WWW.Working – 03

I found myself drifting during the second half of this week’s episode of WWW.Working, which is always a bad sign.  I kind of liked how utterly random everything was, but at some point it just started to feel like sloppy writing to me.

I’m going to hang around for a while here, just in case the touch paper lights and this iteration of Working finds its groove.  But at the moment I’m kind of halfway disconnected – the relationships strike me as meaner here than in the original, none of the characters have really grabbed me like the best of the first (TV) cast did, and the jokes feel too repetitive.

Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo “Shounen Tanteidan” yori – 03 

Sometimes I wonder why a source material that seemingly has all the basics can’t get a straight-up anime adaptation.  Edogawa Ranpo’s “Boy Detectives Club” novels are cultural icons in Japan, and would seem to be the perfect fodder for an anime in more or less their native form.  So why does anime insist on doctoring them up so much?

I enjoy Trickster more than Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace – it seems to be at least trying to be more respectful of the spirit of the material.  But in terms of execution this series is similarly inconsistent,  This week’s mystery surrounded homeless men being rounded up for their organs, and had some potential on paper – but it was laid out in such cursory fashion that it was hard to really feel involved.  The characters are still very much two-dimensional, and there’s an overall sense of looseness with the storytelling.  I’m probably letting this one go, but I’ll watch for at least one more week just in case.

Classicaloid – 02

The magic was mostly gone for me this time around with Classicaloid, I’m afraid.  I missed the manic energy of the premiere, and the “Musik” sequence was nowhere near as enchanting.  The series didn’t bring off “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” nearly as well as it did Beethoven.

That, of course, ties in with the fact that Classicaloid botches Mozart all-around, and that’s a tough thing to get past.  They’ve turned him into a generic baka anime character while capturing none of the inspired cheeky genius that made him music’s greatest talent.  Beethes is the best thing about the series, but he’s not enough to carry Classicaloid on his own.  Another likely drop here unless the third ep really surprises me.