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10. Josee, The Tiger and The Fish: Standard sweetheart shoujo stuff w a beating heart of empathy helps the smaller moments stand out where they need to, tho really I include this here to give props to what a massive aesthetic flex the film is. Owing a clear debt to Naoko Yamada/KyoAni, the movie tells a story of teenage emotions mainly thru precise character acting and a pitch-perfect realization of inner city photorealistic Tokyo and is just a dazzle to watch. Had a good time w it 9. Wonder Egg Priority: Shame about the ending and the road leading up to it, but for awhile, this was one bracing little underdog of a show. Nevermind how good it looks for so long(bless those overworked animators), the character building bits in between all the dreamworld fighting, where the cast just sorta pull together into a much-needed support group for one another were much appreciated. Say what you will about the racier material the story tried to hook you w, but the bracing way the characters are slowly introduced as the show uses its formula to explore their issues early on, that's why we were all glued to our monitors those early episodes. Under all the obfuscation, there was a cutting empathy at the heart of it all, and I gotta give respect for that. For the majority of its run, this was the series I most looked forward to week to week. 8. Odd Taxi : The way it all shakes out in the end for Odokawa is too corny and lame too not slide ODDTAXI a few places from where it wold be, and it's a shame bc nearly all of it up to that point is aces. A wry, compelling modern neo-noir w animal ppl, some of the best dialogue of any show this year, wonderful voice work, a driving narrative starring a great cast, and a character who speaks nearly always in rapping couplets. Banger OP. Looking forward to basically anything this crew handles next. Shame it couldn't stick the landing. 7. Heike Monogatari : Naoko Yamada brought her touch to probably the most absorbing series of the year next to Sonny Boy. It's not unlike a historical Scorsece flick for awhile, watching one fool's hubris and flaws create ripples thruout his immediate surroundings and his family, but thru the addition of a new original protagonist, we are grounded closer to that family and their struggles, and gain a clearer picture of the emotional cost of Kiyomori's actions. Character acting and animation are used to tell this story w acute emotional precision and just basking in it all is its own reward. 6. Vlad Love: Seems to be divisive, but I always had a good time w this one, never ever bored. It's the type of show that's not that funny on its own, like, thru its own jokes or attempts at making you laugh, but the all the weird lil ways that it is very weird add up to a strangely hilarious experience in the moment. The casualness w which not a gently caress is given about vampire rules, the lil questions about Mai's lore that could easily get brought up in a S2, or not at all! The glorious play/movie episodes. The loving banger OPs. The weird vocal performances. Really hope there's a S2 5. SK8 : Such bright, enjoyable TV. Reki/Langa a million years. Let's go bro 4. Sonny Boy: Not even gonna pretend I got everything going on here, but god it's so wild seeing a show this confidently heady and Big Brain this devoted to conveying its concepts and ideas thru animation. Its not even particularly less talky than other such series about murky scientific concepts or anything, just incredibly and consistently compelling visually, always looking for a fun way to use the medium's strengths to tell its story and pull you a lil closer to its characters. It's enough of a miracle that Shingo Natsume and co were able to conceptualize and create this, and a greater one they worked this hard to share it w us. 3. JoJo: Stone Ocean: The first lil batch of eps they dropped feels just enough like an arc on its own that I feel like counting it. gently caress it. Jolyne immediately owns, and her story has a dramatic thrust that gets you pumped real easy. Hermes owns. The villain owns, he has things set up and enjoys a level of privilege at Green Dolphin over the protags that gives this wonderfully slimy edge to his every scene. There have been complaints about the show's look or animation quality, but can't really relate maself beyond the usual noticeable tv show weirdness. I'm reminded generally of CloverWorks' effort on s1 of Promised Neverland, all the work done on the art direction end to make an exciting show out of a largely cg set. It worked out! The layouts, dramatic angles, sound design and just the baseline quality of Araki's art cohere to make a forbidding and creepy place out of Green Dolphin, a character in its own right. Truly cannot wait to see ppl's reactions to all that comes next. 2. SSSS Dynazenon: I didn't like GRIDMAN much, but was delighted to find this psuedo-sequel to be a marked improvement from the jump on basically all the merits. An evocatively human cast of teenage losers who don't comprise a cast that feels like 90% walking plot devices(now its more like 20%!), creepy vibe, fun action, a fun sense of humor. It all worked so much better this go around, good poo poo. 1. Pokemon: Koko / Journeys: Pokemon is 100% an animation thing to me these days. The way they be having these anime/movies/shorts/webtoons lookin for the last decade and change honestly makes the games look like the cheapo tie-in arm of the franchise, and the writing's been catching up too. Just consistently very high quality kid's cartooning. All of which is to say Journeys continues to be AOTY for three years running, not particularly close. Pack em up, your faves could never. Go is the revelation of the series for me, his relationships w his starters(which is to say, the Sw/Sh starters) have had parent/child themes weaved thu them since the start and their growth together is adorable and rewarding to watch as ever. Team Rocket is great, returning and new characters are great and the pokemon designs look and animate better than ever for TV. Koko/Secrets of the Jungle is the big one, tho. The Power of Us, it still surprises me sometimes how much I love it, and the same team went on to do this sans-Wit Studio apperantly. Koko and Eva 3.0+1.0 premiered in Japan very close and were the two anime films I was most looking forward to in the new year of 2021. Subs for both hit the web even closer, and after taking both in, yeah, Pokemon was the better time. It's on Netflix as Secrets of the Jungle and if you ever had a pokemon fan phase I highly reccomend it, or even if you didn't. A very cute, heartfelt and efficiently told take on Tarzan and The Jungle Book that makes eye-popping use of the jungle setting. Had me cryin at the end. Zarude > Rillaboom a 1000 years. Pokemon anime owns. Honorable mentions for Jujutsu Kaisen, Beastars, Aggretsuko, Godzilla: Singular Priority, Eva 3.0+1.0, Baki, Megalobox S2, 86, Yuru Camp and Tokyo Revengers Pootybutt fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Jan 1, 2022 |
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Jan 1, 2022 03:09
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 21:06 |
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Gonna bump Josee off my list into the honorable mentions to make a late addition for the Revue Starlight movie. Comin from someone whose feelings on the tv show were so mid it took till Rondo Rondo Rondo to finally get around to the end of it, drat, that poo poo owned.
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Jan 3, 2022 17:34
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