Anime

Premieres sometime in 2025. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:

The Obinata Fireworks Shop factory is getting prepared for an administrative action for confiscation tomorrow. It has been six years since Keitaro has been holed up in a closed-down factory creating fireworks by himself, chasing after an illusion of his father who vanished. It is a story about three young people who overcome the extreme weather conditions, disasters and environmental problems imposed on them and establish their own identities.

Premieres sometime this fall. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:

When high schooler Mari bumps into a fellow tardy student, she's surprised to find out he's a beastfolk who's to attend her school! After all, it's not rare for beastfolk to coexist alongside humans, but it's still uncommon, with the prejudice and all. Nervous to meet one at first, Mari soon learns there's more to him than his furry exterior. In fact, the more she gets to know him, the more she finds herself drawn to him, his steadfastness, his kindheartedness, and…his body…

Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku, episode 2

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Youkai Gakkou no Sensei Hajimemashita!, episode 14

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I'm half joking that Jujutsu Kaisen should be called Sorcery Fight

And Kimetsu no Yaiba is Demon Slayer. It literally is translated to something like "Blade of Demonic Destruction", though using that would make it sound like a donghua title (Mo Sha Zhi Ren, MSZR).

As a follow-up to my previous post asking for Gundam recommendations, I figured I'd open up a discussion about the OVA I finished tonight, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket.

I'll start by restating that I'm a longtime anime fan but a relative Gundam noob, having only just recently watched (and enjoyed) the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079) original TV series. As a big fan of Gainax/Khara and Kazuya Tsurumaki (FLCL, Diebuster, Evangelion) I've been looking forward to the upcoming GQuuuuuux series, and I've been looking forward to checking out a selection of different well-regarded Gundam shows and films before the new one debuts.

That makes Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket is an interesting one for me; not only is it pretty highly regarded by fans, but it also has some solid early Gainax connections, as the screenplay was written by Hiroyuki Yamaga (Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise, Gunbuster) and the character designs were done by Haruhiko Mikimoto (Gunbuster).

Anyway... Having just finished it a few minutes ago, I feel like it was only alright and maybe a little bit overrated.

To start with the positives, I think the OVA mostly looked great. Character designs are peak 80s anime that remind me of Gunbuster in all the right ways, mobile suits look super cool and detailed, the animations were generally pretty great especially during the battle sequences, backgrounds were mostly good. Having just come from MSG 0079, it really felt jarringly impressive how far the craft of Japanese animation had come over the span of a decade. I also liked the overall scenario and concept of the story--growing up as a middle-schooler during the context of the One Year War between the Federation and Zeon. I think the meta narrative about the idealization of weapons of war was also solid and worth exploring.

But here's where it lost me a bit...

1. Let me get this one out of the way: the soundtrack sucks, both in terms of how unbelievably cheesy the tracks are, as well as how they affect the overall tone of the scenes. This OVA is just packed full of really mediocre and generic 1980s synth (and maybe early rompler) sounds, which alone isn't that much of a problem (I have nothing against synth or romplers, and I love video game music). But when you combine the super cheesy and oddly upbeat sounding music with what's happening on screen it massively detracts from the mood of whatever is happening. Throughout the entire thing I found the music to be distractingly out of place and a major step down from the great soundtrack of Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.

2. Despite being a fan of Gainax (or maybe because I'm a fan), I've never really liked Hiroyuki Yamaga or his work. This OVA feels a lot like his film, Royal Space Force, in the sense that you'd be forgiven for thinking it's great because it has some good moments and certainly looks great at times. But a lot of the stuff that happens either makes no fucking sense at all or lacked any emotional resonance (for me, at least).

3. This is a minor complaint, but I think the pacing of this OVA is nowhere near as good as the other ones that I've mentioned above (Gunbuster, FLCL, and Diebuster). War in the Pocket felt a lot more like a film that was broken into 6 parts than it felt like 6 stand-alone episodes telling a short story. I just feel like the available time could have been used better to tell the story from multiple perspectives. (For example, episode 1 being the setup, episode 2 and 4 focusing on Al/Bernie/Zeon, episode 3 and 5 focusing on Al/Chris/Federation, and then episode 6 being the dramatic conclusion that ties it all together.)

Overall, I mostly enjoyed it for what it was. Don't get me wrong!

It was an impressive looking show with an interesting premise relative to the original Gundam 0079 UC series. In so far as I understand the essence of Gundam as a noob--that robots may be cool but war is bad and only hurts people--I think War in the Pocket is a worthwhile story, only held back by sloppy writing and a terribly vibe-killing OST. It's still a pretty easy recommend to Gundam fans, because of how it looks and how it slots into the UC setting, but the flaws are big enough that it would be hard to recommend as someone's first Gundam experience.

What do you all think about Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket? Do you like it? Does it live up to the hype, in your view? Am I being overly harsh (granted it was just my first watch, and some things are a lot better during a 2nd or 3rd watch)?

Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu, episode 2

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Botsuraku Yotei no Kizoku dakedo, Hima Datta kara Mahou wo Kiwamete mita, episode 3

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Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai, episode 2

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Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon 2nd Season, episode 2

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Botsuraku Yotei no Kizoku dakedo, Hima Datta kara Mahou wo Kiwamete mita, episode 2

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Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku, episode 2

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Salaryman ga Isekai ni Ittara Shitennou ni Natta Hanashi, episode 3

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Premieres sometime in 2025. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis of the source manga from AniList:

In a city so dismal it's known only as "the Hole," a clan of Sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious "experiments" in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they're hunting and killing the Sorcerers in the Hole, hoping that eventually they'll kill the right one. But when En, the head Sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of "cleaners" into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds.