So I did in up ranking all of Kawagoe’s things I’ve seen but debating to post cause it’s a lot to copy n paste and it’s not worded the best as I had to talk about many things + was running on low sleep (not my wisest choice) I will probably revise it later but I think as one actual final thought about Kawagoe also in comparison to Imagawa because not it’s REALLY been on my mind, I think I’ve pinpointed another reason why makes them appealing or unappealing to some people.
I gave my own two cents on this in a post and just too lazy to dig it up, but while my tldr take away was “Imagawa is overly ambitious while Kawagoe plays it fairly safe” which is reflected in every aspect of how they adapt and make their stories, another factor I realized is as much as I (hate) to say it, is Kawagoe kinda priorities fun stuff sometimes over meaningful story. I don’t want to say all his works are shallow, trust me I am not switching up on new getter, that is still good along with undoubtedly the cyborg soldier, but it is just so noteworthy to me three times this man was okay with making a anime shorter than 13 episodes because it’s proven to me 3-4 ep anime cannot work as a story, it seems at time he doesn’t actually care how GOOD the story is if he just gets to do something that’s crazy and pure fun, which isn’t a bad thing, but is kinda disappointing when you know he’s actually capable of telling a good story when you look at his stuff that did prioritize the story.
Compare that to Imagawa, who clearly DOES want to tell stories, just his ambition and execution holds him back tremendously, yet he was still capable of making one really great story being G Gundam, even if it has its flaws. I said before in a prior post I wish I liked Giant Robo OVA more and the more I sit with it I especially feel bad as Imagawa was doing great stuff with his themes, it just really ran into issues of the story not making sense at times and too many characters did not get used properly, and I feel even though I still ENJOYED his getter Arma episodes now understanding this, it doesn’t change how flawed that beginning still is and how I know if he did finish it as intended, it likely would leave the same impression as Giant Robo did for me, so I’m still GLAD kawagoe took over for many reasons even if I am now understanding more why people would’ve wanted Imagawa to finish.
My overall take away from both is: both directors have their good and bad, it is really up to personal preference who you prefer, maybe you either will like or dislike both, but I feel the constant comparisons I’ve seen of these two is understandable but not entirely fair. They both do things wrong and right for different reasons, but at least they are unique in what they do, so I really just wanna be neutral to both- even if Kawagoe is the one I bothered to watch (all) his stuff and has one of his animes as my favorite anyways lol. But this is the last time I talk about them probably.
