An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

The Fuzzy (Funny?) Line Between Genius and Idiot – Kaguya-sama: Love is War Spoiler Review

Back when I was in High School myself, a certain gym teacher presented what he called the “Circle of Intelligence” or, depending on when he was talking, “Bad Synapse Theory” The idea was that instead of the spectrum between the genius gifted kids on one side and the complete morons on the other being a straight line, it was an almost-complete circle, with only a small gap between the poles. Someone who was average would be average basically all the time, but the kids on the extremes (mostly framed as the geniuses) could have one synapse fire wrong and momentarily leap across the little gap to the other pole.

It’s a silly little picture born, no doubt, of observing kids with perfect grades and limited practical skills, but that does happen now and again, especially when someone who is legitimately smart gets a little arrogant about it and trips themselves up with their own brilliant plan. And, having seen “The Geniuses’ War of Love and Brains” in Kaguya-sama, I’ve got to say that gym teacher must have had fun watching it happen, because that’s pretty much the premise that keeps the comedy going here.

Read More…Read More…

We Have Cute Redheads. Are you not entertained? Is that not why you are here? – Quintessential Quintuplets Spoiler Review

Some day I’m going to stop using that Gladiator reference, but that day is not today. Not when it so accurately expresses the nature of unpretentious mediocrity like Quintessential Quintuplets. This is a show that most certainly isn’t high art… but it’s not trying to be high art, it’s trying to be somewhat entertaining, to make half an hour of your time a little better. As such, it seems kind of silly to hold the show accountable for not being something it never tried to be. In cases like this, the end product will, admittedly, never make an A-rank grade… but it can still be judged between the lower brackets based on how well it accomplishes what little ambition it has. And since its February, a month the West dedicates to romance thanks to Geoffrey Chaucer writing a few lines about birds, we’re going to take a look at this one.

Read More…Read More…

Seasonal Selection – In/Spectre Episode 4

This week, our episode is dedicated to clues!

Which is to say, we are primarily concerned with the facts of Karin Nanase’s life and death, facts that will be very important to be aware of as we attempt to unravel (or something like that) the case of Steel Lady Nanase. We know her impressive bust saw her scouted, but the little fame she had came from a good break and quick wit. We also know that she had some trouble in life, with a rumor circulating that she had been responsible for the otherwise ruled accidental death of her father who resented her. This caused her to go on a temporary hiatus that lasted for the rest of her life, for reasons of being crushed by a steel beam in an empty lot near the hotel she was staying at.

Read More…Read More…

Ending and Beginning – Kagerou Daze Manga (Spoilers)

So, here we come to, for the time being, the last entry in KagePro I have available to review: The Kagerou Daze Manga. This is the most different of the versions, with more twists and turns and surprises even if you know all the other components.

You’d be forgiven for not expecting that, though, since it starts out with a standard opening: Shintaro’s keyboard is once again banished to the shadow realm by a soda, and going out to get a new one, his first time leaving his room in years, lands him in the middle of a hostage situation. That gets defused by Shintaro, his digital buddy/tormentor Ene, and some new folks with freaky powers his sister has made friends with. Then we follow Momo’s side of the story – having a bad day thanks to her unrecognized and uncontrolled superpower of drawing attention, meeting up with the Mekakushi Dan, and ending up on the other side of that hostage situation. The next day the gang goes to an amusement park, and we also get an extended flashback to the school days of Takane (who becomes Ene) and Haruka where they run an awesome shooting gallery video game for the school festival, meet Shintaro and Ayano (among others) and don’t quite get around to having a romance before tragedy strikes.

Read More…Read More…

Avant Garde or Weird for Weird’s Sake? – Mekakucity Actors Spoiler Review

Mekakucity Actors is the anime adaptation of the Kagerou Project (though it may be novelized and there may be other anime outings in the future.), a topic that I’ve been covering in the Wednesday “random” reviews including the songs (Part 1 | Part 2), the Novel series and, upcoming, the manga. I’ll likely refer to the other KagePro elements a good deal, but since this is a Monday Anime Spoiler Review, I’ll do my best to keep it largely self-contained.

Read More…Read More…

Seasonal Selection – In/Spectre Episode 3

After finishing up with the Guardian Serpent and getting confirmation of how Iwanaga works, we move to the meat of what we’re likely to be seeing, Steel Lady Nanase. The time is two years later, and a busty, faceless ghost is appearing and causing trouble.

Read More…Read More…

Seasonal Selection – In/Spectre Episode 2 (Late Update)

Apologies for the tardiness of this entry; real life ensued. All is well and future In/Spectre episodes should run closer to their air time.

Here we get the first real “Investigation” of the series, as it’s being presented here – What the Guardian Serpent Heard. By the end of this episode, I feel like you should know if you’re going to like In/Spectre, because while perhaps not as impressive or dramatic as the main plot, the time this episode is spent doing what In/Spectre mostly does for its Manga run: attempt to explain a mystery to the satisfaction of the characters in the scene through a mixture of deduction and hypothesis.

Read More…Read More…

Inner Secrets Revealed – Kagerou Daze Light Novels (Spoilers)

Out of all the long-form Kagerou Project media, the novels are the source I feel best covers what could be described as a “normal” loop, with the added advantage of being the one in the medium that best affords an opportunity to understand the characters inside and out, since novel-style narration is privileged to more inner thoughts than other media.

Read More…Read More…

Epic Scope, Daring Choices (Budding writers, don’t try this at home!) – Shakugan no Shana Final Spoiler Review

Last time, we looked at Shakugan no Shana Second and I talked a little about what it means to make a sequel. I contended that, with an episodic premise (like Shakugan no Shana kind of had, infinitely extendable through encountering and battling a stream of new Denizens) you could pretty much make an acceptable sequel by continuing to do the same thing you’d been doing so far. I also contended that it could be stronger if you went above and beyond, but at least in some cases it wouldn’t be strictly necessary. Shakugan no Shana Second fell flat (well, flatter) because it didn’t manage to do that much, largely scaling back and taking away from the ante compared to season one of Shakugan no Shana.

Shakugan no Shana Final doesn’t fall for that trap. Nor does Shana Final just content itself extruding more editions of the Shakugan no Shana material we already liked. Shana Final goes above and beyond, transforming the narrative and becoming its own thing that’s grand and new. And it kicks ass.

Read More…Read More…