thoughts on anime and manga @lmfsilva / @longafloat watches. Updates on Mondays with a classic and Thursdays with a more recent one, with images and music often in between, occasionally some videogame adaptations. Weekly posts about ongoing shows on Sundays.
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Romcom by BLADE, SILVER LINK
Based on a manga by Wakame Konbu
Length: 11 episodes
Aired: 2022 (Summer)
Rating: C
Plot: After his parents died in a car accident and had to left the old staff go, young Yuuri tried to live on his own, which was a lot harder than he expected. One day, he's surprised on his doorstep by Lilith, a maid offering her services, which he reluctantly accepts. Yet, he feels something is off with her: she's far too competent to be working for free in a dingy old mansion, sometimes looks like she's muttering curses, and he seems to lose himself in her eyes.
Thoughts: A few months ago I looked at The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated, which I've found to be an extremely amusing show that combined a lot of the things I look for in the cute girls genre to the point I'll probably write about the manga once it wraps up, so it's only appropriate I look at another adaptation of of Wakame Konbu's work, which came out the following year. Unfortunately, while the premise had some potential, there's so little meat in the story it could have easily been a 4 part 30-45 minute OVA.
While the romance angle was a bit weird, the dynamic between both can be funny at times: Lilith teasing him and saying something like "oh, of course I put a love potion on your food" and Yuuri, no filter fully honest replying "I KNEW IT THAT'S WHY I LOVE YOUR EYES AND CAN'T STOP THINKING OF YOUR BEAUTIFUL FACE", cut to Lilith blushing, but I've found that a bit too thin and yet, a bit too reliant on repeating this over and over. While I often complain these sort of shows (or the manga they're based on) often go overboard with the number of characters they feature and then end up not having enough time to do anything with them, I think this was one case where the cast is too small, and with just Yuuri's classmate Tsukasa and her butler Fujisaki (who is aware of who Lilith really is), closer to being recurring than regular characters, the problem of the show feeling just a one-note joke gets a lot harder to ignore because you are seeing the same episode repeating over and over, and when the character dynamics change, it's something like Yuuri crying how he can't live without Lilith anymore and then the next story he's thinking she's suspicious again. Overall It feels there's no progression at all and it's just repeating the same scenario over and over, same reason why I maybe should have written something about a show like Kimagure Orange Road or Miyuki by now but then realise I'd have to watch them again and I'd probably just prefer to write about their soundtracks (yes yes I'd still say after hearing that song), really not a fan of the style of romcom that resets everything at the end of the chapter/episode, and also why I regard Maison Ikkoku so highly: sure, there's a lot of padding based on misunderstandings because Takahashi gonna Takahashi, but it isn't just a love story, it's about growing to be worthy of someone's love on one side, and about overcoming grief and allowing yourself to be loved again on the other. On something like Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, which you could argue started from something even thinner, a fetish webcomic by a erodoujin author, you can see the dynamics between the characters gradually change. At least in this adaptation, by the end it doesn't feel it changes that much from the first three episodes. Maybe the biggest problem was that the payoff for the story just wasn't there, the big mystery that made Lilith look so suspicious and cagey about her past really doesn't feel that much of a big deal. Something that would be more interesting would be getting into if Yuuri loves Lilith romantically, as an older sister or as a friend, which comes too late to the story, I'm sure not for the manga, although if it explores this is a different matter, I just read the last chapter after watching the last episode.
Visually it's one of those shows that tries to do something a bit different: colours have the textures of very vibrant watercolours, which works in some places, in other it gives "flash game developer running photos in Akvis for backgrounds", and characters have a pencil-like outline. This is something other shows also did and even I experimented with when I did the Gunbuster Science Lessons in HD, but I ended up also adding a denser, thinner line for the same reason it irks me a bit here: sometimes it has a big gap and it annoys me because the rest of the colours are quite strong. While I'm not fully on board with how this looks, it's not something that gets way too distracting and I'm always in for studios to experiment in shows that could look pretty generic otherwise.
At the end, this is a show that I wanted to like more, but the premise was far more basic than I expected and stretched pretty thin, when there were other themes the story could have explored. These sort of shows are almost always an automatic B-grade around here, but this is closer to a D. Quite disappointed after the ride that was The Great Jahy.
Plus:
The initial dynamics are fun (Yuuri having no filter, Tsukasa being a romantic, etc)...
Minus:
... but it doesn't have anything else beyond that, making it feel stale.
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Plot: Film production company Ginei has decided to demolish their outdated studios, and to celebrate the occasion, documentarian Genya Tachibana does an interview with Chiyoko Fujiwara, once the brightest star of the company but retired and living in seclusion for the last 30 years. A big fan of hers, he brings her a key, which becomes the starting point of the retelling of her memories.
Thoughts: And finally, it's time to close this joint's dive into Satoshi Kon's work, regrettably as It's one that should have taken a lot longer, but happy to have completed it. It's the one I'm rewatching remembering less of the plot, so it's probably much closer to a first watch than any of the others, although I did remember bits of it here and there.
Chiyoko's story is one of a shy girl from a moderately well-off family during the era of increased military adventurism across East Asia of the early Hirohito reign. After her mother turned down an invitation for her to become an actress, she comes across a man on the run holding a painting, send his chasers the other way and shelters him. The main visual device is putting Genya and his cameraman Kyoji in the middle of her retelling of her story, making them like crew on a film, and during these moments it's never clear how much is Chiyoko's retelling parts of her life or her roles, as they move quickly from one movie to another, or if there's even any meaningful difference: how much did Chiyoko put of herself in her roles? Was her rise to stardom influenced by her ability to channel the sense of loss and holding on to hope she shared with a country recovering from political struggles and then obliteration, where I'm sure it could be years to discover if someone you knew was alive or dead, if ever? Up to a point, it's really not important to know if she really did chase him on a train platform or it was just a scene from a movie, the feeling was there all the same, and the only reason she accepted to do movies was so that she could blindly follow him to Manchuria, and becoming a star was maybe just in service of making herself as visible as possible so he could see her face and find her. Genya isn't a reliable indicator either, as he's both well versed enough to remember the lines as Chiyoko re-enacts moments of her acting career, but is also aware of her personal life, and as we learn even later, was even closer to her than he let on, having working as a directors' assistant in productions where she took part. Still, like Perfect Blue, all this blending of what may be fiction and reality is never confusing, which is something that many directors who try these sorts of stories often look track of, and as I've mentioned, end up doing the “it hurts itself in it’s confusion” thing where the viewer is left more confused than the characters. Of course she was never a princess in feudal Japan, but I feel the temptation for many would be to repeat the train platform sequence over and over again, because "yesssss let's show how deep this is by making it extra confusing". The movie doesn't try to be either, ultimately it's a story of finding purpose in life.
As the years went by, she still held to the key he gave her as a reminder on the promise she made to guess what was the key is for, to the point Junichi, one of the directors in the studio and who wanted to marry Chiyoko, conspires with Eiko to make the key disappear, knowing the reason Chiyoko abandoned her first production to chase the painter into Northern Manchuria after being tipped by a fortune-teller was nothing more than a plan to get rid of her, knowing the potential she had to overtake her as the brightest star in the studio. She later discovers the key hidden away by him, at the point she gets one final tip, a letter from the painter from the hands of the policeman who chased the painter, now a decrepit old man atoning for his wrongs. She gives chase to Hokkaido once again, but it was fruitless, as the man confides to young Genya he tortured him to death. Chiyoko returns to acting and during an earthquake she is saved by Genya, but on the reflection of the helmet she sees the old lady who has been haunting her, maybe no more than her subconscious realising she's not the same teen girl who helped a dissident escape from the police and who he painted on the walls of her now destroyed home, she loses the key one final time, kept by Genya, and retires. Back to the modern world, the earthquakes take a toll on her fragile health and she collapses, still having time to tell Genya on her death bed her final realisation: even if she was not reunited with the painter, she loved to chase him.
Visually, it's graded on a midpoint between the ramped up OVA of Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers; the character design is an unmistakably a Satoshi Kon work, and while they might lack some technical detail, they are extremely expressive and given the nature of his works, it's not a bad trade-off. I do wish I was more knowledgeable of Japanese cinema, because sure, I think everyone picks up the reference to Toshiro Mifune sequence in Throne of Blood as Kyoji is bombarded by arrows and the Godzilla-type film, but I'm sure there's a few more clues here and there (I just know I've see that shot where Chiyoko's character is pointing a short sword at her own throat, although it might just be one of those visual clichés with hundreds of years of history). In terms of music, this was the first step of his partnership with Susumu Hirasawa, being a fan of him and at this point with a couple of credits under his belt, with the Detonator Orgun OVA I've looked at last week and Berserk. As mentioned before, it's a match made in heaven, and he's the perfect person to put to music the otherworldly visuals and oneiric plots Kon committed himself to.
At the end of this trip, there's a part of me who thinks all the big guys who want to make shows and movies for recap obsessed people that are MINDFUCKS full of PLOT TWISTS purely to make bland stories look more interesting by turning them into conversation fodder should all be rounded up and thrown into an active volcano in an attempt to bring Satoshi Kon and David Lynch back from the dead.
Plus:
Another extremely touching story by Satoshi Kon
Minus:
Visually it could be better here and there on a technical level
Well, a couple of shows are about to end, but I've decided it's best to wait two weeks so they can go together on the season ending block.
(last week)
What was on?
Witch Hat Atelier
(ep 10) Turns out Coco is fine, just overworked herself, and while Qifrey is looking out for her, his water skills are needed as a fire broke out in the city. He reluctantly leaves her as they go to the scene, assured by Coco's words she was doing better. Which was a lie, as Tartah comes back desperately trying to find his witch hat that serves as a ticket to the ferry back home, she's burning up, and with nobody else around, he tries to help her, but the medicine tray is not labelled and seeing everything in silver tones means he can't tell anything apart, and if he has the right idea of using the vapor bubble to reduce each the infusions on each flask to just what is on them, but if it's just dust he's stomped, so Coco draws a reverse version of the spell to turn rocks into dust that allows the dust to briefly regain the original form, but in her condition she can't do much. With that knowledge, he draws his first spell and tries to find it, the moment he's caught by the only person still working on the hospital who prepares and gives the medicine to Coco. Oh, that question about the light flash he wanted to ask Qifrey? What flash, he asks. Truly a man who knows how to lie. The decision to not label medicine in this world seems a bit weird as a narrative device, but I feel that (and how the witches are completely non-accommodating to people with his condition) kinda has to be understood with the knowledge Japan is still notoriously bad when it comes to dealing with disabilities, and this might be a comment from the author in that. Three episodes to go, meaning it's time for a end of season arc. A
The Ramparts of Ice
(ep 10) It's spring break and Miki got the other three to go on a theme park visit, where they have fun and we learn a lot about the characters, how Miki and Minato are scared on haunted houses and Koyuki and Minato aren't great with thrill rides, and Minato is great at carnival games and won Koyuki a late birthday present. Back at school it's a new semester and everyone is on the same class, including Tsukiko, who's welcomed into the group instantly, and Minato gets instantly jealous of seeing Miki's younger brother, Tsuikiko notices there's something going on between Minato and Koyuki and faces the tough decision of being a third wheel or a letting them alone, and curiosity end up getting the best of her. Because you can't do Ramparts of Ice without a cliffhanger, Koyuki also notices someone has moved in to the same school... the younger sister of the girl who bullied her. A very fun episode where they continue to explore the existing dynamics between inside the group, and now Minato is getting as a big mess around Koyuki as Youta is around Miki. I don't think this is getting sorted in two episodes, but I do hope it also gets a second season down the line, or just runs through the Summer as well. A lot chibis this week (because everyone is having fun), and the animators decided to put some extra work in animating the scene Youta takes Koyuki to see the mascot. Didn't have to do that, it's fine they look like IM stickers, but glad they did. A
Ascendance of a Bookworm
(ep 9) Wilfried is still jealous of Rosemyne thinking she has it too easy, so she offers to trade places with him for a day knowing most of it is boring clerical (HAH!) work and being lightly bullied by Ferdinand into doing it right. He gets his ass beat playing cards by the orphans, is baffled by a book and can't learn the prayers because he's set on the life of a failson, and while Sylvester surely doesn't see anything wrong with his son, Ferdinand is like "throw his ass out, I don't care, he's an embarrassment". While for Rosemyne this is mostly just a way to get him off her back (and just go read for a full day), Ferdinand makes it veeeeeery clear if Wilfried continues on the path he might become the next archduke, but he's becoming his problem. Fun fun episode, with a dose of scary Ferdinand. B
Mao
(ep 10) Nanoka: "I'M SCARED DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE" (two minutes later) "I AM THE VANQUISHER OF FROGS". Yes, truly a frail girl. Meanwhile, Mao and Hyaka come up with a plan to trap whoever is out for him (and only him), the big revelation being that indeed, the person responsible was another acquaintance of Mao, a helper who was obsessed with learning spells and was responsible for creating the Byouki. As the giant talking cat's head said, both of them were framed, and by whom is the main mystery of the show. Solid episode, and although the CGI was a bit evident in parts, excellent visuals in the water monster, with the details of having fish swimming inside it being quite a nice touch. B
The Food Diary of Miss Maid
(ep 11) Nana sees Suzume talking on the street with someone she doesn't recognize and doesn't know an appropriate way to approach her, until they notice her and Nana recognizes Anzu as their neighbour, and all three go to Suzume's place to try the stollen she bought, as it's getting closer to Christmas. Second story, she walks in on her grandfather writing in advance his New Year's cards, and after telling him she passed by "christmas tree with an orange star", he tells her that was a persimmon tree, and someone happens to have given him a bunch. Then winter solstice night, and she's taking a yuzu bath, but the fragance is too much for her and she ends up getting a yuzu flavoured ice cream, then it's Christmas Eve proper, but with Ricotta out to spend it with her family, her parents and neighbours are busy and she's visiting her grandparents next day and has no plans, but Ricotta decided to stay to keep her company, waiting for her in an absolutely incredible kimono - maid apron - thick jacket combo and some Christmas cake, a staple of Christmas themed episodes, the best Christmas gift Suzume ever got. It's ending next week, and it has been such a fun way to end writing these posts, not the last time I'll talk of it as Suzume and Ricotta are for sure making an appearance in the best girls and gremlins of this year, and this episode probably sorted out the "Merry Christmas" post of this year. B This week's delicacies: Stollen, Persimmon, Yuzu and Christmas cake.
Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku!?
(ep 9) We all seen on the first episode how Seo met Ijichi and Amane, but how did the gals become friends? Of course Amane looked at Ijichi and noticed right away how much she looks like Micchi from Glittermon, making her extremely awkward around Ijichi and making her think she dislikes her, and knwoing her Sayu clocked Amane's lies on how she has a lot of friends right away because she knows the truth that she might be pretty, but still an otaku. Ijichi then messes up by inviting her to hang out at the arcade, and then half the class including boys, making Amane really mad at her initially, and then reassessing the situation feeling really bad about it, particularly after learning Ijichi had a complete plan to make her feel welcome. They made up, and next, we get the eraser scene from Amane's otaku point of view. This is a reminder there has to be a cosplay episode down the line, but also that Ijichi and Amane are very different people, and them coming together was not just some "the two popular gals just decided to team up" moment but Ijichi actually putting in the work so that Amane would have at least her as a friend. A
Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk
(ep 9) Happy Pride month, and for that, this show has gone gay gay. No teasing here, but first things first, Gujou finally gets her wish of drinking with Ibuki, joined by the resident gremlin Chang. Who likes watching expensive cars crashing at Nurbugring. Well, you can too, go wild. She's the best, you can bet she also sometimes stays up until 4pm watching the most random shit on youtube. Ibuki is still a bit anxious about drinking with other people, but just did that thing you imagine everyone naked. Well, it's usually the people in the room, not Botan, but whatever works, Ibuki. It doesn't quite work for Gujou, who realises her love is going to be unrequited. Second story, Ibuki and Botan go on another stargazing trip, this time real ones, but something is bothering Botan: should she confess? Or should she just stay quiet and enjoy their time together? As this happens, Gujou and Chang are also on a trip of their own, but Chang's mouth really is faster than her brain, a feat for someone struggling with the language. Gujou knows she's defeated because Botan managed to reach out to Ibuki and make her feel comfortable with her, and with herself. And now both also know it. Another show with some excellent direction, but that's almost a given at this point. It's one of those shows I often complain that is on a different level in terms of direction, but because it's a quite slow show with some artwork that occasionally is more stylised than concerned with showing all the extra frames they added in the animations it's probably going to be completely ignored by flashier, more popular action shows. I was expecting this would happen a lot closer to the end, if not the actual finale, so let's see where the last three episodes go. S
Fist of the North Star
(ep 11) Kenshiro returns, and discovers from Rin and Bat they found out a village that will take the kids in exchange for him to deal with some troublemakers. Not just a village, but one that seems closer to sustainability thanks to a spring fountain. There, Kenshiro meets Rei, master of Nanto Suichouken, who has a score to settle with the man of the seven scars on his chest, and Mamiya, the village leader, who looks like Yuria and more than capable of holding her own in a fight with the deadliest weapon someone could imagine in the 1980s: yo-yo's. Ok, hers have blades, but if you ever hit your head (or someone's head) with one, you know how the good ones can really ruin your day. The village is under threat, and Rei had actually partnered up with the bandits, but after seeing Kenshiro doing an impromptu looksmaxxing clinic on a guy realises who has the upperhand here and joins him in protecting the village. The bandits do have one more ace in the sleeve in the form of Mamiya's younger brother, but as usual, only makes Kenshiro angrier and more willing to explode their skeleton off. Kinda curious to know if this is ending next week or the week after (although, strange to have people in the OP that only stay for a couple of episodes, and I don't think there's time in one episode to solve the beef Rei has with Kenshiro and also this area's boss), but weirdly for a show that is probably getting a high D, would I welcome a second season or taking this into the Summer? Oddly, yes. This episode felt like it had better animation overall even in the slower moments and as I've mentioned before, the moment you realise you don't have to take it seriously you can just have fun with it. C
Pardon the Intrusion, I’m Home!
(ep 9) So, the show has now shifted attention into what's exactly Akito up to. Usada thinks he's a horror writer, which isn't great for Akito's relatioship with Meiko who's very squeamish, then he brings up Meiko's favourite non-manga author as he gets pissed at Usada, making him think he really is the author, and gets Usada's mid racing about exposing him, but none of them end up playing well for him... and Akito isn't him, anyway. Well, at least they just flirted with the idea Akito was the author instead of running with it which would have been predictable as fuck (do hope this isn't some fakeout), but it remains kinda weird why he's so defensive about his pen name. C
Ichijouma Mankitsu Gurashi!
(ep 9) Ah, the thing I always dislike with these shows, the last minute character introduction with two or three episodes to go. As I always say, this is an adaptation, unless there's some plot order to be followed, you can have them on the first episode if you want. She's a streaming rival of Marika, and her popularity is harming the pantless gremlins' numbers, but first things first, it's storage room clean up time, and between a box with Mariko's dark past, Rie forgot she bought a purikura booth for Hedgehog because she of course did. Then someone kidnaps Mariko, and the girls combine their powers, including Michika who can somehow catch her scent, and they track her to her streaming rival who lives in a palace in, the Middle East (or a very elaborate theme park), who kidnapped her because she looks a lot like Sailor Kirakira Moon, a character from a manga, but has since became a complete slob from working in Hedgehog and so she wants her to stop working there and stay with her. But cute Mariko is a flop, straight to the top of unsubs because people want to see the panty-flashing slob, so she lets her go back, but sends her maid to keep an eye on her. It may do the thing I don't like, but that doesn't mean I don't like the result, a very fast paced episode that keeps adding to the previous joke. B
Dropkick on my Devil!
(ch 294) Jashin-chan is stuck in her Perfect Form, which brings several problems: first, she must dress up, one thing is a snakewoman with lady godiva hair other is on an actual woman, and then, how much of the whole thing is she trying to dropkick Yurine with her snake tail? Is Perfect Form Jashin-chan still Jashin-chan? Can you keep doing Dropkick on my Devil! if she's just a regular gremlin? If the videoclip that got me to watch the show featured just a blonde gremlin jumping from behind a wall to steal and overpay for a leek, would I still be on the "hell yeah I must watch this" camp? Much to think about.
Monochrome Days
(ch 41) Barazono continues her quest to give Ai Kinjika, her first writing partner, something to look for and drag her out of the darkness, by giving Fudou and Wakaba a tough assignment where she leads the characters into the pits of hell and they must bring them back, and one of the days Wakaba works towards that is reminding Fudou of his motto: instead of just drawing what feels right for the story, he should draw what he loves. Another great chapter with plenty of Wakaba faces. Still, it's a shame we're rushing out the story and getting just monthly updates.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
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