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Dec 21, 2024
Coming from someone who didn't find the original Ranma all that amazing, this remake so far is a considerable improvement. The pacing is a lot tighter, which really helps the story stand out more. The characters seem much better written this time around, particularly Akane. And it looks really nice too, possibly the best that anything from the series has ever looked.
All that said, this is still just the beginning of a series that likely doesn't have too many surprises up its sleeve for the remainder of its run. As the original went on, they never really did as much with its characters as
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they could have, only using them as they were needed for the plot and not really expanding them much beyond that. Not to mention how the original only adapted about 60% of the manga, leaving its ending and everything leading up to it unadapted. Some may have preferred a continuation instead of a remake, especially if they're going to take such long breaks between cours, but hopefully they'll get there eventually. Judging it so far, though, there's a chance that this is as good as the series is going to get. This is when the series still felt like it had potential, before establishing its full cast and just kinda stagnating them. Especially since you-know-who hasn't shown up yet, let's just enjoy what the series is like without him for the time being. But as a self-contained first impression, this is just about everything I could've asked for.
Given the whole gender-swapping aspect, there was the possibility that anything new would've modernized the material to make it align closer with modern sensibilities. In a way I'm glad it didn't, largely because the manga still needed a proper adaptation that it couldn't quite get at the time. But if you look back at the original, it isn't nearly as offensive as you might expect a show from the 90s would be at handling something like that. Obviously it's not trying to depict anything realistic, but compared to the average studio comedy coming out of Hollywood at the time, it's a lot more respectful than you'd think.
It is a little ironic how its first cour adapts the same chapters as the original's first season, where many people believe that show peaked. Considering how that was the point where it was cancelled and almost immediately revived as Netto-hen, a subtitle it would carry for the remainder of the series and one that absolutely nobody uses in conversation, many felt that was where the original dropped off a bit. The original director left, and his replacement never quite reached that same standard. Plus there was an exponential increase in filler, but now that the manga's a few decades behind us that's not something we should have to worry about. Still, there's that feeling in the back of my mind that history has been given the opportunity to repeat itself, but I have to trust that MAPPA know what they're doing this time around. Then again, this is MAPPA we're talking about, so we'll see.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 19, 2024
It's hard to say anything about DanDaDan this early on, because as strong of an impression its first season left, it feels like it's only getting started. At its core, the beginnings of its central romance is really captivating to watch unfold, you really find yourself rooting for Momo and Okarun to end up together, and even when things get in their way it's still wildly entertaining. A couple from different social backgrounds bonding over their love of the paranormal is such a refreshing take on a teen romance. For plot reasons we don't see as many of the aliens this early on, but they
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do encounter plenty of ghosts, all of whom bring a lot of empathy and pathos to what in other hands would come across as fairly standard monster-of-the-week fare. Which is to say nothing of the brilliant visuals by Science Saru, animating its cast with such fluidity and personality that matches the already high bar established by the studio's previous works. There is a fair amount of sexual humor worked into the plot, but thankfully it reads more as playful and even endearing at times, and never crosses the line into fully uncomfortable. And perhaps it could've ended on a stronger cliffhanger, it's nothing out of the ordinary but not the kinda thing that kills you to have to wait seven months to see resolved. Come July it won't even be an issue. Until then, at least we can look forward to what the remainder of the series has in store, cause if this cour proves anything, they've only scratched the surface of what's yet to come.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 18, 2024
If you're at all familiar with the works of Rumiko Takahashi, it's probably from her work writing action (Inuyasha), comedy (Urusei Yatsura), or something with a bit of both (Ranma 1/2). As Shonen Sunday was publishing the middle of those three, she also spent the early years of her legendary manga career writing a more grounded, mature, straightforward romance for SS's sister publication, Big Comic Spirits. While I don't personally consider it my personal favorite of her works (UY will always hold that place in my heart), Maison Ikkoku may just objectively be the best series she ever wrote.
Obviously you can't judge a manga based
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on its anime adaptation, but it's still a damn fine anime. Being published in a monthly seinen magazine allows for much richer storytelling than its weekly shonen counterparts, since you can handle more mature subject matter, and also have more time to write it between chapters. This is especially apparent in the way the series handles its characters. We first see our leads as a young man struggling to get into college, and a young woman recovering from the recent untimely loss of her husband, taking over as manager at her father-in-law's boarding house. His attraction to Kyoko is shallow and superficial, and she sees Godai as nothing more than just another resident of her building. But over the course of the series, we watch as they come to know each other better, and in spite of every obstacle that comes their way, they grow past their shortcomings and become a pair who truly belong together. It's not the most groundbreaking character arc, but coming from Takahashi it's definitely a career highlight, sandwiched between younger couples who never quite made it that far.
One thing Takahashi consistently excels at, however, is filling her series with a colorful supporting cast who take just enough of the spotlight to leave you wanting more. The trio of rowdy neighbors who always barge in to drink and party function wonderfully as a unit, but occasionally we’re given a glimpse into each of their lives as individuals, those episodes being consistent, if not infrequent, highlights. Beyond the boarding house, no romance series is complete without rival love interests, and we’re given a few here, to mixed results. There’s the athletic ladykiller Mitaka, a deceptively charming pretty boy who will stop at nothing to win Kyoko’s heart. Then there’s Kozue, a sweet, if not somewhat oblivious, girl who Godai people-pleases himself into courting on occasion. But if this cast were to have a weak link, it would definitely be Yagami, a high schooler who falls for Godai in a twisted reflection of Kyoko’s first love, but constantly takes her pursuit too far to the point of discomfort, only to wind up being the only character without a satisfying conclusion.
Perhaps another issue which some viewers, particularly younger ones, may find themselves put off by is the show’s pacing. On a macro level, viewers impatient to see the leads end up together may not want to sit through 96 episodes of character development, but even on a scene-by-scene basis that same audience may sooner find themselves bored by the slower dialogue scenes and frequent establishing shots. Regardless, others might interpret that instead as “building atmosphere” and “taking time to sit in the emotions,” so that sort of thing really comes down to preference. But in between those slower moments are plenty of sitcom-esque shenanigans that still have their appeal, with its plot fueled by plenty of Three’s Company style misunderstandings. The show overall does an excellent job of balancing these two tones, always knowing when to be serious and when to have fun. It’s a format that the current landscape of network TV could really benefit from.
And even though this may not be something most viewers would take issue with, it’s worth noting that this show has some of the most dishonest, manipulative teasers at the end of each episode. Frequently they’ll bait the viewers with some sort of big, shocking twist or reveal in the next episode, only for the audience to find out that the plotline they were baited with was not nearly as exaggerated as they were led to believe. In retrospect, I can’t say that anything that was promised in those teasers would have been an improvement over what actually ended up happening in the show. Some may see this as insecurity on the writers’ end that the show can’t sell itself on its own merits, but in a way, it does reflect how characters throughout the series are often misled by each other into making choices that further the plot and character dynamics, so it’s at least in character for the series.
Being a Takahashi adaptation in the 80s, this of course comes to us from Studio Deen, coming off their work on the second half of UY and preceding their work on Ranma, which ended and began publication as this aired, respectively. The most noticeable consistency to most viewers might be the shared voice cast between the three shows, but visually they share a lot in common too. Deen always had some of the best translations of Takahashi’s character designs to animation, and pairing them with the hand-painted landscapes of nighttime cityscapes and the like is always a sight to behold. In some modern transfers, you can even see the specks of dust on the animation cels, giving the series a tangible, textile charm that feels lost to time.
Overall, Maison Ikkoku is a must-watch for romance lovers. Anchored by a mature, touching, believable relationship, it’s a series that really takes its time building its characters. Knowing that Takahashi was capable of writing a romance arc this satisfying, it’s almost a little sad that her earlier shonen efforts couldn’t quite match what she pulled off here. Those series had other priorities, though, where this one could focus purely on that. Even if those shows somewhat faltered in the romance department, at least she had this to show what exactly she was capable of.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 20, 2024
I just don't even get how something like this happens. It takes five years to produce four episodes, yet that's still too slow for the fine folks at Adult Swim, so they cut the show's budget after the first episode and outsource the rest of the production. If this was produced without AS's involvement, or even just as a movie, and everything was consistent with that first episode, this could've been an all-timer. But now it's just a warning of the dangers of executive meddling. Between this and that Rick and Morty anime, maybe WBD just needs to keep their fingers out of the anime
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industry for good (and with Zaslav wrecking house maybe it'll stay that way).
It sucks though, cause the animation in the first episode was genuinely mind-blowing. It was like if you opened a copy of the manga and all of a sudden the pictures started moving on their own, it would look exactly like this. Never before has a manga's artwork been adapted in a way that fills it with so much life. And if the rest of the show looked that good, then that's perfect, end of story, but what they gave us instead is an awkward, stilted, rushed, sloppy imitation of what got animated properly and it's genuinely so sad to see.
Even putting all that aside, this is still a Junji Ito adaptation, so a lot of good things carry over regardless of how it looks. Apparently they do rush through a lot of the middle section, which is apparent just by how it's paced, but overall what's left is still a thematically rich story about the generational cycles of abuse and disaster that plague a small town, highlighted by by some of the most fucked-up, grotesque contortions of the human form ever put to screen. And getting the composer from Hereditary to do the score was an inspired choice, even if his contributions weren't always the most prominent. But if anything good came out of this, at least it'll get a lot more eyes on the manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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