reviews

Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 162-163

Welcome to the place where dreams literally go to die.

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Our equine priest might have been harnessed, but the season is still galloping forward with no sign of slowing down. Dreams of childhood and adulthood meet, clash, and then find ways to coexist, our heroes face their lingering doubts and emerge stronger than ever, and our antagonists continue to fascinate me with bursts of sympathy and humanity. The filler wastelands are but a distant dream at this point. Onwards, noble Alicorn, to the SuperShowdown!

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Episode 3.09: “Closure”

This is why we can’t have nice things.

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Despite its title, “Closure” isn’t about resolutions so much as massive shake-ups. Most of the story lines function as setup for the big Part 1 finale that’s swiftly closing in, and the last few minutes leave us hanging from a cliff (or lying at the bottom of one unconscious, more accurately). Which isn’t to say that this wasn’t an intense 40-odd minutes of television. My heart, ripped out and pumping feebly on the ground at my feet, can assure you there was plenty to discuss.

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Noragami Aragoto – Episode 9: “The Sound of a Thread Snapping”

BONES is punishing me for taking a week off from blogging, aren’t they?

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I was on break this week (although my Feels sure weren’t), but Setsuken was kind enough to cover the episode for me. Click here for his full post on Anime Evo!

I did provide some livetweet commentary for this one, so just for funsies, I thought I’d chuck that up here for your enjoyment. Hit the jump and grab some syrup to put on these hottakes.

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Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 160-161

Queen Nehel, Queen Nehel, does whatever a spider will…

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I’m back from paradise with a slight tan and many fond memories (KU winning! Watching the sun rise over a volcano! Seeing dolphins! Eating a burger with a bun made out of ramen noodles!), as well as a whole mess of Sailor Moon story to recap. We’ve entered the home stretch, and SuperS is once again a solid combination of character work, circus imagery, and coming-of-age themes.

…That said, my forehead IS rather red from some serious face-palming, because holy cowbell, are our scouts the worst detectives ever. This week is full of shocking!Reveals about our villains, who may be the least subtle enemies the team has ever faced, and it’s pretty (un?)intentionally hilarious. I’m starting to think the Moonies are doing it on purpose at this point, like Inigo Montoya fighting with his left hand. “If I use my right… over too quickly.”

At any rate, let’s enjoy both the giggles and the thoughtful “hmm” noises together.

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Noragami Aragoto – Episode 8: “God of Calamity”

Out of one Lucky Gods’ frying pan and into another one’s fire.

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Our idyllic interlude is predictably short-lived, as Noragami chucks us in to its next major conflict(s) and promises (or at least heavily teases) some major movement in terms of revealing more of Yato’s backstory and his long, messy relationship with Nora. This is largely a table-setting episode, introducing new antagonists and complications and prepping us for the potential calamities to come. And rest assured, it’s looking to be one packed table indeed.

Click here for the full post on Anime Evo!

Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 158-159

Now entering Plot City, Population: Us!

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The story is back in more-or-less full force, as we (finally!) learn more about Pegward and his mysterious Dream World and forward the odd little relationship developing between Chibiusa and her magical boy. Fittingly, Sato and Ikuhara are back in the director’s chairs this week, which might explain why both these episodes are not only quite pretty, but also hilarious. Plot, shiny cinematography, and giggles? Sounds like a good week of Sailor Moon to me.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Episode 3.08: “Many Heads, One Tale”

If only AoS had some kind of Twitter hashtag to explain its narrative structure…

[ABC]

Top marks to the creative team this week as they chuck new complications into seemingly resolved conflicts and weave a whole lotta disparate threads into one extensive tapestry. That #ItsAllConnected tag they kicked up way back in Season One has become the show’s mantra at this point, which does a lot to assign retroactive significance to events and stories that once felt disconnected from the central one. And considering we’re within shouting distance of the midseason finale, that’s a pretty good place to be.

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Panning the Stream: Fall 2015 Midseason Review

The trees outside are looking almost as sparse as my watch list.

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It’s a fairly quiet season on my end, as I’m only keeping up with eight full-length shows and one short(ish), as compared to last season’s whopping thirteen. While that’s partly out of necessity (there’s nothing like a packed month of travel and writing projects to make you shed shows), it also speaks to the kinds of series airing this season. I wouldn’t even call it a bad season, just one with a lot of mid-range shows that don’t appeal to me personally. Sometimes that happens.

A packed month of travel and writing projects can also tell you a lot about your own preferences, turns out, and mine are pretty solidly turned towards character-driven writing and/or offbeat or ambitious narrative structures. The general craziness of my schedule as of late has also led me to seek out lighter, sillier shows, which is likely why this list is so heavy on the comedies and over-the-top “dramas.” Never let it be said that personal tastes and circumstances don’t affect judgment, because oh man, do they ever.

Hit the jump to see what’s stuck, what’s slipping, and what has the chance to be truly special.

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Noragami Aragoto – Episode 7: “How to Worship a God”

Noragami makes it rain in more ways than one this week.

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It’s a quiet week by recent standards, one-part Bishamon epilogue and one-part (I assume) prologue for the next arc, with a little Delivery God mission tucked up in the center. The series gets to stretch its comedy muscles and remind us that it’s just as good at humor as it is at action and drama, but if you thought that meant they were going to let our feelings breathe after the emotional rollercoaster of the past few weeks, boy howdy, do you have another thing comin’.

Click here for the full post on Anime Evo!

Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 156-157

I don’t think “suffer for your art” is meant to be quite this literal…

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Sometimes I’m a little sad I didn’t get to experience Sailor Moon as a kid (Li’l Me would’ve loved to have been Sailor Jupiter for Halloween), but I do think watching as an adult has its own unique rewards, as I’m better able to see the kinds of things (largely positive, and sometimes quite progressive) that the series is doing in terms of overarching ideas and thematic messages. Plus it’s been fascinating to look at the early work of some of my favorite anime directors and see the creators they were and how that influenced the creators they’d become.

That’s particularly true this week, as we see an episode about an artist struggling to follow his dreams while also trying to make end’s meet, and it’s hard not to see it as a fictional outburst of frustration from the SM team themselves. It also hits way too close to home for a writer staring at her dwindling twenties and wondering when/if she’s gonna make something of herself. Suffice to say, I had feelings this week, and they were only marginally related to the episodes themselves. So let’s discuss, shall we?

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