Magical Girl anime exist in this weird space as a subgenre. On one hand, there’s a clear public conception of the sparkly, sugary-sweet Saturday-morning goodness they bring to the table. On the other hand, very few of those most recognizable to your neighbor’s mom’s cat completely line up with this conception of the genre.
Even after Key’s writing contributions to the oddly-paced and hardly-affecting Charlotte, though, I still held out some measure of anticipation for the following season’s Rewrite. But it turns out that missing the point did the series even more damage than what repair it was positioned to do.
More than the harsh-but-grounded depictions of war and destitution that immediately provide it with gravity, perhaps Vinland Saga’s greatest strength as historical fiction is in its carefully-chosen boundaries with respect to how it envisions 11th-century Scandinavia and Danish England.
Slice-of-life shows like Hidamari Sketch are in a weird position where they don’t truly have many equivalents in Western-based markets, outside of anime and manga.
Among the new anime television series airing last season, my personal favorite of the bunch was something relatively understated. Yuru Camp△ exemplifies its exact niche beautifully.
During its relatively brief existence, Amazon’s Anime Strike “channel” (now rolled back into the rest of their Prime Video offerings) had a knack for consistently snatching up the license for a poignant, would-be sleeper-hit anime of each season. , Inuyashiki Last Hero gave all of the joint Netflix-Marvel projects a run for their money, if not frequently one-upping them.
Keijo!!!!!!!! gives off a very strong impression from the word “go”. If only that same front lasted throughout the entire series.
Kino’s Journey is one of those shows that, despite appreciating it very much, I watched just a sampling of and only finished up some months later. But coming back felt in every way like I never missed a beat, which is exactly the right effect for this sort of show.
This Thing Is Neat 