Back to jmckenna15's Profile jmckenna15's Profile

I always expect Dr. Stone to give us great science tidbits that tie tot he plot and make you feel like you learned something without it getting too expository. What I wasn't expecting was for them to turn their magic towards economics -- and not only that, show a rarely positive depiction of capitalism and market economics in the process!

In it we see Ryuusui get reborn in order to pilot a sailboat to the other side of the world, as well as help discover oil that would power the world in the days ahead. He might be money-hungry, but in doing so, he created this ... world's first currency -- the drago, which is backed by the promise of discovering oil that will be bought from him once he acquires the rights to it as part of the deal.

See, the currency might have just been him stamping a design on a piece of paper, which makes viewer go "how does that have any value at all?" But the key is that it has value because it's backed by the soon-to-be-discovered oil, which the people of Ishigami Village trust will be discovered because of their collective determination and Senku's genius. And that's what currency is -- a medium of exchange backed by something people find valuable. IRL it was gold, today it's the full faith and credit of the issuing government, but here it's oil -- the king of energies.

And this money soon becomes even more valuable as a means of exchange because the pursuit of acquiring it to buy goods drives people to work harder for it. They gain dragos by making hemp thread, selling food to fellow workers, or buying clothes made by Yuzuhira from the leftover hemp that wasn't good enough for the hot-air balloon that would take them to see the oil fields eventually. It does not take an economics major to see just how influential this rudimentary capitalistic setup is at driving not just harder work, but more *valuable* work -- and the scientific and human achievements that were created as a result. We tend to take it for granted in modern society, but we wouldn't have a lot of the luxuries, comforts, and discoveries we have now we're it not for capitalism, free markets, and as importantly, the introduction of money that we all trust as a method of exchange.

The science parts are also all fantastic, but it's Dr. Stone, of course they're going to be. And Gen using the power of money to swindle Ryuusui was pretty genius as well. Summarizing the story as a stage play in the beginning because it was for Tsukasa's men to get them to build the great pirate ship for Season 3 was a unique spin on the typical "previously on..." that we expect from a shonen series.

All in all, a great hour of television and i'm more than ready for Season 3!

I love golf. I enjoy playing it, watching it, the whole culture surrounding golf, and will wait in line for hours to get US Open tickets, and someday dream of heading to St. Andrew's -- the home of golf -- to play a round (even though I suck at golf personally). So on that alone, I was hoping Birdie Wing would be a fun watch -- because it's a golf anime, and we don't see that often! I therefore expected a typical sports anime with cute girls doing golf and it being well animated

I didn't get that. But what we got instead is even better ... than what I hoped.

Essentially this is less "The Legend of Bagger Vance" and more "Rounders" to use IRL movie references. There's an underground golf mafia, a girl (Eve) who only plays for money, and who eventually runs into another girl (Aoi) who is seen as a prodigy and together, they pledge to eventually play a round with eachother. Along the way, there's a neighborhood that needs to be saved, illegal orphans living in a bar who depend on Eve's ability to make money on the underground circuit, and enough lesbian energy that has me praying that doujin artists can keep us satisfied until s2 comes out in January.

Heck, the fact that it has people who aren't that interested in golf -- or for whatever (dumb) reason hate the sport -- excited about the anime makes me think it could get more young people fascinated by the sport by showing it in a new, cool light. That would be a win for both sides wouldn't it?

So yeah, if you love golf or are just interested, this is the anime for you. Come for the golf, stay for the thinly veiled yuri and mafia shenanigans. You won't be disappointed.

Yeah you know what, screw it -- i'm giving the uncensored version an 8.
Is the plot good? No

Is the animation good? Not particularly, in fact there are a ton of moments where you can tell stuff had to be deleted or shortened because they couldn't actually just go full hentai.

Was it basically just 12 episodes of revenge porn? Yes.

Did I have a fun time watching it regardless? You bet I did.

The actual culture scenes weren't actually too bad, there was the odd splash of yuri here and there which is always appreciated, and it made for a good stress relief each Wednesday. ...

If they do make a season 2, let's hope they just go full hentai route rather than play around with the demands of TV -- especially if it means more of Setsuna's ahegao face (sorry Freya fans).

I honestly don't know why so many people are beating up on this anime after the last episode aired. I actually quite like how it ended. Rather than Hina getting all her memories back and ending with a deus ex machina "i remember everything now" ending, it leaves her still disabled after losing the quantum computer in her head -- as would generally be expected. She gets to go back to her newfound family with Yota who promises to take care of her -- the real her -- because it's Hina he actually loves (and not in a romantic way as the subtitles would suggest). ... The hospital established the rule that she could go back with him if she wanted to, and while it might not be medically accurate, it at least makes the stakes in ep12 logical.

Sure, I do think Maeda overplayed his hand by calling it "the saddest anime ever". If I wanted a more heartbreaking arc like this, I just need to see Kaede's arc in Bunny Girl Senpai. But aside from that, the first 9 episodes were full of good comedy as Yota and Hina go around helping people and enjoying the summer before the end of the world. The characters were all likeable goofballs and the situations (like a famous TV actress being smitten with Yota after he BS'd his way through a Mahjong game) were absurd enough to chuckle along with.

Did I have some criticisms with it? Sure. Yota's original romantic interest kind of fell by the wayside, but there wasn't much to write home about either, and I do think the high expectations Maeda set for the work are going to hurt it in the long run. But when all set and done, I thought this was a very good anime start to finish, the last 3 episodes, while not masterpeices, certainly fit in with the show's internal logic. I'd have no problems recommending it as a comedy anime -- just maybe cool off on the hype first.