Anime

Besides continuing to watch each excellent episode of Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Witch Hat Atelier, and others, I also gave a few new things a try this week:

• Nippon Sangoku - I watched the first five episodes of this one. First off, gorgeous art. Very unique style. Looks great both still and in motion. Unfortunately I don't think the writing works for me. It feels like it's trying to convince me that certain characters are smart simply by making everyone around them extremely stupid. The show often feels like it's trying to be serious, but the stupidity is so over-the-top it breaks the mood. Also, it sometimes feels like I'm watching "smart" characters make dumb choices. I'll probably watch more, but if I was to drop something this season this would probably be it.
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - I love me a dumbass protagonist. Girl gets time travel powers but is to goddamn stupid to use them well. Overall enjoyable watch, but not quite the best movie I saw this week.
• Summer Wars - Same director as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Made in 2009 and boy does it feel like it was! First off, the "main plot" if I can even call it that is some sort of hacking nonsense. The hacking nonsense itself doesn't feel as compelling as the main plot of Jumping Time Girl did, but moment to moment I actually found this one to be extremely enjoyable. Honestly I think you could argue the real main plot was just Natsuki's family interacting with each other and the crazy events happening as the movie progresses. As someone who attends more than one family reunion per year on average the portrayal of the chaos and the collection of mismatched weirdos really hit home. Every moment we spend hanging out with Natsuki's family is a good moment, and that's most of the movie, so despite not caring for the hacking stuff I think I overall enjoyed this movie more between the two.