Winter 2022 Anime Choices
Jan. 10th, 2022 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juliko25The winter 2022 anime season is...actually pretty sparse. None of the new anime that are out right now interest me in any way, save for just one, and that could change depending on how said show turns out later on. One anime I thought I'd like wound up not only being super dull, but just a single, 15-minute long episode, that's it. I think I'll just use this season to rewatch old anime and review them on here.
1. Now And Then, Here And There
This anime is both famous and infamous for being one of the absolute darkest isekai anime ever made (Yes, I consider this an isekai) in the nineties and for its focus on war, child abuse, comfort women, and what being a child soldier can really do to a child's psyche. I remember watching this years ago, and I've owned the DVD set for a while, but I never got around to watching the dub. I think it's time I do so, even though I'm aware that the voice actors make the characters sound way older than they should. Besides, I know this is a hell of a lot better than 90% of the boiler-plate isekai that have been churned out since the mid-2010s.
2. Future Boy Conan
Hayao Miyazaki's only TV series and directorial debut finally got put on home video in the US after several decades, and since other shows I was watching...proved to not be up to snuff, I thought I'd give this a try. For a series that was made in the seventies, it's surprisingly solid. Granted, it often eschews logic in favor of action, really wants the audience to stretch their suspense of disbelief way farther than it should, especially in regards to the main character Conan, and its premise and all its associated tropes have been used countless times since then, but I can see why this is a historic series. It's way better than Fena: Pirate Princess, that's for sure!
3. Heartcatch Pretty Cure
This was the series that got me into Pretty Cure, yet I never actually sat down and reviewed it, even though I attempted to do so years ago. If Delicious Party Pretty Cure turns out to not be worth watching, I might just rewatch this, because Heartcatch is what every Pretty Cure series, and even all magical girl shows in general, should aspire to be. Heartcatch respects its viewers' intelligence and doesn't talk down to its audience, has a great ensemble of characters, all of whom are fantastically well-rounded, relatable, interesting, and multi-dimensional rather than one-note stereotypes, awesome action scenes, vivid animation, a story with substantial stakes and conflict, and actually wanted to break boundaries and go against the grain.
4. Oniisama e... (Dear Brother)
A blogger I follow really liked this anime, and when Oniisama e was announced to be streaming on RetroCrush, and put out on Blu-Ray by Discotek, I decided to watch it. Basically, take the concept of Mean Girls, put it in a ritzy 90s all-girls school in Japan, ramp up the bitch fights, teenage angst, and melodrama, and have it directed by the late great Osamu Dezaki. That's basically Oniisama e in a nutshell. I'm normally not into these kinds of shows, but Dezaki and his team really manage to make this show good in every way possible, from the characters' development to the surprisingly fluid animation for its time (1992!). But don't go into this series expecting a light watch. If you're not into teen girl angst, melodrama up the wazoo, vicious bitch fights and storylines ripped straight out of soap operas, with very little in the way of comedy or a breather, this isn't for you.
1. Now And Then, Here And There
This anime is both famous and infamous for being one of the absolute darkest isekai anime ever made (Yes, I consider this an isekai) in the nineties and for its focus on war, child abuse, comfort women, and what being a child soldier can really do to a child's psyche. I remember watching this years ago, and I've owned the DVD set for a while, but I never got around to watching the dub. I think it's time I do so, even though I'm aware that the voice actors make the characters sound way older than they should. Besides, I know this is a hell of a lot better than 90% of the boiler-plate isekai that have been churned out since the mid-2010s.
2. Future Boy Conan
Hayao Miyazaki's only TV series and directorial debut finally got put on home video in the US after several decades, and since other shows I was watching...proved to not be up to snuff, I thought I'd give this a try. For a series that was made in the seventies, it's surprisingly solid. Granted, it often eschews logic in favor of action, really wants the audience to stretch their suspense of disbelief way farther than it should, especially in regards to the main character Conan, and its premise and all its associated tropes have been used countless times since then, but I can see why this is a historic series. It's way better than Fena: Pirate Princess, that's for sure!
3. Heartcatch Pretty Cure
This was the series that got me into Pretty Cure, yet I never actually sat down and reviewed it, even though I attempted to do so years ago. If Delicious Party Pretty Cure turns out to not be worth watching, I might just rewatch this, because Heartcatch is what every Pretty Cure series, and even all magical girl shows in general, should aspire to be. Heartcatch respects its viewers' intelligence and doesn't talk down to its audience, has a great ensemble of characters, all of whom are fantastically well-rounded, relatable, interesting, and multi-dimensional rather than one-note stereotypes, awesome action scenes, vivid animation, a story with substantial stakes and conflict, and actually wanted to break boundaries and go against the grain.
4. Oniisama e... (Dear Brother)
A blogger I follow really liked this anime, and when Oniisama e was announced to be streaming on RetroCrush, and put out on Blu-Ray by Discotek, I decided to watch it. Basically, take the concept of Mean Girls, put it in a ritzy 90s all-girls school in Japan, ramp up the bitch fights, teenage angst, and melodrama, and have it directed by the late great Osamu Dezaki. That's basically Oniisama e in a nutshell. I'm normally not into these kinds of shows, but Dezaki and his team really manage to make this show good in every way possible, from the characters' development to the surprisingly fluid animation for its time (1992!). But don't go into this series expecting a light watch. If you're not into teen girl angst, melodrama up the wazoo, vicious bitch fights and storylines ripped straight out of soap operas, with very little in the way of comedy or a breather, this isn't for you.
