What I’ve Been Up To March 11th - March 17th 2024
This is meant to just be general thoughts on shows I watched last week. I won’t go particularly in-depth probably, but mileage may vary. There may be vague spoilers for some of these shows, so probably better to read this after watching, but I will endeavor to avoid any particularly egregious spoilers or make it so you can avoid spoilers if you so choose.
ARIA: The Animation
I’m making my way through the ARIA franchise. For those unfamiliar, ARIA is a calm slice of life/iyashikei series about Venetian-style gondola guides in a futuristic version of Venice set on what is essentially a terraformed Mars. It’s got its sci-fi and fantasy elements, but the episodes are focused very much on the characters’ daily lives in this town as they train to become undines. Much of its fantasy is never quite explained, it just kind of happens, and much of its sci-fi is just treated as somewhat matter of fact, although our main perspective character, Akari, is someone from “Manhome” (Earth, basically) who has moved to “Aqua” (Mars), so we do get explanations of certain differences there. Every episode has a sort of theme for its story which leads into a lesson for its characters (and by extension, the audience). Its themes often connect back to an overarching theme of “living in the moment and enjoying/appreciating life”. The series is very slow, and wants you to take away from it that you can slow down and appreciate the little things; find happiness and comfort in your surroundings.
I’ve already seen ARIA The Animation, ARIA The Natural, and ARIA The OVA: ARIETTA once before. I was somewhat rushed the first time, and while I don’t think that this series is impossible or necessarily bad to binge, I do think it is better watched as a way to cool off from a long day. I’ll be making my way through the Animation at a pace of 2 episodes per day because I want to catch up to my schedule, and also because I’ll be watching with a friend once I get to the Natural again, at which point I’ll slow down to 1 episode per day. So expect this to appear in these posts frequently, as I intend to keep making my way through this series slowly, and I’ll probably have a more episodic approach to this series in these posts, although they will probably omit much of this introductory fluff.
As for the first 6 episodes so far, they’ve been very pleasant! A bit better than I remember them, if I had to say. The first episode is a fantastic introduction to the world, themes, and characters. It also sets up the narrative framing of Akari and Ai’s correspondence quite nicely, which is a way in which the show reflects on its themes and adds a sense of sentimentality to things, by having Akari and Ai send each other letters and those letters be read over the introductions to episodes and/or endings to episodes at heartfelt moments.
The second episode I enjoyed a bit less. Aika was introduced in the first episode, but this episode is really the establishing episode for her character, and it’s also the introductory episode for Akira. Aika is fun and an excellent part of the core dynamic, but as Alice has not been introduced yet, she’s not as strong at this point, and even more to this episode’s detriment is Akira. I like Akira, knowing what I do about future episodes, but in this episode she doesn’t come across great. She is characterized as strict, and that’s not wrong, but we don’t have a lot of the more endearing and caring side of her established yet. Akira’s dynamic with Alicia, Akari’s teacher, makes her a bit more charming as they comedically bounce off one another well, but their gags together this episode are also repetitive. It’s by no means a bad episode, and it has a nice message and resolution, but it drags a bit and its focus characters are some of the weaker of the bunch.
The third episode is Alice’s introduction, and, assuming I remember future episodes correctly, even considering those, this is one of my favorite episodes of the series as far as I have seen, and definitely the highlight of the 6. Alice is my favorite character of the group, and the way this episode establishes her insecurities being seen as a “prodigy” at such a young age, her worldview and criticisms of her peers, as well as her relationship with Akari as they meet one another and grow closer. Akatsuki gets a proper fleshing out this episode, but he’s kind of annoying. What really shines is how Alice’s changing view of Akari informs the audience both on Alice’s character, but also Akari’s. Both shine brilliantly this episode, and it makes for some really comfy viewing.
The fourth episode introduces the more supernatural side of things. It’s properly sentimental and meaningful, but in general I find the more supernatural episodes to be my least favorites besides the ones focused on the cat presidents. I do think these episodes have a place in the show and really expand on the world in ways which I like, but their stories tend to be less meaningful to me, as they feel less grounded. The episodes are still good generally, as this one is enjoyable while melancholy. This is more of a taste thing.
The fifth episode is a training episode for the young undines, being trained by the veterans. The aspect of these characters as trainees trying to improve in their field and work hard is established earlier on, but this is definitely more focused on this element than other episodes. It also ties into the themes of taking time to enjoy yourself, though, and thematically ties working hard and enjoying yourself together in a way which I really like. Very pro-healthy work-life balance.
Finally, the sixth episode is the introductory episode for the last of the core cast, Athena. Athena being Alice’s instructor means more time for Alice, which is typically nice, but this is admittedly probably my least favorite of these 6 episodes. Part of that does have to do with Athena being a bit less fun of a character to follow. She’s low energy and forgetful in an absurd way, which I can definitely get the humor there working for others, but I didn’t find the gags involving her that funny. Even moreso, Alice being so young, a lot of her humor has to do with childish misconceptions and things she does. This sometimes works to great effect, but in this episode it’s played a lot more comedically than in Episode 3. This isn’t an inherent negative, there are future comedic Alice-focused episodes which have her act childish and it works well, but the repeated physical abuse and beratement of her left hand as a joke and analogue to her beratement of Athena for her absentmindedness doesn’t play super well. The episode has a nice resolution which still hits that emotional beat effectively, but the experience of watching the episode isn’t the most fun. It’s still a good episode, it was just structurally not something I was fond of.
Mahoutsukai Precure
I’ve made it through 34 episodes of Mahoutsukai Precure so far, watching an episode every day 6 days a week with a group of friends. I probably won’t give the episode-to-episode thoughts for this show, since it’s generally pretty formulaic and on an episodic basis there’s not that much to say. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly familiar with the Precure franchise overall. I’ve watched HUGtto! Precure to completion, and watched the first few episodes of Kirakira☆Precure a la Mode, as well as the first episodes for Smile Precure!, Star☆Twinkle Precure, and Tropical-Rouge! Precure, which I know sounds like a lot, but when there are over 20 series in the franchise and franchise entries average about 50 episodes per series, it’s hard to claim familiarity at my point. That said, this series generally follows a monster-of-the-week formula with occasional plot advancement. It is a bit odd in how it goes about its overarching plot. It’s not experimental to split the 50 episode run into basically 2 halves, but I did find it odd that halfway through the series [kinda major plot spoiler, highlight to see] the main antagonist up to that point is defeated, and the second half features an entirely new cast of antagonists. The girls have collected all the linkle stones they know of, and now are…interacting with this weird toy carriage from a dream episode? And their linkle stones have manifested some weird floating charms with faces which they’ve noticed but not done much about and when they complete some things they say a little phrase naming their linkle stone and they disappear into the toy carriage? Honestly the show felt over halfway through, and everything after that point has felt unnecessary, although there are things about this half I enjoy and would say could make for a good series if they cut the plot about the new antagonists and the linkle stones out. [End of Spoilers] Probably the best part of this series is the slice of life, and I do feel like it’s a missed opportunity to not just have the show be about Mirai, Liko, and Haa-chan living their lives going back and forth between the magical and non-magical worlds and sometimes doing Precure things I guess. You can have a lot of the same personal conflicts that the characters face without an antagonist to push them. I get that every week we need a new monster to defeat and to have a Precure transformation sequence, but I can’t help but feel like the show is held back by following the Precure formula. As such, I end up pretty underwhelmed by the series on the whole. There are things I like, but there’s not a ton of that here, and episodes more often give me a couple small laughs than keep me consistently entertained. There aren’t episodes which I thought were particularly good or memorable. The show is just kind of light fluff for me, and I wouldn’t particularly recommend it, whether you’re a fan of mahou shoujo or not. Other Precure series have much more to offer you.
Aikatsu on Parade!
I know I haven’t posted about Aikatsu! since I made my initial review of the first 50 episodes, but in the time since, I have seen to completion every single anime in the Aikatsu! franchise besides this one. This includes the rest of the seasons of the original Aikatsu! series, Aikatsu! Music Award: Minna de Shou wo Moraima SHOW!, Aikatsu!: Nerawareta Mahou no Aikatsu! Card, the Aikatsu! Movie, Aikatsu! 10th STORY: Mirai e no STARWAY, both seasons and the movie for Aikatsu Stars!, both seasons of Aikatsu Friends!, and the series and movie for Aikatsu Planet!. Needless to say, I am a fan of the franchise. Its myriad series have varied in quality quite a bit, and different series go for their own tones, themes, and aesthetics, trying new things and bringing the series in many different directions. Aikatsu on Parade! is no different in this regard, however, I can’t say I’m much enjoying it compared to previous Aikatsu! series. The primary hook of on Parade is that it unites the various series of the franchise together, having its main character, Raki Kiseki, traverse between these worlds and interact with the many idols we’ve grown to know and love from the original show, Stars!, and Friends!. In some ways, it is a celebration and look back at the franchise. However, it does this in the span of 25 episodes, and while Raki does have something of a goal in finding her sister and getting to perform in a premium rare dress of her own design, the focus being on the other characters (who have no idea what’s going on really) doesn’t give the overall series much in the sense of direction, and rather it feels like we’re randomly jumping into other characters’ lives and inserting Raki, and sometimes other characters from the franchise who have found themselves displaced.
It should be noted that I am currently only 7 episodes into the series by the end of the week, watching at a pace of 2 episodes per day going forward, so this is by no means a complete opinion of the series, but I have yet to be really impressed, and some things are already starting to irk me. The transition of all characters to the Friends! design philosophy is something I’m not sure if I fully agree with, although the updated performance scenes are a boon, especially when there are typically 3 performances per episode, taking up half the runtime of every episode. And that’s another thing which bothers me, that half of every episode is just performances. I do love many songs from the franchise, and revisiting them is very nice. One of my favorite things about this show is that they tend to use one of the Ending Themes from previous series as its ending theme where it can, and otherwise, if it can’t fit a series Ending Theme in, defaulting to a somewhat sentimental rendition of “Aidoru Katsudō!”, the 2nd song ever performed in the franchise, while scrolling through a still image of characters from different series mixed and matched to each other as they bond over similarities. It’s clearly got lots of love for Aikatsu!, and it does make me emotional as a fan of the franchise. However, spending nearly half of the runtime of 25 episodes on performances alone I can already tell is going to be tiring. I originally meant to binge this series, but after the first 5 episodes found myself unmotivated to continue, and thus opted to spread the show out across several days, which will hopefully result in a more fun experience. It takes away a lot of space for the characters, in particular Raki, who I find unremarkable so far, and at times mildly annoying. One character who I didn’t really like from Stars!, Tsubasa, I didn’t like because of their general strictness, but I have to admit, when she scolded Raki, I found myself supporting Tsubasa. Raki isn’t particularly considerate, and while the show does kind of seem to be addressing that and making clear that that’s not right, it hasn’t made Raki a compelling character to follow thus far. I do appreciate Raki’s inclination to listen, learn, and reflect, showing a willingness to apologize and own up to her mistakes, so maybe I’ll grow to like her more as the show goes on, but she’s not started on the right foot.
I will note, while most episodes were unremarkable, Episode 7 (the last one I watched this week) was a standout. It’s the first episode featuring the members of Soleil, the main trio of the original series, and their chemistry was fantastic this episode. Their interactions were fun and personable, moreso than any of the other groups Raki’s met thusfar. It does help that Soleil has my some of my favorite characters in the franchise and in general probably the best chemistry, but it’s not like the other groups are ones I dislike or find ill fitting in their interactions when watching their respective series, and in this show they feel plastic sometimes, which leads me to not much enjoy the episodes. Hopefully this last episode is indicative of a trend which will continue into the future.
Jewelpet Happiness
I’ve been going through the Jewelpet franchise for a while with some friends, and recently started watching Jewelpet Happiness at a somewhat irregular pace (basically an episode any night we are all available). I’m only a 11 episodes in and we’re moving at a snail’ pace. There will probably be weeks where I don’t talk about the show because either we watched so little I don’t have anything to really update or some weeks we may watch none of it.
I would not consider myself a fan of the franchise thus far, per se. I enjoyed Jewelpet Kira☆Deco! and Jewelpet Sunshine somewhat, but wasn’t fond of Jewelpet Movie: Sweets Dance Princess and very much did not like Lady Jewelpet. In general, the franchise is very absurd, both with its comedy and its drama, not necessarily in a bad way, but it does take some getting used to and its out there ideas sometimes aren’t really palatable to a wide audience.
Jewelpet Happiness so far largely follows the same formula as other Jewelpet series in terms of its episodic structure with a vague end goal the characters are working towards. It’s got a mixed cast of human and Jewelpet characters, the humans being entirely unique to this series, while the Jewelpets are recurring from series to series with a few exceptions (although not having the same memories or sometimes even the same personalities, as each series is its own isolated continuity). So far, I haven’t found any episodes particularly noteworthy. I was a bit hyped for this season, as the director, Hiroaki Sakurai, also directed other shows I enjoyed such as Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan and Machikado Mazoku. I do think his comedic style shines through in this show as well, but I don’t find this show as entertaining as those other two shows I have listed, which isn’t too surprising after being so bored by the Jewelpet movie, which he also directed. Likewise, I don’t find this entry as entertaining as Kira☆Deco or Sunshine, as it both is less absurd and has less interesting human characters. I’ve not found the comedy as interesting in this one as those other two. Ruby has connected with a human named Chiari, both being clutzes, and this is probably the most consistently effective humor, as it does provide some variety in how they go about messing things up. There are a couple jokes which get a chuckle from me in most episodes, but there are a lot of jokes per episode, and most aren’t too funny. The episodic storylines are also pretty weak, as they tend to revolve around a Jewelpet and a human character connecting with one another to produce a magic jewel, the jewel box filling being the main goal of the Jewelpets this season. These plotlines often feel rushed, and connections aren’t too naturally built up. Sometimes the ways in which the characters connect don’t make sense. Sometimes their connections feel fake. I have yet to feel any emotion from the characters connecting with one another and bonding over their shared experiences, either because the experiences are bland or the characters don’t actually feel like they’ve grown closer. I will say, I do like some of the more recent episodes more than some of the previous episodes. It helps that Peridot and Diana are some of the more fun Jewelpet characters, and we’re getting Sango next episode, who is also a character I enjoy. It is disappointing that some of the core characters I enjoyed from other series haven’t been as effective here, though. Garnet is largely held back thusfar with little time to delve into her diva side since she’s often forced into the role of the responsible one in this series. Sapphie had a pretty good episode, but in general isn’t doing a lot of the out there sciencey things she usually does. Angela is kind of doing some neat stuff here and there, but her focus episodes have been somewhat weak, so she mostly shines in a supporting role. The series is by no means bad, and it could absolutely pick up in the remaining 40 episodes, but I find myself somewhat bored for much of the runtime each episode, which isn’t what I want when I sit down and watch a show. The jokes I and my friends crack while watching the episodes together are sometimes the most enjoyment I get from an episode. I’ll continue this show, because I’m watching with friends, but it’s definitely not one I would suggest people spend their time on, especially when there are other entries in the same franchise which are more entertaining.
Cowboy Bebop
Oh yeah and I guess I’m rewatching Cowboy Bebop with some friends. I know it looks like everything I’m watching right now is in a group setting with friends, but that’s mostly been because I’ve been busy and also somewhat recovering from the burnout from juroring for the r/anime Awards, so my group watches were almost all of my watching for last week. I promise there’ll be more shows I watched on my own in this week’s post.
Anyway, I only started this rewatch on Sunday, so we’re still only an episode in. My pace with the show is going to be somewhat sporadic as the group watch happens when I am usually at work, unfortunately. That said, Episode 1 was as amazing as I remember it. We’ve only met Spike and Jet so far, essentially just establishing the world and these 2 characters and their dynamic in this episode, but that’s all it really needed to do, alongside telling a gripping episodic story about their bounty this episode. It’s beautifully well crafted, nails both the comedic and dramatic beats, with an emotional ending, and sets up the series for its run perfectly. One of my favorite first episodes of any anime out there. If you haven’t seen Cowboy Bebop already, definitely give it a try. It’s one of my all-time favorites and a classic.
