Winter 2021 Mid-Season Reviews
Here are some thoughts on some of the winter anime I've watched so far.
Unsurprisingly, I haven’t been able to watch anything from my backlog even though I said I wanted to on my last post. That doesn’t mean I haven’t watched any anime since then, however. The anime industry cranks out so many new titles each season that it’s hard to keep up with every single one, and this season was stacked. I just went with a few that sounded interesting enough and have tried to consistently keep up with these weekly releases. With the exception of season 2 of The Promised Neverland, the new shows I’ve watched have been a pleasant surprise. While Jujutsu Kaisen is technically from Fall 2020, its season is still ongoing and still kicking ass. The last season of Attack on Titan has been absolutely wild, chaotic, heart-breaking, disturbing, thrilling…honestly, I could be here for days trying to describe the ride this show has been, and I can’t wait to continue seeing where this story goes. While JJK and AoT have been awesome thus far, they aren’t the pleasant surprises I mentioned a few sentences ago and won’t be the focus of this post. That description goes to Sk8 the Infinity, Horimiya, and Wonder Egg Priority.
Although these shows aren’t technically at the midway point of their scheduled seasons, I figured now would be a good time to give my thoughts on them. I’ve seen enough to know what themes the show is going for, the types of characters introduced so far, the direction of the animation, and best of all, I’ve seen enough to want to take time out of my day and watch the new episode each week!
**Spoiler Warning: The following may contain spoilers so proceed with caution if you plan on watching these and don’t want spoilers. **
Sk8 the Infinity (currently on episode 5 of 12, animated by Bones Inc., available on Funimation)
When I first heard about an upcoming anime about skateboarding, I was excited as I don’t think there’s ever been an anime strictly about the extreme sport. I have zero experience skateboarding, but I was friends with people who had their skateboarding phase and I grew up playing most of the Tony Hawk video games. I was definitely hyped for it, but I have to admit, I was expecting something completely different from what we got. I thought we’d get something more grounded; skateboarding as it is done in real life. Silly me, this is anime after all. A friend described this show as “Kuroko no Basuke on wheels,” and honestly, that’s pretty accurate. (Kuroko no Basuke is a basketball anime where the players pull off some of the most ridiculous moves that would never be possible in real life; still a fun show, though.)
What we got was over-the-top characters with bizarre outfits pulling outrageous moves in unrealistic skating competitions. (Now that I think about it, this sounds a whole lot like those Tony Hawk games I used to play.) After the initial disappointment of Sk8 not being what I thought it would be, I began to appreciate it for what it was. It’s a show with style first and foremost. Bones does an excellent job handling the animation whether it’s through gorgeous visuals of the settings or through the actual skating itself. The main draw of this show are these no-holds barred races called “S” that take place after midnight in a secret location; these races are where Bones flexes their animation muscles. Getting to see the skaters maneuver their way through the many turns of the course with well executed tricks is so pleasing and exhilarating to watch. There isn’t much to say about the plot so far, but I’ve enjoyed the dynamic of the two main characters. You have the loud, but passionate about skating Reki, who I’ve been surprised to see him take more of a teacher role to the serious new kid from Canada, Langa who only has experience in snowboarding. The supporting characters have been fun as well, and I get a kick out of the fact that the older characters have different personas during their normal lives as opposed to when they meet at the “S” competitions. One character has this heavy metal intimidating look at the races, but during the day he’s just a timid florist.
This show does have a few faults. I dislike the antagonist, Adam. The best way to describe his appearance is business bro Jonathan Joestar (oh look, a JoJo reference) by day, creepy matador Hisoka by night (his problematic mannerisms mirror Hisoka too). I find his mysterious nature somewhat intriguing, but he displays traits that are off-putting and unenjoyable. The dialogue can be a little cheesy, but that’s to be expected in a shonen anime that relies on the “teamwork makes the dream work” motif like Sk8 does. The lack of important female characters so far is disappointing. This isn’t to say I’m out here waiting for a female character to show up so I can check that off of some “woke” checklist, but representation does matter (the director, Hiroko Utsumi is a woman btw). I’m sure we’ll get a female skater in due time so I won’t get ahead of myself there. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed Sk8 the Infinity. It wasn’t what I expected, but I’m committed to grinding (like in skateboarding 😉) this show out. It’s a fun and easy watch!
Horimiya (currently on episode 5 of 13, animated by CloverWorks, available on Funimation)
Don’t judge a book by its cover. That’s what we’ve always been told, right? That’s especially true for how I approached Horimiya, and the same can be said for the characters in this show. As I’ve stated before, I don’t usually watch slice-of-life shows, but after seeing good things about this show I thought I’d give it a try. This rom-com starts out simple enough. The reserved high school boy (Izumi Miyamura) helps out the popular high school girl’s (Kiyoko Hori) younger brother one day after school when he injured himself. When he helps the brother get home, Hori realizes that Miya is a completely different person outside of school; he sports multiple piercings and tattoos with a punk appearance. Miya realizes that Hori isn’t who she appears to be either as she’s a homebody who is mainly preoccupied with taking care of the household and her younger brother. So they agree to keep their real personas a secret from their schoolmates and decide to start hanging out more thus developing a relationship as friends and eventually as a couple.
Getting to witness the relationship between Hori and Miya grow into what it’s been so far has been a pure and wholesome experience. This goes for how these characters interact with their classmates as well. Even despite the wholesomeness and comedic moments this show isn’t afraid to get serious at times. We get to see Miya’s growth throughout the show as we see how he was ostracized as a kid being labeled as “weird” and “creepy.” Being picked on as a kid was the reason he initially decided to pierce his ears himself in middle school becoming someone he is comfortable being while also being unknown to the school. It’s pretty sad that even when he has people like Hori and his classmates as friends that he doesn’t feel like he should have these friends. Luckily, he now has people that show that they care about him, and it’s so beautiful to see them be there for him. It appears to be early in Hori’s development so far, but it’s apparent she’s dealing with things too. She clearly has abandonment issues growing up with a mom who is always working and a dad who rarely shows up (he showed up in episode 5, and I was not a fan of him). It’s to be determined how her development plays out, but I just need these kids to be happy.
The plot hasn’t been high stakes drama, and I think this show is better that way. CloverWorks has done an excellent job conveying the overall wholesome mood of the show with bright and appealing colors. The character designs are great; I love that the main characters have normal colored hair while the supporting characters have colorful hair (the opposite tends to be the case for most anime). I also found it interesting/different that this rom-com has the two main characters get together mid-season as opposed to making the viewer wait until the end. Here’s to me hoping that this relationship lasts till the very end, and these characters live happily ever after because they deserve it!
Wonder Egg Priority (currently on episode 5 of 12, animated by CloverWorks, available on Funimation)
**Content warning: the following includes discussions of suicide.**
Wonder Egg Priority has been my favorite of the new releases of the season. The story follows Ai Ohto, a young girl who is left to deal with the harsh realities of the world after the death by suicide of her best friend, Koito Nagase. One day, she receives an item called a “Wonder Egg” from a gachapon machine; upon breaking the egg, a haunting world materializes in her sleep. Ai is then tasked with saving girls who have suffered similar fates as her best friend. She is essentially saving the souls of victims, and she is led to believe that if she saves enough of these souls in these dream hellscapes she can curry enough favor to reunite with her best friend. At least that’s what these creepy talking mannequins have told her as she continues to buy more and more “wonder eggs”.
It’s pretty heavy, brutal stuff. WEP does not shy away from horror as it blends nightmarish dreamscapes with realistic, every day horrors. This show’s depiction of bullying, abuse, and suicide can definitely be a tough watch for most people. Ai herself has been bullied due to her heterochromia while bearing the guilt of ignoring Koito’s suffering. That’s why she’s going through all this trouble to reunite with her best friend. We see that she isn’t the only one buying these eggs. She meets and befriends three other girls with different backgrounds who all want to save someone. Despite the heavy themes WEP tackles, the interactions between these girls are bright spots in this dark show. As is the case when meeting new people, the 4 girls don’t open up to each other right away, but it’s wonderful to see when they start being comfortable with each other realizing the weight of the burdens they carry are no longer theirs to carry alone.
Stepping away from the heavy themes the show tackles, I’d like to note that the visuals are top-notch. CloverWorks has been busy this season, but it’s clear to see how much attention to detail they put in to making this anime. The fighting animation is fluid. The surrealism portrayed throughout is scary good. The character designs are excellent. Same can be said for the voice acting and soundtrack. All in all, so much to love about this dense, unique story. I hope they don’t flub the themes they are trying to address in the rest of the show because that could very well be the deciding factor for this show’s success. To me, at this moment it has the potential to be something special. Here’s to hoping they knock it out of the park for the second half of the season!
That’s all I have for this post. As always, thanks for reading. If any of these shows interest you, do give them a watch and let me know what you think!