#2024 fall

｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+ME+ﾟ⁠*｡⁠

Ranma ½

らんま½

(Anime)

Genre by Rumiko Takahashi

Era: 2020s

Rating: A

Plot: Somewhere in the 1980s, Soun Tendo awaits the arrival of his old friend Genma Saotome, who's coming with his son Ranma to marry one of his daughters, ensuring the continuation of his Anything Goes dojo. Unknown to him, they had a... mishap (or two) while training in China, and appear at their home as a panda and a pink-haired girl who had been wrecking havoc in Nerima.

Length: 12 episodes (second season confirmed)

Thoughts: In my mind, remakes have to do two things: remember people why they liked something without making them to go into the dangerous waters of nostalgia, or also reminding them of things that didn't age well over time like pacing, some character traits that went out of fashion, going off-model because the episode has to be aired tomorrow and there's still eight minutes left to animate, or those general “yikes, the past” moments. Urusei Yatsura was brilliant in that aspect, where it got many of the high points of the story in a modern, top quality production. I've mentioned before that the original adaptation of Ranma½ felt completely worn out by the final third, and after a strong start it dropped two ranks as too many annoying characters took the stage and all around low quality filler episodes became the norm. 

So, what we get in 2024 is this modern production that looks gorgeous, and while certainly didn't have the room to bog itself down, did what was expected - remembering me of the show when I *started* watching it, not the "this guy again?" (hits 2x on episode so that it only takes 10 minutes to watch it and animation looks better) episodes at the end. True it covers the same part of the story I really enjoyed - the martial arts gymnastics and ice dancing arcs that defined so well what kind of show this is are here, so is everyone's favourite door improviser Shampoo - and the original would be rated pretty similarly, and the challenge is if it keeps up the form on the long run, but so far it's looking good and modern length constraints will probably help. Also great to have so many of the returning voice cast, too. Unfortunately, I feel Kodachi's ojousama laugh needed to be more unhinged. As one of my favourite gremlins on the show (par with Shampoo) you really need to push that girl has as much money as she has issues.

Once again, while it certainly won't have 50 episodes to throw away (ha ha ha), and the problem with the original certainly wasn't on this end of the story - we're still in "you can watch the original" territory - I hope it gets enough to continue to tell the story without falling off a cliff.

Recommended to: Fans of the original and of constant kung-fu treachery, but generally everyone.

Plus:

It looks incredible, from the care with scenarios to the characters design

A lot of the original cast is back

Worth repeating, it reminds you why it was great.

Minus:

Negative Positive Angler

ネガポジアングラー

(Anime)

Fishing / slice of life by NUT

Era: 2020s

Rating: B

Plot: Tsunehiro Sasaki is not having a great time. He's heavily in debt after failed investments, stopped attending college, his doctor found out he has only about two years to live, and unknowing to him, his house is about to be torn down. One day, trying to escape from his creditors, he falls from a bridge, and as he accepts his fate, he's rescued out of the water by Takaaki and his group of fishing enthusiasts.

Length: 12 episodes

Thoughts: So, a show about fishing. Right. We're really starting to get into the “press random article on Wikipedia until a sport or hobby appears” phase of having too many shows. But here's the thing: when the end product is this solid, you could make a show even out of (tries method)... 1930s racing. Well, that's not hard, just hope you like characters dying in the most horrific ways. Anyway, This is a show I've picked out mostly out of curiosity, and it really paid off, arguably the best non remake I've followed during the Fall 2024 season after Acro Trip fizzled out a bit.

Like many of these shows, even if you don't know anything about fishing, it tries to fill you in with the basics with the main character acting as an audience surrogate, every episode has five minutes to go over some technique, equipment or basic knowledge, and you really don't need to know anything about fishing to enjoy this, you're not even forced to learn anything, more often than not those moments are used to connect characters to each other - by the final episodes, quite literally.

This is mostly a show where Sasaki gets to see his life through a different lens - he's really not in a good place at the start, but changes thanks to the kindness of those around him, starting with Takaaki who offers him a place to stay and to pay off his debt so that at least the loan sharks are no longer chasing him, and over time he also realises other people have problems too, there's an whole episode dealing with the Manager's estranged kid and his troubles connecting with him. What's more surprising about this show is how oddly upbeat it is for a show where the main character is dying. True he doesn't say anything, you just kinda forget... until reality comes knocking and things get real *fast* for the conclusion of the story, and indeed, other people have problems as well. Not really expecting a second season, but I don't think it needs one anyway - this is a fun show that tells a good story that ends in a good place in these 12 episodes, and you're probably going to want to rewatch it again in the future.

Character design is just great and the best I've seen this season. From Hana's blobby hair and Ice’s metamorphosis between her gremlin and model looks to Fujishiro in his permanent balding, chibi mode and Takaaki who kinda looks like a male version of Harako from FLCL (although with the opposite effect in the main characters life), everyone is pretty dynamic (there's a scene where Hana ends in gremlin mode and Ice in her model looks just because) and easily distinguishable.

Recommended to: anyone looking for a mostly chill slice of life

Plus:

Great character design

A chill time, very heartwarming

Minus:

Uzumaki

うずまき

(Anime + Manga)

Horror by Junji Ito

Era: 1990a, 2020s

Rating: A (manga), D (anime)

Plot: In the small town of Kurouzo-cho, as Kirie Goshima is heading to the train station to meet his boyfriend Shuishi Saito, she passes by his father who is obsessively looking at a snail. When they meet, he proposes the two leave the town, which he claims is contaminated with spirals.

Length: 4 episodes (~30 minutes), 19 chapters

Thoughts: Well, here's the first (note: this is the fourth published but there's bi-weekly posts scheduled until next February) I feel a need to really separate a rating between the original manga, who's a fantastic piece of both social, psychological and body horror, where the spiral curse starts by first manifesting in small ways, like dirt devils or the way water flows in the canals, but soon start affecting the people, who become obsessed with spirals, drawing them in, until they become spirals themselves, and this is just the beginning of the end stage of the curse as it engulfs the town. It's not an easy read particularly as things get worse and worse and you just know there isn't going to be a happy end, but is certainly engaging. The adaptation that mostly follows the same story, with some changes to accommodate a shorter run time, but it's not something I can recommend.

A big problem is the animation after the first episode. Sure, it often looks the part (other times, it looks clearly rushed and more a fan project from the 2000s), but seeing it move doesn't do *anything* for it. It's just that, it moves, and not exactly in a dynamic way, either. Or even well executed. You could, in fact, argue that the animation is something brown and spiralling, that you might find in the sidewalk.

All in all, no reason to watch the adaptation, for which I'm not blaming the animators, this has a clear feel of "executives screwed the studio over who screwed the people actually working on it after five years in development hell". Particularly ironic, since there's a text by Ito collaborator and former Japanese diplomat Sato Masaru doing a Marxist analysis of the story and likening it to Japanese society (after all, what is the genre of horror but the horrors of daily life in a more palatable and grutesque form), which you can read some notes from here.

Recommended to: horror fans

Plus:

Some incredible body horror in here

Adaptation looks like the manga (complimentary)

Minus:

Adaptation looks like the manga (derogatory)