Weekly Digest 4/25/21 – Shadows House, Shakunetsu Kabaddi

Shadows House – 03

I’m bored here.  And that’s a letdown, because of all the shows I had reasonably high expectations for this season, Shadows House is really the only one I could call a true disappointment.  It’s just basically an interesting concept and art style with a bunch of moe pandering and cliche anime characterizations.  Sometimes we get ’em right, sometimes we get ’em wrong.  And if they were sure things, they wouldn’t be sleepers.

 

Shakunetsu Kabaddi – 04

By contrast, Burning Kabaddi has grown into a true contender to make the cut, though the schedule doesn’t do it any favors.  It’s both reasonably intelligent in terms of writing and well-directed, and has done a nice job taking a sport that’s a near-total mystery to me (and most viewers in Japan and the U.S.) and making it understandable without clunky explanations (who knew there were supposed to be 7 members on a team?  Also – why is Azemichi bald, anyway?  Has that ever been explained?).

Primarily, at least for me, Shakunetsu Kabaddi works as a character study of Yoigoshi-kun.  And he makes for an interesting one, because he has so many innate strengths and weaknesses – often at the same time.  He’s an unusual kid and that makes him a good fit to build the story around.  Slowly, gradually, we’ve seen Yoigoshi come to take kabaddi seriously because at heart, more than anything he just hates to lose.  If he’s going to do something he’s eventually going to give in to that instinct and try to be the best at it.  But he gets a lecture from Date on not chasing phantoms like becoming the strongest – not just because he’d be nullifying strengths to address perceived weaknesses, but because the sport has a weight limit of 80kg.

What the story has been building towards of course is the return of the mysterious hospitalized captain Oujou (I literally can’t find his name spelled the same way on any two websites) Masato (Okamoto Nobuhiko).  Oujou has an interesting debut but I sense some danger with him.  Shakunetsu Kabaddi has been pretty grounded so far but if it’s not careful, Oujou’s ability could come pretty close to magical – something like Kuroko from KuroBas, a sports series that was so preposterous it was impossible to take seriously for a second.  The whole thing about offset breathing and counters is fine, but I hope they keep it real with him or it could be a turn-off.

That said, he and Yoigoshi make an interesting pair, far more alike than their mismatched physiques would indicate.  I especially liked the bit where Yoigoshi unconsciously imitated the Captain without realizing he was doing it.  Yoigoshi is exceptional in that he has elite instincts, intelligence, and physical ability and size – but he’s literally starting from ground zero in a completely new (to him) sport.  That’s got loads of potential and so far, a lot of it is being realized.  I like Shakunetsu Kabaddi, maybe enough to cover it even in a season as strong as this one.

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8 comments

  1. w

    Yeah, this episode of the Kabaddi anime series got me off guard with the captain’s skills being supernatural-like. Got vibes of Kuroko who can disappear from the opponent’s sight. I hope the anime storyboards will show from the sidelines/spectators’ POV on how a heavy defender like Yoigoshi get knocked down easily by a skinny, if not a person barely passing the minimum weight of any body-contact sports, raider.

    But the writing of the relationship dynamics between the characters is making me stay to the end. Like how improving one’s self can be a conflict for our main character Yoigoshi who thinks he needs to bulk up like Date since there’ll be a time when the former has to be a defender, and it’ll be losing points if the opponent’s raider is like Date.

    I’m also hoping the rules of Kabaddi get explained more especially how the referee decides how many players on the field. Will it be random choosing? 1 on 1, then 3 on 1, etc. Yeah, would love to know if this kind of set-up is chosen by players or the referee.

  2. S

    Yes, Captain-san felt very déjà vu not only in character concept but also Yoigoshi’s opinion about him having no scent whatsoever felt like it was ripped off from KnB. I was a shameless fan of KnB and Kuroko was my favourite character, so I do like Oujou Masato, who was quite amusing in this episode especially when he was hesitating whether to stop his canting and explain his skills to Yoigoshi.

  3. I’ve dumped Shadow House. I agree that it’s boring. And pretentious. Will probably get me hated.

    I’m on the fence with Shakunetsu Kabaddi. I’m waiting for that moment that swings it one way or the other. It is leaning towards me watching it to completion.

  4. D

    I would say Shadows House definitely gets better down the road, but it never becomes anything close to a masterpiece, so its probably not worth pushing through.

  5. D

    Tezuka Zone and similar powers are gateway to lunacy. Not that it’s not entertainment mind.

  6. P

    Shadows House drops a lot of hints for being a potentially great show, with the soot sickness and the symbolism behind needing a face, etc. It is unfortunate that it is taking a long time to actually getting into the good, deep parts. Right now, I’ll still watch it in the hopes it will actually turn into something good-hopefully I won’t regret sticking through with it!

  7. Y

    I actually fell asleep twice trying to get through the first ep of Shadow House. Dropped it pretty quickly when I did, because Emilyko is the most insufferable anime trope I’ve seen in a long time. The animation dropped a bit this week in Shakunetsu Kabbadi (all those still shots), but I’m still amazed they’ve been able to make this weird sport interesting every week. The first character the captain actually reminded me of was Midousuji (prbly the face), who I was also turned off by in the beginning but then gradually became a compelling character. Hoping its the same case here.

  8. A

    Yeah i hope so they don’t make shakunetsu kabaddi supernatural… So far it is close to reality which i think its potential

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