Forum - View topic

The Winter 2023 Anime Preview Guide

I've been reading your reviews for years, and your hatred of CG anime all but radiates from your writing.

this first episode makes phenomenal use of its medium, delivering not just some of the best character animation Studio Orange has produced but even creating visuals I never thought I'd see in a TV anime. The opening sequence of Vash and Knives' escape pod hurtling through a sea of exploding space debris is thrilling in a way I've only experienced with the best ship battles in Star Wars

that aforementioned phenomenal animation, bridging the gap between high-flying action and zany slapstick without ever missing a beat. Characters are expressive, capable of both subtle facial expressions and exaggerated physical comedy in equal measure, and it keeps the whole premiere moving with infectious energy.

This was my most hyped anime of the season! People who know my creative output will probably say it’s just on-brand for me to like the little sister show, but for me the genre was secondary to the fact that the Mushoku Tensei team is working on this. Shingo Fujii’s been on my radar ever since I saw his Precure action animation years ago, so of course I was going to tune in for his series directorial debut.

And the production did not disappoint! Call it cursed, but I was really impressed at how this anime managed to convey the protagonist’s morbid and erotic fascination with their new body without ever resorting to the obvious fanservice shots. The character animation adds a lot of nuance to the visual storytelling; the first episode makes liberal use of long distance shots, a challenge for 2D animation because the characters’ features and movements almost inevitably lose detail. Here, though, you can see every subtle movement from a long distance, which lends a sort of voyeuristic feel to the direction. That’s probably why the content might seem so off-putting despite not actually showing much nudity, but since I’m desensitised to that side of anime culture, I’m just left admiring the technical ability involved in creating this.

On the narrative front, I think it’s neat how the action starts after the genderbending has occurred instead of establishing the main character’s personality and attitude to their gender first. This opens up the story to a wider range of possible interpretations, including a transgender reading where the implication is that the protagonist identified with the female gender all along but only realises this because the opportunity fell into their lap. I am actually not that much of a fan of genderbending stories in general because they make it really obvious how the genderbender character is supposed to feel about their situation, but the ambiguity here makes the story more interesting. Also, isn’t becoming the little sister such a neat twist on a played-out character trope?

Ningen Fushin: The budget's looking extra-threadbare in a few moments of episode 2. The rest is fine, with a nice balance between a natural rapport and trust issues.

Nicholas Dupree wrote:

This show doesn't look good, and I am somebody who's plenty open-minded about CG television anime.

I've been reading your reviews for years, and your hatred of CG anime all but radiates from your writing.

leetailor wrote:

"Arrhythmia", "Eurythmics" lmao poor girl is even getting bullied by the reviewers ;_;

The real reason for that is because I wrote the review on an airplane and couldn't quite remember her name, so I decided to make a joke of it instead of trying and getting it wrong.

Got an ironic belly laugh that the ultimate technique to shake an opponent's concentration and win a "fight" is to reverse their gender...