2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team – 04

Last week’s episode of 2.43 was pretty good on the whole, but I have to say this one didn’t really work for me.  The humor has never been this series’ strong suit, but that wasn’t a big deal because there wasn’t much attempt at it to begin with.  Not so this time, and frankly it fell pretty flat for the most part.  A real buzzkill for the ep on the whole, unfortunately.

So where does that leave us?  Not sure, to be honest.  There are some other issues here which transcend that problem, one of which being that things are generally moving much too quickly.  It’s not that a sports anime can’t succeed in 12 episodes – Ping Pong certainly did, and in the NoitaminA block too.  But that was telling a very targeted story in a very non-traditional sports anime way, and 2.43 seems to me to be biting off more than it can chew. Narratively it feels like it’s trying to be a long-running sports series, but there’s a reason those series do run so long.

I’ll give this at least another week in terms of viewing, but as to blogging I just don’t don’t know.  It’s not Haikyuu, I don’t want it to be, and I’m trying not to compare it.  But 2.43 at least has to be compelling in its own right, and so far it’s only intermittently accomplishing that.

Tenchi Souzou Design-bu – 04

Before I dig in, a brief note on translation.  You probably noticed that the official subs decided to change the names of the characters to “Venus, Mars” etc..  This is because the first Kanji in their names suggests the Japanese names for those planets, and the mangaka is obviously riffing on that.  However, the characters call each other by their actual names – Tsuchiya, Kanamori, et al.  To me, then, this is a mistake – and the fact that the English edition of the manga also does it doesn’t justify it.  The author has made a subtle joke, and the translation has elected (after not doing so for three weeks, which compounds the problem) to hit us over the head with it (there’s something symbolic there).  A matter of preference to be sure, but not a choice I care for.

The rest of the episode, I did care for.  And indeed, I find myself liking Tenchi Souzou Design-bu more and more.  It’s smart, it’s funny, and I actually learn stuff.  As anyone who’s been part of a creative team can tell you, the frustrations in dealing with the client are spot-on – like “do whatever you like” being the ultimate curse, and waiting days for a response on an “urgent” request.

• I very much enjoy the focus on mythical animals and why they don’t work.  Most of them (unicorn, pegasus) seem to be horse-based.
• Never saw a running urchin before, but I guess they’re a thing.
• Who knew bats and horses were close relatives (a lot of people I’m guessing, but not me)?
• The whole hummingbird sequence was really interesting.  And again, I had no idea they had to hibernate every night in order to survive.  Learning stuff from anime is good.
• I like the dynamic with Kanamori and Mizushima (manifested in the ostrich), of beauty vs. efficiency.  Not so science heavy this one, but very much rooted in the essential nature of designers.
• “More stripey animals” was a very funny and roundabout way of getting to why zebras have those weird stripes.  Tying in the panda and the tsetse flies was a nice touch.
• Ueda sent to hell for cursing the starpandas was an interesting plot twist to be sure.  We’ve heard from God – are we about to hear from Satan?