hardworkandguts

[hardworkandguts]

Some great faces from Machu.

[hardworkandguts]

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

機動戦士 Gundam GQuuuuuuX

(Anime)

Real robot by Yoji Enokido, Hideaki Anno

Era: 2020s

Rating: B (C for newcomers)

Plot: It's five years since the actions of Char Aznable in capturing the Gundam have led to the victory of the Principality of Zeon, and also his disappearance. In Side 6, Amate Yuzuriha is leading a boring, normal life until she finds herself jumping inside and skilfully controlling the Gundam GQuuuuuux and defeating the police.

Length: 13 episodes (covered from #1 to #12)

Thoughts: As I've mentioned a few times during the Sunday posts, I'm a complete newbie at Gundam, having just watched the first two three four five installments of the series. The idea of a new show set in an alternate 0079 continuity kinda made watching this an interesting proposition, but always a danger of it leaning too much on fanservice. Am I missing some references from stuff I haven't watched? Maybe. Is my swiss cheese memory making me miss some references with secondary characters that appeared for a couple of episodes? For sure. Does not having an encyclopedic knowledge of Gundam affect your enjoyment of GQuuuuuux? Well... while for the first half you could probably get away with some character guide and explanation on how Zeon high command love backstabbing, some concepts like Newtypes and the kira-kira, as the lore piles up it gets increasingly hard to have and understanding of everything they're throwing at you. Bask Om making a cameo? Not a big deal, it's just a guy who looks like the model for Krang's robot. Introduction of Lalah and centering an episode on her, and the introduction of multiple timelines? Yeah, you probably need more than just a two minute read to catch up. The final episode, in particular, has so many call outs to 0079 I don't think anyone who didn't watch it will get much enjoyment from it. Aside from the Gunbuster-sized Gundam.

Beyond that, my biggest complaint on the show is that you can more or less tell it has the stories for a 24 episode show, but given the time constraints they mostly speedrun through them and there's a lingering feeling like we're watching just the pre-OP recaps of the previous episode from a show twice as long. Machu doesn't feel like she has any reason to torpedo her life the way she did other than being bored, the lure of the kira-kira, and hormones, we know basically nothing of Shuji until the *very* end and Nyaan is for the most part someone who the whole characterization is "refugee who's been alone and needs a friend", which might be the closest to an origin story as far as early Gundam goes. Tomino shows weren't exactly great developing female characters at least early on, but in here all leads feel more of an afterthought, and there was some sort of theme to it, be it "war is bad", "those who suffer the most are civilians and children and the people in charge might not have their interests in mind" or "you must break the cycle between oppressed and oppressor". In here, while Machu and Nyaan are weaponised in the factional war between Challia Bull and Kycilia, I kinda feel the themes truly are much closer to the "wow, cool robot" end of the spectrum. Yes, it's unquestionably better than some of the messes that end up being completely incoherent for either not having enough time to develop the world and story they crafted or messing up the pacing and suddenly you are wondering "who is this" or "when did this happen", as at least the story holds itself together, but the best comparison I can think of to the problems here is "what if in 0079 Lalah only appeared once in the car scene before becoming one with the kira-kira?", and this is a character that is already criticised for being underdeveloped for someone at the root of the grudge match that is Char's Counterattack.

Visually, I like more the character design more than the actual mechanical design, but I'm the rare fan who's not looking at the show looking at the next Gunpla to buy so I'm not really the right type of person to ask about that. In the last episode, however, I kinda have the same feeling I have with Formula One cars - they used to be a lot sleeker than they are now. I am all, however, for good character design and the show really provides it.

Like with eveverything that requires some previous knowledge, once you have it it's hard to judge how much of the story are you filing in by yourself and how much is utterly undecipherable (looking at the recent Rose of Versailles movie, for instance), but if my fresh but very modest knowledge of early Gundam lore has me googling at times, I wonder how confused someone who knows Char from the memes must be by the end of the story. A reason why different continuities were added was precisely so that newcomers don't have to deal with lore for a new show (G Gundam, set to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the franchise, was the first), and that I've spent most of it addressing this rather than talking about the show itself shows how this is very much a long shadow on GQuuuuuux. But is it fun in a "watch the spectacle" kind of way? Yes.

Recommended to: 0079 / early UC fans, mostly.

Plus:

Good character design

Sure, it might be official fanfiction, but It's fun.

Minus:

Undercooked new characters and feels too short for the story it tries to tell.

Might be too confusing or vague for people who are not aware of Universal Century lore.

[hardworkandguts]

Weekly Catch-up #12

Time to say our goodbyes to some of the shows that made the last three months less of a shitshow, hopefully. First of them already has the full post on (Zatsu Tabi, which I only picked up around episode 8 or 9), next couple of weeks will be just Spring 2025 shows. I expected Summer would be less busy for me, but there's already six shows you can probably expect to see me post about (two continuing, one returning), so I might end up with too many shows again. Well, as long as they're good.

(last week)

What was on?

Kowloon Generic Romance

(ep 13) have you ever had so much regret you broke a computer? Not in a physical way, I mean. We start with Kowloon glitching and imploding, mirroring Kudou's mental state as he tries to understand and come to terms with what happened and leaving this Endless 8 hell of his own making. I don't think he ever understands why Kijurai-B took the pills, but ultimately leaves his regret behind. I was expecting a kind of a bummer ending, but Kujirai did become her true self, which allowed her to leave (just as Generic Terra melts away) and meet up with Youmei and Xiaohei. I think that part of that is Kudou realised and told her he didn't really know Kujirai-B, who from the flashbacks does seem the kind of person who deflected everything with a joke or a comeback, which is why both are so different personality wise. So, in a way, was she was always her true self but both of them had to realise that she could never be Kujirai-B and all her decisions were of her own making, rather than a memory of Kudou?

The Apothecary Diaries

(ep 2.23) after a week off, time for Jinshi to clear out the palace and showing he's not just a pretty face as he leads the charge that neutralises Shishou, who fully accepts the consequences for his actions, and then it's time for Loulan to show her mother who really was in control of the operation. A long tale of familial and palace intrigue that Shishou started in parallel with Shenmei's actual conspiracy, and one where Loulan decided how things were going to end, dancing to her death - not for her benefit, she knew all the good intentions can't make up for making the emperor look weak, scarring Jinshi's face all but a way of not giving him and the emperor a way out to forgive her after showing what the real plan was, but for the little ones of the Shi clan (I think they have been telegraphing so hard they're alive they might as well say it) who were obviously out of the loop, and her half-sister Suirei, who might have been the longest primary antagonist of the show but was a victim of Shenmei as well, and can now be free, away from the pain caused by her grandfather. The Shi clan might die, but those are just names. One episode to go, and not much left to wrap up.

Gundam GQuuuuuux

(ep 12) Soooooo would you rather fight a Gunbuster-sized Gundam, or 300 Gundam-sized Gunbusters? In a way, this episode kinda sums up a lot of misgivings about the show (the main trio are kinda meh, you do need a certain level of knowledge about 0079), but also the good bits that are mostly the fanservice (a Char vs Amuro fight animated modern style where Char saves Lalah at the expense of his life, Challia Bull seeing the future where Char's obsession would take him and getting him to his senses, Char deciding to blow up Kycilia again in the same way, because why not) In the ending of the show things do happen to end on a better note for everyone involved. It is what it is, and I don't think it ever tried to be something else.

Witch Watch

(ep 13) After the first "serious" arc, we're back to business as usual, three stories, first with Keigo having to deal with living with the other three, but also with ladies' man Wolf, cuasing a lot of distress for Keigo himself but Kanshi as well. Then, Nemu comes to visit, and instead of going in for a talk as they were properly introduced decides to walk in as a cat because she wants to be petted. Yeah. Except unknown to her, Keigo is now living with them, and the minute he turns into Wolf clocks her right away. New dynamic introduced, great potential. Third story, Nico wants to be popular (with Morihito), so she tries to charm her way through his stomach. Except her food as a slime-lime quality to it, so being Nico, she tries magic. Well, you know how it works by now, but at least this time she got something out of the trouble. Also, new OP/ED, maybe not as good, let's see if it grows on me, but I see a new character that is probably getting introduced in a few episodes, and judging from the description: sicko.jpg

Food for the Soul

(ep 12) well, gonna miss these five, particularly Shinon. It kind of throwbacks to the first episodes, with Mako seeing a restaurant she wanted to try, but this time she actually did it, growth etc, and the second half has them cleaning up the club (which Shinon would much prefer the others did it while she eats snacks but she can't say that out loud except she did, because why grow up) before the new year's eve, where they reflect on the previous year around a kotatsu and visit a quiet temple. It's not the best show I've watched this season, but surely the one I had most fun with. This week's meal: kamo naban soba with hand rolled sushi.

mono Weekend Animation

(ep 12) also saying goodbye this week, the cinephoto club, who decided to do a movie, and after some deliberation, they settle on a POV horror, with the help of the member of the cinema club who signed up but never appeared, but is a fan of horror films, and according to Sakurako would immediately join in if summoned with the proper arcane methods (texting). Things, however, took a dark turn as they were filming it. Legitimately would have loved more episodes like this, where it's in line with the premise of the show, still features Haruno and was a ton of fun. Nothing wrong with being aimless (look at the show above), but felt this had the potential for more and this episode really reminds this is what I expected the show would be. Also, never trust the quiet ones.

Uchuujin MuuMuu

(ep 12) Poor Sakurako feels terribly guilty over what happened at the club, and has a sort of debriefing with Anamori where she considers dropping out to not put the club president and Rokugou in danger. Not that he particularly minds, since Sonoko is visiting him in hospital. On the second bit of the story, Sakurako gets stuck on an elevator after a minor earthquake, and drinks two cups of coffee. On Himbo Electronics Weekly, called a robot vacuum cleaner a "cat car" after seeing Digital zooming across the place on top of one, but you know what, fair. Today's lesson: how to choose a robot cleaner and types of batteries. When you need power, you need Japanese alcalines.

Tis Time for "Torture", Princess

(ch 275) oh, so it's not just to Tortura she tries to get one over. Looking back to the first appearances of Sakura (first on ch7, then on ch96-97 and ch 126-127) because I had a vague idea of who she was but was not sure, I feel the art style improved on some areas, but in others now feels a lot less dynamic, which might be a problem for the adaptation. On the other hand, the panel above is one of those that fully captures the vibe of the work as an whole.

Can You Keep a Secret?

(Ch 78 - 97) ah, crap, some time ago I mentioned the translated English volumes finally passed the material on the quite good adaptation, but never went around talking about it. My bad. The story picks up as the anime ends, and desks with Yui struggling to adapt at her new position in the PR department, and since we've now completed two thirds of the story, going public about their relationship with more people and thinking seriously about their future. There's also a good plot arc about burning out, oddly competitive table tennis competitions, and all the usual good stuff the series has given us so far. Really hope it gets a second season with the later half of the manga timed with the release of the last translated volume.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

(ch 401-403) the investigations on Hypnos' backstory continue, with the Demon Cleric and Bussi's brother going to the later's hometown, where there's more beds than Succubi and Incubi. Hearing that, Syalis obviously decided to tag along, to the desperation of the Demon Cleric. It's one that would be amazing to see animated one day (Ooh Ahh ♡), but the Demon Cleric is less of a perv over Syalis there, so I don't know how it would work. Finally, everyone in the castle is losing their mind over the new Fwitch 2, and Syalis was happy just playing her older one, no problem until bird girl told her there's an exclusive item for Demon's Crossing, but exclusive to the new console... a new comfy bed. Hell breaks loose.

In other news...

The Laughing Salesman is getting a new live action adaptation due in a few weeks. It is the second live adaptation of it, the first from 1999 is considered lost media.

Also in live action news, Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on Warner dropping the rights for the Akira adaptation after 20 years in adaptation hell. Others are interested, but: don't.

[hardworkandguts]

A few more bits from Zatsu Tabi (including some with the "anime cardboard cutouts on a photo" problem)

[hardworkandguts]

Some bits from Zatsu Tabi

[hardworkandguts]

Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey

ざつ旅-That's Journey-

(Anime)

Tourism advertising by Kenta Ishizaka

Era: 2020s

Rating: C

Plot: Chika is an aspiring mangaka struggling to get her first manga idea past her editor after winning a youth award. Frustrated, after watching a travel show on TV who uses dice to pick their next location, she decides to go on a trip and leaves a poll on social media asking which direction to go.

Length: 12 episodes

Thoughts: A show I had added to the list but decided against also watching until late in the season because that's really a lot already and the vibes spots were filled, Zatsu Tabi does the tourism board thing pretty neatly, although a bit too much to the point it feels a bit too much like a NHK's Japan Railway Journal episode. Part of the problem is how little there's in story, most episodes circle around picking a place to go, get her red Tezuka beret, get on a train, arrive, comment of the fare, visit some places, maybe rush to find a place to eat before closing time to get the most incredible food they ever saw, visit some other places, then finding a place to spend the night, invariably the most relaxing hotel in the region. As pretentious as it might sound to say it, the show has this nasty habit of getting in its own way by doing travel guides and ignoring the characters bounce pretty well off each other, and each bring something different to a trip, instead spend too long doing the tourism promotion of the day. When it's not doing that and we get Chika doing her own introspection, or Koyomi playing the energetic girl, Yui being the perfect kohai, Fuyune coming up with the wildest ideas or Riri wasting away again on Margaritaville (uh, Sakemura?), the later two serving as guides helping Chika find her own path in the publishing industry, it's a much better show than when you just use those characters to talk about train fares and local attractions. In comparison, mono Weekend Animation, a show from the same season also about (mostly) a mangaka on her trips with her biker friend and three highschoolers who serve as inspiration to her manga, never lets the setting get in the way of the characters, or Dropkick on my Devil! X, who gets a fair bit of criticism for being a caper across Japan, but it's fully centered on the characters.

While the character design is fine but nothing really extraordinary, where the show shines is in the background art department, although in the same way it does the "tourism" thing a bit too thick, since the characters lack detail and some backgrounds have a nearly photographic level of it, on some scenes if feels like you are watching anime cardboard cutouts on a photo, or one of those gag anime that shamelessly use photos or video as backgrounds, and I'm sure some of those landmark establishing shots are not just being traced but photos with a filter applied. A show like Makeine had very detailed backgrounds and successfully incorporated the characters by not being afraid of shadows and letting them disappear into the scenario, in here some shots look jarring, in one of the episodes where she visits a sake aging cave, while the background is pretty dark (because, you know, cave) she is fully lit up like she's made of reflective tape. Other times, like the first sunrise of the year, it looks like some effort was put in the composition. Between this and the varying level of fidelity in the backgrounds, It's looks uneven.

Ultimately, in a show like this I'd say something like how it is "a show with a decent idea but poor execution", but always end up thinking how much of a "good idea" there is. Visually it's a bit over the place and with so little in terms of story, it also kind of undermines the vibes factor by making the characters read what sounds like ads for the local chamber of commerce. If you like this sort of show it's probably worth seeing it once, but there's little, if anything at all, in for subsequent viewings unless you are planning a trip. But keep in mind, prices might have changed in between.

Recommended to: do you like travel shows?

Plus:

Characters are fine when they are allowed to be characters and not something in front of a tourist hotspot.

Extremely detailed background art

Minus:

However, on some cases the art is so finely detailed the kind of flat design of the characters really sticks out.

It has very little in story, but a lot on trivia, and it feels it wastes the characters this way.

[hardworkandguts]

Some gifs from Azumanga Daioh

[hardworkandguts]

Azumanga Daioh

あずまんが大王

(Anime + manga)

Slice of life by Kiyohiko Azuma

Era: 2000s

Rating: A

Plot: Yukari Tanazaki probably shouldn't be a teacher. Moody and impulsive, always picking up an argument with her best friend, PE teacher Minamo Kurosawa, and dragging her students to it, she's in luck of being in this school, where there are even weirder characters than her, like transfer students students Chiyo-chan, a 10 year old child prodigy who skipped 5 grades and Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga, who's living in a world inside her head, both joining the highly energetic Tomo, her foil Yomi, the quiet and mature (or is she?) Sakaki, Kaorin, who has a huge crush on her and the athlete Kagura. Also there's a teacher who shouldn't be allowed to be near students.

Length: 26 episodes, 30 chapters

Thoughts: After going through Lucky Star, Nichijou and My Deer Friend Nokotan, I think it was time to cover what's likely the main inspiration of a lot of these post-2000 slice of life shows about quirky schoolgirls in extremely bizarre circumstances, Azumanga Daioh. While it lacks the pop culture referencing of the first, the sketch comedy antics of the second or the completely bizarre setting of the third, it was set the path for these sort of shows and you can see bits of it in those who followed it. The source of a lot of early 2000s internet memes (the contribution of waifu alone makes it relevant), it is still well worth watching thanks to its collection of oddball characters, like Osaka, who can be Incredibly slow (in many aspects) and comes up with something completely bizarre or simply lost inside her own mind. Along Tomo, who has no filter to her intrusive thoughts and acts on them, which combined with a endless supply of energy (except when it comes to staying awake in class) gets her in trouble the most, the knucklehead trio is completed with Kagura, a star athlete who joins them on the second year mostly because Yukari really wants to beat Minamo at the sports festival, but is about as smart as the other two, and is driven to compete with Sakari at every chance. In the slightly more normal side of things, Chiyo is by far the smartest in the school, but has the disadvantage of being maybe a bit too young to be in high school, fueling her insecurities over her size and being picked on on occasion, Yomi is the most level headed, and more balanced character, although her friendship with Tomo often pushes her temper, and completing the core group is Sakaki, who at first looks has the vibes of Madoka from Kimagure Orange Road: quiet, aloof, a bit of a loner and more mature than her peers, but that impression quickly fades as she is interested in cute things (particularly cats, not exactly reciprocal) as much the others but is too shy to speak out, and can lose herself in bizarre day dreams as much as Osaka. Then there's also the two teachers they mostly interact, Yukari, the English teacher with a short temper and easily provoked, drives recklessly to the point of giving Chiyo PTSD, is irresponsible, abusive towards her students and terribly jealous of Minamo, her old friend and PE teacher who is quite liked by her students and a lot more friendly, although as prone as her to explode if called dumb or single. Finally there's Kimura, who proclaims very loudly in the first days of school he became a teacher because he likes high school girls, earning the admiration of the boys in class and the disgust of every girl.

The adaptation covers most of the chapters, some are very much improved by the added pacing of animation, while others feel they worked better as a comic, as one would expect. While it tracks the three year highschool journey until graduation, most stories (this being for the most part a 4-panel manga) are interchangeable from any point into the other.

I really don't have much more to say about it. It's very, very funny, unlike many shows of the era it does not rely on fanservice, and follows a natural path rather than dragging needlessly.

Recommended to: Fans of schoolgirls. NO, NOT LIKE THAT.

Plus:

Any story around Osaka or Sakaki is incredible. Or around Yukari and Minamo.

A great cast of characters, mixing enough different personalities to come up with something great for any situation.

Minus:

It may feel a bit tired, but mostly because of over 20 years of influencing an entire subgenre.

[hardworkandguts]

Weekly Catch-up #11

Well, time to start preparing those image posts and figuring out the schedule. Because I don't want to send a month posting only by this season's shows, I'll probably move to a Monday - Wednesday - Friday schedule for a couple of weeks as the shows end.

(last week, next week)

What was on?

Gundam GQuuuuuux

(ep 11) oh look who that is in his counterattack looks. And in the name of Axis, he will punish you. One good thing that I wasn't expecting is that the only reason Machu and Nyaan are pissed at one another was them basically splitting, not the love triangle drama that was boring, and this is a better fit for the characters. Also gets a nice payoff in the scene where Nyaan saves Machu from Kycilia and the animators did a fantastic job of showing how terrified she is over shooting the only adult that cared about her to save one of her only friends. Still, the problem that all it takes is Char appearing to remind ourselves how we'd all probably prefer to be watching a remake of the Amuro vs Char storyline. Doesn't really help when you end the episode on the song from Char's Counterattack.

Kowloon Generic Romance

(ep 12) well, last episode was surely something, how did this follow up? By making it depressing. Miyuki learns their revenge was for nothing, as the person they started plotting against isn't there anymore. We also know they're a Kowloon native, and willingly destroyed it as a part of that plot, as well as wallowing in the regret machine... for nothing. Can Gwen save them both from it? Meanwhile, Kujirai is still trying to make sense of what has been happening, and thanks to Yulong (who starts his code with an Hello World just to see if everything is working), gets some clarification on what happened to Kujirai-B, and a proposal - should she have the same fate as her, would that help Kudou move on and delete Kowloon, which he, as a creator of Generic Terra, no longer can't? Kudou, however, seems to be falling apart as well, and with that, so does Kowloon. One last interesting thing is how he mentions "previous Summers", is Reko-pon the last on a series of Kujirai memories? One to go, and I don't think there's any way we're getting an happy ending. But sometimes, you really have to accept to move on. I guess that's what it is trying to tell us.

Witch Watch

(ep 12) finished last week thinking how serious this was going to get, the answer - not much, or at least, not for long. With Morihito separated from Nico and Kanshi, it was up to them to deal with the warlock. And how? By simply repeating two of the spells previously used by Nico to track and incapacitate the Warlock in the middle of the crowd, and the moment that happens, it shows Witch Watch really can't keep a straight face for too long. Morihito on the other hand had a tougher time with Keigo, but the show never hid how scary he can be in fully focused mode, and eventually beats his wolf form, ending this part of the menace. At the end, Nemu got a relaxing post-battle bubble bath from Nico, which has to be awkward to explain its not the first one of them gives her a bath if one day she has to use her power in front of them. With Keigo now part of the familiar entourage of Nico, we're ready for the second half of the show.

Uchuujin MuuMuu

(ep 11) the first stage of the invasion takes place during polen season, which turns out to be a major mistake, as not only MuuMuu, the "psycho from the assassination squad", can easily dispatch their agent, but the whole deal is called off because of hay fever. Then, MuuMuu buys more time to prove the Earth is not as dumb as they think in the most Uchuujin MuuMuu way possible. Really love the detail of the other faction being mostly big and wild cats against the domestic cats, and now that it's getting a second cour taking this show into the summer, it's a great way to kick-start things. Really felt like this is a turn that shows it can go from a quirky show go something really fun without losing what it was so far. Today's lesson: hay fever (please refer to Cells at Work! episode 5 for more information) and air purifiers. Buy Swedish!

mono Weekend Animation

(ep 11) the girls decide to spend their last days of Summer vacation doing what they've missed out the most - shaved ice, so they go on surrounding towns checking what they have to offer. It's a nice chill episode with particularly good animation, even for a show that was always a very good production so far. Also: they remembered they were in a club.

Food for the Soul

(ep 11) if watching a show skip to the end of the summer in the same week I thought to myself "maybe I should open the windows to cool off this place a bit", surely wasn't expecting a show to go straight to end of the year. Another nice two part episode, first word the chaos combination of Shinon, Tsutsuji and Nana studying past closing time at their university, and from a rumour that a club was dissolved after their members were caught in the campus after it closed, they tried to sneak around the place for an exit, while there's also a mysterious cloaked figure around. Second part has the Mako hosting their Christmas get together at her home, and she can't help but going overboard with it, hawk eyes and everything. Today's meal: a Japanese Christmas dinner.

Tis Time for "Torture", Princess

(ch 274) oh, so the Hell Horde uses prison labor. Boooooooooo, cancelled, etc. On the other hand, I don't think what Hime generally does can be considered work, and this is another example of that.

Dropkick on my Devil!

(ch 275) well, of course it was going to end in something like this. If/when there's a new season, I really want this story to be adapted just to see Pekora at the end.

Monochrome Days

(Ch 22) in this week's learn to draw manga, how to make a serious scene out of a setting like a classroom. It might make the series have a much slower pace with sometimes not enough plot, but it really goes into the thought process of things.

In other news...

Again, Uchuujin MuuMuu gets a second cour, to start on July 2. I'm not complaining, but: what a weird show to get 24 episodes. Well, one less to be concerned about scheduling, and more fun for the hot months.

Another month, another AnimEigo interview: Andy Frain, co-founder of UKs Manga Video. Prepare to know why you wouldn't recognize a goddamn vampire if one jumped you and bit you at the end of your fucking dick. So get off their back.

[hardworkandguts]

Overtake!

オーバーテイク！

(Anime)

Sports (racing) by Troyca

Era: 2020s

Rating: C

Plot: Kouya Madoka is a freelance photographer struggling to take photos of other people. At the request of his ex-wife Saeko, he is sent to cover the final of the Super GT Championship, but absent-mindedly walks into the F4 paddock where he meets Haruka Hasahina of Komaki Motors, a back of the grid privateer team. Energised by the race, he decides to help Haruka and his team.

Length: 12 episides

Thoughts: Well, there's isn't much to say really, other than being a fairly decent depiction of sports racing at the lower levels. Rather than making Haruka pull impossible wins with his low resources compared to Belsoriso, the top team, his talent only takes him so far - in the first race we see, a valiant effort to push into podium contention ends up with a blown tire after using it past it's limits. Besides that, it's yet another of those hobby shows about something where a character enters this new world he never imagined, and introduces the viewer to many concepts of both the business of motorsports and tactics, and stories you'd expect from someone who did some research such as the tension between both Belsoriso drivers (Harunaga, the camera ready playboy and the colder Tokumaru) and the dangers of motorsports (Haruka is the son of a pilot who died in a race and Harunaga has a serious crash that sidelines him). The B-story starring Kouya seems to reference the ordeal of the photographer who took the infamous vulture photo in Sudan, public reaction and conditions in that assignment taking an enormous psychological toll which led to his suicide, in this case, while working on a small town in the north and caught in a earthquake, he captures the face of a girl seconds before being taken away by a tsunami. It is a pretty gruelling scene, particularly as we know while he has been blamed by her family and vilified by the public, only in this moment it is revealed he was up in a mountain road, too far to actually even risk his life.

It is a very competently made show that completes the arcs of both main characters - Haruka finally reached his dream of return to the podium by his own efforts, and Kouya comes to terms with what happened. However, there's always the lingering feeling in there one-cour shows that there was more to these characters than just that.

Recommended to: Sports racing fans

Plus:

It does well on the struggles of running a bottom tier team and mostly avoids doing the "driver winning on easy mode" thing until things get materially easier for them.

Racing scenes are mostly very grounded and while have that CG smoothness to them, are worked a bit to look more dynamic. Guess that bringing Naoki Hattori, one of the unfortunate souls who got into a Coloni F1 car helped a lot.

Minus:

It just kinda ends and you don't think of it again until you need something to write about.

[hardworkandguts]

Some bits from Mobile Suit Gundam.

[hardworkandguts]

Mobile Suit Gundam

機動戦士ガンダム

(Anime)

Real robot space opera by Yoshiyuki Tomino

Era: 1970s

Rating: A

Plot: It's the year 0079 of the Universal Century, and humanity has started to expand to orbital colonies. One such colony declared independence from the Earth Federation, and renamed themselves the Principality of Zeon, and thanks to the Mobile Suits, manned large robots, managed to force a stalemate even while being outnumbered, but not before destroying the earth's ecosystem and much of humanity after dropping a colony on earth. As the Federation ship White Base comes to pick a new secret weapon from the Side 7 colony, they're detected by ace pilot Char Aznable, who attacks the facilities, forcing Amuro Ray to take control of the secret weapon, Gundam RX-78, and defend the refugees boarding the White Base.

Length: 43 episodes

Thoughts: There really isn't much point explaining how important it is, but it took me quite some time to get here because there is really a lot of Gundam around, and a lot of fans seem to dislike a fair bit of it, so I did what I usually do and check the original show, after postponing it many, many times. When I was starting this joint, thought to myself I'd get into it after finishing Macross, so, here I am.

The story in Gundam is the typical "war is hell, maybe don't", where both sides are stuck fighting a war where units on the front lines are constantly spread thin, lacking resources, a problem further made worse by quasi-WW1 tactics of throwing whatever little they have at the enemy, even themselves. Or a complete space colony at earth, because sometimes you need to make a statement. No surprise there's a 15 year old controlling that thing and he makes that work, any soldier would have gone head first into the first obstacle and turn into a fireball because that seems to be cause and solution to all problems.

While Amuro's arc of reluctantly being burdened with the big robot and having to face the horrors and existential dread of war would set the template for the reluctant child/ civilian soldier hero of many shows, and so, is kind of predictable, and the attempts to give him some depth with family drama (mother pushed him away for being conscripted, father is a shell of his former self) kind of fell short, so most of his character evolution comes from the horrors of war. With a main character that served as the model for so many, the main reason to watch Gundam 0079 in this day an age is Char and trying to figure out what's his deal, particularly after the great betrayal around a quarter of the show in and the slow revelations of what's his (and Sayla's) identity. The bits when there's no Char and it's mostly other commanders killing half their units and then going on a final kamikaze attack on the Gundam and White Base? Not as fun and kind of repetitive, I can really see why the show could have been just a one and done without Gunpla models giving it a second life. Not that they make it a bad show, but I think you could have easily compressed these roughly 5 episode arcs into maybe half without losing much, other than really hammering the futility and human cost of the war both sides are waging, as well as introducing more toys I mean Mobile Suits. It was recut into three movies, which likely compresses much of the fluff, so in the future I might just do a post for them, and by recommendation throwing the Origins manga as well as an alternate take on this story. After what feels a bit of padding, the final arc, where the concept of Newtypes is introduced, and the reveal of the Char and Sayla's secret is a great way to end the show after a midpoint that felt a bit of a drag at points.

Even closing on 50 years since it's debut, it's a show that truly earned the "iconic" status and us worth watching even if just for the "oh, so this is where they got it from" moments when looking at the many shows it influenced since, or all the jokes and memes it inspired, and Char, that magnificent bastard. There are some things it's clearly still trying to find it's footing - the Gundam on some scenes seems less of a giant hunk of metal and more like a gymnast (with gravity, not the space scenes), but since they kind of fell into the "real robot" thing almost by accident, it would he unfair to compare that aspect to something like idk, the Super Dimension trilogy from the early 80s or Patlabor, released at the end of that decade, which treats the physical limitations and sheer size of its big robots (Patlabor in particular is excellent in that) in a far more consistent way because their creators realised this show was doing something right and had the time to understand what.

Recommended to: I feel this is one of those you *must* watch to actually understand where a lot of things came from.

Plus:

"Blame this on the misfortune of your birth" is one of those all-time quotes.

Char stealing the show.

Set a template for the genre

Minus:

A lot of bits where it really shows it's age in terms of animation and story pacing

[hardworkandguts]

Weekly Catch-up #10

Well, approaching the final two weeks, which means it's time to have the final drafts for finishing shows completed. Very rarely a show can change my opinion this late in the season or require a massive rewrite and more often than not, when that happens it's a sign a show tanked the ending.

(last week, next week)

What was on?

Kowloon Generic Romance

(ep 11) well, this surely was an episode and an half. Don't want to do a full recap, but it really exposed most of the mysteries so far - why do people like Kudou, Gwen, Miyuki, Yaomei and Xiaohei can see Generic Kowloon, but Yulong can't? Can't be nostalgia (Yaomei just walked in), could it be... regret? As Yulong reminisces with his past with Miyuki, where we see him join the Hebinuma family in exchange for taking care of their mother, Yulong regrets letting him go on this path, and now he can finally see the city. The biggest shock, however, comes as a result of Kudou and Gwen talking, where it becomes clear much of Generic Kowloon is a construct of Kudou. The kitty shelter Gwen built behind the bar he thought was weird it never appeared? It did after he told him about it. Girl Xiaohei who had a problem with her fire alarm, and panic-called Kujirai, who dragged a very reluctant Guy Xiaohei to deal with that? Yeah, turns out nobody told Kudou he was a boy all along, the moment he heard of it? Gone, in front of Guy Xiaohei, Kujirai and Yaomei. This leads to him realising it was a mistake to leave the frilly dresses and embrace that part of his life again, and bolt out of Kowloon to a place Hebinuma can't reach him, same with Yaomei, who decides to confront her mother and provide him with some cover. Now, what happens when you stop regretting things and look back at the place you can only see if you regret something? Yeah... Still a lot of mysteries to solve in the last two episodes, and this episode was the kind of thing it needed for a clean resolution.

The Apothecary Diaries

(ep 2.22) And finally, the big moment, and what could be a long siege turned into a two part attack brought up by Lakan and Lahan, first by causing an avalanche that likely incapacitated most of the defenses (already dealing with Loulan's sabotage) and a sneak attack. Sure, might have been underhanded, but can't argue with results. Proving two points from the previous posts, Maomao both refused to acknowledge the truth about Jinshi's identity until someone else said it, and both him and Lihaku hear it's snake blood on her, and know better than to ask follow-up questions, it's Maomao, of course it's snake blood. On the Shi clan front, it's time for Shishou to realise how messed up he allowed the situation to be, from the state of the clan and their quickly diminishing life expectancy and how Shishui has been treated. Loulan has now taken control of the situation, and if she didn't start the rebellion, she's prepared to be the one who ends it. They're taking next week off due to programming conflicts, but they could probably could have used the extra time for this episode, doing a postcard memory of the charge was... weird.

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuux

(ep 10) For all the machinations Challia Bull (who gets a very good extended sequence in explaining his motivations) had going on, he surely wasn't counting on being outmanoeuvred by Kycilia, who for a second felt like she was doing a Darth Vader thing before killing her own brother and initiating the coup herself. Now, it's set-up for the showdown between Machu and Nyaan, wondering if they're going at each other without knowing who's inside the other Gundam, Bernie Vs Christina style, and only realise after both Gundams are wrecked and they come out pistols in hand, each representing a side which they ended up falling into, although they are so underdeveloped as characters I doubt it would make much difference. This is maybe the biggest problem I have with GQuuuuuux, that a five second appearance by a suspicious-looking blonde guy ends up being more interesting than whatever two of the main characters in the show are up to.

Witch Watch

(ep 11) something that kind of concerns me when funny shows have serious arcs is if they're going too far and almost become a new show because of that, call it "Sailor Moon Syndrome" or something like that. Fortunately, Witch Watch seems to dial it back just enough, still giving it time for Nemu to veeeery akwardly make her proper introduction, Morihito calmly gathering information about a guy who beat up Kanshi who is connected to the threat she felt and another "didn't think this through" spell by Nico, as well as introducing the big bad of this arc and a classic anime betrayal. Still early to say how serious it's going to get, but this seems a perfect level of balancing what the show is while heightening the stakes.

Food for the Soul

(ep 10) The girls get a few days off after exams and deciding where to go settle in visiting Mako and Shinon's hometown. Usual episode for Hibimeshi, which is to say, quite good. We start from having Kurea having to do all the driving because Shinon can't be trusted in highways (didn't notice the energy drinks Tsutsuji drinks are called "Bakemono", which implies there's one called "Akaoushi"), and while she's knocked from the driving, the underrated pairing of Tsutsuji and Nana try to cook on Mako's grandmother traditional home and kitchen. Since neither are exactly cools, they do manage to boil water. Meanwhile, Mako and Shinon meet their old elementary school friends, where we learn Shinon has been like that since forever. Today's meal: hotpot with traditional cooking methods.

mono Weekend Animation

(ep 10) when you start going into food prep, you really are stepping out of your lane, to be honest. Still, another fun episode with some good animation along the way centered around holy and cursed trees, with some B-Movie speculation in between, soba, and particularly on the ninja-themed haunted house/escape room that sounds a lot of fun, and Sakurako agrees. Something to be said about it not allowing photos on the show about photography that forgot about that 7 episodes (and maybe a dozen other hobbies) ago.

Uchuujin MuuMuu

(ep 10) Once again, not too fond of the bits where Miwa Samezu is terminally insecure about Sakurako, this time trying to dazzle her with her fancy appliances at home, but at least in here it has a payoff, where MuuMuu is running a popular social media video account to "research cameras" (although it's probably more the free stuff), until Miwa, still mad over him destroying her robot cat, notices he has a zipper and starts a flame war in the comments with MuuMuu, obviously thinking it's Sakurako's account. At least she's smart enough to get her sockpuppets in different devices, unlike many "smart and reasonable" political pundits who then agree with themselves with their main account and pretend they always talk in the third person. Things escalate to a point the account is terminated, and MuuMuu realises who could do that - Anamori and Siberia, who's piiiiiiiissed he's exposing himself like that. Then, a huge ship appears, right on time for the final two episodes. Today's lesson: wishlists.

Tis Time for "Torture", Princess

(Ch 273) It's cute how even when the Princess *actually* has one up on Tortura, she still prefers not to use that. Also, poor Ex has truly given up.

[hardworkandguts]

Some scenes from Amanchu!

[hardworkandguts]

Some GIFs from Amanchu!

[hardworkandguts]

Amanchu!

あまんちゅ！

(Anime)

Slice of life by Kozue Amano

Era: 2010s

Rating: C (1, A; Advance: D)

Plot: Futaba Ooki, a very introverted and shy girl moves from Tokyo to a seaside city in Shizuoka. Missing her friends, she fears not making new ones and end up alone again, naturally, but on the first day of class she happens to meet Hikari Kohinata, a strange and incredibly enthusiastic girl who is into scuba diving.

Length: 24 + 1 episodes

Thoughts: Weird this is not the first time within the first seconds of a show I thought to myself "this sounds like GONTITI" just before the credits roll confirming it and am greeted by a girl with green hair. Perhaps the second better known work by Kozue Amano after ARIA, it fits in both the "show about an hobby one of the main characters acts as a surrogate being pulled into a world they never considered" and the mood of a relaxed, quasi-iyashikei slice of life. Nobody is going to hear the Sonic drowning music in their mind here. Did it make me think of taking up scuba diving? No, but that's mostly to shitty lungs, hating having my face under water and fear of Eldritch horrors lurking under the waves, not because it doesn't do a great job of explaining the basics and how awesome it probably is. Would that also go against the spirit of the show? Yes, but what you can't win them all, can you?

First season deals with Futaba arriving at to her new life completely at a loss where to begin, chronicling her life with her phone camera, until she meets this odd and quirky puppet-looking girl blowing a whistle and vocalising strange noises who gives her the "Teko" nickname based on her eyebrows, convinces her to sneak into the diving club and borrow a couple of diving suits to check them in the pool, enough to get her hooked and challenging herself into trying into the trial period at the club itself, where they meet Katori Mayo, one of their teachers and also a diving enthusiast who serves as the club councillor, and later their seniors, the Nimomiya siblings. Until the end, it's small stories leading to Futaba earning her diving license and shedding some of her baggage and grow as a person thanks to Hikari, an unstoppable force of positivity who will literally go out of her way something to brighten her day, and the rest of the diving club. Second season (in between there's an extra episode about Futaba's friends coming to visit her and witness her growth as a person) continues shortly after that, but Futaba getting her advance license doesn't feel it quietly nudges the narrative as well, it was mostly spinning wheels in place for most of 12 episodes. Doesn't help expanding the cast just meant less time of the core characters interacting, and it's often a tricky proposition if not handled well or the characters add very little, Kokoro is just annoying and a wrench on the what powers the show (Teko and Pikari's friendship) and Towano just enters for a scene, his presence justified in getting this off the rails. The dream sequences feel out of place, considering there was a full season without them, kind of gives the idea Futaba was always going through some psychological issues, Hikari was never real and now it's turning into full hallucinations, and if we're talking dreams and the supernatural, the Peter Pan three episode arc at the school festival is... just what are we doing here, man, it feels like a something that ran for too long and ran out of stories to tell with just two seasons. ARIA also had a bit of that dreamlike mystery, magical realism aspect to it, but even if it's the equivalent of Las Vegas landmarks on Mars, you can handwave that to being a copy of a city that itself looks very dreamlike, here... It just feels off. There are maybe three or four solid episodes in the while season (ending and grandmother's story are very good), but for the most part that's it, it just feels off.

One last thing, and while it's not a topic I'm the right person to talk about, I've seen people complain about the manga being a terrible example of queerbaiting, the author even allegedly adding a male love interest to Hikari as a reaction to people seeing Amanchu! as yuri. Judging from the adaptation, assuming it is a faithful one, if people looking at many of Futaba and Hiroki scenes and think "couple" surprises you, sorry, that is very much a "yeah you lie on the bed you made" situation. I think it's ridiculous when people burn down a show because it went through other shipping route, but this was basically an author burning down her own thing because she accidentally laid it down a bit too thick, didn't notice it and (once again, allegedly) tried to dial it back. It's one of those shows I would check the source material, but you know what, if you're going to be this much of a dick about it, don't think I will, no, and the second season killed my whole interest even before hearing about this.

Rating kinda reflects a first season on pair with ARIA (still to come), but the second season it's a show I would have dropped almost instantly. Don't think I've seen something with such a drop in quality yet, to the point it makes me question if some very good shows are indeed better left alone at 12 episodes.

Recommended to: First season, vibes.

Plus:

First season is excellent.

It's lovingly animated, although the underwater scenes could have used a bit more ooooomph.

GONTITI with the tunes

Minus:

Second season is a *notorious* drop in quality

[hardworkandguts]

In one omake page from the 2010s reissue, Eguchi lists a bunch of albums he listened to in 1982, so if you want the full experience, I've picked one from each album he mentioned and added it to a playlist: