Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night – 5 [Viewer Comments]
Ah Jellyfish, the only other show this season that has a shot at consistently beating out Dungeon Meshi. I absolutely adored this episode, top to bottom. From Yoru’s struggles with artistic motivation and feelings of inadequacy to Kano’s attempts to lift her up. Once again, Jellyfish managed to hit me right in the kokoro. Her reactions to comments? The fear of reading them, the knowledge that someone saw and might not have liked your work? I get that exact same thing, yet all I’m doing is writing a few thousand words about anime on the internet. She’s drawing official art for their group and then having bigger, more successful, more talented artists draw fanart of it and then having people say they should be drawing for Jelee instead of her. That must be soul crushing. Watching her work through that, doom scrolling until she commits herself to art fully so she can feel good about what she draws, adding her name back to the mural she previously erased, taking classes seriously and such again, all good shit. I wish this had maybe been a multi-episode plot, but considering the end I’ll accept what we got. Speaking of the end, Jellyfish is entering dangerous territory here. If this is legit, if Kano and Yoru are going to be a real couple with real romance, it could be fantastic. But if we’re just getting yuri-baited because they know that’s what anime fans watch, then it’s going to suck. We can’t know until the next episode, which I’ll be watching right after I finish writing this since it’s Saturday, but I’m hopeful that Jellyfish will pull it off.
Oh and P.S. RIP Mei, her Bad Luck fortune came true the same day she drew it when she lost the love race with Kano. F in chat for our girl.
Dungeon Meshi – 19 [Hag/Nightmare]
Dungeon Meshi continues to be solid. My main take away from this episode? If anything happens to my bratty cat girl I will kill everyone in this room and then myself. Seriously though, I quite liked Izutsumi. She’s such a fucking brat, pushing everyone’s buttons from how she talks to how she eats, even removing the mushrooms from Senshi’s lovingly cooked food because she’s a picky eater. It helps that Dungeon Meshi continues to be incredibly expressive, it’s hard not to fall in love with a character who shows their emotions so clearly on their face. I’m looking forward to her sticking around for a bit, what with her curse being similar to Falin’s condition and it requiring a level of Black Magic Marcille simple isn’t capable of at the moment. As for the other half of he episode, I get what Dungeon Meshi was going for but it didn’t quite land for me. It was very visually interesting of course, and all about Marcille’s fears surrounding what she did to Falin, outliving all of her companions due to being a half-elf, and general concerns regarding her black magic. But it’s nothing we weren’t already aware of, instead just showing it to us in a rather abstract way. Still kind of fun to watch of course, but definitely didn’t hit as hard as a nightmare story otherwise could have.
Wind Breaker – 6 [Vow to Follow]
Wind Breaker is in a really awkward place this week. On one hand, fantastic fight choreography! Seriously, one of the best fights so far. Fluid movement, great camera angels, great flow of combat and solid, if flashy, martial arts. On top of that, this one also had a solid emotional core between Hiragi and his opponent, Sato. It was a nice little exploration of idol worship and the unhealthy relationships that can develop from it. It’s hurt bit by the fact we had no idea who Sato was before now, this was the kind of fight/flashback one-two you’d expect to see at the end of a character arc or some kind of finale, not halfway through the show. But I’d rather have it, and it be underbaked, than have nothing at all, plus it was still a solid idea that just wasn’t supported properly. So yeah, all around solid fight. The awkward thing though is that Wind Breaker has sort of moved away from the central premise that initially caught me eye. The first three episodes were all about this idea of building a community, of finding a place that appreciates you for who you are rather than how you look, of how society should be less quick to judge and try to help their “outcasts” rather than ignore them. And it was great, Sakura was a joy! But ever since we’ve set foot in Bofurin itself, that’s fallen by the wayside for more classic Shounen battles. That’s still… fine… I guess? But it’s nowhere near as interesting as what we were initially promised, which I think is a damn shame. It’s clearly still trying, what with the parallels with Shishitoren, but it isn’t succeeding.
Astro Note – 6
Astro Note continues to be a fun weekly vibe sort of show. Every episode is filled with jokes and physical comedy, from blowing up a pot of curry to Tasuke watching videos of squirrels for 3 hours. Sure, some jokes don’t land, can’t say I enjoy the booby bar stuff from the deadbeat dad, but others like the hologram of Mira’s mother sinking into a pot of curry with a thumbs up are hilarious. And it’s not like Astro Note is forgoing its story for them either. Somehow every week it manages to progress things, like revealing Mira’s alien nature to Miyasaka, learning the history of Tasuke and her mother hinting at a future romance on Earth, or slowly narrowing down where the key is. And sure, the narrative isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things, it’s a vehicle for the characters and situations to change. But it’s still nice to see it moving along, and somehow Astro Note is able to find this balance between comedy, romance and narrative that really works for me. It’s not my favorite of the season, not by a wide margin, but it’s something I can sit down, watch, and just… vibe with for a bit. I like that.
My Hero Academia Season 7 – 1 [In the Nick of Time! A Big-Time Maverick from the West!]
We’re back baby, My Hero Academia has returned for its 7th season! If I’m being honest, as a manga reader, this is where My Hero Academia really starts to drag narratively. A lot of things stop making sense, character arcs get weird, silly, or become disappointing caricatures of what they could have been. But that’s been the direction the series has been going for a while now, so that probably won’t surprise anyone. So why am I watching it? Spectacle baby. For all the issues Hori has as an author, and there are a lot, his work as an artist and his overall concepts are absolutely incredible. What’s the Number 1 American hero’s quirk? A respectable fraction of omnipotence that allows her to shatter any and all rules of physics on a whim. Her big power move? A giant invisible representation of herself made out of solid air stabbing her opponent with a spear of combined and solidified lasers. That’s awesome! And her connection to All Might, the bits we get to see of America, are cool! As absolutely stupid as the narrative around it is, seriously Shigaraki should lose this fight but we all know he doesn’t, conceptually it’s rad as hell. Also helps that Cathleen is absolutely jacked, since Hori is the only mangaka that isn’t a coward, and I’m into that. Anyways, I’m not expecting a lot from this season of My Hero Academia. So long as I can get some cool fights, I’ll be content.
Viral Hit – 5 [Friends]
Still not sure why I’m still watching Viral Hit, but this episode is doing a good job of keeping me here. Snappers progression from an asshole just trying to survive to an actual friend who understands what he did before was wrong, and wants to make up for it, was pretty good. Him going to see Hobin’s mother, initially to find out where he lived to convince him to come back to school, only to hear about how he’s Hobin’s “Only friend” and decide in that moment that he can’t betray that got me tearing up a bit. The joke at the end that Hobin was talking about Munseong was kind of unnecessary, but we know that he’s Hobin’s 2nd friend now, so it still kinda works. As for the fight with Pakgo, nice to see Hobin learning. Solid calf kicks to take out the leg, running away because this isn’t some competitive fight with rules this is real life, and a wild overhead punch once Pakgo was focused on the calf kicks, all good shit. Also cool to see Munseong praise him, understanding how big a step this was as Hobin truly commits himself to self-improvement and learning to fight rather than the minimal work he was doing before. Munseong’s a pretty good guy! I’m curious where Viral Hit will go from here since Pakgo has kind of been the arc villain for a while now, maybe this is where Viral Hit falls off. But despite looking like shit, I’m curious and gonna stick with it.
The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio – 5 [Yuhi and Yasumi Will Definitely Keep Going?] – Dropped
Ah Voice Actor Radio, how you have fallen. Early on you were a fun look into the industry, the relationship between Yuhi and Yasumi was just the right brand of antagonistic to be amusing and cute while not becoming trite, and you weren’t filled with any melodrama. Now? We’re in full on melodrama mode as Yuhi’s career continues to be at risk, we’re meeting with presidents of companies and are introducing blatantly anagonistic villains who are nothing more than cutthroat bitches. Combine that with even more yuri-baiting and shit and I’m just… I’m not interested anymore. You’ve lost the thread that made this interesting to me, the balance between work and home lives for Voice Actresses, the difficulty of working in industry and such. Maybe if his had come at the end of the season, had the support of 10 episodes of buildup and character development, it could have worked. But much like Wind Breaker, bringing this stuff in this early means i simply doesn’t land with the force it should have. But where Wind Breaker has some great fights to fall back on, Voice Actor Radio has… Nothing. A shame.
The post Spring 2024 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 5 appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
