Getting by with a little help from your friends.
When you say “shojo,” a lot of people’s first thought is probably “romance,” but what drew me to the genre as a kid and what continues to bring me back to it is that it’s as much about the many kinds of relationships that can develop between people as it is about falling in love. orange carries on this tradition, showcasing Naho and Kakeru’s growing love story side-by-side with the positive, easygoing friendships that tie The BFF Sextet together.
The best-laid plans of mobs and men…
Happy to prove that it can keep balancing tangled gangster intrigue with character-focused drama, 91 Days returns us to Lawless and pours a potful of plot (a plotful?) all over us. Statuses shift, allegiances realign, and just about everyone tries to put one over on somebody else. And you thought your family was complicated.
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.
After watching Naho and Kakeru’s relationship almost fall apart last week, this week we slide back into the comfortable, content group dynamic and steady progress from before. That doesn’t mean it was a completely uneventful episode, though: Mixed into the relaxed slice-of-life festival story are small changes for Naho, a renewed focus on the supporting cast, and a science lesson that adds an important layer to orange‘s premise.
The mob acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
I know I joked last week that 91 Days was going to turn into a road trip buddy comedy, but. I mean. I didn’t think it actually would. Our tense gangster drama lightens up this week, taking time off from crime family intrigue to meander across the lakes region of the U.S. and flesh out its two central characters along the way–and by “flesh out,” I of course mean:”make them endearing as heck.” Those felonious scamps.
Relationships are hard, y’all.
Friendships, romances, family ties–no two are the same, and they all take different kinds work. I’m not sure there’s ever a time when relationships get easy, but like anything else, experience does help. That’s why high school relationships can be such a muddled minefield, because for many people it’s the first time they’ve had to not only figure out How To Significant Other, but also how to balance different kinds of relationships in a healthy way. And boy, do Naho and Kakeru walk right into that minefield this week.
♪ I’ll be spending Friday nights writing ’bout a gangster’s paradise… ♪
91 Days had possibly the best premiere of the season, and two episodes later it continues to dig its hooks into me with twists, turns, mysteries, and conspiracies. You read or watch enough stories and you start to get a feel for where a narrative’s heading, but 91 Days has kept me on my toes with speedy escalation, a chessboard full of briefly glimpsed players, and a camera that just loves to build tension through canted angles and wide shots of empty rooms. I’m not sure where it’s all heading, and I love that about it.
I’m not sure if I’m happy or just relieved.
Adaptations can be a minefield, but orange has so far met my expectations, endearing me to its cast and sucking me into its story all over again. It’s easily one of my Top Three favorite shows of the summer (nestled right alongside gangsters and puppets, go figure), so I’ve opted to cover it for Anime Evo this season. Also, sorry it’s a little late–I had a busy travel weekend and couldn’t find the time until today.
I’m in a unique position with this one where I’ve actually read the entire manga, but anime newbies can rest assured that, while these posts do assume you’ve seen the episode(s) under discussion, this is a manga spoiler-free zone. So viewers and readers can read on free of worries!
Yeah. This has my name written all over it.
Evo let me gush about my other favorite premiere of the season (that doesn’t involve puppets, anyway). Prohibition-era gangsters, an atmosphere that fluctuates between quiet tension and bombastic battles, revenge plots, and mad-dog murderers. Sign. Me. Up.
Prepare your heart for a summer full of feelings!
Now that my schedule has settled down somewhat, I’m back to blogging weekly for the good folks at Anime Evo again! While I’m still not 100% certain if I’ll be covering orange or something else, this lovely, vibrant, pensive premiere bodes very well for the show’s chances. Either way, it definitely deserved a few extra words.
Gold and silver and bronze and on.
Spring might have been lacking the standout masterpiece and shoujo gem that Winter had (Shouwa Genroku and Snow White, respectively), but it more than made up for it in sheer quantity, offering up a variety of lively, stylish, and just downright fun series. In that respect, this season feels a little like last summer: I’m not sure how many of these shows are gonna make my 2016 Top 10 list, but I enjoyed watching just about all of them.
In other news, I think this is the last time you’ll see my Totally Arbitrary Rankings used in a season retrospective. More and more I’m realizing I don’t love the ranking system–it forces me to list shows one after the other even if I think multiple shows may have all been equally worthwhile for very different reasons. It’s reductive and misleading but, more to the point, not that fun. So enjoy the numbers for today, bid them a fond (or not) farewell, and look forward to a new format from here on out.
For now, though…
The Josei Next Door 