Nomad: Megalobox 2 reminds me of what made me want to watch the first season when it first aired. This is a short, concise review about what makes Nomad a sequel superior to the original in every aspect...
The first season of Megalobox was a fun watch though forgettable. The premise was not incredibly original as it was a regular boxing anime with the only added element being the Gears. But the show was still entertaining enough because of the designs, the mood of it, the amazing score, and the incredible directing of Yo Moriyama. However, the overall plot felt like a rehashed of so many
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Mar 18, 2017
3-gatsu no Lion
(Anime)
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AN ANALYTICAL REVIEW OF “3-GATSU NO LION”. (Spoilers - It's really for people who've seen already because I get into some detailed aspects of the anime)
This anime needs no introduction because this is myanimelist and you can already get all the info you need, such as Studio, Director and all that. Instead, I’m just gonna ramble about why “3-gatsu no Lion” worked for me… and other people who might relate to my opinions. I’m also not gonna waste a lot of time with characters and story… because this review is really for people who have watched the whole thing and for whom the usual reviewing ... aspects should be obvious by now. “3-gatsu no Lion” is one of the few anime that I found myself eagerly waiting for each week and yet, after downloading the episode (Because I’m a bloody pirate from a third world country) I would not actually watch it. I would probably wait 2 or 3 days before having the courage of doing it. Why is that? It is an anime that I love, obviously. And yet, each time, it would require an immense amount of courage for me to sit down and have myself go through it. “3gatsu” works on many levels. And not being in any way an expert on anime, I am compelled to write a review for it because of how I appreciate what the show has accomplished. 1) Abstract Visuals as a Metaphor for Emotional Distress While there must have been other anime to do this before, “3-gatsu” is the one that has impacted me the most. Yes, the show has a great art style that is this mix between childish cartoon and then the normal anime style art with attention to realism and proportion (for most part). The art style itself is fundamentally very light and bright with use of pastel colours and paintings with a palette that is very vivid. It’s very reminiscent of the background art for “Yuri!!! On Ice”, which had the same watercolour style. This art style is more apparent when the Rei is happy and is with the Kawamoto family because this represent how he views the world when he’s the surrounded with people that he cares about and more importantly, people that care about him. That very palette changes when Kiriyama is alone and becomes much darker and thicker. You can feel the heaviness that he feels and see how the world closes in around him. But honestly, these styles are all pretty standard. What “3-gatsu” did which impressed me and touched me at the core was the use of abstract imagery to represent the emotional distress of Kiriyama and why the show chooses to show only his sadness through such metaphors instead of also applying the same technique to his more joyous moments. That is because Kiriyama understand his happiness. He knows the few things that make him happy, even if he sometimes questions it himself. His realisation is often gradual. He keeps analysing the situation until he figures out the exact element that is making him happy and for these scenes, the art style remains the same because we, the audience, are the see the logical and emotional progression and realisation. But we can see that many times, when Kiriyama is at his lowest point, when he questions the very foundations of his life and his choices, he cannot come up with an answer that he is satisfied with. And those are particularly apparent at the beginning of the show when Kiriyama was still very much under the control of his pain. Kiriyama knows that he is sad and he knows that the reason he is sad is because of the loss of his family, and the general outcome of having to move in with a foster family and having his siblings hate him and all that… but above all, Kiriyama is going through an actual depression. The guy is not just sad, he is depressed and as we all know, depression is when logics very often stop working. As opposed to happiness, Kiriyama cannot just analyse the situation. His sadness is something that he feels with overwhelming force… He FEELS it… and that is why the show chooses abstract visuals to represent his emotions. His reality is distorted, nothing makes sense, he doesn’t know what is wrong… he can only feel the sadness and for him that emotions resembles the scenes that we see. It can be him being submerged by an ocean… him withstanding violent winds… or just a cut where we see the colour black and white just blending in together in a storm with the sound of it becoming a threat to your senses, your emotions. While I believe that these metaphors might work more with some people than it did with others, I still think that they do an incredible job at portraying the emotional distress of the main character without seeming to be just pure time wasting art…. That’s the way I see it. Every cut has a reason to be there. (Apart from the weird 2 or 3 episodes where we would get that weird cat-shogi song in the middle of the episode). While the slow pace of the show gives the audience breathing room, to assimilate all the emotions, there is no denying that when they emotions kick in, they do take your breath away. That is why watching ‘3gatsu no Lion’ is always a viewing experience that I both dreaded and loved. It is also only in episode 22 that you see the visual metaphors being applied to his happiness, and you can already see that it is already better shaped than before. Much less abstract and more of a simile. Which is a splendid way of differentiating between the two emotions; happiness and sadness. 2) Being a Masterpiece of Tonal Consistency (Cursing ahead, I got heated during the paragraph) A LOT of anime out there suffer from the tonal consistency issue. Have you watched “Akame ga Kill!”? Or “Bungo Stray Dogs”? These are two anime that I found the most astoundingly offensive when it came to directing because whoever directed those shows had obviously no idea of how to make these anime a pleasant viewing experience. Now, I know a lot of people enjoyed those shows, but I didn’t. Setting aside the issue of the stories just being generic and the characters being bland and boring (Except for the first 4 episodes of the second cour of Bungo), these two anime suffer from massive tonal inconsistency. In “Akame ga Kill!” You would have Tatsumi just witnessing the death of one of his comrades, and the background music playing would be upbeat and light, the shot composition would be this medium shot, cutting characters out with no obvious focus on any particular character’s emotions and literally after 1 minute, Leone or some other punk would crack a joke while they are all fucking attending the FUCKING FUNERALS or some shit like that. Or just pointlessly use “Le Chant de Roma” at any given scene when this soundtrack is clearly for the most dramatic and tense moments! Same thing for “Bungo”, where Dazai would actively go from one tone to another, disrupting the whole mood of the show with no regards to how this affect the narration. What “3-gatsu” does that so many anime failed to do is to have tone shift, yes, but all these tone shifts are occurring instead of being made to happen. Do you see what I’m saying? Probably yes, probably not. Bear with me. Kiriyama is a well-developed character, sure, but he is also very established… his behaviour is set. He will never actively do anything to change the way things are going, he will never just decide to be happy and then see the world as brighter and happier. He doesn’t cause the tone shift, he doesn’t disrupt the emotions that the audience feels alongside him. Instead all the tone shifts are brought about by external characters who enter the scene and cause it to change. Be it Momo jumping into his arms, or Nikaidou trying to change his mood. All the tone shifts happen for the sake of actually changing the tone from dark and sulky to light and funny. They take us by surprise yes but they happen in a way that makes us happy instead of confused about why a character is smiling at his friend’s funerals or why his head is in chibi style when everything around him is fucking Armageddon. Life is also a surprise and tone shifts happen all the time. There is no schedule and that’s why I think “3-gatsu” did a great job at portraying the realism in this way. The tone shifts are done quickly and completely. The mood changes completely without blending or lingering emotions from the previous scene. That is why this anime is gold! This show is not at all style over substance. It anything, its style has substance and its substance has style 3) The Directing of Character Development I am not familiar with the work of Akiyuki Shinbo. I’ve only ever watched “Katte no Kaizou” which is just batshit crazy and fast paced with not much sense. And he seems to be the only director working at Shaft… But I honestly loved how he helmed the show, knowing exactly how to pace it so that the development of the character feels natural and progressive. The first half of the show focused heavily on Kiriyama as an individual and as the show continued, we begin to see how his interactions make him grow and know more about himself so that by the second half (Where the focus in more on shogi) , he is both growing… and discovering more about who he is. His development is done in both a backward and forward fashion as the audience learns more about Kiriyama’s past but also see how he is presently changing. We learn why he behaved the way he did at first and we see what makes him stop behaving that very way. And that is the best kind of development. It was not only about making sure that your character had an interesting past, but also making sure that he evolves over the course of the anime. In this aspect, the development of Kiriyama reminds me very much of Killua Zoldyck’s masterful development in “Hunter X Hunter (2011)”. Kiriyama is the only character who evolves that way as the rest of the cast are explored through backstory but that’s okay because they are actually legitimately very likeable and interesting characters. I’ve always thought that if you cannot make your character behave interestingly, then give him an interesting backstory and if you cannot give him an interesting backstory, then make him act interestingly and be likeable. Luckily, ‘3-gastu’ ensure that all its characters are likeable and are developed properly. The Kawamoto sisters do not change a lot throughout the show but that’s all right because they are genuinely good people who’ve suffered a lot… and their courage to keep moving on and to keep smiling through thick and thin makes them winning characters! We learn about their past and we see how they are, and I’m perfectly satisfied with having them the way they are. They are interesting. Momo is a toddler, she has no fucking development needed at this stage. I’m just happy she is sweet and doesn’t take too much space by just being the cute kids that makes you go “Aww…” but actually served a purpose in developing Kiriyama’s backstory. Akari is my favourite one but she is already an adult and all her development is very much in her backstory. As a supporting character, she is perfect. Hinata is the one which technically would have the most development happening if she were a main character but even she is very low key and doesn’t overstep her boundaries as a supporting character. What I also really enjoyed in the show were the quick cuts to facial expressions and how these definitely help to isolate a particular emotion of the character. That was a really cool bit directing choice. Like I said, every scene in this show is useful… While, I don’t think this show has everything that I need for it to be among my favourites, I still believe that it is one of the best shows of the last few seasons and is special enough in the way it is executed. Many episodes had me smiling like a kid, many episodes had me holding my tears in because I simply could not afford to relive the pain that I was seeing Kiriyama go through. So… is “3-gatsu no Lion” a masterpiece? Not for me. It is a great show with potential of being a Masterpiece had a few things been handled a little differently. I think the focus on Shogi is a little overwhelming at times, as someone who is not familiar nor interested in the game. That is especially apparent in the second half of the anime. The characters, while very well developed and memorable, still aren’t unique. Not enough for me, at least… But otherwise, yes, it is a fantastic show. It truly is. So… I don’t know if I made much sense at all… I felt like writing that shit, so I did. Take care guys. (If only I could put as much thought and dedication in completing my Uni work as I did for this “review”… *sigh*)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 4, 2016
Jarinko Chie
(Anime)
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There are very few words needed to describe this movie. Let's say, it is a classic Takahata.
Do not go in there expecting an emotionally heavy movie like 'Grave of the Fireflies' or even something fantastical like 'Tales of Princess Kaguya'. These movies were magnificent but you cannot compare them to Jarinko Chie because they aren't of the same genre and they aren't trying to achieve the same thing. 'Chie' belongs to the same category as 'My Neighbours The Yamadas', meaning, for this genre, it is one of the best you can get out there. This movie is mature, it is deep but it is ... very well directed so that it is light and funny with just a pinch of drama. The story is simple and it is just as poignant as any other because that's a story which you believe, which you know can happen, which you know has happened. It is your average dysfunctional family, trying to get back together. This movie has characters who are real and believable and likable. They all have flaws and they all have their distinguished idiosyncrasies and they all come out as fully developed human beings which you can never get enough of. Sure, technical wise, it is nothing like 'Fireflies' but the style of the animation suits the mood of the story and the quality is actually pretty high. For the dub, the Japanese did a wonderful job but, and I'm gonna say this knowing that many might disagree or even be completely unaware of it, I believe the French dub is really good as well. Trust me, I'm a very demanding person when it comes to dubs and I must give credit where credit is due. The French dub was amazing. At the end of the day, 'Jarinko Chie' is just a pleasant story that you can watch over and over again because the characters are so true to themselves and you can easily relate to them. This was a movie of my childhood and shall forever remain my favourite from the master Takahata.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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