If you’re reading this pinned post, then you’ve stumbled upon the stomping grounds of The Anime Binge-Watcher! This blog is semi-retired, but you’re still welcome to hang around. Here’s a few fun facts to get you up to speed!
What was The Anime Binge-Watcher? This was an analysis blog. I would binge-watch anime in episodic chunks and analyze it in long-form text posts, alternating between a longer show and a shorter show every day. I also did reviews of the seasonal anime I watched, re-watches of some of my favorite anime of all time, and more!
How long did it last? Three and a half years: May 1, 2018, to November 7, 2021.
Wow, that’s a while. Yep! For good reason; this was one of the most rewarding journeys of my life. I love breaking down anime and talking about how it can succeed or fail.
So why’d you stop? Short version, life moves on. I started this blog in college, and now I’m an adult with an actual job and other creative pursuits. I’m even working on a webcomic, how cool is that?
Does that mean you’re totally gone? Nope! I’m still available if you want to shoot me an ask.
You say you’re semi-retired. What are you still doing? Mostly, I’m reading through One Piece and doing seasonal reflections for the anime I watch every season. I’m also doing shorter thoughts on everything on my watchlist, cycling between anime from every year as decided by your votes!
Can I still read your analysis? Sure thing! Here’s a link to my masterlist of all the anime analysis I’ve done on this blog. Take your time; there’s a lot.
That webcomic you mentioned sounds cool. Where can I find it? So glad you asked! You can read Beyond the Sable Shore on Webtoon; new chapters drop every two weeks, on Saturday at 2 PM. You can also follow our Tumblr page for regular updates.
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-Slightly off topic, but have you seen the trailer for that movie Whalefall? Where a scuba diver gets eaten by a sperm whale and has to escape its stomach before he runs out of oxygen? Yeah, just curious. Anyway, the point is Ash should've gotten eaten by that Whiscash when he went underwater. That would've been a great episode.
-"That kid sure knows how to hurt a god! I mean, a guy!" Why is he so extra sdkjfshdkfjdhsf
-For lack of a better word, Sullivan is the most Anime(tm) character the gang's met in a while. Crazy hair, outrageous personality, extremely chuunibyou about his chosen hobby... this guy would fit right into Yugioh, just saying.
-Okay the gag of Jessie's hair accidentally being used as a fishing line is funnier than it should be
-ASH DOES THE CONCEPT OF SELF PRESERVATION MEAN NOTHING TO YOU FFS
-I'd question how Jessie's strong enough to lift both James and Meowth on the same fishing rod, but at this point, nothing would surprise me.
-Damn, that sheep packs a punch!
-bahahahahahahaha okay Nero eating the master ball after all that buildup was perfect
However Agents of the Four Seasons' final arc shakes out is almost entirely dependent on Misuzu. She's the black hole at the center of this madness dragging everything else into her depths, and how it ultimately resolves her story is going to determine whether or not this series ends in disaster. The stakes are that fucking high, and the risks are that fucking existential. I almost don't even want to think about her and stay safe in my lovely pink Sakura x Hinagiku bubble forever. But that's just not possible anymore with how central she's become to the proceedings. As a story, Agents is going to make or break on this horrifically problematic character's back, and hiding from that is just going to make the potential catastrophe even worse. So... yeah.
To start with the most generous interpretation: Misuzu and the insurgents as a whole are a manifestation of this world's attitudes toward the Agents themselves- namely, that they're treated as gods, not as people. Basically all the horrible things people do to Hinagiku and her friends in this show stem from the fact that from the moment a season manifests in a person, they're no longer seen as human. The villages restrict them and isolate them to control their powers regardless of the emotional toll it takes on them. The insurgents seek to kill them as avatars of the world they hate or exploit their powers for their own ends. They're either valued or despised for what they are and what they can do- and in the process, everyone forgets about the person beneath that title. They forget that Hinagiku is not an all-powerful divine avatar, disconnected from the world at large; she's just a girl with a kind heart trying to do the right thing, even after everything she'd suffered.
And that ties back to my big hope from a few episodes back: that Agents, ultimately, will be a show about changing the world by letting the gods walk among it. The insurgents and villages are two faces of the same evil, holding Hinagiku, Rosei, and all the rest above humanity for the sake of abusing them. But as we saw in the first couple episodes, the agents don't want to stand above humanity. The little girl Hinagiku helps in episode 1, the civilians Rosei saves in episode 2... these are not gods who consider themselves above the common folk. These are people driven to help others because despite their incredible power, they are one of us too. I suspect- or at least, I hope- that the end result of the four agents standing together at last will be a complete shake-up of how this world operates, rejecting both the villages' view of them as tools as the insurgents' view of them as curses. No longer isolated from the people they're supposed to serve, they will become part of society at large, working directly with the rest of humanity and enriching their lives in the process. Those are the pieces I see Kana Akatsuki putting into play, and if she nails that fucking dismount? Then I'll have no problem calling Agents one of the year's best.
But then, there's Misuzu. Where does she, specifically, fit into this thematic tapestry I assume is being built? Well, to be blunt: she's the Revolutionary Who's Just as Bad as the System. Yes, that wonderful trope we all adore so much. And now you understand why I'm so desperate for my theory to be right: if this world doesn't change in the end? If the only force in this story actively fighting to fix this world's problems is a murderous Crazy Bitch who went insane after losing her baby? Holy fuck, what a wretched conclusion that would be. That would be Wonder Egg Priority levels of betraying everything you once stood for as a story. And the fact I can't confidently say it won't fuck it up, even as much as I've adored Agents up to this point, is... well, it's worrying. I know Akatsuki can write wonders; Violet Evergarden is still one of the greatest anime of all time, and I can't imagine that was all thanks to KyoAni. But Agents is a much, much messier series, and the further it's gotten into its plot, the less certain I've become I can trust where it's headed.
Perhaps part of the problem is that for a story that seems to be about confronting the world, we haven't really... seen much of that world, have we? The only glimpses we've got of what normal life looks like in Yamato come in those first couple episodes; after that, the story's entirely focused on the agents' internal drama. Episodes 3 and 4 were all about the Summer sisters, 5 and 6 were Sakura and Hinagiku's backstory, 7 was about Autumn, 8 was yet more backstory, 9 was about getting all the agents united, and ever since then we've been locked into this final insurgency arc. Those background civilians on the bridge fight this episode were the first time we've seen normal people in, like, ten straight episodes. That's not great! That makes it feel like the world doesn't really matter! Which is a problem when making the world matter is the deciding factor between success and failure!
Again to use Violet as a contrast, while we never learn the exact politics or culture of its alt-universe Europe, each of Violet's clients gives us a chance to see one small snapshot of ordinary life, how different kinds of people live in this world outside the miasma of her own trauma and the ongoing war politics. It's not really a story about the world at large, but it still, like, cares about the world, you know? Meanwhile, Agents is much more actively trying to put its world front and center, but it spends far less time actually developing it. After those first two episodes, we don't explore any of the locations Hinagiku visits on her travels, nor do we meet any people outside the agency's orbit. For almost its entire run, this show's world has been confined within the borders of the Four Seasons. So having its ultimate conclusion rely on our investment in the world outside those borders feels unearned. I want to care about the Agents of the Four Seasons universe, but I haven't been given many reasons to. And now it feels like unless this show can make me care about that world in the next two episodes while still wrapping up all its character arcs, it's going to end in disaster.
That's not to say there's nothing going on with Misuzu. What this episode makes clear is she's essentially taken on a mindset of "If you can't beat them, join them." This world's put her through hell, but rather than try to make it better so no one has to suffer like she did, she uses her pain as an excuse to hurt other people however she wants because that's "fair" in her mind. I was treated like shit, so it's my right to treat others like shit, equivalent exchange and all that. Not the most complex motivation, but it at least tracks with all those thematic threads I brought up earlier. Misuzu suffered unimaginable horrors, and she decided it was justice for her to enact the same cruelty upon Hinagiku. And perhaps there's a world somewhere out there where Hinagiku continued that cycle of cruelty. But thanks to Sakura saving her from despair, she gained the courage to reach out to the world again, to continue trying to help others despite it all. Misuzu is the narrative foil Hinagiku serves to reject, showing that we want to change the world, we cannot allow ourselves to become as cruel as it. Whatever revolutionary instinct Misuzu might have once had, it's curdled into raw, selfish cruelty, making her just as unforgivable as the seasons agency she stands against. But Hinagiku is proof that choosing life, choosing hope, choosing love in spite of everything, can still carve a better path forward.
At least, again, that's what I want to believe is happening. The pieces are all in place, but the show's myopic focus on its main cast over the world has me uncertain if that's where it's actually going- and if it is, how effectively it can land that message. And all of that's still wrapped up in the ugly, gendered baggage of Misuzu going baby-crazy and doing all these awful things because she wants a replacement child, not to mention setting Hinagiku up to be raped and forcibly impregnated what the FUCK. I don't even know how to feel about that! I just need to scream and lose my fucking mind because Jesus Goddamn Christ! I'm writing all this like two hours after watching the episode and my chest still feels like it's going to explode from stress at any moment! Do you understand!!! Why I want to believe!!!! This ending is going to make this all worth it!!!!!!!
God, I need to stop writing now.
The point is, we're standing on a precipice right now. Agents of the Four Seasons is surrounded by disaster on every side, and the slightest wrong move will send it tumbling to its death. But if it somehow manages to keep its balance to the end? Then I'll be singing its praises for years to come. I don't know if that's even possible at this point, but after how much I fucking adored that opening stretch, I don't want to give up yet. Please, Akatsuki-sensei, don't let me down.
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A delightful episode of Gujo being dragged through the torment nexus. There are whole seasons where we don't get even one anime episode this good, and this is, what, the third or fourth episode in this show alone to be so?
I really like an early comment Gujo makes here about her own inability (or, at least, perceived inability) to appreciate art. She's succumbing to what I think of as lock-and-key interpretation of the arts, she reads all kinds of interviews and other external opinions because she wants to know what a given work means. She wants a single, specific answer. Despite Chin-lan's reassurances, she feels like at the end of the day she just "doesn't get it."
And, I mean, of course we're not talking about just art here. She feels this way about interpersonal connections, too, obviously. What does Botan have that she doesn't? There isn't a singular answer, but she's spent a lot of time looking for one regardless. I don't want to come down too hard on Gujo here, she's young in the grand scheme of things and, in any case, is not a real person. But I do have to admit that I get a sickly sort of catharsis out of watching her run in circles about Ibuki. I have both been and had inflicted upon me This Whole Thing, the desperation of wanting to be closer to someone who just doesn't think of you that way. It's a bad look on absolutely anybody, and just because I can relate doesn't mean I sympathize, you know?
If there's a consolation, it's in the fact that Gujo is clearly her own biggest obstacle. Chin-lan invites her to drinks---this takes up much of the middle of the episode---and without even really trying, Gujo demonstrates that she understands art just fine by engaging Chin-lan with a conversation about film. (She certainly knows way more about them than I do. I will note that it feels meaningful that she appears to cut herself off just before making a reference to Tom Stoppard, but then again, I suppose it could be a different Stoppard.) The problem is one of mindset; she likes talking with Chin-lan, and she likes spending time with her. But that isn't the same as her feelings for Ibuki, or at least, she can't quite tell if they are or not. (The archetypal rich girl college student, she expresses this by comparing her mind to that old opening line cliche; a storm.) It's left to Chin-lan to make the explicit opening move. In maybe the most romantic come-on in a show that is hardly short on those, she quotes a letter by Van Gogh about the sea, and how its dangers have never kept sailors away from it. She asks Gujo, will you come out to sea with me?
We don't hear her response, as the episode's final third is about Yaeka and Akane (with Botan along for the ride). This is the simplest of the three chunks of this episode, but it ties into the previous two by also deploying the arts as a tool of communication, here between Yaeka and Akane. It's easy to say that everything is fine in their relationship---despite some griping on Yaeka's part about how she feels as though she's giving more than she gets in the relationship, Akane "just happens" to play a song that they bonded over in their first year, and all is seemingly forgiven---but the rockiness that can result from a relationship that's hit its ' ' boring ' ' stage is interesting in its own right. (As for the fact that Akane actually plays that song becuse Botan discretely texts her to ask her to do so….well, Botan is honestly quite the little schemer. The rest of the cast, sans Gujo perhaps, is lucky that she largely only seems to want to pursue Ibuki seriously.)
Even the post-credits scene, shot almost entirely from Ibuki's point of view, continues the whole "art as communication" theme, this time by playing up the differences in what the girls know for laughs. Chin-lan, who knows her literature, references A Hundred Years of Solitude to Akane's bewilderment, leading to Akane similarly being incredulous that she doesn't recognize jazz musician Eric Dolphy. (I have to give the point to Chin-lan here, sadly, I did not recognize Dolphy by name, off hand. Although honestly I haven't read A Hundred Years of Solitude, either. I am humbled before this gaggle of anime college girls.) It's a nice reminder that despite the complex emotional entanglements going on, these people do in fact get along and are friendly with each other, and the quote she reads out in full---"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. You can never capture it again."---is genuinely relevant to the episode's themes. It's also a bit of casual peacocking, I think, capping a very erudite episode for this genre with yet more references to various bits of high culture. Not that I blame the series, these references never feel forced or contrived, and I imagine weaving them into the text of the series is fun. It's also, however, communicative, which is the point---or at least a point, be wary of locks and keys---of the episode on the whole. If Kamiina Botan is trying to make the case that it, too, is music, I think it's making a pretty strong one.
This is such a perfect analysis of how this episode uses art as a metaphor for communication and relationships, which I was too lazy to write myself last night cause the Feels were that strong, lmao.
-This is one of those rare episodes where fighting Team Rocket is the focus of the whole episode, instead of just the button at the end. And it's really great! Team Rocket's scheme to hijack the Pokeball transfer system is their best plan yet, and the cabin fight it leads to is full of clever little moments like Jessie and James trying to fence Bulbasaur's vines with skiing equipment. Plus, it's not every day our heroes are the ones trying to break in somewhere!
-Of course, the real treat here is getting to see Ash's Bulbasaur again. Yes, it's easy nostalgia pandering, but man have I missed the little goober. Hopefully May's Bulbasaur proves a worthy replacement!
-Since when did Ash and Brock have a speed boost attack dskfhsdfkdshkfjs
-"You might want to lose that name, but the plan is a sure winner!" You know, I feel like a lot of times in anime, the characters give their plans big elaborate names that are essentially the Light Novel Title method of explaining the premise in a full sentence. I wonder if this is the dub team joking about that?
-"Nurse Joy, I only take doctor's orders!" pfft
-...not gonna lie, May's Bulbasaur having heart patterns on its head is kinda cringe. Was there really no other way to differentiate them than the most played out girl-coding?
-"Wow, that one's really a Meowth-ful!" "Thank you." They're in top form today, lmao.
-Never underestimate Ash's ability to get the stuffing beaten out of him if it means victory.
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I know I keep making Yama no Susume comparisons, but honestly? The show Kamiina Botan reminds me the most of, artistically, as Bocchi the Rock. Maybe not quite as visually unhinged, but the way it frames shots, paces scenes, portrays individual moments just a little bit askew that somehow unlocks entirely new dimensions of emotion and comedy through the artistry alone... I don't know what studio Soigne has planned next, but I wish them a long and successful career of masterpieces like this.
I'm officially headcanoning these two as Natsuki and Yuuko from Hibike after they moved in together and started dating during college, and you can't stop me.
Every single episode of this show is gay girls having the most roundabout conversations about love and yearning and relationships filtered through twenty different prisms of metaphors and it fucking rules
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I mean, this was inevitable, wasn't it? Aimi and Nami (okay, mostly Aimi) have been trying to "save" Kirio in very superficial ways, but Kirio's not just in a rut; he's grieving! He's trying and failing to process his friend's death and it's left him incapable of responding to kindness without feeling like he's betraying Nozomi's memory! And these girls are just roping him into scheme after scheme without considering how to actually help him work through these emotions! It's honesty really, really cruel! I don't blame him for snapping one bit!
...man, how is a literal faceless character more emotionally compelling and nuanced than half of romantic male leads these days?
-Aaaah, such a relief after last episode. I always like when Pokemon makes the Pokemon world itself the antagonist/central character; this isn't quite as intense as the valley of steel episode with Torkoal, but I like the concept of this rural community protecting a Grass Pokemon enclave from human interaction.
-Plus, every time we get to see a stage 2 evolution in the wild is a real treat. Venusaur, king of the forest, almost taking down Team Rocket's robot all by itself is one hell of a sight. And May gets such a great hero moment helping the Pokemon break out! I'm so proud of her!
-God, after last episode, it feels so good for Ash to be this desperate to save May. Don't ever forget you two are friends again, alright?
-Ash is that a fucking Kamen Rider pose sdkfjhsdfk
-"That Venusaur must carry a lot of weight in their community." "Forget about how fat it is." Yeah, saw that coming, lmao.
-Aaaagh that little bit of Ash getting nostalgic over his Bulbasaur was so sweet
-You know, it's kinda funny how few times actually, like, catch the Pokemon on their team these days. Torkoal and Bulbasaur agreed to join them of their own volition, no battling or tense Pokeball throws necessary. It's certainly more compelling from a story front, but it does kinds throw the whole "Gotta catch 'em all" thing into question, doesn't it?
