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Since we’ve got to spend most of June working on panels, we’ll try and knock out an episode or two this month. This time around, Clarissa reviews the relatively recent anime series Flying Witch, for which print editions of the manga have just started to be released in English.
Introduction (0:00 – 17:00)
In the wake of the Gundam 00 episode, Gerald wishes it known that he doesn’t hate all Gundam as long as the great and mighty Yoshikazu Yasuhiko worked on it and Yoshiyuki Tomino did not work on it. This YAS admiration does not however, extend to the Yoshikazu Yasuhiko-est title of all, Giant Gorg. We’ve also met the latest donations goal, and so we’ll soon have to pick from one of the donor suggestions for a future episode…the release of which is to be determined!
You can read the translations of the decades-past Yoshiyuki Tomino & Hideaki Anno interview that we were referring to here. These tend to get archived on this Tumblr account as well.
Promo: Right Stuf Anime (17:00 – 18:35)
The current sale as of the time this episode is out actually has the first volume of Flying Witch on sale, and the original Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy is now available on Blu-Ray! How’s THAT for expert timing, huh?!
Review: Flying Witch (18:35 – 47:32)
Realizing that we haven’t reviewed any “iyashikei”/”healing” anime in several years, Clarissa reviews this one from 2016. It’s about the joys of rural life and magic, and how this is all a stealth propaganda effort by THE GUBMINT to stem the depopulation crisis of the Japanese countryside. This invariably leads to (no spoiler) discussion about Attack on Titan, for obvious reasons. Listen, reviewing shows that aren’t heavy on plot, characterization, and stuff happening is HARD, okay?!
Man, what far-off rock did you guys look under to find a fan of Gundam Age? I thought the entire world was in agreement that it was The Gundam That Nobody Likes.
I’m with Gerald in that Origin truly is the best of Gundams. It captures the good ideas Tomino had while smoothing out all his peculiarities, adds in all the backstory they had no room for originally, doesn’t treat all the women within it like shit, and looks amazing to boot in both book and anime form. I am also fully convinced in my heart that these OVAs are the build-up for a proper Origin series just in time for the 40th anniversary. I don’t know if anyone could convince Yaz to commit to something that big for that long, but damn it a girl can dream.
Since you mentioned it, I highly recommend Hidamari Sketch as a iyashikei show. While I’ve calmed some of my enthusiasm for it, it’s still worthy to check out, but I warn you, the first season looks VERY cheap (was before Shaft has any stable capital). It greatly improves the production values during the four seasons.
Another iyashikei that takes place the Japanese country side I recommend is Non Non Biyori. It has very detailed backgrounds and enduring characters.
There seem to be many fans of G-reco on /m/ though. Aside from the shitposting rebuttals to criticism like “back to A.Z”, there have been some interesting discussion on its themes there. G-reco is really interesting in that almost every element of it, even the idea that there are so many factions that it becomes confusing, are all utilized to explore a multitude of war themes that are far more interesting than anything Gundam has attempted in years. I think Tomino had attempted to create a genuinely complex work of art that has been misunderstood by fans due to its inaccessible nature. In fact much of Tomino’s work does this to varying degrees of success, but still he has produced enough great works like Turn A, Xabungle, and Be Invoked, and so it makes me a little sad to see so much criticism of him (although his Gundam works aside from 0079 and Turn A are admittedly quite poor).
Also, Wave Motion Cannon has a fantastic article on the strengths on G-reco : https://wavemotioncannon.com/2016/11/30/in-defense-of-g-reco/