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Jun 6, 2022

Koukaku Kidoutai: SAC_2045 Season 2 (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

I will preface everything by saying I absolutely detested the first season, and the rewatch I did in preparation of the second season coming out did nothing to change any part of my opinion of it. The bastardization of the characters, the absolute nonsense of the new world building elements, the seemingly arbitrary way the plot flowed around the characters rather than it being the normal push and pull of them and the factions they are fighting against, the muddying of the message regarding the nature of human relationship to technology and the implications it has to both our sense of self and our sense ... of a cohesive society, the annoying additions to the casts which seem to serve no purpose but to fulfill market preferences.

Again, I absolutely detested the first season. And I tell you this to say that I think this one is ok and might even retroactively increase my score of 3 to a 4 for the first season, maybe even a 5. Rather than being some weird addition to the canon interested in just making oethe characters status quo chance for the sake of being different, the second season, at least to me, seems at least a bit interested in cluing you in as to why all these changes which do not make sense with the latest interaction we had with these characters (the SAC universe, I mean, the argument SAC2045 is supposed to be a completely different one doesn't hold water with me because they keep referencing that previous series very heavily to the point that trying to separate the two is only needed because they messed up the first season so badly), and just in general focusing on showing Section 9 as competent people whose decisions are all part of a game where both sides are playing chess rather than playing tic-tac-toe while their enemies play Go.

Does the story reach the heights previous entries reached? No. Season 1 is a base of sand bricks which Season 2 tries to work on with mud ones, all in a failed attempted to resemble the stone temples that preceded it, but at the very least it doesn't feel that it's insulting the intelligence of the viewer while doing so. It's still probably the weakest part of the whole thing, but while the first season had me stopping after each episode to do just about anything else, I watched this season in three chunks not because I couldn't stand it, but because those felt like comfortable points to do so.

As for the rest, the visuals are amazing, even if I would prefer we had stuck to the old style, but then again I am a cell supremacist so I am just being an old curmudgeon about it. The fights do sometimes look very silly, however, with some sense of lack of weight to the movements or the impacts, although it was very inconsistent so I am not sure if it's just me or if I did something to mess with the image.

The music and the foley is ok. I still keep SAC's OST as part of my regular rotation of music. I don't think there was a single song here that I will remember by next week, but I didn't outright hate any of it. It worked, what else is there to say?

So yeah, this was ok, I wish that they had made the first season as good as this one so it wasn't a hate watch and this had a better foundation, but overrall... if they decided to continue this somehow, I wouldn't dismiss outright like I almost did for this one.

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Feb 17, 2022

Kamiarizuki no Kodomo (Anime) add

Recommended

This just needed a bit more to make it to an 8 and I honestly think that's probably the simplest way to put it. It's entertaining and I will certainly rewatch it periodically, specially with the kids, but it's not going to be a story I go around recommending.

Of particular note is that the story really is not very deep or thought provoking or honestly all that engaging, and it all comes down to how the the main character doesn't really feel like they are in an adventure but rather being zoomed around by forces beyond their understanding to beautiful locales for the sake of ... the plot with little engagement or signs of difficulty in regards to the allege main element of the story which is the running. In fact, if she had just been going around in Heelys how would we have known the difference? When one of the main elements of your story doesn't feel like it matters and has basically no stakes other than being told that it does, you have a problem.

But let us talk about those beautiful locales for a minute. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and I can almost feel they were traced from pictures of the locations they were visiting and it does so with the appropriate vibrancy that you need to make them pop and want to visit them. If you told me most of the budget went to them I would believe you because the animation is mostly adequate but not particularly great. Many times the actual animation felt like it was being run at 8fps when it clearly wasn't and I would even be able to begin to explain how they manage that but it seems to be something only really affected the beginning and the rest of the film felt significantly more fluid and there was less of a disconnected between what you could hear and what you could see.

And what you can hear is going to be the most cliche stuff ever, down to the foley. But you know what? Cliches exist because they work and everything about the sound just worked for me. The VA is on point, the music always fits the mood even if the animation doesn't, and there is a certain vibrancy that is felt with sounds of the stuff in the film. I got nothing deep to say, I just liked it a lot and it added a great deal to the experience of watching the group travel to fulfill their mission.

And I am glad it did, because I can say this with complete certainty: I don't care about the trio. I don't mean I hate them, because that is giving far more emotional weight than they ever provided though out and while I could forgive that Shiro wasn't going to be the next Sam in cute rabbit form or that Yasha was always just going to end up apparently learning to support her through the power of friendship, but what really, really, really made me not care much was Kanna herself. If my comments about the story didn't make it clear, the cracked central pillar of the film is Kanna and how despite all the attempts at making us care about her deep connection between running and the love she had for her mother, she acts in the most boring and flat way possible in regards to it and her experience with it except when the plot absolutely demands she be sad. One of the best ways to make you feel for the character and enter their state of mind is the little actions they take to provide us with a context of how their whole lived experiences affect them, but at least from what we saw Kanna existed in four memories and there is literally nothing more her. If you truly are not going to make the running and its struggles in general be a bigger part of the plot, at least make her struggles shape and provide us with nuances of who she is and why. TL;DR: I don't like Kanna and she somehow feels the weakest of all characters when Shiro exists.

But, did I enjoy it? Yes, absolutely. I enjoyed it greatly as an exploration of Japan, I enjoyed it greatly as a visual spectacle and I enjoyed it in the same way you enjoy a children's film when you are older and have more opinions about even the little things in life. As a way to enjoy 99 minutes of your life while being dazzled, I have found worse options and I feel this can safely be put in list of movies I will rewatch with enjoyment even if I didn't like specific aspects of it. Go watch it but the right expectations and you will find it worth your time.

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