Scalpelexis

Thank you, thank you for the gift! I was beginning to think this summer wasn't looking so stellar, until I realized I had inexcusably overlooked out this thanklessly hidden (only because of a stupid Netflix cut) anime. Studio WIT never ceases to amaze me beyond belief with every piece that has come out of their studios lately. WIT aren't just titans anymore; I'm awfully pleased that they have the luxury of choosing excellent scripts and don't have to reach for some cheap ecchi or isekai for the masses to pay the bills. Great Pretender is a hodgepodge from the one parallel dimension where they absolutely nailed it. I can't think of a single anime that could compete with this one in style and, more importantly, charm: they're such a Japanified Ocean’s Eleven with the same kinda cool characters from Black Lagoon, just replace the guns with cunning heists with endless twists that always leave a smile on your lips. Every now and then the (already highly intelligently scripted) plot entertains endlessly, only to switch to a more dramatic track with obvious grace. Each bit of mischief gradually paints the ultra-appealing main players in the richest colors, taking us lushly through the entire world. The Western feel oozes out of this in a palpable way; WIT are the absolute top of the line when it comes to art, and here they just prove it with every background. Likewise I have to praise the excellently chosen music with a PERFECT ending song that had me rewinding and rewinding and rewinding. I am in 7th heaven! Definitely don't miss this treasure. Ooooh yes!

Episodes about noticeably minor characters certainly don't hold my interest. I'd welcome it if it was more intertwined with the main storyline plot-wise. The bounce from one game miles and years away to somewhere else is distracting.

Rhythm is the name of this episode? Hah, how ironic. The first episode stubbornly refuses to get us into anything that could even partially be called rhythm, because for every second of action we get 5 seconds of uninteresting commentary and thoughts from what seems like all the occupants of the hall. I felt like the character in the famous Edward Munch painting when I went back to Welcome to the Ballroom, since Production I.G. has once again cut an anime that isn’t an anime, but a presentation of static images at a snail's pace. Please, anything but that.

Production I.G. has it back under full control and it immediately looks different (literally). Doesn't make sense from a coach's perspective to leave a suffering player on the field, but we know Tanaka.

Commentary on Part 1: You just have to accept that things will most likely slow down and calm down after an awesome treatment like we got in the 2nd and 3rd seasons. Except that I hadn’t imagined it that way. The first half of the series is safely the worst thus far of an otherwise excellent anime. Kageyama's training camp has a little something going for it (which is pretty much because of Kageyama himself), and I didn't need the gift of prophecy to figure out that all those national team candidates will one day be on the other side of the net as Karasuno makes his way deeper into the tournament. Let's remember what makes Haikyu!! so great: In its best parts it serves up suspense, action, and even here and there a funny moment. It's as if there was no trace of these attributes in the parallel Hinata storyline; he himself doesn't undergo any more complex development himself, time simply stops completely for a few episodes except for suffering Hinata's obnoxiousness. In the second half, thank goodness we get back into game rhythm! I'll make a fist now and then, give a chuckle now and then, and that's what I want from Haikyuu!!!. Graphically, I found the previous series cleaner and more playful, here I can feel slightly sloppy sequences, but nothing that spoils an otherwise good impression. We've got the weakest season behind us, but the next one promises to make up for it properly. 4 stars / Commentary on Part 2: I'm getting more and more uncertain feelings from this, and I feel like I've reached the stage where Haikyuu!!! can't bring me anything new. This doesn't necessarily mean anything negative, but the enthusiasm with which I devoured more and more episodes of the previous season is outta there. Not only do I expect that the boys from Karasuno are simply good and if by chance they don't win, they'll at least play an even game. The problem is that one of the main assets of the series has turned into a liability. As Haikyuu!!! has managed to portray even the opposing players sensitively and commendably, and has given almost every single one of them at least a hint of a unique soul, we've accumulated too many of these characters on the set in the meantime, and I'm losing my natural interest in following the history of the 3rd alternate opponent in the second round. Unfortunately, the anime stubbornly clings doggedly to fully introducing all of the characters, and unfortunately does so sadistically right in the middle of a game. The viewer all horny for volleyball action must painfully delay his "climax" until it starts getting downright annoying, plus there are more than a few scenes that are more than a little static. Towards the end, following the established templates, we get things up and running again, the tension of the game could literally be cut with a knife, except that due to the disjointed beginning I am a bit more distant towards Kageyama & Co., because we are still too much devoted to the feelings of our opponents and thus I cannot enjoy the game woes and delights of our heartthrob champions fully. Even animation-wise, it's not quite right: the body proportions cease to be proportional and instead become slightly flatter, and for the sake of the series I won't comment on the ultimate graphical fiasco of Episode 2. Overall, I can't shake off much of the bland aftertaste and unfulfilled satisfaction that, by this point, this brand has rather guaranteed. We'll see if it gets better. A weak 4 stars

The height of cluelessness. Some clever individual thought they'd write a story about an adolescent runaway rescued by a saint from the local software company (which is fine, and frankly I not only find the subject matter relatively intriguing, but it could also work in both dramatic and comedic directions), but then they stuck a dusty, typically LN title on it as a warning right away to hopefully lower expectations to the very bottom. And surprisingly those first episodes were decent; I even take that controversial 3rd episode as a strong last stand for the slowly sinking and hitherto warped character of Sayu. At that point, you could still sort of forgive the lustful camera, which was disingenuously looking for angles to peek at the ladies' cleavage or around the edges of their skirts/underwear with the intention of exaggerating the sexual subtext of the story. Then no longer, because the plot dropped through the floors of the idea-ridden basement more abruptly than a loose elevator and began drowning in a swamp of fluff, all to the accompaniment of an astrophysically unnecessary and annoying panopticon of supporting characters: the desperate lovestruck cinephile, miss "virginal buxom tease", and that know-it-all meddlesome work colleague who gossips and offers unsolicited advice like a character from Babovresky. The seconds ticked by about as briskly as the hours on a broken clock and Higehiro stalled for the gold in order to stretch the totally predictable finale into 3 episodes about how to successfully beat up a desk, have juice, and practice almighty slow-motion situps. The feeling of suffering and awkwardness was ubiquitous, the catharsis inappropriate, and the mission outlined initially disappeared before it could introduce even the minimum. While I liked the female seduction-resistant Yoshida and the confused Sayu quite a bit, their campaign was woefully underdeveloped relative to its opening potential. They didn't win here, and neither did the audience.

Eyes dart angrily at each other, tension mounts mightily, sharp internal monologues go nonstop, followed by aggressive grabbing of a full glass of juice, banging on the table: "ENOUGH!!!....now I want to take a drink."

This anime, unfortunately, embarrasses itself with every episode, with the author absolutely running out of steam and his brain locking up in episodes 3-4. This isn't even fluff, this is worse than the coal in Santa's sock.

A battle royale anime has to reach for two completely opposite components if it wants to be successful and entertaining: either throw away the rules, we’re not playing around, employ some level 9000 kamikaze carnage, or instead dive deep and give it some psychology, a bit of mystery, color the characters, all at the expense of that river of blood. Sadly, High-Rise Invasion chose none of the above, falling right between the so-called halves and still having the unbelievable gall not to end it. The first two episodes were certainly the most interesting: the frightened protagonist runs away from bullets and bladed weapons so artfully that she's often left with nothing but her underwear (and her chest mysteriously grows from episode to episode), soaping it up, down (more like only down given how high up they are on skyscrapers) before figuring out how things are, what she can afford, and finding a couple of also-good-hearted lowlifes (the girls again mysteriously end up with bras only…). The plot then gets completely bogged down – now there's only walking instead of running, talking instead of doing (and that the characters are relatable and overly concerned), and the rules get flipped more than threads in a washing machine. For some reason, it gets doused with a canister of God, set on fire with fake masks, and fertilized with the weird format of The Matrix. The only notable positive is the relatively charismatic Sniper Mask character, voiced with the tailor-made voice of Yūichirō Umehara. Anyway, I'd cut the rest of it like those weird rope bridges.

A gentle, harmonious, and almost exemplary representative from the romcom stable, Horimiya ably lives up to the high expectations of the popular manga and felt like a fresh rain after a long dry spell. The excellent direction guides the story at well-oiled high quality without a single blip, skimming high from the ingredients of its cheap counterparts and focusing on the civility of the developing relationships of the high schoolers featured, especially the romantic ones, with a light touch of the comic situations of the most minor absurdities. The characters are literally nurtured with almost parental tenderness; it's important that not a hair is harmed on anyone’s head, and if I found any flaw, it was in the total lack of conflict. Relationships are thus put through minimal tests of endurance and the characters' greatest enemies are themselves and how much they let themselves, their counterparts, and their surroundings get away with. And yet it still bothers me a little, since the relationship between the temperamental and insecure Kyouko and the icily poised Izumi is as sweet as coffee with a glass of sugar added, and even if Kyouko doesn't forgive herself for a bit of suspicious jealous outbursts in the face of Izumi's non-existent usurpers, the mutual respect and overall sensitive future of their relationship is a joy to watch. It's a shame that the romances of the supporting candidates, who had more than enough promise and deserved to be satisfyingly fleshed out weren't similarly fleshed out; without them, some of the characters began to lose their purpose. With a heavy nod of my head, I welcome the total absence of annoying fan service, which only added gravitas to this anime, gave the more poignant scenes a more thoughtful atmosphere, and yet without costing the characters even a crumb of their charm (those peepers!). In terms of character design, the only thing that bothered me were the color creations on the heads, wilder than the KEY visuals, with the "same hair, same eyes" policy which caused confusion when it came to recognizing several characters. The rest of the CloverWorks mold turned out wonderfully, and while I didn't enjoy the opening and closing songs, the soundtrack was colorful. I can understand that some may find Horimiya a bit boring without the central duo on the scene, some may miss the emotions running at full steam, but if you're looking for a fulfilling, appealing, and wholesome high school rabukome, you've come to the right place.