Dagashi Kashi 2 – 05
Perhaps reports (by me, in part) of Dagashi Kashi’s demise as a full-blown anime were exaggerated. The last couple of weeks have looked a lot more like the first season – in narrative structure if not in art style – to the point where I almost wish we were back to full-length episodes. I suppose there are worse approaches than “always leave them wanting more”, but it does seem as if we’re back to telling an actual story rather than just dagashi-themed gag comedy.
Poor old Kokonotsu is so bereft at Hotaru’s disappearance (which is apparently already at three months) that he’s taken to staring at the winning Home Run Bar she left behind – which also means he’s slacking off on upkeep with the shop. Which also means the shop has gone to seed, given what a slack-ass You-san is. It’s Saya who finally shames Coconuts into noticing this, and You is so encouraged to see his son showing any interest in the shop that he resolves to try and save the business – until he breaks his toe and goes to the hospital before he can do anything about it.
It’s nice to see Saya (and Tou, of course) get some quality time with Coconuts, even if the root cause is his infatuation with Hotaru and she still has no chance in hell. And that “Get a move on, you cod!” bit was really funny – both for Saya’s reaction and the fact that it’s the sort of utterly bizarre marketing campaign it’s hard to imagine anywhere outside Japan. The bad news is that there’s now a konbini across the street from Shikada-ya – and yes, modern konbini have been the death of many family shops like it, which are their retail ancestors in Japan. It’s an interesting new phase for the story to explore and I look forward to seeing how it goes about that.
Carcdaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen – 06
These last-minute redemptions are getting on my nerves. I’ve been real close to dropping Clear Card-hen for blogging purposes for three weeks running now, but it always manages to do enough in the last scene or two of the episode to suck me back in for one more week. I guess I’ll say it’s on probation – if there’s something worth blogging, I’ll blog it. Otherwise it’s into lurker mode. It’s not that I’m not enjoying the series, but there’s just not enough here to really inspire much analysis most of the time.
Of ongoing interest is the matter of Akiho-chan, who’s the subject of enough lingering close-ups that it could hardly be more obvious she’s hiding something (though she may be unaware of it herself). I suspect the bunny. Probably the headline for most will be the appearance of Meiling (with the promise of more to come) which proves she does exist in this timeline – for an anime-original character, she certainly bucks the popularity trend. Mostly though, there was a lot of same-old here – cooking, foreshadowing, and smiling.
As usual the last scene is the meatiest one, and the only one with any Syaoran-Sakura interaction. I don’t remember if we knew he played the piano, but that was kind of cute. This was interesting, though. I quite liked the unspoken agreement between Li and Tomoyo to clear the muggles out of the music room, and the way his frustration over not being able to be a part of Sakura’s mahou shoujo existence anymore was quite nicely portrayed. I’m frustrated too Li-kun, believe me – but it doesn’t look as if this is a part of Clear Card-hen that’s going to change anytime soon…
GC
February 11, 2018 at 5:24 pmIf I remember right didn’t he play piano in the original series?
Guardian Enzo
February 11, 2018 at 6:53 pmLike I said, I don’t remember. – it’s been a long, long time.
sonicsenryaku
February 11, 2018 at 9:38 pmYes…and the boy can allegedly sing too; although he says he doesn’t like to in front of people
sonicsenryaku
February 11, 2018 at 9:36 pmDagashi Kashi S2- the last 2 eps have shown a bit of promise it’s capable of being about more than just the gags; this is why i wanted to reserve my opinion just a bit more until we got more eps. I still don’t think the writing or directing is on par with the first season, which doesn’t help the fact that I’m not sure if the drama the show has built up so far is really going to go anywhere or have an effective payoff. However, I am a bit more optimistic after these last two eps and im going to be sticking around to see how things turn out. You know it’s funny, because i’ve ran across comments regarding this season of Dagashi Kashi where the common initial reactions to the first 3 eps pretty much boiled down to: “The first season felt like it had more heart.” Upon reading that, all i could think to myself was: “Oh now people appreciate the first season??!!!” Too funny man. I got to say i’m still a bit bothered by the visual direction of this season. This is why trying to copy the source materials art style almost one for one doesn’t always work. Sure there’s more “not as good” visual elements here beyond the art style alone (like the color design and photograhy), but again season 1 did such a great job of keeping what makes the designs work while tweaking them in the best of ways so that they look good in motion and multi-colored composition. I look at season 1 saya and then back at her season 2 counterparts and all i can hear in the cavernous parts of my mind, a loud, resounding “uuughhhhh”
As for cardcaptor Sakura…yea I really am hanging on by the thread of nostalgia. I can tell you this much: the way this season is being handled is NOT of the same caliber as the original CCS. I know because i had to go back and rewatch some eps to try to determine what was feeling off. CCSCC is only a return to form on a superficial level; it mimics the episodic structure of the original but does not execute in a way that made it feel immersive and heartwarming. Maybe it’s the clear card manga content, but then again that really isn’t much of an excuse because a shit ton of the original CCS was anime-original. And ill say yet again, It’s a shame that Syaoran is getting sidelined the way he is because he was such a prominent part of the original show even as his role as cardcaptor diminished over time. The show was as much of a coming of age story for Sakura as it was for Syaoran. Syaoran coming to terms with the fact that he was falling in love with Sakura and learning how to responsibly handle his feelings was handled with such a tender earnestness, making me understand why die-hard fans of the series call the show a strong love story at heart. The original CCS practically starts it’s romantic thread with Syaoran the moment he’s introduced and doesn’t stop there; that’s damn near 60 eps of fleshing out his bond with Sakura, with ep 57 really making Syaoran’s emotional confusion regarding Sakura really come to a boil in one of my favorite eps in the series. It’s an episode which funnily enough, is storyboarded/directed by Shigehito Takayanagi and is one of the most visually striking episodes of the series in terms of its composition and directing (what a coincidence that dagashi and CCS are in this same post seeing as they are both shows that were previously influenced by him in some way).
Then you have Sakura herself, who makes the entire series work so well because of how precious, considerate, and determined she is. One of the best things about the original is how it makes Sakura legitimately feel like a 10/11 year old learning how to become responsible in life; it’s great. The show was positive, it was adorable, it was visually vibrant and polished; but it also profound at times what with its focus on Sakura’s mother and what her death as well as Sakura being alive meant to the people in both her proximal and distal family. Clear card is missing these elements; Yes Sakura is not an elementary school kid anymore, but the show has yet to take advantage of that. I’m waiting but so far i haven’t felt like ive been rewarded past just seeing Sakura and her friends being cute again. Here’s hoping with Syaoran’s frustration of not being able to sense the clear cards, we can revive a bit of what makes gives the cardcaptor story its identity. I can understand Syaoran’s dismay because in the original, even has his usefulness in battling the forces of magic began to dwindle, he could still help Sakura in some way by being just as keen as her on magical phenomenon occurring around them. Now he’s at a point where he can’t even sense the magic coming from the cards anymore. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with that.
Guardian Enzo
February 11, 2018 at 9:46 pmOh, I’m not saying DK2 is on a par with the first season at all. But it is offering me more reason for hope of late.
I think not taking advantage of the change of venue is kind of at the core of what’s wrong with Clear Card-hen. Instead of portraying the kids as middle school students it’s basically recycling the formula of the first series, except with most of the Syaoran-Sakura interaction cut out. The fact is, while Sakura is cute and likeable she’s a pretty vanilla character – Syaoran with his dark side and self-doubt was really more interesting, even in elementary school.
sonicsenryaku
February 11, 2018 at 10:51 pmAgreed; and it’s actually Syaoran’s struggle and self-doubt with himself and his emotions that made a lot of the final third of the original CCS as memorable as it was; for me at least. If i recall, i think the final third is what many consider to be the strongest part of CCS as it was season where the series looked it’s absolute best and the narrative threads were the strongest.