RANDOM ANIME WATCH – EPISODE THREE

Third Episode Roundup

Spoilers ahead

Another

So, creepy ghost girl in creepy doll shop creepily asks Main Dude if he wants to see what’s under her eye patch. Naturally, no one who isn’t creepy as fuck would ask this, and we’re gonna have to assume that means creepy shit is there – ooooooh yeah, it’s a doll eye. It’s a glass doll eye. Totally normal and not at all terrifying.

Of course, she goths out about the dolls after showing Main Dude her creepy eye – “They’re all hollow, filled with the void of death.” I’m pretty sure I heard that in a My Chemical Romance lyric once. She then tells the Main Dude her origin story, amongst insanely heavy strings, but with just enough ambiguity that we can all pretend that she ISN’T DEAD WHEN WE ALL KNOW SHE IS.

And then she mysteriously disappears, and there’s a flashcut to a bunch of students talking about where they’re going to go to high school. This scene is five fucking minutes long. I don’t care about your grades, glasses kid. I don’t care that you want to go to Tokyo for high school, aggressive pigtails chick. What the fuck does any of this have to do with anything!? AAAAH – oh, hey, it’s 1998. This is a period piece, and I didn’t know it.

Oh, hey! Fiiiinally, creepy ghost girl finally admitted that she’s a creepy ghost girl! Woooo. So much dramatic music! Main Dude is stunned! I am really not! As I’m yelling at the dumbass, some girl leaves her class quickly with her umbrella and – HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT falls down the stairs and is impaled in the neck with the pointy end of her umbrella!

Well, that came out of nowhere and was a complete freak accident of a death. It’s almost as if Main Dude’s entire class is cursed because of creepy ghost girl.

ALMOST AS IF.

Still not sure what to think of this show – lots of unnecessary scenes, still trying too hard, and no one but the ghost girl tells Main Dude anything even though they all know, which is, as I said about Kado, one of my least favorite bullshit story shortcuts for tension.

But a girl got impaled in the neck with her own umbrella, so. I’ll keep watching.

Death Parade

Looks like we’re back into what I thought this was gonna be – a sort of “Purgatory story of the week” show. Two college age kids, a dude and a lady, show up at Purgatory Bar, and Pale Man and Audience In are there to greet them. Audience In is picking up her duties quickly, helping out the serious Pale Man in his arbitration.

Pale Man is also said to have a hobby creating manikins, which isn’t at all a disturbing thing to be interested in. But hey, he’s an inhuman being of judgement, whaddayagonnado?

Looks like the college kids are gonna bowl FOR THEIR LIIIIVES only not really, because they’re both already dead. The shock of their death made them forget. It’s all a big ploy to get the dead folk frightened enough to reveal their true selves. Also, the bowling balls have a representation of their hearts inside them, and they’re bowling with each other’s hearts. Last time pain was involved, but this time, they’re just like, having a nice, friendly game. Bowling with each other’s hearts. At the Purgatory Bar.

Wuh, oh. Memories are coming back. Which means we’re about to find out terrible, terrible things about these people.

OR DO WE?? Turns out they’re both adorable people and everything is cool! Aaawww, they have a heartfelt goodbye at the reincarnation elevators!

I will continue watching, and continue to gain pleasure from watching. I thought this was gonna be some weird Hell Girl situation, but naaah, it’s not all doom and gloom. Death can be kinda cute!

The Devil is a Part-Timer

Satan had to have the Hero guarantee that he’s an all right dude so he could take back his bike from the police! (Why the police have it is unimportant) They fight!

Satan’s General is dressing Satan for a date with Satan’s coworker! The show makes fun of Uniqlo! His adorably loyal General tails him so that the date goes well!

The Hero discusses the benefits of small boobs for breastplate costs!

The Hero gets into a public fight with the girl Satan goes on a date with!

Oh, and someone’s threatening both the Hero and Satan, something’s going on with earthquakes, and Satan gets some of his powers back.

But that’s not important because Satan’s General weeps over his inability to properly stock a refrigerator!

Man, this show is great.

Erased

The ambiance of this show really moves me. Everything about it feels like an adult reliving his past, the little things that used to be incredibly important to a younger you, and you’ve forgotten completely. But something sparks the memory, and it all comes flooding back  (of course, we usually get this through flashback in real life, not actual time travel, but hey, it works). The details are fantastic – the way the kids move compared to adults, the way the children talk to each other. It’s just a really well-done show aesthetically.

Meanwhile, the mystery is growing deeper, and it’s fantastic watching Satoru navigate the world as an adult in a child’s body. All the helplessness of childhood is mitigated somewhat, but he has to move carefully to not make people too suspicious, or to make himself a target.

And there are legitimately moving moments. Goose bumpy moments. A beautiful scene under a frozen tree, a scene of a child being physically abused that makes you sick to your stomach.

Still watching for sure.

Kado

I just realized one of my big problems with this anime. It’s a 2D computer animation, which feels super creepy. Nothing moves right to my eyes. Also, the art is just kinda bland, aside from the kick ass cube space ship.

Aaanyway. Show is still taking itself super seriously. Albino Bishi Alien wants negotiations for…whatever the fuck it is he’s negotiating for to be public to the world. So some really overworked staff set up a sad conference table in the middle of the air strip. Meanwhile, the media kvetch about whether or not our ABA is a God, and also offer him praise for his openness to media relations.

Purple Haired Negotiator Chick is running a psych analysis on Master Negotiator, Serious Faces abound, everyone is grim, blah blah blah blah. Also, Purple Hair Chick’s haircut is shiiiit – she has some sort of bob laying over hair that reaches her waist. Who cuts their hair like that!? MONSTERS, that’s who.

They’re negotiating whether or not ABA should talk about who he is. I didn’t even know that was something to negotiate. Isn’t that like…just a greeting? Anyway, he’s from outside the universe, and makes his arm itty bitty to steal a water bottle as an example of where he’s from. And he explains that Japan is the best place to negotiate giving infinite energy to humanity because there’s not too much economic disparity. Great. I guess the Nordic states were too chilly for ABA or something.

He demonstrates the power by having his companion cube vomit battery marbles on the table, and then linking a bunch of cords to it. IT’S SUPER CEREAL, YO. THESE BATTERY MARBLES WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING!

Ugh. The tone of this show, and the animation, are starting to urk me. But I’ll watch another one. I GUESS. I’m starting to get eeeeh when it’s time to press play, though.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

Oh, no, a Dutch steamer has been attacked! That could cause a war between the Netherlands and Japan, changing history for the worse! THAT CAN’T HAPPEN! BISHI ACTION TEAM – GO!

Muscle Man and Bad Boy are ON THE CASE, saving people on the ship! Meanwhile, Boyshorts McGee turns out to be a doctor as well as a short-shorts wearing anthropomorphic knife made human! The ship sinks, but the people are saved! Yay, probably no war!

Captain Hair informs the team that time didn’t change, and only nameless nobodies died. Badboy is totes angry that people died – really against death, this guy, for someone who is also a sword.

Anyway, looks like xenophobic terrorists from actual Japanese history are being helped by the Time Criminals to change history. Why? eeeeeh, who the fuck knows!? All Bishi Action Team know is that Little Reverse Loli Leader told them to, so FIGHT THEY MUST.

Turns out the terrorists aren’t so bad! Aside from their attempt to keep Japan a “pure” nation and kill any foreigners on their shores. You know, small shit. If only Badboy can make them stop attempting to kill a shitload of people so he can save their liiiives.

But he can’t – the Captain teaches him a lesson in letting dudes die if it’s historically necessary and the terrorists are slaughtered by the city constables. yaaaay.

Anyway, Action Bishi Team has a fight sequence, there’s a hilarious fight between clashing Bishis, they get a three day break before their next history jump and discuss the fun shit they’re totally gonna do, and the blood of Japanese nationalists runs in the river.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! *freeze frame*

MAN this show is stupid!

Third Episodes – COMPLETE

ANIME WATCH – EPISODE TWO

Second Episode Roundup

Time to dip into the second episode of these suckers. Spoilers, obvi.

Lost Village

I forgot most of these people already aside from Main Guy, Main Guy’s Potential Love Interest and Girl in Adorable Hoodie. Having 40 plus characters is not a plus, even if they’re given incredibly broad strokes for characterization. All I know about tall angry guy is he’s tall and angry and an asshole. Great.

Bus breaks down on the way to the mystical Lost Village. Mob of Unknowns walks there – we learn more boring backstory about Main Guy. Oh, great, he’s yet another youth who can’t look out for himself and needs someone else to take care of him – thus, his Best Friend With Dark Hair has joined him on this journey.

Now some OTHER asshole in the group – a glasses asshole – has the Mob of Unknowns give all their money to the surly bus driver. I guess because all these people are running away to the lost village to remake their lives, or whatever, and don’t need money anymore? Fine.

Jokes on them, though – they find the lost, abandoned village, and it just looks like some Japanese village from the 50s. Like, straight out of a Miyazaki semi autobiographical film. Shit’s grown over the buildings and stop signs and…is that a fucking school house?? Fine, okay, but they’re treating it like it’s mystical. I was expecting some like. In The Deep Past Village shit, not a post modern village that just needs a bit of cleanup.

Wh – someone is saying “Maybe the people who lived here built this up on their own?” That school wasn’t built without a backhoe, babe. It’s a ghost town, and a little spooky, not something removed from time built by the Hata or whatever. I’m severely disappointed by how people are treating the rusted bus stop as some sort of magic.

Boring flashback boring flashback, possible nefarious something in the town – oh, shit.

I’m watching Lost, the anime version aren’t I!? I refuse to be bored by all but a single episode of intrigue, only to be totally disappointed by the ending!

HARD PASS *swiftly removes from queue*

Let’s move on.

Sengokuchojyugiga.

Okay, see, here’s the deal – these episodes are literally three minutes long, including the credits, so I just watched a shitload in one go. Or, rather, I watched an episode, and then googled the historical Japanese figure who was being riffed on, and then watched another one, and then googled, etc etc. I’ve learned a stupid amount about the Sengoku period now, thanks to this short anime series. I watched like, seven in a row. They’re cute, they’re silly, they feel like the art project of a bunch of friends.

Will continue watching.

The Devil is a Part-Timer

We’ve got the first episode with the theme song. Cuuute! Oh, man, every moment of this is pure joy. The CELESTIAL HERO of the realm Satan is from IS CONFRONTING SATAN! With a 100 yen store knife! She works at a call center!

She’s trying to figure out Satan’s SINISTER PLAN! His plan involves going to the bathhouse on time! There’s cute fighting between Satan and the Hero!

They’re totally gonna dooo iiiieeeet.

Oh, also, there’s some underlying plot shit going on beneath all this cuteness. It’s unimportant because Satan’s bike tire got a flat!!

Will continue watching.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

We’re dropped back into the EEEEPPPIIC BAAATTLE That the first episode ended on! BISHI ACTION TEAM – GO!

Ooooh, one of them has a guuuun like a badboy! He’s gonna show these Time Criminals who’s boooooh, shit. That’s a lot of blood and cut up people. So I guess…time has been changed?

Totally unknown! Let’s go to Boyshorts McGee, who is killin’ smoke assholes by talking at them with his weirdly low voice! Badboy is shootin’ smoke bastards and scaring Dutch merchants! But it’s fine, the tiny fox creature who has magical computer powers says time wasn’t changed – just a lot of dead nameless guys, no biggie.

Woo! Tiny Boy Loli Leader has deemed The One With the Hair the team captain! They powwow at an inn and go around a circle to introduce themselves and share their favorite foods. Apparently they’re all weapons that gained sexy sexy human form. Because of course they are.

NOW! THEY! FIGHT! TIME! CRIMES!

This isn’t a great anime at all, but I’ll keep watching the Bishi Action Team for now.

Death Parade

Some chick wakes up in a tree, and a Young Girl Of Indeterminate Age takes her on a magic trolley to the Purgatory Bar. She seems strangely fine with this for not remembering her name or how she got here. INFODUMP – These people are the arbiters who determine who in a pair of humans who die together goes to heaven, and who to hell.

Ah, I see, this episode is the nuts and bolts of how the staff make the decision, showing the back end of the first episode. Looks like the nameless chick is our audience insert here, and is assisting the inhuman arbiters in choosing who gets reincarnated, and who gets sent to the void.

This show is genuinely enjoyable so far. Will keep watching.

Another

Creepy girl with an eye patch is still creepy. And also still a ghost, even if we aren’t supposed to know that yet I GUESS. Meanwhile, the main character is still clueless, and his classmates are acting weeeird. “No, don’t go into that room!” *he goes into that room*

What’s in the room!? It’s creepy ghost girl, who is acting seriously goth. “I’m drawing this picture of a woman with wings. Is she an angel? Who knows? I don’t. Let me tell you this in a monotone.” Being dead doesn’t mean you can’t give us a smile, luv!

Not much happens, and then Main Dude stalks the ghost girl like a fuckin’ creeper. And then he finds out from a nurse that the creepy girl is dead right when he follows the girl to a creepy as fuck doll shop. The creepy string music is turned up to eleven at this doll shop. Creepy ghost girl with an eye patch shows up again and we leave the show with her taking of the patch dramatically. Great.

One actual cool thing about this show is that the main character is into horror, and they keep referencing actual horror and thriller authors. Clearly someone on this show was fanning out.

I’m not sure what I think of this show so far. It’s trying…really really hard. WAY too hard. But I’ll keep watching for now.

Erased

Wooo, let’s get this shit started. So, last episode Main Sad Dude introduced that he is sent back in time a few minutes every now and then to look for stuff that’s changed, when he was a kid a child killer killed two people in his school and a dude was framed for those murders, his mom was killed in his apartment by someone who may be the actual killer, framing Main Sad Dude for murder in the process, and Main Sad Dude was sent back in time to 5th grade, right before the child murders.

WHEW! So now we’re in 1988, and Main Sad Dude has to figure shit ouuuut.

First of all, the art is seriously great. I really enjoy the quiet moments, and the detail. It’s really rather lovely.

And I enjoy that this guy who was such a sad sack and rather angry at his mom for being a bit flighty is now super appreciative of her now that he’s seen her murdered. He’s all “Thanks for dinner, mom!” And “I love you, mom!” And “You really work hard, mom!” I would like to show this to my sisters and give them hopeful feelings that their children at 29 will be launched back into their present day bodies after witnessing disaster and then treat them with respect.

I uh. I should also probably call my mom.

Anywhoozles, the guy goes about figuring out what he should do now – and obviously it’s to prevent the murders that happened when he was a kid. Wooo! Let’s see what he can do with an 11 year old body and the mind of an adult!

Absolutely gonna keep watching.

Kado

Okay, so some Master diplomatic negotiator was luckily absorbed into this giant fucking cube of doom that landed on a Japanese airport strip. How fortunate! Now the telepathic Albino Bishi Alien is talking to all of the people with the help of this negotiator. I guess some chick with purple hair is gonna negotiate for the human side, and this masterful diplomatic negotiator will go for the Albino Bishi Alien? Okay, whatever.

MAN, this show is taking itself super duper seriously. The premise got silly the moment that the Albino Bishi Alien in a Cloak of Awesome appeared at the top of his giant cube ship. And it didn’t help that he goes through a lengthy naked creation scene. Watching him try to learn how to speak to humans was pretty great, though. Lots of whale song. He also has a companion cube! Cyuuuuute.

Master Negotiator was the one who told him to wear a power cloak. This guy is fuckin goood.

We’re given a few silent montage panels of Alien Bishi telling ALL THE SECRETS of who he is and why he’s on earth to Master Negotiator, but get none of them. Great. I hate that in media. It’s a cheap way to create a cliff hanger.

And that stupid ploy worked. Damn it. I need to keep watching. If it bores me next episode, though, I feel no qualms about dumping it like I dumped The Lost Village.

Aight. Second episodes – COMPLETE.

RANDOM ANIME WATCH – The Beginning

So, I have a weird relationship with anime compared to some fans. I dip in and out, depending on whether or not something strikes my fancy on Crunchyroll, Netflix, Prime, Funimation – you know, the modern portals for watching our imported Japanese animated television shows. But I don’t follow the seasonal schedules, I’m missing a lot of “classics” in my have-watched repertoire, I have the most basic working knowledge of studios gleaned from other, much more knowledgeable fans I know (SEE: Jesse, Will and Tom). And, as I’ve said a few times on the podcast, I am no fan of Giant Robots, which I know is like saying I like sushi but only if it’s cooked.

I am, for all intents and purposes, a Casual Fan of the anime medium. I only come to mass on Christmas and Easter, I say I like chocolate but only eat Hershey’s, I can’t even lift, bro. Hell, when my life gets busy sometimes the only anime I’m watching is what’s assigned for the next pod recording (as of now it’s Ergo Proxy – no, I haven’t watched it yet even though it was wildly popular when released and has been around for a decade. Are you paying attention?)

But what I lack in knowledge, I gain from being able to watch each show without the baggage of millions of fan reactions. I get to approach each show and movie with a clean slate and form my own impressions.

So, with that in mind, I embark on a special project: RANDOM ANIME WATCH.

I’ll watch a random sampling of first episodes from the master show list on Crunchyroll. I’m choosing them based on name and description alone – I haven’t looked up anything on these shows in advance. At the end of each first episode of this sampling, if I want to watch more I’ll put it on a master list of shows I’ll be watching and reviewing at my own pace. If the show creeps into unwatchibility for me, I’ll drop it.

With all that in mind, LET US BEGIN

First one was a strike out for me: Alice & Zouroku. Magical girl being hunted by some evil corporation of evil, meets an old dude who makes…stuff for gangsters. There’s a chase scene where she’s in his car in the first ep, and she’s explaining the powers that her enemies have –

“She can summon a bow, and her twin can summon anything with a chain! Like a bike! Or a wrecking ball!”

Nope. What a fucking lame power! A cutsie relationship between an old curmudgeon and a girl dressed like a birthday cake isn’t enough for me to forgive something as stupid as “summoning anything with a chain” as the power that someone was given by some entity. What kind of pointless madness is that!? What, “firestarter” was too derivative? Now our little magical girls need to be able to summon chainsaws at a whim?? RABBLERABBLERABBLE, I refuse to watch twelve eps of that!

Pass.

The second struck my interest: KADO: The Right Answer. A giant cube from space lands at an airport outside Tokyo, absorbing a passenger plane. Scientists and the army and the govt tries to get inside it, to no avail. What’s going on inside the cube!?

HINT: It’s albino aliens.

Will watch more.

Third was a show called Erased. Feels kind of slice of life, dude trying to fulfill his dream of being a mangaka, but at 29, is failing and working at a pizza store. His mom is kind of childish, but loves him, he has a coworker who’s way younger and is a buddy –

– oh, and every now and then he goes back in time one to five minutes right before something terrible is going to happen. And he’s gotten in the habit of trying to prevent that terrible thing from happening. And there seems to be a serial murderer on the loose.

Will watch more.

Continued on with Eromanga Sensei, because it had sensei in the title. A light novel author in second year of high school without parents takes care of his recluse little step-sister. He doesn’t know who the illustrator of his books is – their pen name is the scandalous “eromanga”.

I WONDER WHO IT WILL BEEEEE!?!?!?

Lots of underage panty shots, a little girl draws erotic drawings and I get the impression that she’s a “stepsister” for a possible love interest future plotline.

HARD PASS.

The Lost Village struck my interest next, because it’s about youths looking for mysterious lost villages. Everyone was introduced like on Survivor by their online moniker. There were a lot of them. I don’t remember any of them but the three Yuunas. They’re all clearly tropey characters on the way to some Japanese Fantasy Island.

They sing a song about a hippopotamus. There’s a weird as fuck dream sequence. A bus driver goes crazy. Someone throws up on the bus driver.

I have no fucking clue what’s going on, and need to watch more.

Chose Another because I don’t remember. Looks like horror, I guess? The opening song is teeeerrible. Some kid has a collapsed lung and can’t start school. Creepy classmates visit him. There’s a really long scene in an elevator with an obvious ghost chick. The show’s music is delightfully disjointed. Fucking creepy ass dolls are used as transition pieces. Mysterious mystery is mystifying.

Yeah, I’ll keep watching.

Chose Sengokuchojyugiga because the art style is totally different. It’s pritay great, rando fuckin stories riffing on Japanese history and three minutes an episode. I’m gonna blaze through them.

On to Death Parade. Fancy bar, creepy bartender with white hair, a couple can’t remember how they got in the bar – they arrived on two separate elevators and all they can remember is driving on their honeymoon – and now they can’t leave the bar until they play a game. They’re playing darts, and the regions of the board are linked to parts of their body. They’re risking their lives while playing.

WHERE CAN THEY BEEEEEE!?!?

The art is nice, and I get to watch people argue violently with each other about the problems they had in life. I’m definitely going to watch.

Next is Katsugeki TOUKEN RANBU, which I’m watching straight up because the premise was obviously riffed on by Kiss Him, Not Me, and that made me laugh and laugh.

First of all, holy shit, it’s like, got a kitsune buddy animal or whatever!? He has a computer collar! Aaaawww. And the screen is yuuuuge. The quality was so good that I had to downgrade for it to run properly.

Basically it’s, what… Magical Time Cops? In historic Japan? Yeah, cool, okay. Art is aight. Story is interesting enough. The Child Who Is Learning isn’t too The Worst. His teacher gives him Earrings of Encouragement, and he learns he can’t change history by saving people from terrible things, you know, unless it’s convenient – the typical lesson of the time cop in training. Also, there’s a lot of wind of power. And it’s basically a team of bishis fighting evul. One of them is wearing fucking shorts.

Yeah, I can keep watching this.

Tenth show! I clicked on Drifters because it seemed like a historical drama, which is my weakness.

Art’s real nice if bloody as fuck. Almost ridiculously so. I started giggling at it, because it felt like something from a 13 year old boy’s notebook.

And then, purgatory. Agaaain. Man there’s something about purgatory. Only not? Because Our Main Character From Japanese History was sent to some…elf realm? And then a bunch of historical Japanese people meet and they’re all in this new world? And then they…pluck ducks? And there’s a fuckload of silliness – I can deal with – oh, wait, there’s some sort of autocratic war about to happen in this land.

I don’t have the patience to keep watching. Pass.

Finally, we’ve got The Devil is a Part-Timer.

Wow, the beginning is epic.  I was all, “Oh, no, Satan! Woooo, sky fight of dooooom! AAAH BATTLE INNA CAAAASTLE! OH NO SATAN! Escaaape from those aweful humans!

To Tokyo. Natch. Oh, no! He and his general are now teenagers and have no magic! Wait, no, Satan can still control minds. What the fuck are they speaking!? *googles* Engish, in a word substitution code. THAT must be a pain in the ass for the voice actors.

It’s pretty hilarious. A good fish out of water comedy. Watching Satan acquire the necessary goods to live life in Tokyo is pretty fantastic. Whole scenes of filling out applications and explaining health insurance and discussing the value of buying up front rather than in installments!

I am ALL OVER THIS SHIT. watchwatchwatch

Aight, let’s see what I’ll be watching from my random trip through the Crunchyroll –

• Kado
• Erased
• Another
• Death Parade
• Katsugeki Touken Ranbu
• The Devil is a Part-Timer
• Sengokuchojyugiga
• The Lost Village

To be continued! – Amber