2021 WINTER SEASON RECAP — PART 2

Greetings! Here’s the rest of my final remarks on the shows I kept up with this season. You can read the first part here if you’ve missed it. Enjoy ~

Jujutsu Kaisen

Another star of the season for me! The second cour of Jujutsu Kaisen was as gripping as the first and watching the season finale along with the last week’s chapter (#143) tied a lot of loose ends in the story. It’s been a really long while since I’ve read what was covered in the anime and I completely forgot about some of the important details. There is certainly a shift in the shounen genre and some of the current works such as Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw-man, or Monster #8 are much more up my alley compared to the classics. Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen has impeccable quality in animation, great voice acting and tone in comedy, excellent exploration of moral grey zone. Additionally, congratulations to Jujutsu Kaisen for being the only anime with Nanami Kento in it. 

More Nanami and Gojo because they’re my favourite and the dynamic is perfect. pic.twitter.com/eC5iCHGYSI

— ✨💀TJ 💀✨~workin on comms~ (@wereville) March 7, 2021

The Promised Neverland

I think it was around the time we reached episode 5 or so, that I noticed I dreaded watching TPN. I didn’t know why, I just didn’t feel interested or excited enough to sit in front of the screen. This didn’t happen in the first season. I recently started to read the manga, and I’m sure many of you have read the criticisms of the adaptation on other blogs or your preferred social media platforms. And considering what’s been said, I agree that the pacing and depth issues probably added to my lessened enthusiasm. 

I have to add though, compared to other shows which covered a similar theme (humans not being at the top of the food chain), TPN added size to the equation and it amplified the impact of the theme. It’s highly possible that there has been another show which incorporated size difference between theprey and the predator and I just missed it, but those demons towering over humans bring the audience closer to the humans-eating-animals conundrum and heightens the feeling of desperation. All in all, my opinions are not negative and I’ll keep up with the manga instead. 

Wonder Egg Priority

This… Before every episode, I knew I had to brace myself for what’s coming and it still wasn’t enough. Wonder Egg Priority is profound in its storytelling, surreal aspects, and its way of tackling trauma, keeping you at the edge of your couch every second. I’m not capable of putting its brilliance into words, and some blogs wrote episodically on it, they probably did a much better job at tackling it. It’s one of those shows where I’ll keep going back in the future. 

Horimiya

I was so excited when it was announced that we’d get a whole season adaptation instead of the old, short OVA episodes. Having read the manga partially, the adaptation seemed pretty close to the source material and the quality was satisfying for me. What shoujo romance series frequently trample over is good friendships. Well-developed relationships between friends, and especially between boys, are as important and enriching as the main romance plot. And in my opinion, Horimiya is an example done right. Horimiya was already well-known, and with the success (? from what I gather from Twitter) I’m positive we’ll get a continuation in the following years. Hopefully.

2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team

It wouldn’t be a fulfilling season without sports anime, and Seiin is up for the task. With Haikyuu going so strong, there was already a lot of buzz after the PV dropped and comparisons between the two were immediately made. After the first episode, I thought it aligned more with Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align) and less with Haikyuu. Regardless of all those discussions, I fairly enjoyed Seiin. It’s not exactly jaw-dropping in terms of its animation quality, story-telling, or character study. However, it’s a nice example of sports anime done by the book. I can only tell apart the Kantō dialect from non-Kantō ones, but apparently Fukui prefecture has its own dialect, and to me, it’s fun hearing others being spoken, especially the different intonation. 

Kemono Jihen

Kemono Jihen was another I-know-I-will-love-it type of series that I went in with already a positive mindset. The premise was very intriguing, and the dynamics worked very well. I’m not keeping up with the manga, although I plan on starting, this season feels like it’s just foundation. Although I still enjoyed the show a lot, it feels more like episodic cases to establish the cast and the world. There are still a lot to cover, and I can’t wait for the rest!

Between you and me, I may have a soft spot for matter-of-fact-ly characters like Kabane, the protagonist. While some artist write them as emotionally detached or overly calculating like a robot, Kabane is just a cinnamon roll that I’ll protect with my life. If there was one thing I didn’t like about the show, it’s that I craved pizza every damn week because of the kids gobbling them up with gusto. Damn you dieting!

Surprise Attack – Yes, No, or Maybe?

Did you know I was a … fujoshi? Bet you didn’t see this TMI coming!

Honestly, I didn’t see this movie coming either. I’ve seen the PV some time ago, and it looked promising. Yes, No, or Maybe? is an adaptation from a light novel with the same name. I’m not a light novel person, so I didn’t know much about the story but the quality of the PV looked great. I was brooding over when we’d get to see it, and Crunchyroll surprised me! With movies, one has to wait for a DVD release and it takes a long time to get there, let alone being expensive, so I was quite happy getting it on stream.

Minus the extremely forced ending, I had a lot of fun watching it, even got emotional at some part. I especially need to praise Abe Atsushi, Kunieda’s voice actor, for his stellar performance!

And with this, I managed to wrap up the winter season and already the spring shows have started! It’s busy all year-round in the blogosphere after all. I wish you all a nice day and see you tomorrow!