An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Trigger Does Social Drama – Brand New Animal Spoiler Review

What do you expect when you’re told that there’s a show, by Studio Trigger no less, about a girl who mysteriously turns into an animal person and so travels to a city fully of animal people in search of the truth, ultimately getting wrapped up in a conspiracy? Sounds like pretty on-brand madness, right?

BNA surprised me. It does, ultimately, have the fingerprints of the studio all over it, to the point where I don’t think that it’s really out of place in their filmography, but there’s ultimately a lot more to it.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 9

The time for the great battle against Shin’s brother’s Shepherd form has come. The episode “feels” short, consisting essentially of two extremely powerful scenes rather than a lot of little ones, albeit with a little support. Let’s take a look.

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In the Panties of Madness – Koi Koi 7 Spoiler Review

So, stop me when this sounds crazy: The show opens with two girls on a bicycle being pursued by a pair of attack helicopters, only for the biker girl to take out the helicopters (which are also operated by teen girls) with a rocket launcher and a lightsaber…

For the sake of this joke, and because I want to believe that it would be true, I’m going to imagine you’ve stopped me there. Welcome to Koi Koi 7. Haruhi have mercy on your soul.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 8

So, this episode is all pretty much ‘gearing up’ for what would seem to be a final confrontation. The Spearhead is down to five, and they’re being sent on one last suicide mission, while Lena is having to face being trapped, alone and powerless.

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Review Slot: Conquered! – World Conquest Zvezda Plot Spoiler Review

Here I go diving into a show without a whole lot of story again. Zvezda Plot is ironically rather plotless, and has a staggering disconnect with anything resembling proper reality… and I kind of love it for that. It’s an original production that you would think could only come out of the fever dreams of Trigger (though oddly enough it’s by A1 Pictures) that has a little grade school girl trying to take over the world as the main hook and just gets goofier and goofier from there.

Because the story is so light, I’m actually going to go through this one by characters instead of chronologically. Just remember: if you’re ever asking yourself “Is that really…?” the answer is “Yes.”

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 7

The pace of 86, at times, makes it difficult to talk about, or at least to start with. At the bare minimum for the week’s episode we saw some downtime and then got told what perceptive viewers already fully expected: the Spearhead is meant to kill those sent to it, a surprise to Lena but not really to us. And? And lots of development of the characters and time spent building the important emotions.

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Poor Unfortunate Souls – Magical Girl Site Spoiler Review

So, enough of those bright and cheerful magical girl shows, how about something dark, painful and miserable? Something about suffering girls trapped in a dead-end hellscape of abuse and pain that magic really only makes worse. That’s what people want, right?

No? Well too bad, it’s time for Magical Girl Site.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 6

We spend most of this episode with Spearhead, oddly enough including an extended flashback scene to when the formation was first formed, having a fun cookout together. One of the things the show does well is when it shows the 86 coping with their lives. Its very human; even in an objectively awful situation, people are going to seek happiness and ultimately cope with the horrors around them. It is, especially, thrown into stark relief when we see what the group started out as and then what they’re reduced to now, with two more deaths this episode.

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There is Now a Level Zero – Little Witch Academia Spoiler Review

Little Witch Academia is a show with an interesting history. It first started as a half-hour special, introducing us to the major characters and at least a version of the world. Later, the funding was achieved to produce another, longer special which fleshed out much more of a setting and introduced some new characters. It didn’t really contradict anything in the original, but it did evolve the material significantly.

They’re not the main thrust of this review, but I think it’s important for background to cover them quickly.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 5

So, to an extent, I was wrong. Shin’s brother got a more detailed address than I was expecting, even if, no, it wasn’t the crux of another transformation. On the other hand, we did in fact get a new movement in the major plot, and it is a hell of a big one.

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