Your Week in Anime (Week 667)

[u/Soupkitten]

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

[u/VoidEmbracedWitch]

The Dangers in My Heart / Bokuyaba thoughts originally for the r\anime discord's anime swap.

Erosion. It happens all over the world. Running water forming riverbeds, waves crashing on shores, Bokuyaba whittling away at my sanity. It's simply a fact of life on Earth.

What was that third one in the list again? Right, I watched all of Bokuyaba. It's exactly what you'd expect out of a shounen romcom. You've got an insecure, awkward male lead who happens to get close to the extra pretty (and tall) girl in his class because she starts snacking in the library he usually retreats to during breaks. The rest of the progression is exactly what I expected from the premise and their first one-on-one encounter at the library. One might say it's blindingly obvious. They struggle to figure out how to act on their budding love, they have occasional encounters with a little sexual tension, you know the drill.

This isn't to say there's nothing to it. The protagonist Kyotaro Ichikawa leaves a strong initial impression because of his chuuni coping mechanism. After all, it's imagining himself as a dangerous murderer who's ready to strike at any moment. He never would and that's evident from the start. But I would... This, from his first meeting with love interest Anna Yamada onward, short-lived image of himself still powers his self-deprecating attitude throughout the show, often calling himself a creep and the like when he's just a socially awkward little guy. His gradual growth out of his total lack of self-esteem makes for an in a vacuum solidly executed character arc, but it causes an issue for the main dynamic: Yamada's interest in him comes off as extremely wish-fulfillment-y. She's quirky, snack-obsessed, tall, beautiful in canon at least, a model, just about everything a guy like Ichikawa could want and then some. And she sticks with him no matter how long it takes him to make up his mind or how often he does stupid shit that might push someone away. Y'know, like ||that time he stalked her when she went to karaoke with her former clubmates||. So all in all it executes that whole "what if a hot girl came into your life and made it interesting" fantasy competently with a protagonist you can actually buy into. Or at least that might be in the cards if certain distractions didn't spark murderous temptations in me. Though it doesn't solve a core difficulty with this type of setup, which is making the experience feel anywhere near as satisfying from the leading girl's perspective.

One element that elevates Bokuyaba slightly can be found in the setting. Sure, it's just middle school, but it feels more authentically like middle school than I'm used to. The classmates around the leading duo ground the whole scenario. And why? Because they're believably stupid about sex and sexuality. Unlike so many school romance anime where sexuality is just almost never brought up, this show doesn't shy away from showing that the cast are teenagers who mention what they're into while being expectedly immature about it. A random boy, Kenta, goes through three or so sexual awakenings for specific fetishes while only existing on the sidelines for the entire show and it's endearing his process of kink discovery gets acknowledged at all. Unfortunately this environment rarely has an effect on the leads' dynamic. Sometimes it fuels a tendency towards possessiveness for Ichikawa when other guys make passing comments about finding Yamada hot or the like. There are few moments where Ichikawa being horny in situations where he really doesn't want Yamada to notice or the mutual pushing down on beds, but usually the romantic dynamic between them doesn't call attention to sexuality aside from occasional, given Yamada's design predictable ecchi moments.

Short intermission - Yamadad is a cool dude

Back to designs, I sure don't like them. I sure don't like looking at this anime at all. Ichikawa's absolutely massive forehead while still often being framed in a way that makes his skull seem smaller than her boobs. S2, where physical changes caused by puberty are called attention to, commits even more to moments exaggerating the contrast between them. The height gap isn't just for the utility of playing into the dichotomy between his insecurity and Yamada being further along in life. It's also blatantly, and honestly more prominently, for ecchi appeal. Yamada's dorky faces and combined with her breasting boobily all over the place are an aesthetic combination that makes her feel barely in control of her own appeal in ecchi scenarios. Or to be precise, her more active advances towards Ichikawa, mainly in S2, are fine, but sexy little accidents come off as extra objectifying with how her design is put to use. And I can't let go of that one shot at the school nurse's office where Yamada puts her whole body weight on her boobs. Wouldn't recommend trying that at home; it's incredibly uncomfortable.

Could you please stop beating around the bush? I gave you time to get to the point yourself, but I'm getting bored lurking around if you don't do it. Just confront the truth already, you fool!

original version album - transcript with edginess and swap specifics removed below

Don't rush me, I was getting there anyway. Bokuyaba is a trainwreck and a half when it comes to its production. Getting the sliver of credit it deserves out of the way, the storyboarding tends to be fine with at times interesting boards giving multiple characters in a shot an active role. Except the execution of every step afterwards is plagued disasters.

Starting relatively small, the backgrounds range from barely passable to garish messes. Environments regularly look like they're cobbled together 3d assets with uninspired textures haphazardly slathered over them. Also horrible looking are the numerous photo background elements like books or, somehow, towels having their details filtered out. Almost makes it preferable when backgrounds are blurred to the point it's impossible make out off-looking parts like cars that don't mesh with the sad excuse of an aesthetic streets and sidewalk have.

I said almost! One of the two biggest crimes Bokuyaba's production commits is the absurd approach to blurs / focus. No episode goes by without at least a handful scenes that make one question if their eyesight got spontaneously worse. It's not a matter of camera distance since similar shots can have seemingly arbitrary degrees of blurring. Many of these situations are the result of gradient blurs, a technique to mimic depth of field in post. They're employed so awkwardly that they leave the majority of the frame unsharp. This stands out atrociously since the subjects of shots as well as other parts of the image viewers' eyes may be drawn to end up out of focus. Or rather, post-production butchered them.

But wait, it still gets worse. Bokuyaba dazzles the audience in diverse and ambitious way. Specifically, it dazzles by means of making the lighting, color grading and various composite effects outright painful to look at. Lens flares all day every day, chromatic aberration effects everywhere and light sources so bright, they devour half the screen. I know Yamada is a radiant presence in Ichikawa's life and all, but not every romantically charged scene has to emulate the feeling of staring directly at the sun.

What's there left to say? Nothing really. I hate looking at this show and I'm glad I'm done with it. Even trying looking past the visual crimes of Bokuyaba, I found a story that's vanilla romantic fluff with little fresh to offer.

---

The Idolm@ster has character, so much character. Enough character in fact that each of the idols manages to feel distinct and believable through their mannerisms and posture. The interview style of the first episode worked well to endear me to most of the 12.5 idols of 765 Pro right off the bat. Ritsuko was as close to an instant favorite as a character can get. Her firmness and seriousness while working as a producer in contrast to the her cute panic reactions like her glasses almost falling off works wonders. It's a shame her focus episode of having to step up and fill in for an absence in the idol unit she manages was far from the strongest in the show. Wish there was more to her producer side beyond the one unit pitch she successfully pulled off, but she's still a character I love watching every second she's on screen.

Though she wasn't my absolute favorite. That honor goes to Chihaya, who from her first appearance is evidently more than just reserved. Beneath her quiet demeanor there's an underlying sadness, which becomes more and more obvious with the small glimpses given into her life during the first half. Things like the odd mention of her living alone or her singing where she thinks no one will interrupt her in the cooking show episode add up. When Haruka stays over at her place near the show's halfway point, it feels barely lived in. It's possible to count the things that matter to Chihaya on one hand, just her bed and a family photo. Everything else is either in boxes or its original packaging. It'd be a stretch to even call her apartment a home. All of this builds anticipation for the eventual moment there will be drama surrounding her personal life. And when it happens, it's one of the strongest storylines in the series' 2 cour run.

How well episode plots land for me varies a lot and I've been disappointed by some, but what's consistent is that they're bustling with life. It's the many little things making Imas special, down to parts like Haruka's commute being shown thrice at different points of the story with small changes to accentuate her growth. She stumbles and falls in the first episode, but by the 14th she manages to regain her footing and move forward when stumbling near the same ticket gate. So yeah, I had a great time with this one.