Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – Violet Evergarden

A certain point in time, in the continent of Telesis. The great war which divided the continent into North and South has ended after four years, and the people are welcoming a new generation. Violet Evergarden, a young girl formerly known as “the weapon”, has left the battlefield to start a new life at CH Postal Service. There, she is deeply moved by the work of “Auto Memories Dolls”, who carry people’s thoughts and convert them into words. Violet begins her journey as an Auto Memories Doll, and comes face to face with various people’s emotions and differing shapes of love. There are words Violet heard on the battlefield, which she cannot forget. These words were given to her by someone she holds dear, more than anyone else. She does not yet know their meaning but she searches to find it. – ANN

Copyright 2018 – Netflix/Kyoto Animation

Streaming: Netflix

Source: Light Novel

Episodes: 13

Review: This review contains minor plot spoilers for the TV Series.

I don’t like to get too hyped-up about upcoming anime because it’s so exhausting to be disappointed when the final production doesn’t live up to what was promised. I like to let anime happen on its own terms rather than measured against my often incorrect expectations. But I ask you, as one anime fan to another, what am I to do when Kyoto Animation releases a teaser trailer that’s such an incredible fever dream of flawless animation and the interplay of light and color? There was no possible way for me to ignore what I had seen and start with a completely blank slate once the series was finally posted to Netflix. Rather than try to fool myself into believing that it was possible for me to be impartial, I decided to embrace impartiality and read other reviews of the show, both episodic ones and those focused on the series as a whole. I prepared myself for possible disappointment by arming myself with information.

Was this the right tactic? I’m not entirely certain, but what I can say is that going into the experience expecting to be frustrated by certain aspects of the story left me feeling pleasantly surprised by how the series was not nearly as flawed as I had been led to believe. This sounds like faint praise, but I really did enjoy the show more than I had expected to and I’m left wondering why others were more disappointed.

The series is comprised of two concurrent story arcs – one about a country at war which has at this point reached an unsteady truce, and one about Violet Evergarden, the titular character, who comes from a place of darkness and must reacquaint herself with the subtlety and full range of human emotion. The former story is the weaker one of the two; it works well as a backdrop and helps to establish who Violet is and where she’s come from, but when it comes further into focus as part of the primary conflict it feels forced and uninteresting (one might even describe it as kind of “tryhard” if one wanted to be a little snarky). The latter is where the more meaningful and satisfying developments happen, and while Violet’s story occasionally gets a bit melodramatic, viewers like me who have a tendency to get emotionally-invested will likely eat this right up.

Violet’s scars from the war are both internal and, to the surprise of others, also external.

It does take a few episodes for Violet’s story to get moving, and as I commented to some friends after I’d watched the first three or so episodes I was concerned that the series felt overly-manipulative in its storytelling. Several of the early episodes feel like one-offs that serve to build the setting and put Violet where she needs to be, but don’t quite achieve the emotional highs they try to wring from the viewer using beautiful music and imagery. As a veteran of war remembered both for her youth and her emotionless brutality, Violet is clearly out of her element as an Auto Memory Doll. The Dolls are women who compose eloquent letters for paying clients by interpreting those clients’ feelings into written language. Violet, as an orphan who has seen (and committed) countless horrors as a child soldier, is more adept at reporting facts and taking people’s words at pure, functional face value. She may have emotions, but they’ve been so blunted by her tragic experiences that it creates a wall between her and others. Likewise, the first few episodes of the show where Violet stumbles through an ill-fitting civilian existence, feel like attempts at forced emotionality that are unsubtle and unnerving. I can’t say whether this was intentional or not, but looking back it’s interesting to me how much the structure and feel of the show mirrors Violet’s evolution.

As Violet becomes more accustomed to her work and begins to allow herself to feel and empathize with others, the show capitalizes on this to tell some of its most memorable stories. My two favorites were one in which Violet helped facilitate more genuine communication between a couple of soon-to-be-wed nobles (ignoring the squicky age difference between the two), and one in which she composed a large volume of letters from a mother to her daughter. Though both stories are still what I would qualify as one-offs, they also provided great snap-shots into Violet’s progression towards not only understanding others, but also understanding herself and the relationships that she values.

Violet returns to remember a painful moment.

I’m what I would call an empathetic viewer and I generally pay less attention to plot and continuity than many others, since I find little value in picking that stuff apart. I find more value in thinking about broad themes and considering how I was made to feel. This is the perfect example of a series that I think was made for that mode of viewing, since I recognize that there are some issues with the structure of the show and feel like it could have benefited from some reshuffling of priorities. As I mentioned earlier, possibly the weakest aspect of the show is its sub-plot revolving around the tenuous peace between its setting’s warring factions. Violet herself obtains a kind of personal emotional climax a few episodes from the end of the series, and much of the remainder of the show is devoted to a sort of shoehorned-in plot about a rebellion hell-bent on mucking up the signing of the peace treaty. The last two or three episodes of the series feature some great action pieces – an attempted bridge bombing, Violet parachuting into a war zone, a fist fight atop a moving train… all things that are cool to look at, but which feel as though they come from a completely different series (though they also provide a poignant resolution to the loss of Violet’s father figure that plagues her throughout the series, so it’s not all fluff). They’re ostensibly there to prove that Violet is no longer a cold-hearted killing machine (as she eschews using her strength and speed to actually murder anyone despite the fact that it would more easily resolve the situation), but we’ve already been shown so much evidence of her evolution that the reminder is unnecessary. The series as a whole easily made it into my good graces on its other merits and I could look at these last couple of episodes as mostly-extraneous, but I can see how many people would find this much more irritating.

The way in which Violet reaches a resolution in her troubled relationship with the Bougainvillea family is one of the high points of last few, weaker episodes.

As emotionally moving as many episodes are, they’re matched or exceeded by Kyoto Animation’s cinematic visuals and animation. If I’m being truthful, being able to watch characters move in front of gorgeous backgrounds is one of the bonuses of watching almost any Kyoto Animation series (and the main reason why I’ve pushed on through more episodes than I’d like of shows like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Amagi Brilliant Park) and this series is perhaps their most striking, detailed effort to date. It was the original commercial for the show that captured my attention, and while the series doesn’t quite sustain that exact look throughout, it still maintains a visual lushness that’s so far above and beyond what I’m used to as a TV anime viewer that I can’t rightly complain. I can only really fangirl in a basic way over how the show looks, but if you’re interested in some more educated commentary, check out Sakuga Blog’s series of production notes on the series.

I’m not a huge fan of Netflix’s delays when it comes to streaming anime series that I’m really anticipating, but I do appreciate the fact that I can watch an entire show (or cour, at least) in one or two sittings, so I suppose it’s kind of a wash in that sense. In this case, I got a chance to listen to lucky folks in other regions post their reactions, and despite the fact that my expectations were high they were also tempered and honed by what I was hearing. As someone with an (apparently) offbeat point of view on how stories are told it seems like I didn’t have much to worry about, as a lot of the complaints aren’t necessarily my complaints, and I truly enjoyed the show as a whole for its primary focus on feelings and human interactions and not as much on its weaker political plot. It’s gorgeous testament to KyoAni’s draftsmanship skills, as well as Netflix’s apparently pretty decent skills at picking anime series to partner with. It also gets a “5” on the Jessi Silver Cry Scale (TM) (I cried/held back tears at least 5 times while watching). If you’re someone who’s more into emotional through-lines in your entertainment, you might have a very good time with this series.

Pros: Visually beautiful. The feel of the story seems to mirror its protagonist’s development in many ways.

Cons: Political plot feels unnecessary. The real character climax arrives around episode 9 and parts of the last couple of episodes don’t fit in with those themes very well.

Grade: B+

Categories
Personal

There Are Only So Many Hours in a Day

Just a selection of items from the many anime I’ve watched.

“How do you watch so much anime?” – Everyone, to me.

I’ve been an anime fan for over twenty years now. When I was just a little chibi fan, all I could do stoke my fandom flame, other than doodle anime characters in the margins of every notebook, was to wake up early before school to catch Sailor Moon on local TV and hope that the local Blockbuster might stock a few random OVA series. It was easy to stay up-to-date on the fandom, even without the benefit of online anime blogs or news outlets; when you could count the number of “big” releases on two hands, there wasn’t a lot of deep discussion to be had. If it wasn’t on TV or sitting precariously on the shelf with the other “cartoons,” it was unlikely that most fans (including my gangly teenage self) would know to even look for it.

Times have obviously changed, with each new season unleashing an onslaught of 40-50 new anime to watch and many of them available to us within a fairly short time period (some with an English dub option!).  There was a time, back in the fansub-heavy days of the mid-2000’s that I tried to sample every single anime that was released (at least those that amateur groups deemed worthy to translate). There were fewer series coming out back then, but it was still a huge undertaking. I felt like I was doing anime fandom some sort of service, however minor, since I had few qualms about where and how I was getting my review material.

I eventually reached a point in my life where all that watching, writing, and reviewing became impossible due to the time investment and conflict with my day job. I’ve known people to have gotten away with watching things at work, or doing writing at their desks on a regular basis, but I’m not really in a position to do that – and I like my job, so I’d rather not jeopardize it! There are also substantially more series to get through now than in during the bust years around 2009-2011, and more still are available in easy-to-obtain official forms. About once a year I make an attempt to go comprehensive again and am quickly jerked back to reality, because I’m no longer unique in my coverage methods and I’m an unpaid staff of one. I also have a household and a relationship to nurture, and I think even a very passionate hobby shouldn’t take the place of those things.

This is all a very roundabout way of saying that I don’t feel like I really watch all that much anime – at least not as much as maybe I would like to, if I lived in a world where I had fewer other responsibilities. Yet friends, family members, and people I meet at conventions have all remarked to me in recent years that I watch so much anime and they don’t know how I make the time for it. I started to think about it, and came up with a few insights.

I have a daily commute of about 45-50 minutes each way.

I’m lucky enough to live in a fairly urban area, and I take public transportation to go to work so I don’t have to pay out the nose for parking. That provides me with at least an hour-and-a-half each day where I can just chill, read a book, or watch anime on my phone. I pay a decent amount of money for an unlimited data plan and live in an area with good coverage so I can stream anime every day that I commute by bus. 50 minutes is just about two episodes of anime, so I can get through a 1-cour series in 3-4 days if something unusual doesn’t happen or I don’t choose to drive my car instead. I also subscribe to pretty much every streaming service that does anime simulcasts, so I rarely exhaust my queue.

These are options I’m privileged to have and make it really easy to check out a lot of anime in a short period of time. If I get bored of one series, I can check into another app and watch something else. And watching anime on the bus has the added bonus of keeping other people from trying to harass me during my commute; sit down, headphones in, bye bye outside world!

I don’t consume a lot of other media.

I don’t consider myself a boring person (others may beg to differ) and I have several hobbies that aren’t related to Japanese animation. I like to cook and do the majority of the meal prep at home. I like to edit video. I like reading manga and playing video games. But when it comes to consuming media, anime is far and away the bulk of what crosses my path. There are quite a few Western TV series and movies that sound interesting to me, and I get a chance to see a few of them here and there, but most of the time I set aside for watching things goes towards watching anime, discussing anime, or attending and providing programming at anime conventions.

I’m guessing that most people who comment on the amount of anime I watch probably just prioritize their time in ways that are more suited to the types of things they like to do. They probably see more movies, watch more TV, do things outdoors, or spend their free time doing any number of other things that aren’t watching anime. And that’s great too!

I will acknowledge that watching and reading more things outside of my comfort zone would likely make me into a more well-rounded consumer and probably a better writer. It’s something that I think about fairly frequently. But as a human being I’ve chosen to quit beating myself up over it and to instead just enjoy what I choose to do.

I am not a “plot enthusiast.”

This might seem like a strange thing to say, since anime is mostly serialized entertainment, and that type of entertainment is all about the plot, right? There are a lot of blogs and bloggers that focus on discussing anime series episode-by-episode, detailing what happened, how it happened, who did what, and speculating about what might happen in upcoming installments. I enjoy reading these sometimes, but when I’ve tried to write that way in the past it eventually became a huge chore. I just don’t have that much to say about a show from week-to-week. This might paint me as more of a passive consumer, but really I just prefer to take each series as its own whole. I like to feel out its themes, connect with its characters’ motivations, and allow the creators to take me where they want to go (rather than where I think they ought to be going). I’ve found this to be a more fulfilling way for me to watch anime, and because of it I spend less time worrying about minutiae as I watch.

The downside is that I occasionally overlook details that others find to be obvious, but to me that sort of bookclub-style analysis is more suited to a second watch. Great series are always worth another viewing down the line, and by that time I’m usually watching with friends and my enjoyment is even greater because of it.

I don’t waste time hate-watching things that will make me angry (most of the time).

When I was an itty-bitty fan, all anime fell under this huge umbrella of “things I want to watch.” Like I said before, there wasn’t that much around to sift through, and my standards as a young fan weren’t very strict. But as with all people, more familiarity with the entertainment, as well as a much wider selection, allowed me to hone in on the things that brought me joy. As I’ve grown I’ve also become more conscious of things like sexism, racism, and other prejudices present within media, and this has greatly affected my tolerance of certain types of entertainment. I’ve gotten very good at identifying things that I know are not going to be worth my time and energy to deal with, so I usually avoid them. I do appreciate analysis of the wrongs being committed by trashy anime, I just rarely have the energy to be the person providing that commentary.

That isn’t to say that I never hate-watch something; generally there’s one thing a year or so that everyone wants me to watch that I know is probably not for me, and at some point I bow to the pressure just to get it out of my system and have the ability to discuss it if it comes up in conversation. But while I spent a lot of my early reviewing career watching things I didn’t like and ranting about them on the internet, In more recent years I decided that I would rather put effort into making time for things from which I expect to get some positive emotional return.

I don’t wait around for other people.

This is probably the point which will come across as the most rude, but believe me when I don’t mean it that way.

I used to belong to more anime viewing groups, including an anime club (which I actually still attend most of the time), as well as a couple of informal groups of friends who would get together to watch anime together and have dinner. Once we chose something to watch, I’d generally avoid watching ahead. This was great for the purposes of enjoying the show with others in real time, but not so great for the purposes of watching anime at a pace to keep up with the seasonal releases. I find that my husband, the person with whom I watch the most anime, also has drastically different viewing habits than I do. This caused some problems for me because I didn’t want to watch things ahead of him, but his tolerance for marathoning several episodes of something in a row is drastically different than my own. Now I’ve chosen to be okay with watching anime on my own and then re-watching it with others, rather than sweating about avoiding spoilers and missing out on internet discussion. It’s so much more difficult getting behind on watching something and then to have to catch up again than it is to keep pace with watching a series in real time (life pro-tip: that goes for responsibilities other than watching anime, too).

I let others do some of the dirty work.

One piece of advice I give to people is to read a lot of reviews and find some reviewers whose opinions you feel you can trust. You don’t always have to agree with them, but you should be able to discern from the things that they write whether or not you’re likely to enjoy something. I read a lot of anime news, opinions, and reviews. I read some other blogs, including those written by individuals whose opinions are different from my own in a lot of ways. I’ve worked to become familiar with some anime directors, staff, and studios, so that I can follow and anticipate their work. I take time to be informed, which lets me narrow down the list of anime I might want to try.

It’s also convenient that most large anime news outlets produce seasonal previews of one form or another. I used to do this for myself in the past, but as just one person it’s difficult to match the speed and comprehensiveness of a website with multiple writers who have time built into their day to preview series as they’re released. If I can go to a few different websites and see opinions from dozens of writers, that helps me to narrow down my planned viewing each season. And with many people doing weekly recap discussions, I can help hone my plan of attack even further.

But still…

Believe it or not, despite watching hours upon hours of anime, I still don’t always get around to watching everything I would like to in a timely manner (or at all). Even with all the aforementioned tools at my disposal, there are still anime series that fly under my radar or end up on the back burner until some vague future time where I have a chance to “catch up” (LOL, sure). A symptom of the current anime boom is that there are simply too many anime series, period, being created for one person to realistically watch, and even the number of very-good-to-excellent series are beyond the average person’s ability to consume in a reasonable manner. It’s not a bad problem to have, to be honest, and definitely not one I would have expected as a teenager in a fandom that nobody cared about at the time. There will always be anime that I never see, films and series that are compelling and brilliant that will never quite cross my path. It’s both wonderful and frustrating, but it’s the world we live in, and I’m actually sort of okay with it.

So there you have it. I’m not special when it comes to watching anime, but I have my system and it works for me. How about you? What do you do to help maximize your anime-watching potential. Let me know in the comments!

Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – How to Keep a Mummy

When high school student Sora Kashiwagi finds himself staring down a mysterious over-sized package sent to him by his self-proclaimed “adventurer” father, the last thing he expects is for it to be opened from the inside by a little mummy so small it can fit in the palm of his hand. – ANN

Copyright (c) 2018 – 8-bit

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Source: Manga

Episodes: 12

Review: This review contains minor plot spoilers for the TV series.

One of my favorite anime series is Natsume’s Book of Friends, which I think is an uncommonly good blend of supernatural fantasy and very sensitive human storytelling. As a fan of Japanese folklore, it’s also an excellent overview of traditional ghosts, spirits, and creatures that are inherently Japanese. But as much as I like Natsume, even I can admit that I’m not always in the mood to process its sometimes heavy story beats dealing with bullying, abusive family situations, and various forms of loss. That’s one of the primary reasons why I found How to Keep a Mummy to be such a pleasant romp. The series takes some of the components that make Natsume compelling and lightens it up to be a more comedic, fluffy distraction. It might not have as much emotional staying power, but it certainly is cute.

One aspect that makes this series a winner is its likeable lead character. From the instant that Mii-kun the mummy’s coffin shows up on his doorstep to the moments when Mii-kun and friends encounter some sort of peril, Sora proves himself to be not only a competent protector, but also a kind and caring friend and parental figure (or pet owner, I suppose?). In an age when many of us – women, men, and non-binary folks alike – are wrestling with the concept and consequences of toxic masculinity in our culture and media, it’s heartening to encounter a character like Sora who’s a teenage boy, caretaker, and friend with a special sensitivity to the world around himself.

Sora and Tazuki are close friends.

Likewise, this isn’t an anime series which banks on stories about characters working out their social hierarchy through brawling, nor is it one where characters spend each episode cutting each-other down with insults. It’s a series that revolves around its main character and his friends opening up to one-another and developing relationships, while confronting personal elements of their lives that have caused them trouble or pain. All three of the side characters have hurdles to overcome, whether it’s Motegi’s relatively benign fear of lizards that’s confronted when a tiny dragon arrives at her home, Daichi’s damaged relationships with his classmates that are the result of nightmares (cured by a friendly Baku), or Tazuki’s traumatic past encounter a mythical creature and the men trying to poach it. Part of me believes that the addition of cute supernatural creatures is somewhat redundant; while all of the character’s troubles are at least partly due to some supernatural element, they’re also real human emotions and interactions that could have mundane causes in a series without a fantasy element. I’m the type of viewer that’s satisfied watching a slice-of-life story in which the main hook is that nice people are nice to one-another and work through their interpersonal conflicts constructively, so don’t necessarily need the cuteness on top.  But as a closet(?) connoisseur of cute, it’s a welcome addition that adds a little extra appeal for those viewers who are less willing to put up with low-conflict fluff entertainment.

Though I enjoyed the series, there were some bits and pieces that left me a bit cold. Sora, being that his father is out of the country, lives with his aunt Kaede. Kaede is clothing model and seems to have some amount of local fame, as other characters find her vaguely recognizable throughout the series. She’s beautiful, but also kind and supportive to Sora and friends… until she takes off her glasses, at which point she turns into a lusty sexpot with designs on her nephew. This “gag” only occurs once with a few additional references to it throughout the series, but it takes a show that I’d otherwise love to recommend to younger viewers or people who are less interested in anime’s overall penchant for goofy sexuality and complicates that recommendation. The trope of women becoming more sexual after they take off their glasses (think “sexy librarian” or “sexy teacher”) is tired and sexist, and in an anime series with really no other adult inclinations it stands out as a particularly poor choice.

Mii-kun just wants to be loved!

There’s also a push in the final two episodes of the series to make it more plot-forward, which felt unnecessary to me. There’s a recurring threat from poachers throughout the series who are on the prowl to collect monster specimens, which comes to a head when Sora and crew are attending a festival. While the provides a climax to the series, it’s also ill-fitting as the poachers never received any development and their actual threat level was questionable. I get that not everyone is satisfied when “nothing really happens,” but emotional climaxes can be just as cathartic as major plot movements, and I think that would have been a more suitable direction to take such a low-stakes show.

I watch anime from a very wide swath of different genres, some of which tend to be intense and/or depressing, so it’s nice to be able to unwind with a pleasant “healing anime” every once-in-a-while. How to Keep a Mummy was one of Winter Season’s great surprises on the front for me; cute, funny, and seemingly arriving out of nowhere to let us revel in an oddball relationship between a boy and his Mummy. I really enjoyed this anime, and if you too appreciate entertainment that, in spite of its flaws, is fundamentally kind, I think you will as well.

Pros: The main character is a good example of a male allowed to have feelings and just be nice to others. The character relationships are very satisfying. Everything is so cute!

Cons: There’s some plot conflict shoehorned into the final few episodes. There’s some sexist humor surrounding Kaede’s character that feels out-of-place.

Grade: B-

Categories
Conventions Special Features

Anime Detour 2018 – Convention Reactions

Maker:L,Date:2017-9-10,Ver:5,Lens:Kan03,Act:Kan02,E-Y
The author at her most magical.

It’s not unheard of to have snow during the weekend of Anime Detour; in Minnesota, Spring is often not so much a physical state as it is a state of mind. But as the convention embarked on its first year at a new, larger venue in downtown Minneapolis, the frigid wind funneling down Nicollet Avenue and chapping the faces of cosplayers, gamers, and anime fans making their way to the hotel was in sharp contrast to the warmth of the convention atmosphere and the high spirits of the many attendees.

As a member of Anime Detour’s convention staff and a prolific panelist, con weekend is one I both look forward to and dread each year as it approaches. I never feel quite as prepared as I would like to be and I always wonder why I signed up to present “so many freaking panels,” (*spoiler* it’s because I love chatting about anime with others even if I may be under-qualified in my own mind to do so). That said, it’s also so much fun to see people who I only get to see once or twice a year at local cons and to experience the feeling of being at a great anime convention in a city that I know and love (snowflakes and wind be damned).

The Hotel

Being in a new venue is always a challenge, but something that made the transition a little bit easier was choosing to attend another convention (Furry Migration) that takes place at the same location and to gather an impression of and familiarity with the space beforehand. This helped us have a plan when we met to decide how to utilize the programming space and what we could realistically do with what we had. The hotel itself, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, has tons of space to grow into, with multiple floors of rooms with varying sizes, and very friendly staff. There’s a lot of open space in the hallways, even during the most crowded points in the weekend, and plenty of places to hang out and sit (tables, seats, ect.). One of my favorite spaces was the front lobby seating area, with a lot of seating space and a fireplace. The guest rooms are also very nice, with large bathrooms. While the (affordable, quick) food options in the immediate vicinity aren’t that extensive, one can travel on foot through the skyway or at street level to several places within a few blocks (including a Target, which was really useful considering my sudden last-minute need for cough drops and eyeliner).

The one big downside of the space, at least in its current configuration, was that there was a big problem with sound bleed. During the day this didn’t end up mattering all that much unless someone in an adjacent area was yelling or playing some footage that was really loud. At night, though, with the rave in full swing, both the rooms across from Main Programming as well as those in the area directly above vibrated with so much sound that it was difficult or impossible to hear what was going on. I think some kind of reconfiguration will be in order going forward, especially if we want to prioritize good panel content (which I hope we do!).

Dealer’s Room/Artist Alley/Art Show

I’ve been to some bigger conventions in the last couple of years, and one thing that’s always thrilled me about them is that their dealers areas are so huge and contain so many treasures to uncover. In the last few years it had gotten difficult to move around in Anime Detour’s dealers room just due to space reasons and the fact that it was created from combining two awkwardly-shaped rooms together into one larger area. This year the dealer area was in its own area on the ground floor in one pretty large space (I’m not quite sure how the space compares to previous years in terms of size but it felt bigger) and there was a lot of room to navigate between booths. My only qualm with the area was that, as in years past, I don’t feel like there was enough variety, especially since I like Japanese street fashion like lolita fashion, otome, etc. and there are rarely any sellers at Anime Detour related to that. There was one booth selling general kawaii clothing, but I was questioning the quality of their wares. In any case, I would love to see some more fashion stuff in the future!

Artist Alley was similarly blessed with a lot more space this year, which made it much easier to navigate. I saw a lot of familiar faces as well as some new ones, and loved looking at the art for sale. My one regret is that I was so over-scheduled that I only made it in there once very early on (before a couple of tables had been set up) and didn’t get a chance to go back and buy anything later in the convention.

I was happy to see that the art show had been revived and given its own dedicated space this year. While it wasn’t quite to the caliber of CONvergence’s art show (what is?), it was fun to visit. It made me want to make some art to put up for sale.

Panels/Programming

I’m a member of programming staff at the convention, but the fact is that I tend not to have some of the same responsibilities as other staff members since I’m generally in charge of so many panels/events that it would become a problem to try to do much more at-con. While I love doing a lot of panels and events, I’m sometimes sad that I don’t have time to attend other panels put on by my friends or some of the other frequent panelists who volunteer to provide the convention with its great content.

One of the new things we tried this year were “moderated” panels in the style of CONvergence, and I think they went well. I was on one of them, which analyzed anime through the lens of Murdock’s “Heroine’s Journey” idea. I was really impressed with how J.C. put things together as moderator, as well as the great discussion provided by our other panelists and the audience. I also enjoyed putting on my annual suggestion panels, since I like sharing anime and manga that I like with others. They’re a lot of work and I’ve come to appreciate more analytical panels than ones that just give suggestions like that, but people always seem happy to come and thankful for our lists and handouts, so it doesn’t bother me to keep doing them. I was overtired at some of the panels this year, though, which made it less fun for myself and probably others as well, but I’m hoping to take a slight step back next time and give myself some more down time to collect my thoughts, so hopefully this will be less of an issue in the future.

My other big staff responsibility is running the AMV Contest at the con, which is fun and gives me the chance to see a bunch of really great AMVs. Holding the contest and judging the entries always makes me want to edit some of my own again – we’ll see if I somehow have the patience to do that in the future. It’s easy to have those thoughts when presented with a lot of excellent examples, but actually editing something can be an exercise in frustration. Besides that, I think we’re going to try to do some category shuffling for next year, just based on the number of entries we got for our current categories this year. Trailers seem to have fallen out of popularity for the most part, whereas having an overly-broad category like “Drama” caused us some problems as well in that it had almost three times the submissions as other categories and it made it difficult to narrow things down from the several excellent entries. Anyway, look for some changes in the future!

Overall

There’s always some nervousness that comes with switching to a new venue, and even though I’d seen the space both as it normally is and as a convention space, I still didn’t have a good idea of how that would translate to our convention. While I do think that the space could be allocated differently going forward and I have some qualms with the noise bleed, especially at night, I also got the feeling that our convention belonged there, and that’s really the important point to be made. I think it’s a space that we can grow into and enjoy for years to come.

As for other stuff, I have some of the same regrets as previous years. I’m sad that more people didn’t ask for my picture (though the ones who did seemed really excited about my lolita fashion) – it’s not that I necessarily want my photo floating around everywhere, but I feel like that’s a big way to engage with people at a convention and I feel like I miss out on that sometimes. And, like I said, there are several panelists who do great things at our convention, and I wish that I could do the things that I do and also have a chance to see their good work. I’m not sure what the solution is to that, but perhaps some time in the future I’ll take a step back a bit and I’ll get my wish. Thanks to all the panelists who post their work on the web for download, though! It’s not the same as being there, but at least I get a feel for the things you’re talking about.

I am also beyond thankful for J.C., who somehow manages to tolerate my passion (and tunnel vision) and has also come onboard with providing content. His support is invaluable.

Did you attend Anime Detour this year? Do you volunteer as staff at any conventions? I would love to hear your thoughts!

For those who are interested…

You can find my panel materials Here.

You can find the list of AMV Contest entrants/winners Here.

Categories
Conventions Special Features

Anime Detour – AMV Contest Playlists and Results

Hi all. I’m posting this here as a record of all the great AMVs that were entered in this year’s Anime Detour AMV Contest, as well as a listing of contest results. Thanks to all the entrants who made the AMV shows fun for all who attended, and incredibly difficult for myself and my judging staff to judge!

AMV Showcase Playlist

AMV Title: Animevengers
Editor: Tezara Menakem
Source Footage: One-Punch man, Naruto Shippuden, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Parts 1-3, Sailor Moon (original series and Crystal), Dragon Ball (Z and Super), My Hero Academia, One Piece, Tokyo Ghoul.
Audio: Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” Official Trailer

AMV Title: Kirito x Asuka – Just a Dream
Editor: Ventiris
Source Footage: Sword Art Online
Audio: “Just a Dream” cover by Sam Tsui and Christina Grimmie

3. AMV Title: INTERFECTi
Editor: OscarAMV
Source Footage: Bakemonogatari, Nekomonogatari, Monogatari Series: Second Season
Audio: “Uncrowned” by Celldweller

4. AMV Title: Drowning
Editor: Bhanu Partap Singh
Source Footage: Terror in Resonance, Soul Eater, Psycho Pass, Mirai Nikki, Chivalry of a Failed Knight
Audio: “Feel Like I’m Drowning” by Two Feet

5. AMV Title: Disappear Here
Editor: DopplerDo
Source Footage: Your Name
Audio: “Disappear Here” by Bad Suns

6. AMV Title: Ryuko vs Mako
Editor: Tezara Menakem
Source Footage: Kill la Kill
Audio: “Unravel (Track Gon Eat)” by Coraline (Amine)

7. AMV Title: Suicidal
Editor: mansa
Source Footage: Blade Runner 2049 – Black Out 2022
Audio: “Suicidal” by Mansa

8. AMV Title: Your Name 1.11
Editor: CatGirl Research Society
Source Footage: Your Name, Evangelion 1.11
Audio: “Zen Zen Zense” by Radwimps

9. AMV Title: Hall of Fame
Editor: Zeeruy
Source Footage: My Hero Academia
Audio: “Hall of Fame” by The Script

10. AMV Title: Holy to Me
Editor: AllegoriestAMVs
Source Footage: Fate/Apocrypha
Audio: “Church” by Fall Out Boy

11. AMV Title: Darkness Here
Editor: Epitome
Source Footage: Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka?
Audio: “Cold Skin” by Echos & Seven Lions

12. AMV Title: Shiro is Life
Editor: Fiendish Demon
Source Footage: No Game No Life
Audio: “L’ove” by NOWE

13. AMV Title: So Far Away
Editor: Rein Takanashi
Source Footage: Hanasaku Iroha, Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home
Audio: “So Far Away” by Martin Garrix & David Guetta (feat. Jamie Scott & Romy Dya)

14. AMV Title: To an End Beside You
Editor: Magicflier
Source Footage: No Game No Life
Audio: “Liblume” by Haruka Shimotsuki

15. AMV Title: Dead to Me
Editor: OscarAMV
Source Footage: A Silent Voice
Audio: “Dead to Me” by Sex Whales & Fraxo

16. AMV Title: The Beat I Drum – Anthem on Ice
Editor: SynchopatedID
Source Footage: Yuri!!! On Ice
Audio: “This is Me” by Keala Settle

 

AMV Contest

AMV Title: Beauty & the Magus – *WINNER* Best Trailer
Editor: TheDestineeAMV
Source Footage: The Ancient Magus’ Bride
Audio: “Beauty and the Beast (2017)” Trailer Audio

2. AMV Title: Down the Road
Editor: DopplerDo
Source Footage: Cowboy Bebop
Audio: “Down the Road” by C2C

3. AMV Title: D.Gray-Man – Hero
Editor: Net9
Source Footage: D.Gray-Man, D.Gray-Man Hallow
Audio: “Hero” by Skillit

4. AMV Title: Stay Alive
Editor: numbuh0051
Source Footage: A Silent Voice
Audio: “1-800-273-8255” by Logic (feat. Alessia, Cara, and Khalid)

5. AMV Title: Battle of Fate
Editor: Spinch
Source Footage: Fate/Apocrypha
Audio: “Feel Invincible” by Skillet

6. AMV Title: Anime Detour in April
Editor: Jerker19
Source Footage: Your Lie in April
Audio: “I Like Me Better” by Lauv

7. AMV Title: Persona Monster
Editor: SerAvium
Source Footage: Persona 3: The Movie #1: Spring of Birth, #2: Midsummer Knight’s Dream, #3: Falling Down, #4: Winter of Rebirth
Audio: “Monster” by Starset

8. AMV Title: Another Day of Sun – *WINNER* Judges’ Choice
Editor: MinetChan
Source Footage: Shirobako
Audio: “Another Day of Sun” by The Cast of La La Land

9. AMV Title: Patema Inverted [AMV] – Particle Arts
Editor: Abyss
Source Footage: Patema Inverted
Audio: “Virtual Self” by Particle Arts

10. AMV Title: You and Me, Can We be Friends? (or Seasons to Grow)
Editor: Rei Palmquist
Source Footage: A Silent Voice
Audio: “Seasons to Grow” by Hunter GK Thompson

11. AMV Title: Petal Dance – *WINNER* Judges’ Choice
Editor: PaNTSU of d00m
Source Footage: Sakura Trick, Your Name, Anohana
Audio: “Town of Jade (English Cover)” by Mer (Rachie)

12. AMV Title: Daydreamers
Editor: UstukushiLight
Source Footage: Nisekoi
Audio: “Me Without You” by TobyMac

13. AMV Title: Resurrection F
Editor: cutedude13
Source Footage: Dragon Ball Super
Audio: “Flowers” by Raye

14. AMV Title: The Salt Bae Ultimate Grinder Service
Editor: Maboroshi Studio
Source Footage: Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto, Yuri!!! On Ice
Audio: “Yello – Oh Yeah” by Joseph Croasdaile (Original Voice Over)

15. AMV Title: Midway
Editor: Mysunsai
Source Footage: Kantai Collection
Audio: “Dunkirk Trailer,” “Flyboys Trailer”

16. AMV Title: Call of the Void
Editor: shorisquared
Source Footage: Spirited Away
Audio: “Main Title [Beetlejuice]” by Danny Elfman

17. AMV Title: It Ain’t Erased
Editor: Dariru
Source Footage: Erased (Boku Dake ga Inai Machi)
Audio: “It Ain’t Me” by Kygo and Selena Gomez

18. AMV Title: Phantom Feeling – *WINNER* Judges’ Choice
Editor: MrShmucker
Source Footage: Persona 5
Audio: “Feel it Still” by Portugal The Man

19. AMV Title: Your Name – Breathe
Editor: Crylo
Source Footage: Your Name
Audio: “Breathe” by Mako

20. AMV Title: Here We Go Ultraman
Editor: Griffin Strycharske
Source Footage: The Ultraman: Jackal vs. Ultraman, Ultraman: The Adventure Begins
Audio: “Here We Go” by Jason Gochin

21. AMV Title: For The Belt
Editor: Starcoffin
Source Footage: Hajime no Ippo
Audio: “The Fighter” by Gym Class Heroes (feat. Ryan Tedder)

22. AMV Title: Magic Garden – *WINNER* Judges’ Choice
Editor: Ikuna
Source Footage: The Ancient Magus’ Bride
Audio: “Blinding” by Florence + The Machine

23. AMV Title: Chunchunmaru Hype – *WINNER* Judges’ Choice
Editor: Ramen Noodle Productions
Source Footage: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!
Audio: “Wanna Get Hype” by District 78

24: AMV Title: Game Night – *WINNER* Best in Show
Editor: James Blond
Source Footage: Death Parade
Audio: “Grounds for Divorce” by Elbow

25. AMV Title: Human – *WINNER* Best Drama
Editor: TheAsian777
Source Footage: A Silent Voice
Audio: “Human” by Of Monsters and Men

26. AMV Title: From the Flame – *WINNER* Best Action
Editor: SuperEltainin
Source Footage: Flip Flappers
Audio: “Invincible” by Icon for Hire

27. AMV Title: SPF – Stereotypical Party Filler – *WINNER* Best Comedy/Dance/Upbeat
Editor: Gina Nelson
Source Footage: Various
Audio: “Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE

28. AMV Title: Reach
Editor: SliceofLife
Source: Various
Audio: “My Tears are Becoming a Sea” by M83

Categories
Conventions Special Features

Anime Detour – Panel Materials

Hi all. Linked below are panel materials for many of our panels this year. I will make a post later with actual convention reactions, but since people have already been looking for these links and such I wanted to get this post up as soon as I was able. If any of the links are dead, please shoot me an email at jessi@s1e1.com and I’ll do what I can to fix it.

Feel free to use these for informational purposes. If you use these materials to create/enhance your own presentations, please credit “Jessi Silver” and “J.C. Horvath” (these took us a lot of work to put together).

Friday

Manga for Grown-Ups Handout
Manga for Grown-Ups Presenation

The Creative Women of Anime Presentation

Don’t Judge an Anime by its Cover List of Openings
Dont’ Judge an Anime by its Cover Videos

 

Saturday

The Heroine’s Journey in Anime Presentation

Structural Storytelling Presentation

Anime For Grown-Ups Handout
Anime For Grown-Ups Presentation

Devilman Crybaby Presentation

 

Sunday

Family Fantasy: A New Genre?

Shiny New Anime Handout
Shiny New Anime Presentation

Categories
Conventions Special Features

Anime Detour 2018 – My Panels and Events

Hey anime fans, it’s that time again – time to let you know just how nuts I was scheduling myself for panels and events at Anime Detour. As a programming staff member I have an intimate look at the type and volume of panels that are submitted, and often find myself compelled to “fill in the gaps” with my own ideas. I also have some old favorites that return from year-to-year. I also run the AMV Contest… this is my “home” convention, and I go all-out! In any case, this is where you can find me at whatever time of the day. Come up and say hi!

I’d like to give special kudos to my husband, J.C., who has not only put up with my enthusiasm for running panels, but has wholeheartedly joined in on it. Many of our panel ideas this year were his, so please make sure to give him some love, too!

Please note: Panel materials will be posted in a separate post following the convention.

 

Friday, April 6th

3:30pm – Manga for Grown-Ups – Manga recommendations for older fans, or fans looking for things outside the mainstream. Not a value judgment; I just know that many older/experienced fans have a more difficult time finding things to connect with in the fandom.

5:00pm – The Creative Women in Anime – A presentation about women in the anime industry (focused on directors/writers) with some recommendations for shows they have created or been involved in that you might be familiar with.

6:30pm – Second Chances in Anime – We’re testing out a new panel format, and this is one of three of these “moderated” panels talking about anime wherein the main characters get a chance to repeat parts of their lives (Re: Zero, Tatami Galaxy, Steins;Gate, Erased, etc.),  and what makes these stories compelling.

8:00pm – Anime by Numbers Trivia Game – J.C.’s awesome trivia game with all numerical answers. You don’t have to know much or anything about most of the shows to have fun, you just have to be a good guesser/estimator!

11:00pm – Don’t Judge an Anime by its Cover – Our annual game where we show hilarious anime OPs and EDs (both current and classic) and our creative audience members use clues found within them to “describe” the anime they’re associated with. You can win “awesome” prizes if you participate!

 

Saturday, April 7th

9:00am – AMV Showcase – A showcase of the exhibition entries submitted to the Anime Detour AMV Contest. We’re going to have voting ballots to award an audience favorite this year, so if you’re awake at this hour be sure to stop by!

10:30am – Structural Storytelling – A new presentation J.C. has put together describing how structural elements in anime episodes (OPs, EDs, repeated animated sequences like transformations, etc.) contribute to their storytelling.

12:00pm – AMV Contest – The primary AMV contest in which the entries are judged and eligible for prizes. We got a 90 minute time slot this year!

3:00pm – Heroine’s Journey – A second moderated panel. The idea of the “hero’s journey” (introduced by Joseph Campbell) has, for many years, served as sort of a default standard for what makes a good, compelling story. There is a counterpart, established by Maureen Murdock, that describes the heroine’s journey, which differs as a storytelling standard. We’ll discuss how this concept features in anime.

6:00pm – Anime for Grown-Ups – Recommendations for anime (both old and new) that might appeal to older/adult fans. Again, not a value judgment (I watch and think pretty highly of shows that I wouldn’t feature in this panel) but I know it can be harder for some older fans to connect with anime fandom so this is kind of my way of appealing to those people to stick around.

10:30pm – Devilman Crybaby (18+) – J.C. and I challenged ourselves this year to come up with an 18+ panel (we tend to believe even panels that deal with “adult” subject matter don’t necessarily have to limit themselves to adults, but the higher-ups wanted more “grown-up” content, so here we are) but this show is very violent and sexual, and I also wanted to talk about it because I love Masaaki Yuasa and also this series tore my heart out and stomped all over it. I’m hoping to discuss such stimulating topics like how the series has a cyclical structure, the okay-but-imperfect way it features multiple queer relationships, and how Satan was the main character all along.

 

Sunday, April 8th

10:30am – Family Fantasy: A New Genre? – A discussion panel focused around shows like Steven Universe and The Eccentric Family that feature supernatural elements but also deal with characters defining/redefining family structure as a dramatic element.

12:00pm – Shiny New Anime – This tends to be our most popular panel for some reason. I am basically an anime-watching and clip-making machine, so I put those (dubious) talents to good use by talking about the anime from the past year we watched and loved, and showing entertaining clips to try to convince others to watch them, too! We always have handouts, too, so you can remember what shows sounded good and keep track of them to watch after you leave.

1:30pm – AMV Awards – This is where we announce the winners for the various categories in the AMV Contest. Stop on by if you’d like to see some of the best entries another time, and cheer on the winners!

Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – Mary and the Witch’s Flower

It is Tib the black cat who leads Mary to the strange flower in the woods. When she discovers a little broomstick shortly afterwards, she is astonished to feel it jump in to action. Before she can gather her wits, it is whisking her over the treetops, above the clouds, and in to the grounds of Endor College, where: ‘All Examinations Coached for by A Competent Staff of Fully-Qualified Witches.’ – ANN

Copyright 2017 – Studio Ponoc/GKIDS

Streaming: N/A.  Disc release forthcoming (May 1st, 2018)

Source: Novel

Episodes: 1 (film)

Summary: Young Mary Smith moves to the countryside to live with her great aunt Charlotte while her parents are away. Mary wants more than anything to be useful, but she’s a clumsy person and often causes more problems than she solves. While lamenting her situation one day, she encounters two cats – Tib and Gib – who lead her to a forest glade where a cluster of spectacular blue flowers are growing. Mary takes the blossoms back to her room to admire them, but soon discovers that they’re more than just attractive blooms – the flowers, called “fly-by-night” by magic users, bloom but once in seven years and have the power to grant magical abilities to even the most mundane of user.

Mary stumbles into these mystic powers and finds herself a magic broom, which takes her to Endor College, a witch school above the clouds. She’s mistaken for a magical prodigy and the headmistress goes so far as to approach her about joining the honors classes, but it isn’t long until her secret is discovered and the faculty of the school chases Mary down in search of the fly-by-night blossoms. Mary must them protect herself, rescue her friend Peter and his cats, and make sure that the flowers don’t fall into the hands of those who would try to use them for horrifying experiments.

Review: This review contains mild plot spoilers for the film.

It’s cliche at this point for one to speculate on what Japanese animation studio will turn out to be the “next Ghibli.” It’s difficult to define exactly what that’s supposed to mean – Ghibli’s output has encompassed films aimed squarely at very young children (Ponyo or My Neighbor Totoro, for example), to more intense adventures that families can enjoy (Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away), to films that I’d argue take more maturity to appreciate (Porco Rosso, Only Yesterday, Grave of the Fireflies). Does Ghibli mean “animation quality?” “Story craft?” “Character and background design?” I’ve seen all of these traits thrown around as potential components of the Ghibli magic that’s captivated animation fans all over the world, and even somehow managed to gain credo with the incredibly insular, inscrutable, and in my opinion, sometimes downright infuriating Academy Award voters (seriously, Boss Baby over Your Name? You’ve got to be kidding me). Whether or not there’s a definitive way to identify the Ghibli style is a question that I’ll leave to others who are more invested in it. As for myself, I’m just enjoying the fact that, as animators and directors graduate from Ghibli, we’re able to enjoy the new perspectives they bring to this classic film making form.

Much like Hosoda Mamoru, Hiromasa Yonebayashi worked for Studio Ghibli as an animator and director before venturing off on his own to join the newly-established Studio Ponoc. Mary and the Witch’s Flower, the studio’s first feature-length animation, captures a lot of the classic family-friendly charm that typifies the bulk of Ghibli’s output, while providing a enough freshness to distinguish itself and its creative staff from their predecessors.

I commented on social media that one thing that charmed me about the film was that it seemed to speak to me as a little girl who always wanted to grow up to become a witch. Similar to the Harry Potter series, Mary and the Witch’s Flower suggests that there might be an entire secret world out there, where magic is real and those with a talent for it might be able to distinguish themselves and make impossible things happen. It helps that film eschews the tendency to make its heroine a strong but unattainable fantasy version of feminine purity, seen in such characters as Nausicaa or Kiki. It’s not that those characters are inherently terrible for women (and to be honest they’re much better role-models than a lot of “strong female characters (TM)”), but they also feel like an outsider’s perspective on what girlhood should be, when in reality it can be messier, more painful, and more awkward than it is often portrayed. I’m definitely not saying that Yonebayashi and friends have insider knowledge in pre-adolescent girlhood, but Mary feels closer to the type of person someone could meet in real life. She’s fundamentally kind and not overly-rebellious (which tends to be another direction writers take these kinds of characters), but she’s not particularly talented, gets bored easily, and goes against orders sometimes. She also lies by omission in order to feel better about herself, which ultimately gets her into trouble but is so understandable from the perspective of someone who often feels unworthy of praise. The idea that there could be a world out there somewhere in which the differences that one dislikes about oneself are seen as beneficial can become intoxicating.

The film also makes some attempt at real-world commentary, its most discernible issue-of-choice being animal (and human!) experimentation, as an offshoot of the typical environmentalism that crops up in similar films. Whether this is entirely successful is up in the air; my attitude was something akin to “I see what you did there” but more from the perspective of being repulsed by the mild body-horror aspect than buying into what I thought the creators were trying to say.

Visually the film doesn’t disappoint, and manages to combine traditional character animation, lush, vivid background art, and even some CG effects into a very appealing package. It straddles the line between traditional and modern very well, making an argument for utilizing new animation techniques even while trying to maintain a mostly hand-drawn look. After watching Shirobako multiple times, it’s interesting the kind of things I tend to notice when watching animation. In this case it was the animal movement- one of the film’s climactic moments involves a herd of animals escaping from captivity, and the horde of different creatures moving across the landscape feels very natural, chaotic, and whimsical as well. The depiction of the English countryside that serves as the setting for the more mundane parts of the story recalls some of the background art from The Secret World of Arietty; the lushness of the plant life and the misty hillsides are almost a character all their own.

One aspect of the film that I really liked was the revelation that Mary’s aunt Charlotte played an important part in the story when she was a youngster, and that Mary as a descendant of that family line is in prime position to draw things to a close. Even when young women have central roles in a narrative, it’s often the case that they’re the only female in a sea of men. In this case there are important connections between Mary and Charlotte, as well as the Endor headmistress. Additionally, Mary comes to the rescue of Peter, her male companion, multiple times throughout the film, which was a refreshing surprise.

The one thing that detracts from this story, and I suspect that others may agree with me, is that the whole package feels a bit rote. Stripping away the visual trappings and the spunky main character reveals a story that’s competently formulaic but not otherwise special in any way. It’s a fairly typical “heroine’s journey” in which a young girl is forced to look inside herself and make personal improvements, all in the guise of going on a grand adventure that, once completed, brings her back again to her mundane normal life. That said, it’s the type of movie that I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable watching with a child and which demonstrates an example of how to be heroic and fight for something ethical. It’s certainly more tolerable than your typical CG talking animal movie, and it doesn’t talk down to its intended audience.

The more creators there are making great movies, the better, and having graduated from Studio Ghibli I think Yonebayashi has a bright future ahead of him bringing to screen the type of anime films that have wide appeal. Mary and the Witch’s Flower is an above-average interpretation of a Western-style fairy tale that centralizes a somewhat-atypical female heroine and brings to life a magical world that might make some viewers long for the opportunity to attend a witch school. Check it out at a local film festival, or grab the disc when it’s released in May.

Pros: Mary is a spunky heroine with some realistic pre-teen flaws. The female relationships provide a good through-line to the film. The artistry is excellent.

Cons: The story is pretty average and can feel like a re-hash of old concepts.

Grade: B

Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Short Takes – Mob Psycho 100: Reigen the Miraculous Unknown Psychic

Mob’s master Reigen gets the idea to write an autobiography. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 1

Source:  Manga

Summary: Kagayama Shigeo, aka “Mob,” is one of the most powerful psychic forces in the world. However, Mob is employed by local spiritualist (and thinly-veiled con-man) Arataka Reigen, whose newest money-making scheme involves a novelization of their adventures from his clouded point-of-view.

Review: Fans hoping for a genuine bonus OVA or sequel to the wildly-popular Mob Psycho 100 will likely be disappointed by this special event episode, as it’s mostly a clip show summarizing the events of the anime’s first season. However, with a first-cour as strong as Mob‘s, there’s something to be said for the experience of reliving its best moments distilled into an action-packed and humorous hype-fest for the show’s upcoming second season.

Reigen the Miraculous Unknown Psychic is a retelling of Mob’s adventures through the eyes of Arataka Reigen, who in actuality played a small (but deceptively important) role in the original story. True-to-form, Reigen sees himself as the hero of this tale, and as he dictates his autobiography to Shigeo the recollections are embellished with his presence in situations where he didn’t, in actuality, have an active role. Most of the humor is derived from the absurd visuals of Reigen’s head pasted on Mob’s or Hanazawa’s body, as well as nagging feeling for those of us who are familiar enough with the original series to know that Reigen’s version isn’t quite right.

What’s interesting to note is that, despite Reigen’s puffery, he’s actually the storytelling conduit for the main theme of the series – having a talent doesn’t make one superhuman or above common-sense or responsibility – and this is evident even when he’s stretching the truth about his involvement in defeating the Claw group or mentoring Mob. It’s amusing that we the audience can immediately see the value in his words and mentorship, but Reigen himself seems to place more value on what makes him look good and how he deceives those around him.

I think perhaps the major draw of this event episode is the “big reveal” at the end that a second anime season is currently in production, but those who pay attention to anime news were probably already aware of that since the information had already been posted on the various news outlets. Still, despite the fact that this episode is mostly extraneous, it’s an amusing rehash of a series that could have been just another shounen action joint, but which happily coupled its awesome action animation with a perceptive story about giftedness and bullying. If you haven’t watched Mob lately, it might be worthwhile to check out this abridged (and slightly-altered) version of the show, if only as a pleasant reminder that it manages to hold-up to multiple viewings.

Grade: B-

 

Categories
Conventions Personal Special Features

Anime Fusion – Panel Materials

Hi again, all. Below are my panel materials From Anime Fusion 2017. Feel free to utilize these how you want; if you use them as part of another presentation, please credit me.

The Creative Women of Anime PowerPoint Presentation

Shiny New Anime Handout (Word Doc)

Shiny New Anime PowerPoint Presentation

Shiny New Anime Clips

I hope everyone who attended the con had a great time. And, as always, I’m thankful to those who continue to support us by attending our panels and providing their feedback and friendship! Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I look forward to seeing everyone next year!