Doctorkev’s Winter 2023 Anime Postmortem Part 2
Would you believe that after a little over four years, this is my 200th article? At an average of around 2000 words each, that’s enough to fill four full-length commercial novels… But instead I’ve written mostly about weird Japanese cartoons. It’s been fun. Thanks for sticking with me!
Anyway, this time I’m back to round off my thoughts on 2023’s first anime season, after I covered the first half of the shows I watched earlier in the week here. You should have an idea of the plan by now, let’s get on with it.
Handyman Saitou in Another World — Crunchyroll — episodes 1–12 COMPLETE
After this season’s remarkably decent offering The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady (stupidly long title notwithstanding), you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’d already exhausted 2023’s potential for non-shit isekai. Then along comes the oddly-structured, hilariously amusing, yet surprisingly heartfelt Handyman Saitou. It’s a complely different take on the isekai genre compared to the aforementioned yuri romance — this is more of a riff on traditional D&D tropes but shot through with knowing and at times ribald humour.
Saitou himself is a deliberately plain everyman character who felt adrift and unappreciated in his own world, but has found his niche in a generic fantasy world where he is highly valued for his handyman skills. It’s honestly heartwarming to see him gain confidence and self-worth through his interactions with his varied party-mates: elderly and memory-recall-challenged mage Morlock, feminine but mighty swordswoman Raelza and money-grubbing healer fairy cleric Lafanpan. Although the early episodes take the form of quick-fire humorous skits, this is in service of a later, more serious, serialised story filled to the brim with fascinating and unique side characters, introduced during the skits then integrated into the story later. This was a lot of fun, and it didn’t take itself too seriously either. As long as you don’t mind random magic-infused dick jokes diffusing moments of tension, Handyman Saitou comes highly recommended.
Trigun Stampede — Crunchyroll — episodes 1–12 COMPLETE
I still fail to understand those who refuse to give this updated version of the classic anime Trigun a go merely because it’s CG and looks “different”. Studio Orange are doing God’s work here, because this is (mostly) fantastic, with incredible visuals, intriguing mysteries and a truly spectacular conclusion. I would say that it’s harder to get a handle on protagonist Vash’s personality here, we don’t really know why he’s such an obstinately inflexible pacifist. I guess the original show’s interminable slapstick-filled comedy episodes did have a function after all — they humanised Vash, who’s more of a cipher in his own show here.
Compared to the 90’s anime, this is like a weird remix of the original show and manga while also being a sort-of prequel. The final episode concludes with an apocalyptic event that in the original occurred 30 years prior to the story, but now occurs during current continuity. Huge chunks of backstory from the later 14-volume Trigun Maximum manga is jammed into a (very) loose adaptation of the original 3-volume Trigun manga. Back when the original show was produced, they mostly only had the original three voumes to base their plot on and the eventual story shared major plot beats with later volumes of Trigun Maximum, but was told very differently. Now that Orange have announced a continuation of Stampede, via an obtuse teaser tagged onto the end of episode 12, who knows where the hell the story is going next? That lack of foreknowledge is exciting.
Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill — Crunchyroll — episodes 1–12 COMPLETE
It’s… another… isekai… Is this a sign that my resolve is weakening? Ok, this is by no means an exceptional show, but it makes me smile and is pretty relaxing to watch after a busy day at work, so that’s a plus in my book. There’s an almost complete and total absence of drama in this daft fantasy about random dude Mukohda who is accidentally summoned to another world along with “proper” hero types, and left to his own devices to wander the land. His “special skill” is Magical Interdimensional Instantaneous Amazon Prime Grocery Delivery, and combined with a seemingly infinite-sized Magical Item Box, at least it seems he’ll never go hungry.
Somehow managing to make familiar contracts with hilariously overpowered forest god/wolf deity/oversized ravenous puppy dog Fel and similarly overpowered but cute squeaky slime blob Sui, Mukohda is never short of freshly-slaughtered monster meat to butcher, sell, or cook using his trusty portable stove and modern bottled condiments. Said cooking scenes approach dangerous levels of obsessively-detailed food porn, with lovingly-depicted marbled meat chunks being sliced, breaded, fried etc. Someone at MAPPA clearly enjoys a carnivorous diet. It’s possibly the most blatantly anti-vegan anime ever produced. Even just thinking about it makes me want to consume meat. Need more meeeeeeeeeat…
Vinland Saga Season 2 — Crunchyroll, Netflix — episodes 1–12 of 24
Wit Studio’s 2019 first season of Vinland Saga was my number six anime of that year. Now that it’s moved to MAPPA (similar to what happened with Wit’s other manga adaptation Attack on Titan), does it maintain the exceptionally high quality medieval viking drama that its first season was justly lauded for? Yes, of course it does, and I imagine keeping director Shuhei Yabuta and writer Hiroshi Seko had a lot to do with its continued success.
That’s not to say that this feels like the same show — we’re now onto the manga’s second arc (of four), and after a time skip of a few years, former wild-child and murder-kinder Thorfinn is now a subdued, empty adult who has drifted into slavery, working farmland for landowner Ketil. Whereas the first season was orgy of violence after orgy of violence, the second is far more restrained, examining the psychological trauma of those who survived the atrocities depicted in the first. It’s a deep, rich and at times difficult to watch show where there are no easy answers. Life is unfair, bad things happen to good people, good intentions aren’t always enough, and those in power have the ability to viciously oppress those below them. It’s a measured, compelling story that at first glance appears slow-paced, but it’s filled with fascinating characters and a thoughtful examination of human spirit and suffering. Truly exceptional.
Tomo-chan is a girl! — Crunchyroll — episodes 1–13 COMPLETE
After something of a shaky start, I ended up really enjoying this fun romantic comedy, mainly because of the weirdos that made up the supporting cast. Thankfully I became more invested in the central couple over time, especially once male lead Jun revealed that he was not so much dumb as terrified of jeopardising his close but competive platonic relationship with female lead Tomo. It all ends really sweetly, and definitively, which is unusual for an anime in this genre. I’d eagerly watch a spinoff featuring only Carol and Gundo though.
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale — Crunchyroll — episodes 1–12 COMPLETE
I resisted watching this for the longest time, because (decent, maturely and sensitively-written high quality shows like Vinland Saga aside) I can’t abide the subject of slavery in anime, as it’s usually dealt with abhorrently, or at the very least ignorantly. Shield Hero poisoned this well for me. Ugh. However, I heard that the initially problematic slavery angle in Sugar Apple Fairy Tale lessens as it progresses, so I held my nose and jumped in.
In this world, fairies and humans co-exist, but fairies are the oppressed underclass, with individuals captured by humans and pressed into forced labour, of many different kinds. Beautiful human-sized fairies (of both sexes) often become “companions”, with a hint of presumed sexual servitude. Others become bodyguards. Smaller fairies are given other tasks befitting their size. In order to keep them in line, each fairy has one wing torn off and kept in a pouch by their “master”. Squeezing that detached wing causes excruciating pain to the fairy and destroying it kills them, as would removing their other wing. It’s a horrifying setup, and in this society such barbaric treatment of sentient beings is completely normalised to the point that few humans even bother to question it, and the state religion even encourages such abuse.
Main character Anne Halford has just lost her beloved mother (and only parent) and in order to travel to the capital city to prove her worth as a Silver Sugar Artisan, she buys a beautiful, edgy bishonen fairy from a slave market as a bodyguard. Already there a huge red flags from the outset. However, Anne is conflicted about the treatment of fairies and recognises her own selfishness even as she tries to justify her bondage of the fairy Challe. Soon her “soft-heartedness” leads her to give Challe his freedom, and he remains with her as he sees something different in her compared to the other humans.
The slavery aspect remains an uncomfortable part of the show as it’s integral to the way the this world works. It’s generally not portrayed as a positive institution, and the society is rife with misogyny and class-based oppression. Anne’s skills are constantly denigrated by men who manipulate and steal from her. Despite her many setbacks she keeps fighting for her own justice and rights to succeed. As a two-cour show, it ends on a particularly cruel cliffhanger that won’t be resolved until the summer.
Considering the title, you might expect this to be a light and fluffy fantasy, but it’s much more complicated than that. Despite some truly gorgeous production and very attractive character designs, at times it’s very difficult to watch, filled with cruel and selfish characters. I’ll definitely return for the second half later in the year.
My Hero Academia Season 6 (dub) — Crunchyroll — up to episode 136 (dub)(up to episode 138 available subbed)
What an improvement MHA season six has been compared to the stupidly-restructured and boring season five. This season is easily as good as seasons two and three, and now I’m very excited for wherever the story is going in the recently confirmed (as if there were any doubt) season seven. We’re definitely approaching the endgame now, and I really appreciate how author Kohei Horikoshi ties in his themes about the flaws in hero society with a very compelling, dark story that continues to maintain a beating heart of human empathy.
Say what you will about protagonist Deku — he’s often the least interesting character in a cast of hundreds — but he’s undergone some serious development recently. The recent episodes where his classmates come together to retrieve him from his self-destructive death-spiral are incredibly emotional, with callbacks to countless little interactions dating back to even the first season. This is a fantastic example of well-planned storytelling and thematic coherence that only cements MHA as my favourite long-running shonen show.
Tokyo Revengers Christmas Showdown — Disney+/Hulu — episodes 1–13 COMPLETE
Where have all the Tokyo Revengers fans gone? It seemed the first season was really popular, but since the second switched to Hulu (US) and Disney+ (everywhere else), there’s been barely a peep about this show on social media. Is it because it’s less accessible? Or is it because… perhaps… it just isn’t very good? I suspect it’s a mix of both.
Tokyo Revengers is a really frustrating show to watch. Glacially-paced and idiotically-plotted and featuring a brain-dead protagonist who makes hair-pullingly poor choices, I can see why many potential viewers have bounced off this inconsistent time travel/gang warfare anime. Time-travelling protagonist Takemitchy barely actually does anything other than get beat up, and when he does manage to change timelines, he tends to make things worse.
The other characters act inconsistently, their motives are either unexplained or over-explained, some characters’ fighting prowess is ridiculously overblown (remember this is meant to be a show about middle-school-aged-kids, not Fist of the North Star rejects) and the supposed main “villain” mostly just lurks around in the background. We don’t even know what he wants and that sucks from a storytelling point of view. It seems the characters only exist to push the plot forwards (badly) and I’m really not sure why I’m still watching this. Time-travel shows need consistency, planning, and intelligence. I don’t think Tokyo Revengers demonstrates any of these.
Summer Time Rendering (dub) — Disney Plus/Hulu — up to episode 21
I promised I wouldn’t shut up about this amazing show, unjustly treated by Disney in 2022 and shadow-dropped by them onto international streaming in January 2023. I’m still re-watching it week-by-week with a non-weeb friend, and we’ve only a few episodes left to go. Although the dub is basically awful, with stilted acting (especially from the actors for cool suit-wearing author Hizuru and grizzled sniper Nezu) and unnecessarily shrill younger female characters (for Mio and Haine specifically), I’ve greatly enjoyed re-watching this expertly-plotted thriller, noticing many things I’d missed on my first watch. Honestly, if you’ve not yet experienced Summer Time Rendering, you’re missing out. It would have been my number one anime of 2022 had it been legally released in timely fashion.
NieR Automata Ver 1.1a — Crunchyroll — episodes 1–8 watched — DELAYED
Oh no. This season’s generalised anime industry meltdown (blamed on “COVID” but more likely due to complex systemic failure, corporate greed, overstretched and underpaid anime studio staff and an unwise over-reliance on Chinese outsourcing) caused a multitude of productions to implode. This may have been the worst-affected season since the start of the pandemic in 2020. While the rest of the world appears to be putting itself back together and getting on with things, it’s very telling that the anime industry continues to struggle.
In NieR Automata’s case, this is a tragedy. Despite an iffy first episode, this has quickly become a highlight of my week (or at least the weeks that there has been an episode to watch). Structured more like a series of interconnected vignettes rather than a straightforward serialised adaptation of madman Yoko Taro’s incredible 2017 game, the anime finds time to flesh out side characters, include background stories barely only hinted at previously, while deepening the lore and widening the scope.
It’s certainly not a lazy, by-the-numbers adaptation, and the main story has been streamlined, rationalised and remixed in compelling and intelligent fashion. Almost certainly aimed at fans of the game rather than newcomers, I’m not exactly sure what non-NieR afficionados will make of this, but I love it. There’s little chance that the entire story can be continued without another cour, but who knows when on Earth the remaining episodes from this cour will be shown, let alone a theoretical follow up. Sort yourselves out, Aniplex. This production collapse shit is embarrassing.
Ayakashi Triangle — Crunchyroll — episodes 1–6 watched — DELAYED
Perhaps even worse affected than NieR, ecchi sex-swap comedy Ayakashi Triangle limped out with only half of its projected episodes completed. Going AWOL for weeks certainly hasn’t helped its public stature, and I’ve hardly seen any mention of the show on social media or fansites.
I’ve read the manga, and know what to expect. It’s a dumb, lewd, but also weirdly innocent action comedy with either intrusive or hilarious censoring, depending on who you ask. The show has been re-scheduled to start again from episode one in July. The wait for the non-censored multitudinous-nipples-on-display blu-ray version is surely disappearing yet further into the nebulous future. (I don’t personally care, but I expect much of the show’s target audience probably does…)
So that takes us to the end of the season. It’s been a busy time, despite being a less high profile season than Autumn 2022’s. Unfortunately I never found time/motivation to return to either Buddy Daddies or Revenger, having only watched the first episode of both. They didn’t grab me, so that’s that.
Sadly I also never experienced the vaguely-interesting-sounding The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, BOFURI Season 2, Tsurune — The Linking Shot or Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible. The general opinion on the problematic-sounding ONIMAI also generally sounded more positive as it went on but I’m still scared of watching it and ending up corrupted/on a government watchlist.
And Finally: Where the hell is Uncle From Another World episodes 8–13, Netflix? I know the show was ridiculously delayed, but the final episode was eventually released in Japan weeks ago. Only episodes 1–7 are streaming wordlwide. Does anyone else other than me even care any more? I don’t want to pirate it, but I may have to…
That’s it for this season, see you again during Spring 2023!
