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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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.
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.
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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
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?
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-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?
In which we wonder just how much it takes... for a man to become a monster.
"It's your memories that make you who you are."
That's a statement we heard back in episode 8 as Subaru tumbled down the stairs to his death the second time. And I didn't comment on it at the time because, well, it's obvious, right? It's as direct a statement of this arc's themes as you can get: without his memories, Subaru is no longer the same. He's returned to zero, and now must find a way to fight his way through this trial with none of the inner strength he's cultivated over three seasons. But in retrospect, there's a pretty important subtext to that statement I didn't recognize: what about new memories? After all, just because Subaru forgot his last year or so doesn't mean he isn't still having new experiences. A blank slate does not remain a blank slate for long; as long as a person is living any sort of life, they will continue to make memories, and those memories will shape who they become. In other words, this arc isn't just asking "How would Old Subaru handle the pressure of being New Subaru?" No, it's asking a far, far darker question: if you started over from zero, but things had gone differently, what kind of person would you become? And how much would it take for this Other You to be so different that you no longer recognize them?
That's not to say pre-amnesia Subaru had an easy time of things himself. We all know the shit he went through to get where he is today. But Current Subaru has been put through an Arc 3-level wringer before he even had a chance to get his feet under him. He didn't make any friends he could trust whole-heartedly like Emilia or Reinhardt. He barely had a chance to this strange new world before the slaughter started. He is, quite frankly, in the least supportive environment imaginable, at a time in his life when he was already stuck deep in the pits of his own despair. And all his attempts to make some kind of sense of this supernatural murder mystery only push him deeper and deeper into self-imposed isolation; hell, after Meili's murder, he can't even trust himself now. The memories this Natsuki Subaru is making are much, much uglier than the other Natsuki Subaru's memories. And if, indeed, our memories are what define us, then the person Current Subaru is becoming is going to look very different than the Subaru we've become so accustomed to.
It's fitting, then, that Meili's character is the catalyst for his worst turn yet. As we discover by reading her Book of the Dead, being abandoned and raised by mabeats as a child essentially left Meili as the ultimate blank slate. Since she never learned to be human, she never had any human desires or experiences until Elsa took her under her murderous wing. And, well, we all know what kind of life she lived. From the second she officially entered the "human" world, Meili's life was defined by pain and blood and hate and sorrow. Her life was defined by death, and that shaped her into a person who could never imagine a world beyond those borders. How could she understand happiness, hope, compassion, and so on if she could barely even comprehend the darkness she spent all her life within? No, Meili is what happens when you fill a human being with nothing but the worst of human experiences, leaving it no choice but to become the sum total of that cruelty. And the first time she considered maybe trying some kind of connection? She was murdered for it.
On the bright side, this at least gives us some clue to what's going on: this isn't Subaru. Not by a long shot. And I'd have to guess that wasn't really Rem last episode either. My best guess is some kind of dark spirit has been possessing people in this tower, erasing their memories as it commits evil deeds. But who that spirit might be is anybody's guess; as familiar as this creepy neck dislocation is, I seriously doubt Betelgeuse somehow found a way back from the grave. Maybe it's somehow the spirit of Flugel awakened in his dormant host? Or possibly someone entirely new? Who knows! I'm sure we'll find out eventually (and to be clear, anyone who even TRIES spoiling me on this will wake up to find their computers eaten). For now, the specifics of the mystery matter less than the emotional crux of what Meili represents: the ultimate worst case scenario for Subaru. Because if this is the kind of person you become with nothing but bad memories... what will all of Current Subaru's bad memories turn him into?
It's far from a clear-cut explanation, of course. The question of nature vs nurture makes it tricky to discern how much of a person is a result of their experiences, and how much is just innate. Even in past episodes, Re:Zero made sure to highlights how Amnesia Subaru still carries so many of his old self's fundamental kindness and compassion. And for all his current paranoia, it's hard for him to truly disengage with his old friends when they keep showing him how much they care. God, Emilia's little speech here got me all sorts of choked up. This girl doesn't have an ounce of shame or manipulation in her body; she just loves Subaru, and she knows now more than ever she needs to express that love when he's so clearly Going Through It(tm) for reasons she desperately wants to understand. But again, that just makes it harder to understand why someone like him could be worth so much to them, especially now that he has pretty good reason to believe he's secretly a murdering psychopath. Even her guileless attempt to reach him just drives him further and further into darkness.
And who should he find in that isolation but Meili herself. The specter of the girl "he" killed now haunting him like a promise that this is the path he's doomed to follow. Flattering all his worst fears, preying on his worst impulses, all but suggesting he join her in the depths of human ugliness. It's also a clever little bit of nastiness for her to call out Emilia's hypocrisy over her death: why pretend to care about her now when she was little more than a tool to them alive? I mean, sure, you can't blame them for being suspicious of the little murder goblin, and Emilia was hoping to start trying to make amends, but it's a weird situation when you don't really start looking out for someone until after they're gone. Perhaps it's a subtle suggestion that Subaru, too, might be treated differently upon his death, that even now these people are lying about how much they value him and will change their tune once he's out of the picture. Do you really think there's love for you here, pretty boy? You've known nothing but suffering and misery for years, how could you possibly believe them when they say they care about you? Just embrace the darkness and stop trying to be better. It'll feel so good to take those expectations off your shoulders.
And you know the worst part of all? We know Meili's got a point about Subaru... because we just saw firsthand how far he can fall. Remember back in episode 3 when he strangled one of his closest friends? All it took was a little witch's miasma, and all of his worst instincts twisted him into a murderer. And that was before the amnesia! That was fully-developed, self-actualized Subaru who'd faced his inner demons and become the hero he'd always wanted to be! And he still had the capacity for evil buried deep inside him! Sure, it practically took magical brainwashing to pull it to the surface, but like I said in my episode 3 write-up, the miasma's darkness was as horrifying as it was because it amplified what was already there. Natsuki Subaru, both now and in the past, both with his memories and without, has the potential to become a monster. And it's only thanks to just how damn much he's grown that this potential has remained nothing but potential for this long.
Except, of course, he hasn't grown. Not anymore. Now he's in the worst state of his life, with nothing but hardships hounding him at every turn, surrounded by people he can't emotionally afford to care about. Now he no longer has the memories that forged him into the Natsuki Subaru we know and love. Now, he's been trained on very different memories. Memories that tell him the best course of action is to become the worst he possibly can. Memories that compile and compound in darkness until what once seemed unthinkable has been repeated so many times as to be commonplace. Natsuki Subaru doesn't know who he is, and he doesn't know who he used to be.
But after everything he's been through? He damn well knows who he can become.
Serious question: why did so many old cartoons feel the need to do some kind of "battle of the sexes" episode? Why did everyone think that was a good idea? Cause it's not like any of them turned out good! They're always playing to the stupidest stereotypes (Ooh, girls wanna look pretty and boys are impatient!) and flattening some really serious issues into some contrived bullshit where Both Sides(tm) need to learn a lesson instead of tackling, you know, anything related to the real issues involving sexism? Not that I expect Pokemon of all fucking things to solve centuries of institutional bias but if you're gonna broach the subject at all, at least fucking try, you know?
And if anything, it feels even more insulting coming from Pokemon, because whatever else you might say about this franchise? It has never needed to grandstand about gender issues like this. Pokemon's been welcoming to boys, girls, and everyone in between ever since its inception! Ash and his female companions have always been treated as equals! There's plenty of gender parity among the gym leaders and elite four! Jessie and James exist! You'd be hard-pressed to call it outright feminist, but it approaches its world and characters with a genuinely egalitarian mindset, no one limited to certain roles or expectations just because of their gender. It's served as good representation by just, like, having good representation for guys and girls alike and not making a big deal out of it. So for it to suddenly pull Ash and May so far out of character for the sake of Making a Statement and turning them into raging sexists spouting off stereotypes at each other? Hell, to put those words in the mouths of Team Fucking Rocket? The marvelously camp crossdressing found family who've been defying gender norms since day one? And then to add insult to injury, they throw in a Rose of Versailles parody with a straight dude Oscar?! Genuinely fuck you! Fuck the backwards-looking retrograde self-satisfied reactionary losers who wrote this episode! I couldn't even enjoy Wobuffet mimicking Brock I was so mad! Fuck this episode! I never want to think about it again!
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-Ah, so this the Gen 1 Nostalgia episode, lol. We get to check in on Professor Oak and see all the old Kanto Pokemon hanging out and helping our heroes kick Team Rocket's butt. I can vibe with that! Though I wish it did a little more to differentiate the Gen 1 and Gen 3 starters. As is, they're pretty interchangeable, which is not what you want in a episode meant to highlight how cool the generation differences are!
-See, from all my time living in Taiwan, I can officially confirm that narrow mountain roads like this are fucking terrifying. Drive responsibly, Birch, I swear to god.
-I don't know if I love or hate Professor Oak in a cowboy hat, but it's definitely one of thee two.
-"You wear your scars like a badge of honor!" "Yes sir!" God dammit, Oak and Max are really cute together.
-Honestly, I'm just impressed Team Rocket had the forethought to install cameras and infrared sensors this time. Maybe use that braincell more often, lads!
-...did they just get drunk. Did I just see Team Rocket getting intoxicated off of drinking alcohol on a 4Kids family-friendly Pokemon episode. First the cheating now this, what is the world coming to.
-Part of my wishes that Gyarados was James' old Gyarados. No clue how that would make sense with the geography (how far off is Hoenn from Kanto anyway?), but wouldn't it be fun?
-"We're poets and don't even know it!" they're so dumb sdkjfhsdjkfhds
