Gatchaman Crowds Rewatch – Episodes 4-6 Notes

Note, the following are notes from my rewatch, and as such, might contain spoilers for the entirety of the first season! Not fit for reading as you watch the episodes for the first time.

Return to the Gatchaman Crowds Project page.

Episode 4:

Like religious converts.

Link to the original 2013 write-up on episode 4.

Right, saving people in order to convert them, and he does sound like a religious convert, or of a marketing scheme.

“Have faith and wait.” Waiting passively for someone else to act. Then again, their options are limited.

“Galax won’t abandon us!” as if speaking of a god, or a dear friend.

Gatchaman Crowds Rewatch – Episodes 1-3 Notes

Note, the following are notes from my rewatch, and as such, might contain spoilers for the entirety of the first season! Not fit for reading as you watch the episodes for the first time.

Return to the Gatchaman Crowds Project page.

Episode 1:

The sign in the background.

“It’s not heroes who keep the world up to date, it’s us.” The responsibility of the common man, and that heroes are an outdated concept.

Sugane getting that person up, he’s doing what GALAX does, by his own volition, rather than match people up externally. So, the program replaces responsibility/becomes the hero?

The classmates who never really show up after the milk incident, heh.

Hungry, lying right next to food, too busy for that. Too busy daydreaming.

Gatchaman Crowds Project Kick-Off!

G-G-G-GATCHAMAN!

Those who follow the blog long enough know that Gatchaman Crowds holds a special place in my heart. After Gatchaman Crowds finished airing in late 2013, I wrote down a series of ideas I want to do small write-ups on, focusing on each character as a mask. Somehow, I never got around to it. Enter 2015, where we finally find out that Gatchaman Crowds Insight, a follow-up series, is about to air. I set aside the time to rewatch the original, finally write all my posts on it, and then watch the second season, without the second season impacting my write-ups on the first. Somehow, after rewatching half the series I got distracted, and only got around to watching the second season after it finished airing, but not before I made the time to rewatch the first series in its entirety.

I also finally took the time to write all those small essays on the first season, where I take each character as a “mask” and through said character and their mask explore both the series and the human experience. As a result of all of the above, I found myself with tens of thousands of words written about Gatchaman Crowds. Rewatch short-notes, full-episode break-downs, proper short essays, long essays, the whole thing. I’ve been sitting on all of these words since February, unable to get myself to publish them. I did want the final piece to come out on November 8th, because seeing how Gatchaman Crowds Insight revolves around elections, I thought it’d be very appropriate. But between moodiness and illness lately, that will not come to pass.

I want to do this right. This show is important to me. These write-ups are important to me.

As such, there’ll be a write-up every single day from tomorrow (October 30th), through November 22nd, according to the schedule posted here, in the page that’ll collect the entirety of my Gatchaman Crowds write-ups, and then the final write-up will be released a week later, on November 29th, my birthday.

Cya all tomorrow!

I hope you’ll all join me on this journey, at least for the parts that interest you. It’s fine to pick and choose, just as Hajime would tell you, do what’s fun :)

3-Gatsu no Lion Episode 1 – Oppressive Success

Presentation:

This is a Studio Shaft show, more specifically, it is credited with Shinbo’s name, so many “Shaftisms/Shinoisms” are on display here, such as a head-tilt, a print on a dress that is perfectly aligned regardless of the contours of clothes,rails and a city under construction, amongst others.

The real point here is that a lot of thought went into the construction of scenes here. Some of it is “just” stylistic touches, but some of it has meaning. Such as this sequence, where Rei travels to the Shogi Club, and he’s absolutely dwarfed by the architecture, he gets swallowed up by the environment. A lot of it has to do with pacing, which I’ll discuss soon enough.

Fall 2016 Anime Season Preview and Expectations

Wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? But no way to resume aniblogging like jumping in with the new season. Yes, the Fall 2016 anime season began yesterday, so this is the latest I’ve ever put this post up, but better late than never. Actually, one of the reasons I watched no anime last season was that I kept trying to make time to write the season preview post after the season has began. Anyway, let’s dive right into it.

As always, in these posts I cover shows I plan to follow, or have thoughts on why I will not follow them, or considered following and decided not to. As always, I try to strike a balance between giving you enough information on the show, and telling you why I think it is or isn’t worth watching. Shows ordered by day, and by expectation within the day, as that affects pick status. The “Almost In” category describes shows that I’d pick up in prior seasons, but decided to put aside in order to make more time for backlog, after growing unhappy with how many of the shows I pick up ending up “not worth the time”, let alone “good”.
Much space is given to the people involved with a show, as premises are easy, but execution is hard, and it’s people who are in charge of that. You’re likelier to end up with good shows that way.

Most of the information about the shows can be had from the helpful Neregate Chart, and what I’ve happened to see on various sites, such as Random Curiosity. Check them out if you want more information, or information on shows I didn’t cover (such as follow-ups to shows I don’t watch). Most importantly, remember to have fun!

Sunday:

Almost In:

Magic Kyun! Renaissance – Reverse harem crossed with idol, school-festival, and magic. This show seems colourful and draws the eye, and Director Yamazaki Mitsue (Hakkenden: Dogs of the East) is joined by Shoujo/Josei stalwart Series Composer Konparu Tomoko (Ao Haru Ride, Chi’s Sweet Home, Dance with Devils, Glass Mask, Kimi ni Todoke, Nana, School Rumble, Touch, and Uta no Prince Sama). If you’re into reverse harem shows, this is probably the one for you.
Interest Rating: 1.5/3. This show isn’t for me, but shoujo romance series are often better than shounen ones, so I might keep an eye on this.
Airing Date: October 2nd. Preview.