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ANN Tsutomo Mizushima page

My average ranking: 7.33

Director Pantheon: Tsutomo Mizushima Rating
Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan (TV) Decent

Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan Second (OAV) Decent

Girls und Panzer (TV) Excellent

Girls und Panzer das Finale (movie series)

Girls und Panzer der Film (movie) Excellent

Girls und Panzer: This is the Real Anzio Battle! (OAV) Good

Squid Girl (TV) Good

The title character is a piece of work: a memorable blending of incompetence and brilliance, cunning and innocence, chagrin and optimism. The show's surface innocence happily overlays a mostly, but not always, covert adult sensibility. Beyond the main character and that sensibility, there isn't much to the show but they are enough for it to merit its rating.
Squid Girl Season 2 (TV) Decent

In the first season Ika Musume was, literally and figuratively, a fish out of water. The humour revolved around the contrast between Squid Girl's ambitions and her better nature, and between her naivete and the down-to-earth attitudes of her new friends. In the second season she has become a superstar, the centre of everybody's world. In the last episode Eiko even acknowledges that the invasion has succeeded, not by force but by charm. Where, in the first series, Squid Girl's most common reactions were suprise or chagrin, this time around it's as if she pauses at the end of each action or statement for the inevitable approbation and applause. Her confidence level has risen while her cuteness level has fallen (though only slightly).

At the same time, the stories have become blander while the innovations and surprises are fewer. It's probably to be expected in a second season of such an episodic show. For sure, the first season was highly variable in the quality of its short episodes, but this season seemed to have fewer high points. The best episode was easily the one where the main characters play "House" with a child who has clearly watched far too many daytime soap operas. What she gets Squid Girl and the others to perform is both alarming and hilarious. The show is at its best when the childlike veneer slips away to reveal a very adult (and twisted) sensibility.