'Perfect Days' – finding serenity in the urban world on Hulu
Perfect Days (Japan, 2023) is as serene and gentle a film as you may ever see, yet it casts a spell in its quiet portrait of a man who has chosen to live a simple existence in the midst of Tokyo.
Living in a small, sparsely-furnished apartment, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) has settled into an easy rhythm of life that begins with a morning can of coffee from the machine outside his home. He listens to…
Oblivion Battery Episode 3 Review - When Baseball Gets Too Meta
This is the most meta baseball anime I’ve seen. I think I’ve watched way too many anime because I know some of these memes presented in the episode. There’s the crying Chopper face and the Super Saiyan transformation. To be honest, I have an odd sense of humor, so some of these gags made me chuckle a bit.
The first half of the show was comedy as Haruka, Kei and Yamada (I’m just gonna call him Yamada because why not?) were trying to befriend Toudou and Chihaya to get them to play baseball. They first try to befriend them by luring them with written words plastered with signs and posters and then Haruka does the craziest thing by giving them porn DVDs—he even chose them based on their supposed preferences. Then, they decide to hang out at Kei’s house after school and when he realizes his mom was home, he starts freaking out. It turns out that Kei’s mom is as freaky as he is and it’s definitely genetic. She’s hilarious, though. The shot of her asking if his friends are all kissless virgins will definitely be reaction picture material. After friendly banter, Kei, Chihaya and Toudou finally join the baseball club for good. To be honest, even if this was mainly comedy not relating to baseball all that much, it was a nice bonding moment between the five. I was surprised Kei likes simulator games like Story of Seasons and hamster raising games. Given his pervertedness, I assumed he’d like dating sims.
The second half starts the group’s baseball club stint. They mainly do practices, but they later get a request to do a practice match with Teitoku, a private school with a strong baseball team. It turns out that one of the Kiyomine-Kaname battery’s victims, Kokuto, goes to that school. Teitoku is also the school that everyone except Yamada got an offer to but rejected due to frustration or amnesia in Kei’s case. I know for a fact that our main group is going to get clobbered because it’s a sports anime. They cannot win against an elite school as they are now. I do even wonder how Kokuto even got the information that they went to a public school. Is he stalking them? However, the coach and the assistant coach are hilarious! They were the scene stealers of this second half. The way the older coach wanted the four genius players on his team, but when he saw them in a no-name public school, he legit combusted. He wanted his dream team but it couldn’t be fulfilled. And when their skills are being shown, he gets a bit too excited and passes out with the assistant coach, the one with the glasses, to scream for him.
Speaking of Kokuto, what is his deal? Why is he doing all of this? The fact that his team calls him a nice guy but he’s being passively vindictive. I guess I’ll have to wait next week to find out what he’s good at. I am convinced he is a stalker though.
While Kei is whiny, the fact that he got all serious when someone insulted Haruka and even took his role as catcher seriously really shows that despite his flighty and rather frustrating personality, he’s a loyal friend. In fact, these two are such good friends. Haruka doesn’t leave Kei’s side and sticks with him even though he got amnesia and doesn’t remember him all too well now. Kei complains a lot but never leaves Haruka’s side. I guess his body remembers even if his brain doesn’t. That’s very gay of you, Kei.
Kei’s mom and the two coaches voice actors have been revealed via the official Oblivion Battery Twitter page! Mrs. Kaname is voiced by Rikako Aikawa whom I’m most familiar with her Pokemon roles. She mainly does Pokemon voices; some which you might recognize from the anime and spin-off anime like Ash’s Butterfree, Pokemon Trainer’s Squirtle in the Smash Bros games, Blossom’s Nidoran and Ohara’s Fuecoco from Paldean Winds. The head coach is voiced by Tetsuo Kanao, whom I’m not too familiar with. The assistant coach is voiced by the one and only Tomokazu Sugita. If you know who Sugita is, I won’t say anymore. The fact that his role is super comedic in that he’s the straight man to the head coach’s funny man but he’s also funny makes him hilarious. Also, Kokuto is voiced by Takeo Otsuka who voiced Aqua from Oshi no Ko and Jinshi from The Apothecary Diaries.
I do hope that the comedy will tone down next episode as it is a baseball anime and they are in a competition. I know that they’re going to lose to Teitoku and this will motivate the team to become even stronger. What are your thoughts on this episode?
🗯 Argumento: Hirayama parece satisfecho con su sencilla vida de limpiador de retretes en la ciudad de Tokio. Fuera de su estructurada rutina diaria, disfruta de su pasión por la música y los libros, le encantan los árboles y los fotografía. Una serie de encuentros inesperados revelan de a pocos su pasado.
👥 Reparto: Kōji Yakusho (Hirayama), Aoi Yamada (Aya), Min Tanaka (Homeless), Arisa Nakano, Sayuri Ishikawa (Mama), Tokio Emoto (Takashi), Tomokazu Miura (Tomoyama), Yumi Asou (Keiko), Hairi Katagiri (Girl on Phone) y Morooka Moro (Bar Regular).
Helena Garrote Carmena
Año: 2023País: JapónDirector : Wim WendersGuion: Takuma Takasaki, Wim WendersActores: Koji Yakusho, Arisa Nakano, Tokio Emoto, Yumi Aso, Tomokazu Miura, Aoi Yamada, Min Tanaka.Género: Drama – Empleo.
Con los tiempos que corren habrá a quien le resulte difícil entender el proceder del protagonista de este delicioso drama oriental. Si desaceleramos un poco, descubriremos en…
"Perfect Days" de Wim Wenders avec Koji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Aoi Yamada, Sayuri Ishikawa, Tomokazu Miura, Yumi Asō et la jeune Arisa Nakano, janvier 2023.