakugan. Practically everything happens without much substance, and the narrative trying so hard to squeeze in little stories that have some form of relevancy ends up doing more harm than good. Complete character motivations just disappear in the blink of an eye, consequences really have no meaning at the end of the day since the characters just run from everything, and the plot to find this mysterious tower in a hidden part of the labyrinth has no narrative weight because 80% of the show completely forgets that that was the entire point of the show to begin with. It almost feels more like a starting gun to jumpstart the plot in the right way instead of anything that mattered narratively to the plot.

To the show’s credit though, I will give it the fact that it has style. Sakugan at least at face value, has a lot of rampant screaming, dumb moments, and bouts of character via constant arguing that’s oddly charming to watch. Yes the bickering can get annoying, but considering it’s the one part of the show I genuinely enjoyed because it’s a bunch of idiots travelling in this underground world, I can get behind that. Of course we could’ve had that AND a half-decent story, but I guess that’s asking for too much, huh?

So, while the amount of character bickering does make up for some of the show’s shortcomings, ultimately the story is largely disappointing because it both fails to provide a decent narrative and just has too much shit clogging its gears to keep everything running smoothly. If this was advertised as more of a colony hopping journey, I think it might’ve turned out better. But as it stands now, especially with the ending giving a non-answer to the entire conflict as a whole unless a second season happens, the story is laughably bad and at best a confusing mess of mini-plots that feel like putting a round peg in a square hole.

Characters:

I’ll get started with our titular ‘daughter’ here because god there is just so much to say about her. Memempu is a 9 year old college graduate and is regarded as a child genius. A fact that the show will routinely tell you is part of her character on account of how little everyone wants to shut up about the fact that she graduated college at a young age. Memempu is both the best and worst parts of the show, as her character borders the very fine line of being a good and competent child character while also being a terribly written character because the show always seems to want to make it seem like she’s right. I would like to believe that the initial idea that the showrunners had was to take Memempu on this journey in order to give her more of a perspective on the lives of other people in order to learn, grow, and expand her horizons in order to mature into a well-rounded person. Sakugan is not about that. Instead, the show uses Memempu to bully her shallow-minded ideals into the lives of other people, especially her father, only to prove that her way of thinking was correct all along, and Gagamber is just an old geezer who can’t understand that we have to stick it to the man, or get people to think freely. As if her privilege can be easily spread amongst everyone she encounters. It’s irritating to watch since her character consistently does this, up until the last few episodes where the show rushes her development to the point of making it feel fake and contrived. It’s not all bad though. In relation to her father’s bad habits I do find her to be the better character in that regard, but the amount of scolding and outright toxic behavior she has towards the man who’s just trying to keep her safe and learn that things aren’t always so black and white is tiring and genuinely unfun to watch simply because of how little she learns from her experiences even after being in several life or death situations and getting kidnapped like twice or thrice.

Gagamber by contrast is a much better character, but is specifically thrown out of the spotlight in favor of his daughter in spite of his drastically better character traits that should’ve been utilized more. As a previous Marker, Gagamber has past experience with travelling the labyrinth and has a history of life experiences that give him a more mature and veteran mindset in contrast to his daughter’s more closed-minded thought process. He’s cautious, always thinking about her safety, and makes sure she that learns the same lessons that he did before tragedies happen. He has some bad habits like gambling and women, but for the most part he tries to be the father figure that she needs. And what does the show do? Say to his face that he’s wrong and that Memempu’s reckless behavior is the way of the future because nothing’s going to happen unless you go at it guns blazing. Which is just an awful way to write your daddy/daughter combo, especially in regards to just how much time is dedicated to making Gagamber save his daughter and clean up after her mistakes, which is like the most obvious way of showing “I told you so” to the audience. Like for fucks sakes, use that supposedly smart brain you have for once, kid.

The other two members of their party, Zack and Yuri, are not very interesting characters because their character development/setup are for the most part about one episode each. Zack is a bounty hunter/criminal and Yuri is a hacker who wants to stick it to the man. They don’t offer that much to the show as a whole because of their lackluster traits, and really only come along for the ride in order to fill up the team and add in some specialties, whatever that may be. In truth, I think the show could’ve really done without them, and nothing of value would’ve been gained or lost.

Similarly, the sidecast is full of a bunch of one-off characters that lose relevancy rather quickly. Meroro, who’s the show’s designated bureaucrat, is probably the only notable member of the cast because he seems to show up everywhere and makes the main cast do his environmentalist work for him. And then there’s Shibito, the antagonist terrorist organization that have motives so vague that 144p makes clearer pictures than they do. Shibito hardly shows up over the course of the series, doesn’t really do anything aside from spout some random propaganda about a ‘dead world’, and just says things that have apparently have relevance in spite of the fact that none of what they’re saying has any prior connotation whatsoever. In short, a very badly written evil team that feels like they were thrown in last minute as a way to try and give the show an ultimate antagonist without doing any of the work needed in order to make them read like a proper, genuine threat.

Aesthetics:

Satelight’s work with Sakugan is honestly something I really like from a setting and creativity perspective. The underground caverns while kind of generic with the whole ‘secret world underground aesthetic’ does still look good and pleasing to the eye in spite of the show’s confusing plot. There’re a surprising amount of different setpieces in this show, ranging from the mako factory I mentioned earlier, to the various nature backgrounds in the tunnels, as well as the different colonies idolizing certain ideals in order to make up the appearance of the architecture and culture of each place that the characters visit.

Character design is also something I’m a fan of here, more for the daddy/daughter combo since we have Gagamber dressed in a mining work uniform with his daughter by comparison looking more like a scrappy mechanic that gets her hands dirty no matter the situation. It’s a nice little dynamic they have there with orderly vs. disorderly, and it works for their characters quite well.

What isn’t so nice though is the CGI that she show uses. The mechs in particular I think can be excused on account of the actions that they take flying through the air and zipping around, but the kaijuus… Man, the kaijuus do not look good. They look cheap as hell and move way clunkier than the mechs do. Which I think is a testament to how little they cared about the kaijuus seeing as they basically didn’t show up or were even a conceivable threat for a majority of the show. Which again, why is that? Did they just forget that the kaijuus were a thing?

Masaaki Endoh’s “Koukotsu Layrinth” should not slap as hard as it does. The energetic rock and style of this OP makes it one of my favorites of the shows I’ve watched this season, and for some reason hits that right tones for me for a daddy/daughter adventure. It’s a memorable piece for the me that sticks hard in my mind as something that you’d put on when driving in the car. MindaRyn’s “Shine” on the other hand hits too many generic notes for my taste, and is made worse by the fact that this song usually comes up after the show just kind of throws shit at the wall, as if we’re supposed to be happy after the absolute fuckfest of an episode finishes. By itself though, it’s ok. Not fantastic, but not bad or jarring either.

Final Thoughts:

When I started this show, I thought it was just going to be a fun mecha romp with a daddy/daughter combo. And the first episode kind of promised that with story potential that could’ve been at least a fun show to watch. What we got instead was a show that promised absolutely none of that and instead went on a rollercoaster adventure of ideas that were flung at a wall without any care or thought with how any of it all matched with one another. Stick it to the man? Sure, let’s do that. Beach episode? Sure, let’s do that. Gang violence? Sure, let’s do that. Wanton terrorism with a group that up until that point had a grand total of 3 minutes of screentime to show that they were any kind of conceivable threat? Sure, why not? Let’s do that.

Can you tell I didn’t enjoy this one? I’m a firm believer or sticking to pretty much only one cool thing in your stories because in doing so, you get the opportunity to turn that one cool thing into an overarching narrative that can engage your audience. Trying to squeeze in a cool thing every episode only makes the whole very messy, especially if you have a starting gun of an idea that just almost never shows up or has relevancy past the first episode or two. The kaijuus, any corrupt government in past colonies, any small mysteries that the characters discover, almost none of that matters because the show decided that it had already done/shown it, so there’s no reason to go back or explore it more. Because of this, the whiplash I got from watching Sakugan made me care less and less about the show and made me want to hope that it was going to end faster. And in the end, it stumbled its way into an ending that I’m sure even the showrunners don’t know if it’s the ending or not because of the cheeky shit that they pull off there.

I think if they had cut away all of the fat, focus itself back into one thing like using Shibito as the looming threat and not just arbitrarily shoehorn in stuff like the “Rainbow Children” at the very end like the revelation had any real weight, then it could’ve been a decent narrative with character, style, and motives instead of using Memempu’s desire to find the tower in her dream as an arbitrary reason to go to the next colony and fuck up things over there. Seriously. Like the millions of dollars in property damage that’s caused really doesn’t seem to matter in the long run given how often entire civilizations are destroyed in the process of Memempu and Gagamber just moseying on through town.

My resulting recommendation for this show really is to just not to consider this one as a list contender. Sakugan has far too many narrative issues that I’m willing to let slide, made even worse by the fact that Memempu’s infuriating character traits make her a less than stellar protagonist that the show infuriatingly tries to make seem indomitable in her ideals and can do no wrong. Which if I have to deal with that, as well as a revolving narrative that never stays on one idea for more than 10 minutes, then it’s not worth a watch to me.