I’ve rarely gone into an episode more desperately rooting for it to be good than this week’s Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.. Yesterday was a rough day for my schedule – I finally dropped two shows (Dr. Stone and Enen no Shouboutai) that have been bottom-feeding, and I’m feeling so disconnected with Furuba that I could see that happening too (though not yet). Add in that this week’s “O Maidens” was a full day late in being subbed, and it’s taken on a sort of totemistic importance.
Sigh.
Truth is, if this were a decent season I’d probably have dropped Araburu already. It already started to lose me by the third week, but the fact is, rather than simply feeling nothing what I’ve been feeling towards this show is conflict. And that’s way more interesting, of course. But right now it just sort of makes me feel depressed. I like most of the cast less and less every week, I grow more and more disillusioned by how the series really pulls its punches in a lot of respects. Rather than being a serious – and long-overdue – look at sexual awakening from a female perspective, what Okada is doing here increasingly looks like a straight-up raunchy comedy that doesn’t have the nerve to be really raunchy.
That last part is (still) sort of interesting. I don’t know the manga so I don’t know if that’s less true there, but it would be nice not to have to think such a series about girls isn’t being allowed to go as far as one about boys would be. Be that as it may, the anime is what it is. And the further it gets away from the relatively believable relationships that it started out focusing on, the more the silly developments feel like they’re just here to drive the plot forward. The whole “come up with an idea for the culture festival” thing screams contrivance from the get-go – and it’s not even an interesting one at that. And Niina’s whole “friendly sabotage” game is as cliche as it gets.
Another problem I have here – why does no one in this series ever actually say “I’m sorry” to the people they’re screwing over? I get that it’s a hard thing to say, especially for adolescents – but once? Just once? Sometimes they double-down on their behavior. But you also have instances where characters are clearly aware that they’re mistreating people who are being nothing but kind towards them – even admitting it out loud (at least in voice-over) – but they never actually apologize. That’s a pretty frustrating element for me.
Only because of Black Saturday and because this season is such a dog, I’m going to give Araburu another week to convince me to keep spending keystrokes. As many issues as I have it’s still much more interesting than the shows I dropped. But it would be a lie to say I feel much hope. It just seems like Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. is way more conventional, safe and derivative than it appeared to be in first impressions. And when you consider what Okada and Andou are capable of at their best – or even their average – mediocrity like this is that much more depressing.
ArcT
August 11, 2019 at 12:52 pmYikes. You keep dropping series left and right this season, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do that before on here.
I’ve given up on this season entirely (except for Furuba for nostalgia alone). Except for one series that continues to deliver: Mo Dao Zu Shi.
I know I tried to get you to watch and blog this series last year when it was going through its first (of three) seasons, but I think you gave up on it after the first few eps? Once you get to episode 11 then shit starts getting real and pays off massively. I cannot stress enough how amazing this series is. I’ve read the novel so I know what is coming concerning the story (god, the story is so beautiful and well-written) and the art continues to shock and amaze. Every day I check your blog I wonder if today will be the day you give it another chance and watch it and blog about it to other readers (because this show is definitely worthy of blogging about but somehow hardly anyone is no matter how amazing it is…maybe because it’s Chinese anime and not Japanese?).
Out of all the anime out this season about the only one I can see *you* enjoying at all (and not dropping it like a hot potato out of disgust) is Mo Dao Zu Shi. It’s a slow burn story that takes quite a while setting up and the character development is definitely needed to understand some things later in the story. Some complained that the timeskips can be hard to understand (it goes from the first two eps being set in present day and then by the third episode it goes entirely back to the past for most of Season 1) or that the subs go too fast (which I totally agree with but thankfully Guodong subs fixed this season after getting enough complaints about it), but those are things easily overlooked because of how *good* this series is and Season 1 is barely scratching the surface of how good it has yet to get story-wise. Season 2 is where shit will hit the fan massively and everything will fall apart for the MC and everyone around him, so I’m really, really excited it’s finally time for it.
I sincerely hope you give it another try, Enzo. Out of shitty anime this season that one’s the titan standing above everything else and making even shows like Furuba look massively bad.
And since I found this series because of an anime music video, I can’t help but plug one that shows just a smidgen of how badass/amazing this series gets (from Season 1):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7O_lcLV99Q
ArcT
August 11, 2019 at 12:58 pm(Sorry, forgot to mention that Vinland Saga is the only contender this season that’s at the same level as Mo Dao Zu Shi that I’m also watching and enjoying quite a bit. Derp.)
Guardian Enzo
August 11, 2019 at 1:49 pm11 episodes is a big commitment for a show that isn’t doing it for you.
ArcT
August 11, 2019 at 4:05 pmI think of it like Hunter x Hunter 2011. When I first started that series I was not that impressed with it very much in the early episodes. It seemed like the same shounen series that had been churned out time after time—kid-friendly and all about power-up adventuring. However, when episode 16 arrived I started seeing why you praised it so much and I definitely became much more interested and invested in the storyline (as well as realizing that it had potential to be something more than just another shounen fantasy adventure). I never regretted taking your advice on this blog to watch it — that it was so, so worth it — and that’s why I’ve brought it up in regards to Mo Dao Zu Shi: It, too, can take a while to get into but the journey is what’s important and when you get to episode 11 you start to see why, exactly, those earlier episodes were so important to have for the story as a whole.
Mo Dao Zu Shi is slow to start because of the world-building (like Hunter x Hunter) but it doesn’t waste that time with filler or useless exposition. When you get to episode 11 you start to see why all the previous episodes were important to help tell how everything got to a certain point. The characters, the politics, the history of the world… all of this is needed to help the viewer understand why everything falls apart for the MC in episode 11 and the episodes that follow. Wei Wuxian’s character in the first two episodes *seems* annoying and trite at first glance, but he’s acting that way to try and throw off important characters from recognizing him (for very good reason, too, once you learn why they would immediately kill him on sight at the mere hint of him coming back to the world again)—he’s also inhabiting the body of a known cut-sleeve and lunatic so his antics are over-the-top in the first two episodes to try and stay under the radar. When you go back into the past for the rest of the series you start to see his true personality which is carefree and endlessly kind at his core; he’s not an annoying character at all, especially when he grows up a bit due to tragedy.
All the characters are amazingly fleshed out (thanks to the earlier episodes) and the storyline is nothing to scoff at when it pans out—like Hunter x Hunter became for me during the Chimera Ant arc. I really, really hope you give it another try; I am normally not so insistent about an anime series but this one is truly a gem that is going under the radar for most bloggers and that’s a real shame since the story is so lovely and well-done (leagues above nearly all the anime series this season has released).
If it weren’t for your blog posts about how amazing Hunter x Hunter was and your insistence nearly every episode to your viewers to *watch it* I wouldn’t have even given it another glance (especially since the first few eps of it that I watched didn’t do it at all for me and I thought it was just another Dragonball Z series type). But since you kept praising it to high heaven and insisted over and over that it was so very worth it I finally broke down and gave it another watch—and I did *not* regret it at all after I got to episode 16 and things started to take a darker turn.
It takes some getting used to the fast subs and the unfamiliar language/culture, but when it clicks everything is so wonderfully aligned and rich with symbolism and exquisitely crafted character arcs that it’s hard to stop watching and going back and rewatching to catch things you missed the first time because you were unfamiliar with the culture. I feel like I’m rambling at this point so I’ll just leave it at that. I really hope you give it another watch; it’s going to be three seasons and the second is just starting up. Like Hunter x Hunter it takes a while to get to the awesome moments, but it’s so, so worth it when it comes. 🙂
Guardian Enzo
August 11, 2019 at 4:12 pmHeh, I liked H x H right out of the gate even if I didn’t know just how good it was going to be, but I take your point. I sincerely appreciate all these recommendations for this show – maybe I will try and find time to give it another shot.
elianthos
August 11, 2019 at 6:12 pm@Enzo: MDZS re: the #11 episode landmark as coming from a non-too-enthused-at-first watcher.
Episode #11 IMHO is ‘simply’ the episode where everything that came before starts to *really* gel together – into one sweeping dramatic climax to boot (contestually leaving behind most of the comedic bits… which are the series’ one consistently weak element I’d say) -, but the series does follow an upward curve. Episodes #1-2 are a rough start – and overlong – , after that it improves by the episode. By episode… #6 it was I think (or the one before depending on your tolerance for bathing fanservice antics… it’s the series equivalent of the beach epsode/segment ) my enjoyment solidified into perfectly watchable/solid B, with episode #11 a good contender for animated highlights of the year.
TL;DR it does get good and when it does it’s really good but it does require a bit of adjustment.
The story also peppers a lot of Chinese lit & genre refs which help ‘decode’ some of what you see – or dont see – onscreen but unless you know what to look for it just flies over one’s head… which is also a way for them to bypass the mainland’s censorship I guess :p . The supernatural detective story/mystery x family ties x war drama on the other hand tend to stay comparatively accessible (lots of characters with multiple names spread over many factions and clans… they’re color-coded but have a chart at hand to keep track,heavens know I only manage to remember the very core cast XDD) and those accessible elements tend to be front and center / make up most of the plot.
animealex
August 11, 2019 at 8:07 pmWell, if this is the “let’s try to sell Enzo on MDZS again” thread, let me also chime in, even though I don’t know if I’m good at such a thing.
I heard from this series first as a Chinese fantasy shounen-ai like series and so took a look. I found one trailer, which showed the first haunting scene in the forest where some people are eaten by zombies, who were controlled by a flute player. “Well, if it looks like that throughout the series, I will give it a shot!” Then, when the first two episodes were subbed, I watched them, and nearly despaired, because all this freaking characters with even sometimes multiple names who constantly reference events which I wasn’t privy to, how the hell should I understand what’s going on? Add to that, even though I don’t speak Japanese some phrases and pronouns give me at least a feeling for how characters relate to another; when it’s in Chinese I don’t have a freaking clue!
But the animation was gorgeous, the fight choreography was amazing and the parts of the story that I got, kept me hooked. So, our main character Wei Wuxian (birth/family name Wei Ying, also known as the Yinling Patriarch) is the person who everybody knows to be someone akin to the Dark Lord, who was forced (!) back to life tries to blend in/lay low while also helping the people around him with his demonic arts against supernatural evil as only he could. Oh. and he runs constantly (it’s only been 13 years since his death) into people who would kill him on the spot, if they knew who he was. But since he’s trying to help them nonetheless, our protagonist couldn’t been that bad in the past, could he?
So, I decided to rewatch, wrote down the multiple names from all the characters as well as their clans from other sites (while trying to avoid most of the spoilers) and got a general Idea (or so I thought^^) of what was going on. It helped immensely, that from episode 3 forward, we got told much of how we got in the situation in the first two episodes. (Sure, in later episodes it kicks in a higher gear, but from episodes 3, 4 and 5 I got what makes the most prominent three characters tick, so to speak.) FYI Wei Wuxian looks the same in the past and the present, even though he inhabits another body. Viewer convenience, I think.
Imo, the first two episodes are a major stumbling stone for this series. To drop someone in media res without explaining the setting can work really well, but if there isn’t any context except a short opening scene, then what? As a side note, after watching the first cour and rewatching the first two episodes, I really liked it. But I still think starting the series that way was a bad move. If your audience doesn’t know and thus doesn’t care about the characters (yet), why show scenes with an emotional impact, which will only become clear later on? Is the source material that famous in China, that everybody still got it?
But still, the show is definitely worth the extra effort. Why? Because it’s quite clever, perhaps (as shown with first two episodes) tries to be too clever. But if you like conflicted characters in an epic fantasy riddled with intrigue and murder mystery and a (very subtle due to censoring) side dish of queer romance, give it another try.
elianthos
August 11, 2019 at 8:34 pmAbout Araburu… again agree to didagree. Okada is using a sexy and raunchy guise while also being rather cutting and insightful about it. if there is a work where her brand of quirks feel fitting it would be this one so far :°D. The dynamics among the girls are pretty on-point. Also re: saying sorry? Too soon. Saying sorry means acknowledging some less than pleasant things outside your own head both about others and about themselves. As if not hashing things out in the open magically undoes all and any issues and any little rocking of the holy friendship boat is in itself a capital offense . I know many adults still stuck in this developemental phase btw…
Hongo-Milo is the only subplot that’s overall pushing it, but Hongo’s internal logic is pretty consistent :°D – and yet, Milo seems much more interested in giving his *ahem* prized mushrooms to that female teacher, sorry girlie – .
A lot of one’s feelings about this series specifically is really tied about close one’s childhood-to-adolescence experience has been to what’s unravelling on-screen. The conundrums of being into a girl-girl friendship and girl groups, less than balanced adults and/or mentors warping your perception of self and value based on your sex… Intense junior high flashes in my corner I must say, and a few crappy childhood ones X°DDD.
P.S. : hang in there Good Suitor Boy :,D.
Yeni
August 15, 2019 at 12:29 amOk, elianthos, ArcT and animealex… the rec wasn’t for me, but I paid heed and can only say THANK YOU!!!
Hahahaha after staying up to 2 am and 4 am, two work days in a row (and planning to do another one) just because I can’t stop watching Mo Dao Zu Shi… I can say It’s very very much worth it 🙂
I even started reading the novels XD
So yeah Guardian Enzo, I’m another one kinda begging you to please give it a chance :”)
ArcT
August 15, 2019 at 7:12 pmOh, I’m so glad you took our recommendations and watched MDZS! It is really sad that so many people are unaware of such a wonderful series since most of the anime community is (I guess?) hesitant to watch Chinese anime since it’s kind of a culture shock from normal Japanese culture they’ve gotten used to watching for decades and are more familiar with.
I can remember finding Mo Dao Zu Shi randomly through an amv and hunting the episodes down and binging them all night, too. That’s how good this series is. The novel, too, adds extra dimension to the characters/story as well since the tv censoring in China doesn’t outright allow for homosexual elements (like kiss/sex scenes which the novel has). After reading the novel, I can say with surety that the tv series is definitely being as true as they can be to the original source material and the spirit of the story being told.
I’m glad my off-hand comments on this series (and everyone elses’) helped you find this series and I really, really hope Enzo gives it another watch since him blogging this series and doing his own in-depth exploration of each episode would not only help others, like yourself, find out about this series but would be fascinating to see his own take on such a wonderfully-done series like Mo Dao Zu Shi.
P.S. If you’re reading the novel prepare for heartbreak when you get to the Yi City Arc (which will be explored this season). That shit was brutal! T_T
Yeni
August 17, 2019 at 12:24 pmThank you again ArcT 🙂
Hahahaha when I really like something I tend to get reaaaaally obsessive with it, and right now I’m in a complete MDZS binge XD.
I’m a fast reader, so already did, my heart is broken into stardust ;_; … rewatching the first two episodes with this New insight is really worthwile (still frustrating though, now that you also notice how much was cut out).
You know, even though they can’t show things outright, they still manage to convey a LOT though body language and voice acting (that by the way, I think is superbe). I can’t express how much I’ve came to care for these characters, I just love them.
In my case it did took me a little while to get use to the visual and storytelling style, but once I did I loved it for itself. Hahahaha in my case I do get extra enjoyment points with the language, I studied mandarin chinese for a year (and japanese for around 4), so even though I’m still a complete noob, trying and managing to pronounce the names right is both challenging and reaaaaaally fun for me XD
Cheers for more people finding this little jewel :”)