The Weekly Backlog

As the fall anime season wraps up, I've felt myself feeling more and more disconnected and wishing that I hadn't skipped out on the entire season. It certainly means that I'll be following shows next season (in part due to this disconnection, but more so because I'm pretty excited about several series this winter) but now I'm try to see just how much of the fall season I can sneak in before the end of the year-while at the same time hacking away at my manga backlog. It's a good thing I am fortunate enough to have a full-time job with excellent time off benefits. I've got nearly 2 weeks in front of me with no plans in sight.



GOAL: WATCH 2 EPISODES OF NOBODY'S BOY REMI


RESULT: SUCCESS!



There's nothing like a show about a child constantly having his soul crushed to get you into the Christmas spirit! I had forgotten just how melodramatic this show is in the year or two since it was available at Anime News Network. It's a bit too much, and yet I find myself wondering just how little Remi will be kicked to the curb the next time and the next. Episode 13 leads into an arc where Remi will have positive attention, so I wonder how brutal the end of that arc will be.



GOAL: WATCH 2 EPISODES OF SKET DANCE

RESULT: SUCCESS!



I was starting to miss Switch and the gang, so I was glad to pick this one back up. The crossover with Gintama was fairly funny, although as someone who hasn't seen nor read any Gintama, I don't think I got as much out of it (except that the female character is really obnoxious). Breaking the 4th wall so much felt really out of place after the Switch origin story, though. I'm really glad I took a couple of months off after that episode so that its poignancy wasn't tarnished by the tomfoolery. After that, it was the return of the mad scientist-teacher concoctions which I'm always a fan of, stupid as the results might be.



GOAL: WATCH 2 EPISODES OF LE CHEVALIER D'EON

RESULT: SUCCESS!



The more I watch this, the more I want to follow it up with a rewatch of Rose of Versailles. I'm impressed by the deliberate pacing, carefully setting up the intrigue as well as the turbulent world of Paris during that time in history. The underpinnings of discontent are carefully weaved in with the action-action that's a bit more bloody than I'm used to seeing. I'm not falling over myself to watch each episode, but I am enjoying it, and look forward to the episodes I watch each week. Paradox just likened it to Full Metal Alchemist with historical figures, which is somewhat fitting in several ways.



BONUS VIEWING:

YOWAMUSHI PEDAL: The first of the fall series I decided to check out while on vacation, it's definitely lived up to all of the hype I'd read from online acquaintances. Even 3 episodes in, I can feel the familiarity of the sports anime formula, and yet there's just something special about how it's being executed. I think it's the different setup with the main character not actually being interested in (nor hating) the sport in question. It's a different approach than I'm used to, and it's working quite well. Little Sister Kanzaki is definitely coming off a lot like Gou from Free! though-not that that's a problem.GOALS FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 23, 2013



Watch 2 episodes of Nobody's Boy Remi (ep 14 & 15)

Watch 2 episodes of SKET Dance (ep 27 & 29)

Watch 2 episodes of Chevalier d'Eon (ep 5 & 6)
Full Post