@Full Moon wo Sagashite yea, I saw that coming, closer to Cardcaptor. But you have to recognize you binged it in record speed, it's entertaining. Wich for me is worth a few rating points in and by itself. Your 5 is perfectly consistent with your Cardcaptor rating, though.
Smart policy, I'm a bit less strict about it but have similar precautions against impulse rating. A 10/10 usually is only assigned by "bubbeling up" existing lower scores, and only after some time has passed. Also, anything >= 9/10 requires sleeping over it.
Otherwise, glad we agree on the quality. It's an amazing little show which maxes out it's runtime. Pretty much the only criticism I can come up with is the arc o the comedy duo, which I never felt integrated into the whole very well. It#s a nice arc, but if it was removed you'd not notice really.
If you're interested in character development then I'd suggest trying Tsugumomo season 2, it's gets a lot more serious, less fan service and the ending was unexpected to say the least, but i don't want to spoil it. It has a much more dramatic feel than s1 that felt like an ecchi harem.
We were left on a cliff hanger and I'm hoping for a s3.
Read your latest reviews, liked the look of Humanity Has Declined so thanks for the suggestion! I haven't seen Shakagan no Shana but i really liked Tsgumomo and recently saw the 2nd season as it was airing.
"Cagliostro no Shiro" is similar in style and tone to the 2nd half of the TV show. Actually one of it's core visual ideas, the scene where Lupin and the villain fight in a gigantic mechanical clockwork, was re-used from one of the TV episodes.
Another good entry point is the reboot Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna and it's sequel movies. Modernized version produced by Shinichiro Watanabe with mature tone, tons of R+ nudity, and trippy visuals. The story is a bit forced, but the visuals are really gorgeous. The reboot assumes no familiarity with other Lupin shows.
For the record, Lupin III dramatically changes half-way trough. The first half follows the manga closely, which means it's dark and people die of bullet wounds. The 2nd half then is Takahata/Myazaki and has a much more comedic tone and no more dead, just cartoon violence played for laughter. What it does is remain episodic. Back then the 1st cour had bad ratings, so they did that change and it's very visible.
Thanks for the FR. I see you recently finished Assault Lily Bouquet and also added Strawberry Marshmellow to your ptw list, exactly the same as me. I'm currently watching Hidamari Sketch after seeing @inim score it so highly and it's great, maybe even as good as Yuru Yuri, but with such an artistic flourish.
With a standalone "drama" tag, this sounds like trouble for the couple. Fortunately no romance or even ecchi tags. Also it has Koi wa Ameagari no You ni as first recommendation. Looks like I can trust you here, let the anime production begin :)
Quick answers for your previous questions. I don't use social media without anonymisier, so I don't have any subscriptions on youtube - i never log into it. I really search each time and watch what looks most promising as a review. There are some channels which pop up more frequently, e.g. Under The Scope (Great Monogatari analysis series in his playlist!), Glass Reflection (Fairly mainstream, still much better than Gigguk & Co), Anime Abandon (for old OVA), KaiserBeamz, Alt Shift X (not for anime). There are some smaller ones I can't remember the names right now.
As for real world people to talk about anime with, I have one friend who is into anime deeply, unfortunately she's very prototypically into shoujo and the subset is small. We literally don't share a large set of anime we both watched, leave alone liked. It's still fun to learn from her. I've got a handful of people on MAL I chat with, that's in the end why I'm here :)
Yuru Camp is better than meets the eye, from a directorial point of view. There's a lot of good and subtle visual storytelling going on. For example, there is scene shot at the very beginning where Rin (the loner girl) drives up a forest path to the camping ground alone. At the end, Nadeshiko is shown with an identically cut scene doing the same. This symbolizes, imho, how both girls changed each other. Rin is still a loner, and Nadeshiko is still a genki chatterbox. Yet, both shared this feeling the scene stands for. Nadeshiko doesn't "remove" Rin's loner attitude, and Rin merely accepts the genki nuisance Nadeshiko is. But they both at the end understand the "why" of their difference, without the dumb end of "changing" each other. They are what they are, but they now understand people who are different better - and occasionally start to enjoy new behavior which was alien for them before. This is a lot of character development, imho, so I disagree the chars are static. They are very dynamic, and a lot of change happens. It's just very, very subtle and not heavy handed like most anime. (I vaguely remember this was shown well in an Under the Scope review video, you may want to check that if you are interested).
First of all, congratulations on finishing Koi Kaze. It's a highly controversial anime you'll find dropped and punished with 1/10s quite often. Which has of course to do with the double taboo subject matter. Here's my tag notes, I think we agree on the emotions this one evoked, just assess them differently.
Koi Kaze (Love Wind, 2004)
Blood related incest and age gap romance. Walks the thin line to wish-fulfillment and is aware of it. The anime doesn't judge. It shows, in a character driven, nuanced way. Everything is wrong with the story, but it's narrated really well. (7/10)
The key words here are "doesn't judge" and "everything is wrong". That's very painful to behold, there is no helping hand by the director to condemn what clearly is both illegal and morally dubious. The main character is torn and tormented by the situation, this is the opposite of a feel good anime. KoiAme takes a similar situation and makes it feel good. The key difference here is that in it's case, the MC doesn't reciprocate the emotion of the younger woman, in Koi Kaze he does. Which both are equally realistic, imho. That's what I meant when I said they are similar, they show two sides of the same coin.
The question here is: are disturbing and uncomfortable anime "good", or are they "bad". I personally like them, despite the fact that I feel bad after watching them. Some favorites from that type are Saibi, The King of The Pigs, Gunslinger Girl, Koi Kaze, Shiki, School Days, and Aku no Hana. To a lesser degree also Texhnolyze, Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku, Wolf's Rain, Shigofumi and many more. It's probably an acquired taste, and I'm in no position to be "disappointed" because you don't like anime which objectively makes one angry, unhappy, and unsettled. I personally consider making such stories as hard if not harder than feel-good versions of the same subject matter. There's also more potential for things to go very wrong and become annoying and pretentious. It's a thin line. Point is that Koi Kaze is nearly perfect in leaving you alone with your anger and bad emotions. I promise you it's moral dilemma will linger with you for some time, maybe longer than many feel good "inspirational" stories. At least it does for me, and the fact it's still famous after 15 years is a sign of it.
Your observations on Kaname and the forced feel of the ending are shared by many. Kaname is closest to a moral compass the anime has to offer. And the ending is of course "deus ex machina". They both agree to meet for sex once a year and otherwise just drop all emotions isn't realistic. A more realistic solution would be suicide, imho. But the anime goes the pseudo-happy end road, maybe because TV producers wanted to end on a high note. But then again, this unrealistic ending creates even more cognitive dissonance as it shows a fake solution, deepening the viewers confusion.
I hope my blurb isn't too pretentious. There's nothing wrong with you not liking Koi Kaze, it's pretty much designed to be unlikeable and obviously is doing an excellent job at it. Which for some, including me, makes it great.
KoiAme still works in the back of my head, so I looked up a few reviews. Ultimately I'm torn between a 7 and an 8. It stands out too much for just a 7, but arguably Tachibana is dangerously close to a plot device character. She's the empty vessel emotionless girl with strong yet unfounded behavior type, e.g. like Rei in EVA. This youtube review comes to very similar conclusions I came to, and I swear I didn't watch it before. The point is direction and art are really S-tier, and the writing while using plot devices is really good. In 2018, this anime competes with Yuro Camp and A Place Further Than the Universe, which I rated 7 both. One of them probably should be an 8, but which one? They are all outstanding in their genres.
As for director Ayumu Watanabe, I heard of "Naso no Kanojo X" and probably should watch it. What he's really famous for is Uchuu Kyoudai (Space Brothers), a staple in adult SoL and on UEC's "Best 100 of all time" list. He also made a lot of money for his studio with years of Doraemon, which is a toy cash cow all over Asia. So he's probably able to pick passion projects of any type as a reward. This anime is clearly one, the other is Kaijuu no Kodomo (Children of the Sea). That's one of the best animated anime I've seen, think KoiAme but at feature film budget. Problem with that one for me is that it has almost no plot, it strictly is trippy and beautiful. Insofar KoiAme is really important, as it makes clear he is not only good at visuals.
Couldn't stop to binge, done :) You were right about the 2nd half, very different. But I think I like it as much, because it has the realistic take on their relation. For the alternative ending, I repeat my recommendation for Koi Kaze ... I'm also happy that the sexualization in the beginning was indeed intentional and a good directorial way to show and not tell her hormone crazed emotions. It completely stopped in the 2nd half, which is far better than sending the same plot point in dialog or (yuk) exposition dump even. My assessment of the director's ability was right, he's good.
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni (After the Rain, 2018)
A 17 year old teen is infatuated with her much older boss. What sounds like a middle-aged man's wish-fulfillment show turns out to be a poetic, powerful adult SoL drama about growth. Stellar animation and character design, good writing. Surprised me. (7.5/10)
Don't get that wrong, I'm certainly not a prude or SJW and if one can not live with sexualization, anime is the wrong hobby. I've watched > 100 ecchis, including pretty much all of the notorious ones. As a movie / anime fan, sexualization is problematic to me when it's not honest, i.e. when it pretends to be innocent but uses smart visual tricks to do the opposite. KoiAme pulls a few of these, but that's probably ok because it doesn't overdo. Unlike, say, Eromanga-sensei which keeps the camera rolling the decisive 3 seconds too long often. KoiAme shows the shot, but it cuts it short. That's why I said the director knows his craft well, he knows the shot but is not exploitative enough to make it any longer then "necessary". I need to see how the full story works out, so far it's acceptable.
There were two scenes close to the edge (her taking his phone call on her bed in her moms apartment, and the storage room listening scene). She's a hot girl of my favorite stereotype - emotionally stunted, shy hime-cut beauty similar to a Yamato Nadeshiko - just like Mio (K-On!), Shirase (A Place Further Than the Universe), Tomoyo (Cardcaptor Sakura), or Kuroneko (Oreimo). Portraying her hotness and sexuality is fine, given at 17 she's pretty much peaking both.
I've checked your list and I think if the subject matter of age gap interests you, you really should watch Koi Kaze. It puts blood related incest and loli on top of 12 years of gap, heavy. The conflicting emotions of the older male are a main topic in it, and it's also never explicit or exploitative. The director did Natsume's Book of Friends and Baccano!, he's a good one. The art and animation is not nearly as good as in KoiAme, which is gorgeous beyond words.
All Comments (17) Comments
Otherwise, glad we agree on the quality. It's an amazing little show which maxes out it's runtime. Pretty much the only criticism I can come up with is the arc o the comedy duo, which I never felt integrated into the whole very well. It#s a nice arc, but if it was removed you'd not notice really.
We were left on a cliff hanger and I'm hoping for a s3.
Have a good day!
Another good entry point is the reboot Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna and it's sequel movies. Modernized version produced by Shinichiro Watanabe with mature tone, tons of R+ nudity, and trippy visuals. The story is a bit forced, but the visuals are really gorgeous. The reboot assumes no familiarity with other Lupin shows.
Hope you've had a festive end of year.
As for real world people to talk about anime with, I have one friend who is into anime deeply, unfortunately she's very prototypically into shoujo and the subset is small. We literally don't share a large set of anime we both watched, leave alone liked. It's still fun to learn from her. I've got a handful of people on MAL I chat with, that's in the end why I'm here :)
Yuru Camp is better than meets the eye, from a directorial point of view. There's a lot of good and subtle visual storytelling going on. For example, there is scene shot at the very beginning where Rin (the loner girl) drives up a forest path to the camping ground alone. At the end, Nadeshiko is shown with an identically cut scene doing the same. This symbolizes, imho, how both girls changed each other. Rin is still a loner, and Nadeshiko is still a genki chatterbox. Yet, both shared this feeling the scene stands for. Nadeshiko doesn't "remove" Rin's loner attitude, and Rin merely accepts the genki nuisance Nadeshiko is. But they both at the end understand the "why" of their difference, without the dumb end of "changing" each other. They are what they are, but they now understand people who are different better - and occasionally start to enjoy new behavior which was alien for them before. This is a lot of character development, imho, so I disagree the chars are static. They are very dynamic, and a lot of change happens. It's just very, very subtle and not heavy handed like most anime. (I vaguely remember this was shown well in an Under the Scope review video, you may want to check that if you are interested).
Blood related incest and age gap romance. Walks the thin line to wish-fulfillment and is aware of it. The anime doesn't judge. It shows, in a character driven, nuanced way. Everything is wrong with the story, but it's narrated really well. (7/10)
The question here is: are disturbing and uncomfortable anime "good", or are they "bad". I personally like them, despite the fact that I feel bad after watching them. Some favorites from that type are Saibi, The King of The Pigs, Gunslinger Girl, Koi Kaze, Shiki, School Days, and Aku no Hana. To a lesser degree also Texhnolyze, Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku, Wolf's Rain, Shigofumi and many more. It's probably an acquired taste, and I'm in no position to be "disappointed" because you don't like anime which objectively makes one angry, unhappy, and unsettled. I personally consider making such stories as hard if not harder than feel-good versions of the same subject matter. There's also more potential for things to go very wrong and become annoying and pretentious. It's a thin line. Point is that Koi Kaze is nearly perfect in leaving you alone with your anger and bad emotions. I promise you it's moral dilemma will linger with you for some time, maybe longer than many feel good "inspirational" stories. At least it does for me, and the fact it's still famous after 15 years is a sign of it.
Your observations on Kaname and the forced feel of the ending are shared by many. Kaname is closest to a moral compass the anime has to offer. And the ending is of course "deus ex machina". They both agree to meet for sex once a year and otherwise just drop all emotions isn't realistic. A more realistic solution would be suicide, imho. But the anime goes the pseudo-happy end road, maybe because TV producers wanted to end on a high note. But then again, this unrealistic ending creates even more cognitive dissonance as it shows a fake solution, deepening the viewers confusion.
I hope my blurb isn't too pretentious. There's nothing wrong with you not liking Koi Kaze, it's pretty much designed to be unlikeable and obviously is doing an excellent job at it. Which for some, including me, makes it great.
As for director Ayumu Watanabe, I heard of "Naso no Kanojo X" and probably should watch it. What he's really famous for is Uchuu Kyoudai (Space Brothers), a staple in adult SoL and on UEC's "Best 100 of all time" list. He also made a lot of money for his studio with years of Doraemon, which is a toy cash cow all over Asia. So he's probably able to pick passion projects of any type as a reward. This anime is clearly one, the other is Kaijuu no Kodomo (Children of the Sea). That's one of the best animated anime I've seen, think KoiAme but at feature film budget. Problem with that one for me is that it has almost no plot, it strictly is trippy and beautiful. Insofar KoiAme is really important, as it makes clear he is not only good at visuals.
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni (After the Rain, 2018)
A 17 year old teen is infatuated with her much older boss. What sounds like a middle-aged man's wish-fulfillment show turns out to be a poetic, powerful adult SoL drama about growth. Stellar animation and character design, good writing. Surprised me. (7.5/10)
There were two scenes close to the edge (her taking his phone call on her bed in her moms apartment, and the storage room listening scene). She's a hot girl of my favorite stereotype - emotionally stunted, shy hime-cut beauty similar to a Yamato Nadeshiko - just like Mio (K-On!), Shirase (A Place Further Than the Universe), Tomoyo (Cardcaptor Sakura), or Kuroneko (Oreimo). Portraying her hotness and sexuality is fine, given at 17 she's pretty much peaking both.
I've checked your list and I think if the subject matter of age gap interests you, you really should watch Koi Kaze. It puts blood related incest and loli on top of 12 years of gap, heavy. The conflicting emotions of the older male are a main topic in it, and it's also never explicit or exploitative. The director did Natsume's Book of Friends and Baccano!, he's a good one. The art and animation is not nearly as good as in KoiAme, which is gorgeous beyond words.