DanielSonic Talks About Stuff

Spring 2023 Sakuga Highlights – April Update

May 14th, 2023

(Meant to post this 2 weeks ago, sorry)

This is the start of a post series that highlights the great animation I’ve seen. These are monthly posts, but they cover the Spring season as a whole. If there’s something that came out in April that I didn’t cover in this post, I’ll probably talk about it next month.

(All links for my favorite cuts come from Sakugabooru)

Top 3 Episodes

The Top 3 slots were taken up by the same show. Whoops.

Tengoku Daimakyou #1

Episode 1 of Tengoku Daimakyou isn’t particularly exciting, but it does its job of setting up the world. Watching Maru and Kiruko explore their environments is engaging because of how natural the character acting looks, adding life to this otherwise melancholic world. There’s only really one action scene and it’s fantastic; Ryo Araki provides some fluid choreography that makes this 40-second fight far more memorable. Overall, this episode sets a vibe just for us to get vibe-checked by the cliffhanger.

Favorite Cuts:

That one fight scene

Kiruko acting smug (Thumbnail)

The Cliffhanger

Tengoku Daimakyou #2

Episode 2 follow-ups the previous episode’s cliffhanger, with one of the best action setpieces in the show so far. The low visibility of the dark environment adds tension as the maneater stalks our protagonists, with just enough light to make the action readable. The episode returns to its melancholic vibes after the battle, offering more great bits of character acting, including one from key animator Weilin Zhang (someone I will gush about in length later in this post). Not much else to talk about outside of the maneater encounter, but it’s a beautiful episode nonetheless.

Favorite Cuts:

You know it’s gonna go down when the aspect ratio changes

Tactical Retreat (Thumbnail)

Weilin Zhang animating funny faces

Tengoku Daimakyou #3

(Massive Spoilers Ahead)

Episode 3 is traumatizing, and the fantastic animation makes it more horrific. I can’t talk about this episode without dropping massive spoilers, so just move along if you haven’t watched it yet.

Spoilers

At the end of Episode 2, Kiruko mentions that “my body is a woman’s, but in here, my mind is a man’s”. I think most people saw this and thought it was the start of a trans narrative, but I predicted more of a body swap situation, judging from Kiruko’s make-out session with their reflection in Episode 1. After watching this flashback episode, it turns out I was right, but not even close to the way I expected.

The draftsmanship in the drawings is so good at selling the horror of Haruki’s fate. The way the tendrils of the maneater latch onto Haruki’s arm is drawn in incredible detail, making his struggles to get loose look more believable as you can physically see the hold this monster has on him. I also love the depiction of the brain transplant; everything is bathed in a menacing red hue as Haruki is tied to the ground, forced to watch his sister walk towards the giant face of the maneater. The following freakout is so well-animated and voice-acted, perfectly translating his sorrow of being trapped in his sister’s body with his real sister nowhere to be found.

Basically, this entire episode uses its expressive animation to its fullest when depicting Kiruko’s harrowing past. Every frame elevates the story to heights I don’t think it could have reached without the talents of these animators.

Favorite Cuts (Spoiler Warning):

You should have just ran

Actually Hell

The Freakout: Part 1 / Part 2

Thumbnail

Best OPs

Best OP: Tengoku Daimakyou

The best OP of the season, and a contender for the best OP of 2023.

The OP was directed by Weilin Zhang, an animator I’ve been keeping a close eye on for about five years now. He blew minds with his key animation work on Boruto and Mob Psycho 100, and he was only 17 at the time. Every appearance he makes in the anime industry becomes an event for sakuga nerds like me; we get to watch a young talent grow and evolve his craft in real time, so it’s no wonder that his directorial debut was astounding.

There’s beautiful imagery peppered throughout this opening, whether it’s Maru’s hand turning into a flower, circuitry morphing into tree branches, or Kiruko’s colors moving out of sync with their linework. These visual metaphors are allusions to future events, but they’re just vague enough to leave it up to the viewer to decipher what they mean (I already have an idea of what Kiruko’s cut is meant to represent).

The only criticisms I have are towards the use of the song. It’s not bad by any means, but outside of those sick guitar riffs, it just sounds a bit too poppy for the atmosphere this show’s trying to convey.

Favorite Cuts: God Turn [My Hand] Into a Flower / Unsilent Running

Next-Best OP: Magical Destroyers

I first saw this OP with the caption “How is this real?”. I watched partway through, and it didn’t seem too crazy at first. There were some cool moments, like the color scheme and the cut of Anarchy eating the apple. I just didn’t understand why the reaction was “How is this real?”. Was it the quality of the imagery? Was it the song? I mean, the song sounds pretty good, but the guitars in the chorus sound a bit compressed…

Then, everything got compressed. The guitar solo started skipping like a record player, and the instrumental turned into static, with the repeating refrain “I wanna wake up from recurring dreams”. Everything onscreen turned into a grungy, glitched-out mess, and I felt like I was sent to the darkest corners of the internet and nerd culture. I don’t really care for this part of the song from a music standpoint, but it fits the insanity on-screen so well that it really doesn’t matter.

This OP is the dictionary definition of a hard left turn, baiting viewers with its pretty aesthetics for most of its runtime, then blinding you with unabashed ugliness in the last 30 seconds. It’s too bad Magical Destroyers isn’t as nuanced as its OP, but I can’t say that any other OP this season looks anything like this.

Favorite Cuts: Apple / Presumed Weilin Zhang cut

Best EDs

Best ED: Tengoku Daimakyou

#TengokuDaimakyouSweep

As disturbing as this show gets, Tengoku Daimakyou still has its moments of levity, whether it’s through comedy or by the cast just living their lives in the broken world they live in. While the OP shows off the cinematic nature of the show, the ED shows off the fun moments that tend to get overlooked.

Musically, this is my favorite ED of the season. I like the semi-acoustic instrumental, and the vocals are very cute. The visuals show off some nice slice-of-life moments with the cast, crescendoing into a beautiful segment that looks like it was drawn with colored pencils. It’s such a great closer to the episode, even when it plays right after a shocking revelation.

Favorite Cut: WHALE

Next-Best ED: Oshi no Ko

I have a weird relationship with this ED.

Whenever I see it used in the show, I think it’s just okay. When I watch it on YouTube, I think it’s one of the best EDs this season. I think it’s because the YouTube version has extra animation for the first 30 seconds, letting the strings in the intro stand out more. In the show, the intro plays in the background as it leads up to the ED, and that lack of transition kills the intro for me.

The visuals are beautiful, with fantastic compositing and a neat puppet motif, the shot at 1:09 being especially beautiful. Shoutout to Naoya Nakayama who worked as the solo key animator.

My issues lie more with the music; while well-produced, the song comes off as a bit overdramatic to me, which I guess is fitting for Oshi no Ko. The vocal processing of “I’ve never seen such a liar” on the pre-chorus just sounds really corny, and the song itself doesn’t sound too unique when you take the strings out of the equation. I’ve grown to like the falsetto switch-ups on the chorus though; I initially thought they were annoying, but they harmonize really well with the strings.

Still, this is visually the second-best ED to come out this season.

Favorite Cuts: 2nd Best Girl / Cinema

Shorts

JRA

This is a commercial for the JRA (Japan Racing Association). It was solo key animated by Hitomi Kariya, who also Solo KA’d Chainsaw Man’s second ED. It’s very pretty and I appreciate the artistry, but it’s hard for me to take it seriously, being a horse-racing ad (Uma Musume is valid though).

Genshin Impact: Pact Sworn Pantheon

This is a cool fan animation with great fight choreography and storyboarding. I don’t have much interest in playing Genshin Impact myself, but it’s cool to see how artistically talented the fanbase is.

Favorite Cut: Bro think he Captain Levi

Idol

This is the music video for YOASOBI’s “Idol”, the opening theme for Oshi no Ko. It’s colorful, cute, and well-edited, matching the tone switches for each verse. The vocal performances for those verses might not be my thing, but everything in the song and its music video is well-put together.

Favorite Cut: Idoru

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Spring 2023 Seasonal Anime Ranking – April Update

May 2nd, 2023

#1. Tengoku Daimakyou

Tengoku Daimakyou, or Heavenly Delusion, blew up almost overnight. I remember seeing an animated PV for the manga around 3 years ago, but I haven’t heard or read anything about it since. The anime adaptation was a surprise, so I decided to check it out.

This is the best series airing this season. The love the way this post-apocalyptic world unfolds to the viewer, with every question answered followed by even more questions. Rewatching episodes felt so rewarding, getting to notice the subtle foreshadowing that went over my head on first viewing. I don’t want to spoil anything so I suggest watching the series for yourself.

Tengoku Daimakyou is visually stunning as well. I’m not too familiar with the staff working on it (besides being produced by Production I.G.), but they absolutely snapped on the art direction. I recommend anyone reading this to watch the first three episodes at least; I don’t want great art to go unseen.

9/10

#2. Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc

Demon Slayer is one of those shows that I love to call overrated despite giving every season at least an 8/10. Demon Slayer isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but the action setpieces and emotional core make up for a lot of its shortcomings. The Swordsmith Village arc feels like much of the same, even if it had a rocky start.

The first episode is 49 minutes long, the first 20 minutes taking place in the Infinity Castle, where the Upper Five are called by Muzan. The whole sequence was cool at first, with sweeping camerawork and pretty CGI. Then the effects progressively go overboard, looking like a meme edit at points. They tried to do the thing where you can feel a certain character’s presence, and they way they conveyed that is by spinning the camera around really fast and adding the Vine Boom sound effect. The rest of the episode isn’t as crazy with the visuals, but the slower pacing didn’t help, which could also be said about Episode 2.

Luckily, once the action started in Episode 3, everything started to click, and I was reminded why I watch Demon Slayer in the first place. Everything so far is just really badass, from the strategy of the fights, to how those fights are visually represented. The 3D elements are used more subtly than in Episode 1, and the 3D models themselves are fantastic. I’ve been mostly impressed by the 2D lightning animation in episodes 3 and 4. I don’t want to rank a show this high based on two good episodes, but if I know anything about previous Demon Slayer seasons, it will only get better from here.

8/10

#3. Hell’s Paradise

I’ve heard great things about the original manga, but I’ve been skeptical about its anime adaptation. The biggest red flag was that it was produced by MAPPA, one of many anime studios that don’t give their workers proper compensation. Despite their controversial business methods, the quality of their work tends to be above-average, but the promotional material for Hell’s Paradise looked bland compared to their usual standards.

The final product is pretty much the same. There are some positives about the adaptation; the direction is decent, the monster designs are disturbing, and the color palette of Paradise is beautiful. Still, I never stopped thinking “this probably would have looked better in the manga”. It’s passable, but it could be much better.

The storytelling of Hell’s Paradise is what engages me the most. The biggest selling point people make with this series is that it was written by one of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s assistants, but I think that downplays Yuuji Kaku abilities as an individual artist. While Fujimoto dabbled in lovecraftian horror in later arcs of Chainsaw Man, Kaku centers most of the plot around the unfathomable. Fujimoto’s goofy eccentricities help add levity to darker moments, but Kaku just lets the horror sink in. My only gripe with the storytelling is that the character writing isn’t as strong as I would have liked, but the show is solid overall.

8/10

#4. Oshi no Ko

I enjoy this show a lot more when I don’t think too hard about it. This shares the same author as Kaguya-sama, which explains why there’s never a moment of silence between the dialogue, inner monologues, and narration. It’s cool to see how differently these characters interact with the entertainment industry, though I personally believe that the “corrupt entertainment industry” message isn’t as deep as people claim it to be. This still has the same great character writing I expect from Aka Akasaka, but he just seems more up his own ass than usual with Oshi no Ko.

The show looks pretty though. Doga Kobo went above and beyond with the adaptation, with some scenes looking better than their manga counterparts. It’s clear that the people making the show actually care about the source material, so while I still have my problems with it, Oshi no Ko remains one of the more entertaining shows this season.

Aquamarine definitely gives off “Top 10 Manipulators in Anime” vibes though. Not a good sign.

8/10

#5. Soaring Sky! PreCure

The Spring season brought with it a big moment for the PreCure franchise; Cure Wing, the first male PreCure, was introduced. I was skeptical about how the landmark character would be handled, but Tsubasa ended up becoming my favorite in the series so far. It’s hard not to love him with his timid yet determined demeanor, but the fact that he turns into an adorable bird just sells it for me. Like, he studies aerodynamics to make up for being flightless bird. How can you not love that?

Outside of Tsubasa’s introduction though, I’m starting to get feel a bit of burnout for this series. I’m still enjoying it, but outside of some sweet side stories, the quality of Soaring Sky has remained roughly the same since it started. Luckily, it seems like we’ll finally get to explore more of Sky Land in future episodes, so maybe the change of locales will get me excited for this show again.

7.5/10

#6. Ranking of Kings: Treasure Chest of Courage

Treasure Chest of Courage is a collection of short stories instead of a direct sequel to Ranking of Kings. The stories are neat, but this doesn’t offer much unless you were a massive fan of the original series. I’ll keep it in my schedule because of how great the animation is, but it’s not a must-watch.

Unless you want to see Kage turn into a cactus, then it’s definitely a must-watch.

7/10

#7. Skip and Loafer

The show’s cute with a comfy atmosphere. I like how Iwakura’s design is adorable while keeping within the bounds of “the plain girl”. I liked the eccentricity of the characters during the first two episodes, but the show hasn’t kept my interest since. I don’t mind taking the time out of my Tuesday to watch it, but it’s not so cute that I wouldn’t drop it for something else.

6.5/10

#8. Mashle

Mashle? More like Middle. ‘Cuz it’s mid. *laugh track*

I’ve heard good things about the manga, but so far the anime hasn’t hit me as “the next big shonen comedy series”. From the reactions I’ve seen, most people like this show for the absurdity of the premise, as well as being an amalgamation of different intellectual properties. I’ve heard the phrase “he’s like Mob Psycho mixed with Harry Potter, but he’s actually One-Punch Man and he goes to Hogwarts” more than you would expect.

As a comedy, it’s not really that funny. The gimmick of the show is that Mash Burnedead is a normal kid living in a world of magic, but he gets by with pure strength alone. Most of the jokes revolve around Mash’s absurd strength completing tasks normally done with magic, which got predictable quickly. I chuckled here and there, but there were only two jokes that really made me laugh out loud.

There are some nice character building moments with the supporting cast, and the world of Mashle itself does seem interesting, but outside of the surprising amount of hip-hop in the soundtrack, this show doesn’t stand out to me.

6/10

Shows I’m Catching Up With

Magical Destroyers

(Priority)

I finished watching Episode 1 right before writing this sentence. I think it’s too soon to put it in the ranking, but I need to talk about Episode 1 at least. For context, here’s the synopsis provided by Crunchyroll:

Freedom of expression is threatened when a mysterious group, the SSC, destroy Japan’s otaku culture. However, a young revolutionary, Otaku Hero—who loves the culture more than anything—rises up. With the help of three rambunctious magical girls—Anarchy, Blue, and Pink—they’ll team up to create a world free of this oppressive rule. Be part of the rebellion to bring back fandom!

I’m sure a lot of people read that synopsis and thought, “Woah, that sounds totally epic! Weebs rise up!” or something. I read that and immediately feared for the worst. Whenever a show is targeted directly at nerds, it usually appeals only to nerds and alienates everyone else, a la Big Bang Theory. Still, the animation looked really good, so I decided to check it out.

Magical Destroyers is self-aware, but only to an extent. It’s really hard to tell whether a joke was meant to parody otaku culture, or if it was just cringe. Toy bomber planes dropping exploding cans of Oden soup? That’s kinda funny. Two characters almost kissing with the girl saying “You almost made me pregnant” afterward? That’s just cringe.

Also, scenes just happen for the sake of happening. One big example was a scene where a wrestler fights a purple magical girl. I still don’t know who either of them are. I know the purple magical girl is evil because she’s in a boardroom with the other evil people, but the wrestler just appears out of nowhere and gets murked in the scene he appears in. I noticed he’s part of the resistance now, but the resistance was formed after the fight scene happened, so why was that fight scene there to begin with?

I could point out every little thing that’s wrong with this first episode, but there’s one thing for sure; this trainwreck is one of the most entertaining anime I’ve watched this season. No, I don’t think it’s good, but it’s not often that you get to see an original anime this batcrap insane get greenlit, especially something with high production values like this. I applaud how infectiously frantic this show is, both in its pacing and its animation. The jokes that are actually funny tend to be really funny, and pointing out the imperfections of the series is just as entertaining. Regardless of where this will rank once I catch up, this will be staying in my Spring schedule for the foreseeable future.

Better than Mashle.

Uma Musume: Road to the Top

I never watched Uma Musume before last week, but the new ONA looked promising, so I decided to take the plunge.

I understand how hard it is to sell people on a show about racehorses anthropomorphized as anime girls (myself included), so trust me when I say it’s not nearly as bizarre as the premise might suggest. Compared to other gacha games that turn WWII battleships and firearms into anime girls, Uma Musume is surprisingly grounded and focuses more on the excitement of horseracing. It makes for a decent sports narrative, especially with how hype the actual races can be. The characters are fun with a wide range of personalities, though it took me a while to really get a read on all of them. It’s pretty fun for a show meant to advertise a gacha game, but the story of the first season wasn’t something I would write home about. One of my mutuals on AniList said it gets better with Season 2, so I’ll trust their judgment.

Since I spent an entire week binging Season 1, I’m going to take a break before I binge Season 2. I may or may not remember to catch up by the end of Spring, but I’ll make sure to return to this series at some point.

Kaguya-Sama: First Kiss

Although Aka Akasaka’s “I’m smart and I know it” attitude got a bit annoying in Oshi no Ko, I believe it’s a lot more tolerable in a comedy like Kaguya-sama. The setups for the jokes are so convoluted, yet the punchlines seem to get me every time. Although Kaguya-sama’s my favorite romantic comedy anime, I’ve only recently finished Season 2, so it will be a while before I catch up to First Kiss. I don’t know when I will have time in my schedule to catch up this Spring, but I’m looking forward to it.

KonoSuba Explosion

I remember watching the first 4 episodes of KonoSuba back when I was in college, so I decided to rewatch it as I try catching up to the Megumin spin-off. However, I didn’t enjoy it as much on my second viewing.

I remember the show being described as “the four worst people on earth being assholes”, but Kazuma is the only one that I would describe as genuinely awful. Aqua and Megumin are more naive than anything else, and Darkness is just astronomically horny. Kazuma, on the other hand, is sexist; he’s one of, if not the only character I’ve seen use the word “slutface” as often as he does. I know he’s meant to be the butt of the joke most of the time, but I know someone will still look at his behavior and say, “he’s literally me fr fr”.

KonoSuba’s still funny though. Not something I would recommend to a non-anime fan, but it still has decent humor. The movie has been on my bucket list anyway, so I had to watch this show sometime or another.

TONIKAWA S2

To say I’m “catching up” with this series is a massive stretch. I’ve only seen the first episode of Season 1, and I’m already concerned.

Let me give a quick synopsis of the plot first. When the main character was in middle school, some cute girl saves him from being hit by a truck. He forces his crippled body to get up and ask her out, and she accepts as long as he marries her. She disappears from his life for 4 years, then reappears at his front door with marriage papers.

I know I have no right to talk about relationships as a person who hasn’t dated, but I don’t think it’s normal for a girl to walk up to your house with legal documents in her hands. I know this is fictional, and I know this is a set-up for more “cute wholesome kawaii moments” or whatever, but this love-at-first-sight stuff would just end horribly in real life. The premise for Magical Destroyers is somehow leagues better than this.
DanielSonic Sakuga Awards Winter 2023

April 10th, 2023

How ya’ doin’ folks? Welcome to the Winter 2023 Sakuga Awards, and I’m your host, Marcus Markinson.

*stock_applause.mp4*

Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind. Now, we’ve got a whole night ahead of us, celebrating the great animation that came out this season. Of course, this whole event wouldn’t have been possible without the curation work of the wonderful DanielSonic. Give him a round of applause!

*iCarly_crowd_cheering.mp4*

Dude, why did you turn my Top 10 list into an award show? What do mean by a curator? I don’t have a background in animation, why am I-?

Yes, yes, yes, I know you’re excited, so let’s just start the show already! Our first award goes to…

Wait, no, screw you, I don’t even know who you are. Who gave you the right to hijack my blog that no one reads?

Well, I thought this page needed a bit more ☆~pizzazz~☆, so I thought an award show would be a good bit.

It’s not a good bit. It’s just me pretending to argue with myself.

*crowd_booing.mp4*

*sigh* Well, I’m already 10 days late posting this. Let’s just get this over with.

(Note: Rankings are based on visuals, not writing)

Top 10 Episodes

#10. Soaring Sky! PreCure #01

Best Children’s Show Award

This show was the biggest surprise for me this season. The art style is adorable, and the animation in the first episode was great. The animation quality is a bit iffy past this point, but the show is still fun to watch.

#9. The Fire Hunter #04

“Graphic Design is My Passion” Award

The Fire Hunter had one of the most unique art styles this season, but it was cursed with a rough production and weird editing. I chose Episode 4 as this series’ representative, thanks to the extensive contributions from Yasunori Miyazawa. His bizarre “melting” animation style fits the show’s off-putting vibe.

#8. One Piece #1048

Best Boy Award

There isn’t a whole lot of animation in this episode, but it makes up with its artwork. The little animation that’s there is incredible, especially Yamato’s clash with Kaido at the end. Storywise, this was my favorite episode of One Piece this season, but I’m ranking it lower because I thought there were better-looking episodes that came out.

#7. Bungo Stray Dogs S4 #07

Goofiest Name Award (Bungo haha)

It’s wild to see Bungo Stray Dogs have better art direction than MHA, considering they come from the same studio. It was hard for me to choose the best-looking BSD episode this season, but I went with Episode 7 because it’s more action-oriented. Yu Yoshiyama is one of my favorite Kanada-style animators, so their prevalence in this season was great to see.

#6. Digimon Ghost Game #66

Flipping Through Channels Award

I decided to watch this episode of Digimon out-of-context, and it bangs. I might have spoiled 65 episodes of lore for myself, but the action is some of Toei Animation’s best. I also watched an episode of Boruto out-of-context, but it failed to grip my attention as much as Digimon, which says a lot.

#5. ONIMAI #01

Most Sus Award

ONIMAI has been one of the most controversial series this season, but everyone can agree that it was one of the most beautiful shows to come out in a while. Although it’s one of the more questionable episodes of ONIMAI, I felt Episode 1 still needed to be included. It is a must-watch for Sakuga fans.

#4. ONIMAI #02

Best Fighting Game Ad Award

I prefer the visual comedy of this episode over the first one. I especially loved Q Kawa’s cuts; I believe their snappy timing and smears are a perfect fit for the more stylized look of the characters. Also, shout out ArcSys for allowing that Guilty Gear cameo.

#3. ONIMAI #12

Wholesome Chungus Award

There’s a lot of great visual comedy, and the emotional moments are beautifully drawn. This may be recency bias, but I vividly remember more scenes from Episode 12 than any other episode of ONIMAI. This was hands-down the best closing episode of the season.

#2. One Piece #1051

Most Hype-per-Second Award

Another episode that I needed to place on this list. There is so much memorable Sakuga in this episode: from the switch to ink drawings for the Whitebeard v Roger flashback, to the uniquely goofy animation of Momonosuke’s freefall, to one of the best Naotoshi Shida sequences of the past year. Not as tight a story as #1048, but it goes hard in the animation department.

#1. ONIMAI #08

Best Episode Award

Any anime episode directed by Hironori Tanaka is a classic, but when you have Toshiyuki Sato as Animation Director as well? You got a masterpiece. The facial expressions are adorably goofy, and the spunky animation sells the “teenagers at a sleepover” energy. This episode is good fun every time I watch it, and it deserves its placement as the best episode of the season.

Top 5 OPs

#5. The Fire Hunter OP

Most Artsy-Fartsy Award

The quality drawings and painting-esque imagery are a great fit for The Fire Hunter’s melancholic tone.

#4. NieR Automata ver1.1a OP

Most Yoko Taro Award

One of the more unique OPs this season, with the characters being projected on the walls of 3D environments instead of being present within those spaces.

#3. Urusei Yatsura (2022) OP2

Most Colorful Award

I might not be caught up with Urusei Yatsura, but I love the stylish OPs this show offers. This exudes a colorful, bubbly energy, and Lum’s dancing is just really cute.

#2. ONIMAI OP

“I’m Going To Jail” Award

There are some shots in this OP that I wish didn’t exist, but I would be a madman not to include this amongst the season’s best. The visuals exude wild energy that works perfectly with the VTuber-core music, creating a highly addictive opener that’s hard to skip.

#1. My Hero Academia OP11

Best OP Award

How can I say no to an OP when Yutaka Nakamura is doing the storyboarding? This minute and a half go by in a flash, with a lot of great imagery that I wished this season had more of. That shot of young Tomura breaking through his current self like smoke is beautiful.

Top 5 EDs

#5. The Fire Hunter ED

Best Limited Movement Award

I usually don’t care for EDs with minimal animation, but the quality of the drawings is fantastic.

#4. My Hero Academia ED11

Rose-tinted Glasses Award

Although this ranks 4th place visually, the redrawn scenes in the background fill me with overwhelming nostalgia, making this my personal favorite ED of the season.

#3. Cardfight!! Vanguard Will+Dress S2 ED2

Yu-Gi-No! Award

This takes the slideshow style of ED to another level, with flashy effects from Kai Ikarashi and gorgeous artwork from Kou Yoshinari. They went hard for a card game anime.

#2. Boruto ED23

“Who’s still watching this?” Award

The delicate animation is a sight to behold, and it’s a shame there isn’t any official YouTube upload for this yet. It sucks that the Naruto franchise is still being milked like this, but at least Boruto introduced some great animators into the anime industry.

#1. ONIMAI ED

Best ED Award

This has an even wilder energy than the OP. The animation is vibrant and bouncy, filled with tiny details, even with scenes featuring multiple characters on-screen. This is another masterpiece from the Solo ED god, Norimitsu Suzuki.

Featured Shorts

Evangelion:3.0 (-46h)

Most Underwhelming Award

I watched every Rebuild film in 3 days just to watch this Blu-Ray extra: not one of my better ideas. Well, at least the animation’s pretty good, and the CG fights have the same great storyboarding that they had in the films. It’s not something I would say is an essential watch unless you’re an Eva superfan.

Invincible Season 2 Teaser

Best Trailer Award

Unless you’re MoistCritical, you can probably tell that Invincible’s animation was struggling, likely from COVID. Luckily, the subtle character acting in this teaser for Season 2 looks promising. Now I just need to watch Season 1 so I know what I’m talking about.

Detaramena Sekai no Merodorama

Musicist Videoist Award

This was part of the TOHO Animation: Music Films project, commemorating 10 years of TOHO. This was the only one of those shorts I watched by the end of the season, and it was just okay. No disrespect to China (the director), but this wasn’t as interesting as I would have hoped, especially from what I heard about the other shorts from this project.

Primitive Flame

Best Short Award

This trailer is the culmination of four years worth of work. Primitive Flame is a studio-quality animation that still has the amateurish charm of a college project. Bad mic quality be darned, more people need to see this.
Winter Anime 2023 Ranked

March 30th, 2023
This was a weird Winter for me. I hadn’t watched most of the big shows this anime season. There were too many sequels to catch up with, and I had little interest in the newer shows. Regardless, I thought it would be fun to rank what little anime I watched during Winter anyway.

The only rule I had for this list was that I needed to watch at least three episodes for an anime to appear on the rankings (with the exception of a one-hour special). Here’s a short list of the shows that didn’t hit that three-episode threshold:
- Vinland Saga S2
  - I wanted to include Vinland Saga, but I hadn’t even finished Season One by the time this article was posted. I love the series so far though, and I’m sure I’ll be caught up during Spring.
- DanMachi S4 Part 2
  - I never watched DanMachi when it came out because I assumed it was waifu bait. I was right, but I still enjoyed the first two episodes regardless. I had no hope of catching up with Season 4.
- Buddy Daddies
  - I paused this series two episodes in and started watching Isekai Farming instead. I’ve regretted that decision since.
- Bofuri S2
  - I watched a couple of episodes from Season One. It was cute, but it’s not my thing.
Okay, now to the rankings (I would have included images, but I want to post this sooner vs later).

#11. Ayakashi Triangle

Progress: 3/12

I still don’t know why I watched past episode one. This is just another cheap ecchi adaptation. The art feels bland and lifeless, especially compared to Kentaro Yabuki’s original artwork. The gender-bending concept is interesting, but it’s mostly used for fan service. The show has a ridiculous amount of censorship as well, and while I understand you can’t show bare nipples on Japanese Television, it’s still annoying that fans have to wait until the Blu-Ray releases to get the best experience.

In conclusion; it sucked.

3/10

#10. My Hero Academia S6

Progress: 25/25

I wish I could say I enjoyed this season, but I didn’t. While the first arc was decent, the second arc was maddening, with rushed pacing and shallow on-the-nose social commentary.

Many fans believe this season to be a massive step up to Season 5, but I think there are more trade-offs than improvements. Season 5’s shortcomings come from the adaptation, gutting character-defining scenes due to the rushed production. Season 6’s pitfalls stem from the original material, where Kohei Horikoshi’s writing was at the lowest it’s been. I know this is the season when the world goes to crap, but there’s no way society would fall into anarchy in just a few weeks. Don’t even get me started on Lady Nagant’s character motivations. Season 6’s production wasn’t perfect either, featuring tons of bland directorial choices in the second arc.

While I believe Season 6 to be better than what came before, I don’t believe it’s something worth catching up to, and I doubt later seasons will be much better.

5.5/10

#9. Isekai Farming

Progress: 3/12

This doesn’t work for me. It’s not bad by any means, but the cute art isn’t going to get me interested in farming. I like the character designs, as well as the chibi designs for some gags, but that’s about it. I don’t have much else to say except “I should have watched Buddy Daddies instead”.

6/10

#8. NieR: Automata ver1.1a

Progress: 3 (Releasing)

I watched the first 3 episodes before the COVID delay, and I haven’t been watching since. This is a passable adaptation, but not a great one. The first episode was a 1:1 recreation of the game’s tutorial level, with a mix of 2D and 3D action that wasn’t executed all that well. The other two episodes were better, but I’ve had better experiences playing the original game. Nothing about the anime felt distinctively “Yoko Taro” outside of the puppet shorts at the end of each episode. I can’t think of anyone else that would have green-lit the use of puppets to show off the various gag endings of the original game. Overall, this adaptation is okay.

6/10

#7. ONIMAI

Progress: 12/12

The gender-bending ONIMAI is the directorial debut of legendary animator Shingo Fujii, and it’s the best-looking anime of the season. The anime is also as horny as Shingo Fujii’s Twitter account, which seemed to disappoint fans of the original material. Risquè moments aside, it took a while for this series to grow on me. The humor in the first seven episodes wasn’t executed well, and I thought Mahiro’s struggles with gender identity could have been thought out more in the beginning. However, after the animation masterclass that was Episode 8, I slowly started to appreciate the show for what it was, and I started to understand the trans narrative it was going for. It’s still hard to recommend this series given the poor comedic writing in the first half, but I can’t deny my enjoyment by the end. For a story that originated as someone’s Pixiv project, it could have been a lot worse.

6.5/10

#6. Cool Doji Danshi

Progress: 24/24

This was my first “Cute Boys Do Cute Things” show, and it’s decent. It’s just a bunch of cool guys being clumsy, which is cute and wholesome. Each episode is only 11 minutes long, so it’s good for quick shots of serotonin. Otherwise, not much to say about this one.

7/10

#5. Soaring Sky! PreCure

Progress: 8 (Releasing)

Yes, I liked a children’s show more than most of the anime this season.

After I dropped Delicious Party PreCure halfway through, I’m glad to see Soaring Sky grip my attention so early. The main cast has great chemistry, and the main villain is a good mix of comedic relief and legitimate threat. The character designs are adorable, thanks to Atsushi Saito, known for his work on Love Live Superstar. There’s not too much depth to the plot, but I’ll give it a pass for being children’s media. This show is fun, and I can finally see why PreCure has lasted 20 years.

7.5/10

#4. Tomo-chan Is a Girl!

Progress: 5/13

This is a surprisingly sweet romantic comedy. The gimmick of “the main girl is a tomboy” isn’t all that special, but Tomo-chan handles the concept well. It’s fun to watch the main couple develop feelings for each other, and it’s just as fun to watch them punch each other in the face. The side characters really make this series shine; Gundou’s manipulative personality is entertaining, and Carol’s bubbly nature is a great foil to the calm Gundou. I might not have caught up with the series, but I liked what I’ve seen so far.

7.5/10

#3. The Fire Hunter

Progress: 10/10

I started watching The Fire Hunter for its unique art style and stayed for the worldbuilding.

In the far future, some higher power decided to take away humanity’s ability to wield fire, forcing them to harvest the blood of “fire fiends” for heat, fuel, etc. The way the world unfolds to the viewer is done masterfully, aside from some admittedly necessary exposition dumps in the first three episodes.

Although the art style is unique, it’s clear that The Fire Hunter was a rushed production, especially with the fight animation post-Episode 4. There are also some bizarre directorial decisions as well: random close-ups of characters appear on-screen like pop-up ads, and there are instances where beautifully drawn still frames will appear for no apparent reason.

Regardless of visual shortcomings, the art fits the unsettling vibe of the story perfectly, and the beautiful soundtrack helps too. This is the most overlooked show of the season, and I’m excited to check out Season 2 when it comes out.

8/10

#2. Bungo Stray Dogs S4

Progress: 13/13

I spent all of January binging this series. The first three seasons of Bungo Stray Dogs weren’t much more than an above-average shonen, but there were glimpses of brilliant writing that displayed the potential the series could reach. Season 4 is like those glimpses were stretched out across an entire season, and it made the experience of binging this series worth it. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just encourage anyone reading this to go watch Bungo Stray Dogs.

8.5/10

#1. Attack on Titan FINAL CHAPTERS Special 1

Progress: 1/1

(I have to spoil the first portion of this special to appropriately gush about it)

I know that putting Attack on Titan this high isn’t the most original decision ever, but this special was beautiful.

It’s powerful watching the Rumbling from a civilian’s perspective, bearing witness to this terrifyingly unstoppable force slowly approaching. A group of thieves robs a store in the middle of the carnage just to get trampled on seconds later. Those who stay behind are scorched by the steam coming off the Titans. An aristocrat is thrown aside as dozens of civilians try to hijack his vehicle, which slows them down enough to be crushed. Everyone is in a panic, some people even killing themselves to avoid their fate, and all of this is juxtaposed by Eren standing with his arms stretched out in a field of clouds, exclaiming that “This Is Freedom”.

There’s so much more to this special that I adore, but the Rumbling sticks out in my mind more than anything else. It’s emblematic of Attack on Titan’s twisted world, Eren being the result of a cycle of prejudice and hatred. His actions are undeniably heinous, but the world taught him nothing but violence.

9.5/10

Okay, that’s it for the ranking. See you next month. Hopefully I’ll have more to talk about for Spring.
Top 10 Anime Episodes of Winter 2023 (February Update)

March 4th, 2023
It’s been a while since I posted, huh?

Last week’s ranking was pretty weak since I only watched 10 episodes of currently airing anime back in January. Luckily, I had more free time this month, so there will be a BIT more variety this time.

Now that I have a bigger pool of episodes to choose from, I should mention that this list will have a bias for visual appeal. There will be exceptions where an episode can rank from story content alone, but this list will be more style over substance. In other words, most of the entries on this list are here because they look pretty and not necessarily because the content is good.

I’ll admit that this list doesn’t have much in the way of variety (two shows, in particular, dominated this list), so here are some honorable mentions before we start:
- Vinland Saga Season 2: It sucks that I can’t include the most popular show this season, but I haven’t even finished Season 1 yet.
- NieR: Automata ver1.1a: I watched the first 3 episodes before the COVID delay, but I haven’t been watching since. Some episodes were pretty good, but not Top 10 good.
- Tomo-chan: I watched the first two episodes, and they were alright. I feel like the side characters are more entertaining than Tomo-chan herself, and the presentation was lacking.
- Buddy Daddies: Watched the first two episodes, and they were also alright. This is more than just a Spy x Family clone, but I’m not fully invested yet.
- My Hero Academia S6: This season has been plagued with heavy-handed politics and over-dramatic dialogue, but I gotta admit that some episodes went hard this season.
- Soaring Sky! PreCure: This magical girl anime made for 7-year-olds is better than half the shows airing this season. Life is pain.
#10. ONIMAI #4

ONIMAI is the best-looking anime this season. Although, I can’t give the writing the same praise: many of its comedic moments are either derivative or poorly executed. It also has a lot of ecchi moments that range from unnecessary to highly questionable. Episode 4 is my first example of an episode making this list for style over substance. The episode has a ton of great character acting and an admittedly great PreCure parody in the intro. The rest of the episode is just your standard slice-of-life, but the shopping scene, in particular, lacked comedic timing. Again, I wouldn’t have ranked this episode if the animation wasn’t as good as it was.

#9. One Piece #1046

The front and back ends of this episode have great fights, but the pacing gets pretty slow after the first commercial break. There are good story moments, for sure; Zoro and Sanji’s interactions are always fun to watch, and Marco’s flashback with Whitebeard was nice too. Still, it’s another style over substance situation with this one.

#8. One Piece #1049

This episode is okay on its own, but it’s much better when watched immediately after Episode 1048. It goes further into Yamato’s childhood, adding a legitimately shocking scene that further displays Kaido’s abusive behavior. The episode also offers some humor with Momonosuke as he flies through Onigashima with his eyes closed, crashing through every wall and ceiling. The animation is mostly unimpressive for the majority of this episode (especially with Momosuke’s moment), but the last two minutes are some of the best animation I’ve ever seen. Storyboarded by Katsumi Ishizuka with key animation by Akihiro Ota, the final sequence was a showcase of raw power and spectacle in animated form.

#7. ONIMAI #2

I’m putting this relatively higher than other ONIMAI episodes because it featured a few jokes I actually laughed at. This episode is especially beautiful too, with the sequences animated by Q Kawa being a personal favorite of mine for this episode. Also, I want to give a shoutout to ArcSys for officially sanctioning those Guilty Gear cameos.

#6. ONIMAI #1

On one hand, this is one of the best-looking episodes of the season. On the other hand, this is the episode where the ecchi content is at its highest. It’s still uncomfortable seeing how hard the animators went to make Mahiro’s design “anatomically accurate” in some shots. Still, I actually laughed at the jokes this time around, and with an episode that looks this good, I’ll take what I can get.

#5. Hikari no Ou #4

This show had always caught my eye when the first few episodes aired since the art style looked so different from anything else airing this season. Hikari no Ou feels more like a film than a TV series, and it would have been much better with a film budget. I thought the show looked its best in the first four episodes, which feature the animation talent of Yasunori Miyazawa.

Storywise, the world of Hikari no Ou is fascinating. Humanity has been “rewritten” by some godlike force so they cannot get near a natural fire without bursting into flames. The only way they can produce fire is through the blood of a “fire fiend” hence the show’s English title “The Fire Hunter.” The first three episodes can be a bit of a slog at times since most of the worldbuilding’s told through exposition dumps. Episode 4 is where its story and animation are perfectly balanced, and my intrigue has only grown from there.

Long story short, please check this series out if you’re interested. It’s criminally underrated.

#4. ONIMAI #8

This was the first episode of ONIMAI that I thought was good from front to back. With animation direction from Toshiyuki Sato, this episode has the most fun use of character animation in the series. Although it still had its ecchi moments, watching these characters have a sleepover together was wholesome fun. Shoutout to Asahi’s dinosaur hoodie that blinks sometimes.

#3. Bungo Stray Dogs S4 #9

I always love it when BSD goes into darker subject matter, but this was… not what I expected.

This flashback episode was admittedly unnecessary, but it works well as a standalone episode. I wasn’t expecting such a disturbing, hellish depiction of war when I heard this episode was covering Yosano’s backstory, but hey, here we are. In all seriousness, this episode kind of messed me up. It’s filled me with existential dread, and I’m not sure why.

#2. One Piece #1048

I already covered this episode last month, so here’s a copy-and-paste of what I already said:

I loved this episode. The whole flashback segment was great. Kid Yamato is adorable, and it makes Kaido’s cruel treatment of him even more painful to watch. Kaido threw his own son into a dark cave, along with the samurai that held a grudge against Kaido, just to show his disapproval of Yamato’s idolization of Kozuki Oden. This interaction in particular stood out to me:

“I’m Kaido’s child! I know [the samurai] have an ill-feeling towards me! If you give them swords, they’ll kill me right away!”
-Yamato

“What are you talking about? I thought you were Oden. Think about the meaning of that name.”
-Kaido

To Kaido, Oden’s name was a sign of shame, a reminder of the first person to ever injure him. His pride has been shattered by Oden’s efforts, so he sees Yamato’s idolization of Oden as another mark of shame. To Yamato, Oden’s name was a sign of hope, to be free from the shackles that held him down, and to take back the freedom that his father took away from him at a young age.

This episode is beautiful, too, with the most consistent art quality out of all the One Piece episodes on this list (Edit: This statement didn’t age well). The small amounts of sakuga in this episode are brilliant, especially in the last minute of the episode, animated by Vincent Chansard. The fluidity of movement in that scene was insane, with so many unique flourishes, like the string of impact frames that turn into another flashback scene (see above example).

I love this episode, and it reminds me why I loved this series to begin with.

#1. One Piece #1051

The most entertaining episode this season.

There are a lot of great moments throughout this episode. Luffy’s “what do you have to be scared of?” speech is inspiring, and watching Momonosuke still cower behind a rock is pretty funny. Zoro and Sanji get their time in the limelight, as well as Dogstorm and Cat Viper. However, due to the constant perspective shifts, I can’t say I enjoyed the story of this episode as much as I did Episode 1048.

The true star of this episode is the animation, displaying the animation talents of industry veterans and newcomers. Yong-Ce Tu’s cut was incredible; I loved that quick flashback to Whitebeard and Roger’s clash, and how it looks like a series of ink drawings. I also loved Naotoshi Shida’s cut with Dogstorm and Cat Viper; the blue color palette works well with Shida’s art. My favorite scene was Momonosuke’s freefall, where I got introduced to the work of Yooto. His cut has a Kanada-style snappiness that works well with the goofy facial expressions, giving the scene a chaotic energy that makes it even more hilarious.

This episode is a joy to watch, with a good balance of plot elements and even better animation. I will be surprised if anything beats this episode once the Winter season ends.

Only one more month until this list is complete. I will probably make a separate post talking about episodes that intrigued me outside of their animation, but I don’t know for sure. I’m going to update my Top 10 OPs and EDs list as well, and that will probably be the final version of that list. Anyway, I’m off to watch that Attack on Titan special, and I’ll see you all soon.

Bye.
Weekly Recap 3: The Mid-ening

February 21st, 2023

Covers February 12-18, 2023.

THIS IS MY LAST WEEKLY UPDATE

I planned to post this a day or two earlier, but I had a family matter to attend to. It’s been a really stressful couple of days.

I’ve decided to discontinue these “Weekly Recap” posts. This is mostly due to my lack of enjoyment in making them, and I’m facing a lot of stress in my personal life as well. I’m not quitting this blog, but I’m going to post less frequently. More details are at the end of the post.

My Hero Academia S6 #10-20

I’ve spent the first half of this week catching up with My Hero Academia Season 6, and it hasn’t been a good experience for me. I already wasn’t the biggest fan of these arcs when they happened in the manga, but without Kohei Horikoshi’s striking artwork, it’s been a dice roll whether or not I’ll be engaged in an episode. I wish I was better in my literary analysis, because I what to figure out exactly why this season urks me so much.

The one thing that I’m confident in criticizing is the infuriating social commentary. I might have my rose-tinted glasses on, but getting to see how this superhero society operated was intriguing in earlier seasons. MHA created a world where regular people put their full trust in these heroes, where if the mightiest of these heroes were to fall, the rest of the world goes down with it. What I dislike about this season is how fast the world went down, that it only took TWO DAYS for society to collapse because Dabi made a callout post on his Twitter.com. Granted, a bunch of villains got released from prison around the world to wreak havoc, but it still feels too short of time for people to lose all trust in heroes. A lot of these angry crowds of people are annoying too, throwing unnecessary insults at heroes just doing their job. For a show that spent its time exposing the cracks in this universe’s law enforcement, the way the civilians are acting is as braindead as a Copaganda film.

There are some good points though. I remember the first 4-5 episodes of this season being pretty good, as well as Dabi’s reveal and Deku’s rematch with Muscular. Outside of some samey environments, the art is mostly great with a lot of well-animated fights. Despite my issues with the plot, the character writing is still pretty solid, especially when delving into Endeavor’s relationship with his family. I originally rolled my eyes at Deku’s sudden edginess in the second arc, it makes sense considering Deku’s character. He’s always had a self-destructive sense of Justice, and now that the pressure of being the last weirder of One for All, as well as the threat of All for One hunting him down, it makes sense that he would cut himself off from his family and friends just to keep them out of harm’s way.

I don’t like being negative about My Hero Academia. This show was my gateway into mainstream anime, so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. I can look at screenshots of older seasons and remember the emotions I felt watching those scenes. When I watched the first couple of episodes of this season, I thought that the show I used to love had finally returned, but that ended up not being the case.

6.5/10

One Piece #1051

I didn’t watch #1050, but thank goodness I was able to check out this episode. One of the best episodes of the season so far.

While not reaching the animation highs of #1048 and #1049, this episode makes up by having consistently great sakuga throughout. Yong-Ce Tu’s segment of Luffy and Kaido’s clash was great. I especially liked how it flashed back to Roger and Whitebeard’s clash, stylized to look like ink drawings. My personal favorite bit of sakuga was Yooto’s sequence of Momonosuke falling out of the sky, which was both a great showcase of Kanada-style animation and visual comedy. The other cuts in this episode were great too, but it would take too long to talk about all of them.

When they introduced the 3D models for Kaido and Momonosuke’s dragon forms, I was worried that the animation on them would look really janky, judging from the previews I saw for #1050. Luckily, the 3D models were used pretty well in this episode, as you can see from the image above. I also noticed that they gave 3D Momo large eyes in one shot to show how scared he was, which was a nice touch.

Not much happened in this episode storywise though. I do like the moment where Luffy tells Momonosuke that if he took a bite out of an Emperor of the Sea, “What do you have to be scared of?”. Other than that, I can’t really remember everything that happens in this episode, since the perspective is switched around a lot. I can’t really call this a “stand-alone” episode in that respect. Still, as an experience, it’s the best One Piece has offered during the Winter season, and I’ll definitely be rewatching it when I update my Top 10 Winter Episodes list for February.

Bungou Stray Dogs S4 #7

Hunting Dogs vs Stray Dogs

Although I’m liking the new “antagonists” that were introduced in this episode, it feels weird to introduce them in the middle of the arc. It would have been better if the arc focused solely on the Angels of Decay instead. This is also one of BSD’s more comedic episodes, which is a bit of a tone-killer considering how dark the last episode was.

Still, as a standalone episode, this is pretty good. The comedic moments still got a laugh out of me, the Hunting Dogs are fun characters, and the animation is the best the season has to offer so far. I wish it kept the tone the previous episode had, but I had fun with it regardless.

Also, Kunikida stealing someone’s car is hilarious.

“Do you have vehicle theft Insurance?”
Kunikida

“I do. Why?”
Driver

“I see. Congratulations. You’re getting a brand new car.”
Kunikida

The season stays at an 8.5/10, but that might change depending on the next episode.

ONIMAI #7

I’ve criticized this show enough already, but this is the worst episode so far. The early shenanigans of forcing Mahiro to go back to middle school have already passed, and all we’re left with are boring stories with humor that wasn’t funny, to begin with. Every joke in this episode has already been told in better shows and those weirdly horny eyes catches separating each scene don’t help with my enjoyment.

It isn’t devoid of its good points; I liked when Mahiro asked what girls even talk about, and her friends advise her to just talk about what she likes. I appreciate the message that your interests should not be defined by your gender. I also like the mid-life crisis that Mahiro faces when she realizes her favorite video games came out before her classmates were born.

The good doesn’t outweigh the bad for me though. It’s a good thing that the show is pretty because there isn’t any other reason to keep watching. I would rather watch modern MHA, which frustrates me, but at least I would feel some kind of emotion.

I’m keeping the show at a 6/10, but I might bring the score down if future episodes are this derivative.

Cool Doji Danshi #18

The ending reminded me of some of the graphic design projects I used to do back in college.

I remember little else from this episode.

7/10

Soaring Sky! PreCure #3

I think this is the point where the production values start going down. Still, the show is pretty cute. It’s a solid kid’s show and already more fun than the previous season.

Side Note: Cure Precious appearing in the ED jumpscared me. I can’t seem to escape that season.

7.25/10

Backlog

Buddy Daddies #1

I watched the first episode of this show so I could have something to do on Fridays. It’s more original than “Spy x Family, but with dads”, but it doesn’t offer enough for me to keep watching. I’ll try a different show next week.

Space Dandy #7

Now that this season’s backlog is complete, I can finally get back to my New Year’s Resolution, which was finishing the first season of Space Dandy. This is one of the less memorable Dandy episodes, and it was still the best thing I’ve watched this week.

Instead of making weekly posts, I’m going to focus my energy on making monthly posts instead. Next week, I’ll be updating my Top 10 Episodes of Winter 2023 list, as well as the OP/ED list. That won’t be completed until after February ends, so you can follow this page if you want to be notified when those will be posted. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed reading this anyway, and I hope you have great rest of your day.

(Note: This post might not be the best it could be. I’ll come back and make edits when needed, but I need to be in a better headspace first)
Weekly Recap 2: The Backlogs (Found Footage)

February 12th, 2023
Covers the week of February 5 2023 to February 11 2023.

It’s been a long week.

I’ve got my first paid graphic design project in months, and I’m finally relearning what it’s like to have something to work on. At the same time, I had a massive to-do list of anime to watch to make up for the shows I didn’t watch last month.

Because of all these shows looming over my head, I haven’t been enjoying watching anime as much lately. Therefore, I’ve decided to either drop or pause all the shows in my backlog so I can focus on work instead.

Currently Airing

Soaring Sky! PreCure #1-2

It’s crazy that something like this is the highlight of my week.

For anyone who hasn’t seen last week’s post, PreCure is a magical girl franchise that is massively popular with children in Japan. It’s gained a niche fan community in the west for being the birthplace of many professionals in the anime industry. It’s also considered one of the last bastions of sincerely positive magical girl shows since Madoka Magica irreparably changed the genre.

I haven’t been too fond of the recently completed Delicious Party PreCure, so the first two episodes of Soaring Sky felt like a breath of fresh air. Since PreCure is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, it makes sense that these episodes went as hard as they did.

Sora, our main protagonist, is from Sky Land, which is… well, you can guess what Sky Land is like. She saves the princess of Sky Land from a kidnapping but ends up teleported to our world in the process, and now she needs to get back home. The plot isn’t anything too special, but it’s fun to see Sora act like a fish out of water in this new world (well, a new world for her at least).

The presentation of Soaring Sky is what really drew me in. The animation is great, from Sora parkouring across rooftops in Sky Land to the brilliant fight choreography when she becomes a PreCure. I also love the softer, more delicate look Atsushi Saitou brings to the character designs. The characters also have a bit of an idol motif, though that might be due to Saitou’s previous work on Love Live Superstar.

I can’t say I fully recommend this show though. Even though I’m enjoying this way more than Delicious Party, I have to keep in mind that I’m only two episodes in, and the episode previews don’t look too promising. Still, I’m just glad I have something new and interesting to watch this season.

Current Score: TBD

Bungou Stray Dogs S4 #6

I’ve been watching old reaction videos for the first season of BSD, and it’s crazy how little it took itself seriously back then. Honestly, I’m happy with the direction it’s taking itself now because this is the most engaging the show has been in a while.

This episode was tense throughout, but its most shocking moments came at the end. I don’t want to spoil too much, but we finally get to see what that reality-changing book is capable of, and its use in this episode is fascinating.

Speaking of shocking, this episode has some of the most gruesome moments in the show. Sure, a lot of gruesome things have happened in BSD (one particular moment with kids stuck in a car comes to mind), but this is the most visually graphic the show has been. I’m not trying to say gore equals good, but it helps add to the darker direction the show is going.

The only thing that didn’t really work for me in this episode was Nikolai. He’s a scene-stealer for sure, but his personality and motives don’t go too far past “crazy anime villain”, at least until the final moments. He just seemed like wasted potential.

Overall, this is still one of my favorite episodes of BSD so far. My time binging this show is finally paying off.

Current score: 8.5/10

ONIMAI #6

My cousin told me this screenshot is what Anime Expo is like:

Okay, so what happened in this episode…
- Mahiro is going to school now.
- She’s made new friends.
- I like the snaggletooth friend.
- There’s a nice POV shot.
- They used a Scooby-Doo stock sound effect, which was funny.
- Outside of brief flashes of sexualization, the show has been relatively clean compared to Episode 1.
And that’s all my notes for this episode.

It sucks that a show that looks this good has so little to talk about. I’m still going to watch it weekly, but don’t expect me to have anything new to say.

Current score: 6.25/10

It’s getting better, but not by much.

Cool Doji Danshi #17

This is the only thing I watch on Mondays, and its charm is starting to wear off. I had a better time binging this show than waiting a week for each 11-minute episode.

It’s cute though. Kid Mima and Igarashi are sweethearts.

Current Score: 7.25/10

Backlog

Delicious Party PreCure #19-23

I watched five more episodes, and my opinion on this show hasn’t changed.

Let’s start with some positives before I start ranting again. First, the animation is getting better. It sucks that every fight still occurs in the same “Delicious Field,” but at least the fight choreography is more fun to watch. Second, I’ll admit that the character designs are cute. This show has “marketable plushie” written all over it, from the PreCures themselves to their corresponding mascot characters, to the collectible toy look of the Recipeppis.

Speaking of marketable, let me talk about one of my biggest pet peeves this season; Delicious Party reminds me that business always comes first for PreCure. To elaborate, the themes of each PreCure season need to be easily translated into a profitable toy line. Although Delicious Party does talk about how we share precious memories through food, it never goes hard enough to say anything compelling. Delicious Party feels like it’s selling food-themed merchandise and not much else.

At least Soaring Sky is fun to watch on its own, but Delicious Party is just disappointing.

Current Score: 5.5/10 (Dropped)

Vinland Saga #5-10

Massive Spoiler Warning

I’m fascinated by Thorfinn’s character development after his father’s death. He knows that getting revenge wouldn’t make his father happy, but the trauma of watching him die prevents him from seeking anything else. His honor as a warrior holds him back, and it makes Thorfinn an easy pawn for someone as honorless as Askeladd. He can’t kill Askeladd in his sleep because that would be dishonorable. He can’t beat Askeladd in a duel because Askeladd would either talk his way out of it or kick Thorfinn’s ass. Even if he were to escape to a nearby village, Askeladd’s band of thieves would eventually pillage and kill everything there. All Thorfinn can do is dissociate from the world and become Askeladd’s personal assassin, the kind of fate his father was trying to prevent.

Speaking of Askellad, he is somehow the most likable character in the show. I say “somehow” because he’s categorically an evil person. He’s manipulated Thorfinn into becoming a killing machine at a young age. He will quickly murder anyone if it benefits him. Yet, somehow has more charisma than any of this world’s leaders.

What makes Askeladd so engaging to me is his worldview that “everyone is a slave to something”. For example, Askeladd’s uncle loves money, to the point where just looking at it makes him happy. When one of his slaves accidentally dropped some food, he beat her with a whip for not realizing how much money he lost from her mistake. Askeladd watches this and finds it ironic.

“The guy who’s a slave to money holds a whip, and pretends to be a master of the slave he bought with his money.”
-Askeladd

Askeladd might be manipulative, but at least he doesn’t overindulge himself in the typical Viking lifestyle. In a world where people kill each other for petty reasons, Askeladd has his priorities straight and actually has goals for himself.

The only thing that isn’t keeping me engaged is the political intrigue, but that’s not at all Vinland Saga’s fault. I have my own preferences when it comes to storytelling, and I tend to prefer the more personal stories in this show as opposed to the whole war subplot. Still, this series has easily become on of my favorites.

Current Score: 9.25/10 (Paused)

Tsurune #1-6

This is the first KyoAni show I’ve seen since I watched Nichijou a decade ago. It’s alright.

It’s less a show about archery and more about the difficulties of doing the things you love in the face of grief and failure. Still, I haven’t really resonated with its emotional moments. It’s a good show, and I’m sure it will hit hard for some people, but it just doesn’t work for me at the moment.

Current Score: 7.5/10 (Paused)

Non-Anime

Invincible Season 2 Teaser

I’ve been meaning to watch this for a while now. No, I haven’t watched the first season, but the animation for this teaser looked really good, and I’ve seen a few memes about it too.

The character animation is great. From what I’ve seen, Season 1 looked like it was struggling on the production front due to it being produced during COVID, so it’s nice to see the animators get a chance to flex their stuff for once.

I didn’t expect this teaser to be so meta though. I think many people my age have become tired of self-referential humor in modern entertainment, but I like the idea that Mark did the writing, designing, storyboarding, voice-acting, key-posing, etc. for the entire show. It was pretty charming.

It’s also nice to see a show well-known for its degenerate levels of violence tease its next season with a quiet moment in a burger shop. It’s pretty cute. Still surprised Seth Rogan is here.

NieR: Automata

It’s funny how I finished Ending A one week before the anime started airing again. I took too long to write this segment (again), so here are some quick thoughts.

The world’s melancholic and beautiful, with some awe-inspiring set pieces spread throughout. Also, for a game filled with machines and androids, the story is surprisingly human.

This is the 3rd Platinum game I’ve played (5th if you include the Star Fox games). The gameplay is the most approachable of the three, though the game will kick your butt if you don’t do any side quests.

Overall, I’m loving this game, and it’s sad that the show doesn’t even come close to what the game offers.

That’s the end of my second weekly recap. I’m still getting used to blogging, so I might make these weekly updates shorter in the future. I might also post some things in the middle of the week to keep people engaged, but I’ll need to think about what that would be.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I’ll see you next week.
Shorts Spotlight: Primitive Flame

February 7th, 2023

Credit:
猴houge on YouTube / @nian4111 on Twitter

I wanted to talk about this a week ago, but I didn’t have time until today. In fact, I still don’t have time, since I have something important to work on today, so I’ll keep this short.

For a bit of context, this animation was made by a dude and his friends over the past 4 years while they were still in college. Since everything is in Chinese, I can’t really talk about the story, so I’ll instead gush about the presentation instead. Shoutout to @nian4111 on Twitter for leading this project.

It’s clear that this is still an amateur project; the linework doesn’t connect at points, there are some low-quality artifacts, and the voice acting… exists. However, nian41 clearly did his homework over the past 4 years; you can tell he’s been studying only the best in the anime industry.

Yutaka Nakamura’s work seems to be the biggest inspiration for this project, especially from 1:50 to 3:18. The most obvious nod to Yutapon’s work is the almost funny abundance of cube-shaped debris, but I was more impressed by the subtle homages, like the jaggy smears or the ways objects melt. Even the fight choreography is clearly inspired by Yutapon’s work on Cowboy Bebop and My Hero Academia.

I also like how they aren’t taking this project too seriously, if you couldn’t tell from the music in the intro. During the main fight, you can see normal civilians trying to avoid the carnage, while one dog follows the action in the most hilarious way. Even before the main fight you can see a bunch of weird side characters, like a girl riding a giant paper airplane, or a dude just mooning the camera from a distance. For goodness sake, the ending is a Rick Roll of someone pissing on a flower.

You can tell this is a jumble of wild ideas compiled into one project, and I’m glad they can finally show it off to the world. I’m really looking forward to what this team will make in the future.
Weekly Recap 1: DanielSonic regrets his life decisions.

February 5th, 2023

Covers the week of January 29 2023 to February 4 2023.

Currently Airing

ONIMAI #1-5

I got a lot of notes on this one.

I was excited when this show was announced. I never read the source material, but I know that it’s about a dude waking up as a girl and that it originated as someone’s side project on Pixiv. Getting to see something like that get an anime adaptation of this quality was intriguing, to say the least, so it was on my radar for the winter season. Sadly, I didn’t the chance to watch it weekly during January due to my time being dedicated to binging Bungou Stray Dogs.

Now that I’ve finally taken the time to binge the show… it’s okay.

The story of Mahiro waking up girl is just your average gender-bender anime. I wouldn’t say it’s a “trans narrative” either since this show is clearly aimed at a more *types into Google* cis audience. For the record, I myself am a straight cis male, so I’m not as well-versed in these topics, but I feel like this is less focussed on the trans experience, and more on the hijinks of “woah, I woke up as a girl”.

It’s also not that funny 80% of the time. Do you love jokes where someone does something mildly embarrassing and then overreacts when someone walks into the room? Don’t worry, ONIMAI will make that joke multiple times, as well as every other anime or ecchi cliche you can think of.

Also, oh my lord, the first episode. I wouldn’t say this show is “lolicon bait” like everyone says it is, but I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that from watching Episode 1. ONIMAI has a habit of sexualizing a lot of its characters, even more so than the manga from what I’ve heard. This gets toned down in future episodes, but ecchi scenes will still happen from time to time, so be warned.

One thing that didn’t leave me disappointed was the presentation. The animation, the backgrounds, the color palette, the character designs, everything in ONIMAI looks beautiful. It’s crazy how such a nothing show has so much substance in the visuals, even in the smallest details.

The few jokes that actually work in this show tend to be subtle visual gags. For example, in Episode 2, Mahiro is seen playing Guilty Gear as Sol Badguy, who has a more masculine design. Later in the scene, she loses to a Bridget main, a canonically trans character. It’s such a small detail, but it’s funny to see that even video games are a reminder of her current situation.

I think I know why this show is getting this treatment of great visuals paired with over-sexualization. ONIMAI is the directorial debut of Shingo Fujii, an incredibly talented animator who’s worked on Naruto, Mushoku Tensei, and even Pokemon. Along with being a respected member of the Japanese animation industry, he’s also known for being VERY horny online. I just checked his Twitter while writing this, and he’s spent the past few days reposting risque ONIMAI fanart, even some age-restricted content. I think it’s clear how the show became what it became with him behind the wheel. Not to mention the contributions from other accomplished yet horny animators, like Kay Yu, animation director for River City Girls 2 and frequent Hololive collaborator.

As much as I question my life choices while watching this show, I can’t deny the love put into its creation. I still wish that it had more substance in its story, but it’s entertaining enough to keep it in my schedule this winter. I’m also planning to rewatch the first four episodes when I make my next Top 10 episodes list because, again, this show looks beautiful.

6/10, better than Ayakashi Triangle.

Bungou Stray Dogs S4 #5

Binging Bungou Stray Dogs instead of watching seasonals was surprisingly the best decision I’ve made last month. Season 4 is looking to be my favorite season of BSD and it’s not even halfway over.

I want to talk about how good this episode was, but I forgot to take notes while watching, and I don’t have time to rewatch it right now. I wouldn’t want to spoil what happens anyway.

The season’s currently an 8.5/10 for me.

Cool Doji Danshi Episode 16

(Couldn’t find a good image, sorry)

Cool Doji Danshi is a show about clumsy dudes. It’s obviously aimed at a more female audience, but I still found the show to be pretty fun and heartwarming. Not every episode is all that memorable though, and this episode is no exception.

Seriously, I remember Episode 15, but not Episode 16.

Yeah, you can probably tell I started blogging a week ago.

The show’s currently a 7.25/10 for me.

One Piece #1049

I already talked about this episode a lot in my Top 10 episodes of January list, so I’ll keep this section short.

It’s an okay episode by itself, but it’s much better paired with Episode 1048. It has some nice bits of story, but it’s visually unimpressive outside of the immaculate final two minutes.

Backlog

Delicious Party PreCure #12-18

I didn’t have high hopes for this season, and I still don’t have high hopes for this season.

For those of you who don’t know what you’re looking at, this is PreCure, a magical girl franchise that is popular with kids in Japan. While not nearly as popular in the west as it is back there, PreCure still has a niche fan community due to the high production values this show tends to reach. Since Toei is known to pay their newer animators better than other studios, some of the best key animators in the industry tend to get their start in Toei, and PreCure has been somewhat of a showcase for new talent.

While it looks like your average magical girl anime, it’s more comparable to Power Rangers, where the power of friendship is intertwined with the power of kicking ass. You can find multiple examples of top tier fight choreography, including work from the previously mentioned Shingo Fujii. However, for Delicious Party, the recently completed PreCure season, there hasn’t been as much buzz in the sakuga community about it, besides maybe their final episodes.

I’m 40% into Delicious Party, and believe me, it’s not that great. It feels much cheaper from a production standpoint compared to what I saw from previous seasons. It doesn’t help that every fight happens in the same environment, making every fight feel the same as a result.

Delicious Party’s story doesn’t get interesting until Episode 15 either. The first 15 episodes are just, “uh oh, the bad guy makes a certain food item taste different. Uh oh, giant monster shaped like a whisk. Uh oh, the monster’s defeated, everything’s good now”. The villains, named the Bundoru Gang, are super unthreatening, though that was by design with the context of later episodes. Still, even when the show tries to implement a serious villain, I still can’t take them seriously when they start every evil mission with a fistbump shouting “Bundoru! Bundoru!”.

Long story short, I’m getting bored of watching this, and I would have dropped it if I had anything better to watch in Januaruy. I will most likely be dropping it this month though.

I also want to point out that a week after this season ended, the first episode of the next season dropped, and it looks SO MUCH BETTER that Delicious Party already.

Currently a 5.75/10 for me.

Vinland Saga #1-4

Dang, I’ve been missing out.

The first episode immediately dragged me in, and the next three episodes followed it up perfectly. I usually don’t care about historic dramas, but I think my lack of Viking knowledge helped make this show more interesting. These characters feel less like historical figures and more like characters from tall tales that have been given a sense of humanity.

I loved Thors’s character, a former warrior who has decided to stop killing, living in a world where being a warrior was a mark of pride. However, his son Thorfinn, our protagonist, is a firm believer in the world’s kill-or-be-killed outlook, and his ideals clash with his father’s. Maybe it’s because of the studio behind it, but Thorfinn reminds me of a young Eren Yeager, at least from what I’ve seen.

Honestly, I thought I would have more to say here, but I don’t. I can already see why this show gets the praise it gets from its opening moments. I don’t know if I can finish it by the end of this month, but I’ll sure as heck try.

Currently 9.5/10

Rewatching One-Punch Man #1-6

It was wild hearing my dad say “hey, want to watch One-Punch Man?”

I’ll keep this short; it’s One-Punch Man. It’s great. It doesn’t hit as hard as it did when I first saw it back in high school, but it’s still a must-watch for me.

8.75/10

Non-Anime

NieR: Automata

Back when the NieR: Automata anime was airing, my cousin offered me a chance to play the game for myself when I came over to visit. I have been playing NieR: Automata every time I visit, and after roughly 16 hours of gameplay, I can confirm that the game is better than the show.

I’m too tired to go into detail about why I’m loving this game, so I’ll leave with this:

There’s a side quest where you watch Romeo & Juliet with 3 Romeos and Juliets (each) murdering each other. During the carnage, they are shouting expletives in Shakespearean forms, such as the phrase “Pisseth off”.

I don’t think I need to say anything else to tell you this is one of the best video games ever created.

Wakanda Forever

It’s a good movie, I think. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the original Black Panther, so I don’t have a good point of comparison.

As a certified white person, I will refrain from mansplaining the themes of the film. I’ll need to watch this film again to really digest it, but I don’t know when that will be.

8/10, maybe higher if I watch it later.

Music

I’m not that confident with my music criticism, so here are the scores I gave the albums I listened to this week.

Gloria by Sam Smith: 6/10

Diamonds & Dancefloors by Ava Max: 6.75/10

After the Magic by Parannoul: 8.5/10

RUSH! by Måneskin: 4.5/10

Okay, the weekly roundup is over. I’m tired. See you next week.
Top 10 Anime Episodes of Winter 2023 (January)

February 3rd, 2023
I’ve only watched 4 shows this month, so I’ve only seen 10 episodes of anime total this month. I’m updating this list at the end of February, so you’ll see a more extensive selection of shows next month.

Here’s some things I want to clarify before we start the list:
- Outside of the One Piece entries, I haven’t rewatched any of these episodes since I first watched them. If there’s any misinformation, that’s on me.
- Episodes have to be the usual 20-minute length, so no 10-minute episodes like Cool Doji Danshi (shout-out to episode 15 though. that episode was funny)
- This list is based on both visual presentation and narrative. Future lists will focus more on visual presentation, so some of the high-ranking episodes in this list might not make it into the next monthly update.
Okay, Top 10 time.

#10. Bungou Stray Dogs S4 #02

This is my least favorite episode of the new BSD season so far. I’m still iffy on Fukuzawa’s reasoning behind giving Ranpo his “everyone is an idiot except for me” mentality. I also thought the solution to this episode’s mystery was pretty dumb. It was still an okay episode; I now believe that Ranpo is neurotypical, and you can’t convince me otherwise. I also liked the scene where Ranpo puts on his signature glasses for the first time, and the show finally turns from the black & white color palette from Episode 1 to full color. I believe this episode could have been a lot stronger, though.

#9. NieR: Automata ver1.1a #03

I liked this episode quite a bit when I first watched it, but my opinion of it diminished after I played the game. Jackass was a fun character to be introduced to, and she had more agency in this episode than in the game. I also liked Adam’s birth scene (which is just as weird as it sounds), where he comes out as a machine and grows skin soon after, a detail not present in the game. My main issue comes from how quickly the confrontation with Adam is resolved, as I believe this is one of Automata’s more memorable fights. It sucks that this was the last episode we got to see since Episode 4 got postponed due to COVID, but at least it had some interesting ideas.

#8. Bungou Stray Dogs S4 #03

The way Ranpo solved the mystery in this episode was far stronger than in Episode 2, and Fukuzawa was badass in this episode too. The scene where Fukuzawa scolds Ranpo for needlessly putting his own life in danger cemented him as Ranpo’s father figure for me. Ranpo breaking into tears after such a scary situation was a great resolution to this arc. It sucks that the rest of the episode wasn’t as memorable, because the back half of the episode could stand up on its own.

Speaking of Fukuzawa, his breaking into this criminal organization was incredible, even though it was short. I love how this season of BSD is starting to incorporate more Kanada-style animation into its fights (here’s this episode’s example).

#7. NieR: Automata ver1.1a #01

Seeing the iconic opening moments of NieR: Automata animated in 2D was a wild experience. The new character designs were gorgeous, and the fight choreography was fun to watch. It could have been the perfect first episode for this adaptation, but some glaring issues held it back for me.

The most glaring problem is the CGI, which isn’t bad by itself, but does not mesh well with the current character designs. I also don’t know how to feel about reanimating these scenes 1:1 with the game when they could have done something different to separate themselves from the source material. It has more going for it than Episode 3, but it still falls flat.

That puppet section at the end was heat though.

#6. One Piece #1046

This episode has some of the best fight animation on this list. Zoro and Sanji’s banter is always fun to watch., making the first half of the episode fun.

I can’t say the same for the second half of the episode, where the pacing gets a bit too slow for my liking. Not much happens in this episode, either, outside of some new lore.

It’s less aesthetically confusing than NieR: Automata’s first episode, but if it weren’t for the visuals, this episode would rank much lower on this list.

#5. One Piece #1049

I liked the story of this episode a lot, especially as a follow-up to Episode 1048, expanding a bit more about Yamato’s past. I don’t want to spoil what happens in this episode’s flashback scene, but it was shocking, to say the least. I also took notice of Kaido’s justification for murdering everyone that showed kindness to Yamato. He believes that “they got in the way of educating my child. They deserved it”. It’s fascinating how he justifies his abusive behavior as a form of parenting.

The visuals are a mixed bag, though. While the fights for most of this episode look okay, I can’t say I remember much about the fight choreography in the first half (the animation is passable at best). What disappointed me the most was how they handled Momonosuke accidentally crashing through Onigashima. During that scene, they rapidly switched between a decent 3D model of Momo and some lame 6fps 2D animation. It sucks because this was one of my favorite comedic scenes during this arc, and the anime didn’t live up to the hype.

What DID live up to the hype were the last two minutes, which were PEAK CINEMA. You can click here to see for yourself, but the entire thing was animated by Akihiro Ota, someone who put out some of the best things to come out of One Piece last year. This looks like something one of the Akira animators would make in their prime, not some guy who works at Toei. One Piece is blessed to have this man on the animation team.

#4. Bungou Stray Dogs S4 #04

This is Season 4’s first non-flashback episode, and it’s fun.

One of my biggest issues with Ranpo’s character in previous seasons was that his “ultimate detective” schtick didn’t feel believable to me, but I haven’t felt that way with this season. Ranpo seems genuinely cunning and intelligent in this episode, especially with the added context of his flashback arc. Even when his opponent can erase all evidence, Ranpo still comes out on top, and it rules.

#3. NieR: Automata ver1.1a #02

This episode is a noticeable visual improvement compared to the first episode. The backgrounds are much prettier, and the machines have a nice cel-shaded look (something I didn’t appreciate in Episode 1).

I also liked the story, shifting the perspective to one of the enemy robots. It chronicles the robot’s fascination with flowers, which blossoms into love for the nature surrounding it (it has a tragic ending, though). It was an engaging short story encapsulating the feelings of the original NieR: Automata.

There has been a mixed reception of this episode since the events occur much later in the game, and showing it this early apparently breaks the impact of certain story elements later. Granted, I’m not too far into the game, but I don’t have an issue with this episode. One of Automata’s biggest draws for me was how surprisingly human these machines and androids were, and this episode is just a microcosm of that concept.

#2. Bungou Stray Dogs S4 #01

This is the episode that made me a Ranpo fan. His deductions in this episode were the most thought-out in the series. Every piece of the puzzle was already laid out, so it felt earned when Ranpo solved that puzzle.

One of the things you’ll notice when you first watch this episode is how grey everything looks. The black & white aesthetic of the episode sets this apart from previous flashback arcs and by extension, episode 2. It isn’t very sakuga-heavy for most of the episode, but the fight between Fukuzawa and Oda was fantastic. The character designs work incredibly well with the Kanada-style action, almost like they were made to be animated like this.

Also, baby Oda.

#1. One Piece #1048

I loved this episode. The whole flashback segment was great. Kid Yamato is adorable, and it makes Kaido’s cruel treatment of him even more painful to watch. Kaido threw his own son into a dark cave, along with the samurai that held a grudge against Kaido, just to show his disapproval of Yamato’s idolization of Kozuki Oden. This interaction in particular stood out to me:

“I’m Kaido’s child! I know [the samurai] have an ill-feeling towards me! If you give them swords, they’ll kill me right away!”
-Yamato

“What are you talking about? I thought you were Oden. Think about the meaning of that name.”
-Kaido

To Kaido, Oden’s name was a sign of shame, a reminder of the first person to ever injure him. His pride has been shattered by Oden’s efforts, so he sees Yamato’s idolization of Oden as another mark of shame. To Yamato, Oden’s name was a sign of hope, to be free from the shackles that held him down, and to take back the freedom that his father took away from him at a young age.

This episode is beautiful, too, with the most consistent art quality out of all the One Piece episodes on this list. The small amounts of sakuga in this episode are brilliant, especially in the last minute of the episode, animated by Vincent Chansard. The fluidity of movement in that scene was insane, with so many unique flourishes, like the string of impact frames that turn into another flashback scene (see the above example).

I love this episode, and it reminds me why I loved this series to begin with.

Well, that’s the end.

I’m probably not gonna make monthly lists the same way I did here since this took too much work to complete. Still, I hope you enjoyed reading, and I’ll try to watch more currently airing shows next month.

See you later.