Besides enjoying the hell out of it (obviously) this episode of Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san had me thinking about a larger philosophical question. In effect, there are two ways we can judge an anime adaptation. Obviously, in absolute terms – how good of an anime do we believe it to be? But I think we could also measure by how much it extracts from its source material – and by that metric, this is one of the best adaptations I’ve seen. It’s like Shin-Ei and director Akagi Hiroaki have found the Platonic ideal of Karakai Jouzu and brought it to the screen. They looked at it, and saw something better than the realized version on the page. And that, let me tell you, is as high praise as you can heap on a manga adaptation.
Mind you, that source material is still pretty darn good. I like it enough to read it, and while it’s not a patch on BokuYaba as far as junior high romances go, between the manga and anime it does an admirable job tiding me over until that adaptation finally arrives. Fundamentally this series only needs two basic elements – the uniquely doofus nature of the middle-school human, and the fact that 13 year-old boys are almost always hopelessly overmatched against 13 year-old girls. I think part of the anime’s magic formula is seeing the essence of what makes the series tick, and stripping away all the stuff it doesn’t really need.
This week’s first chapter, “Presence”, is a perfect example. It’s about as stripped-down as it gets – seven-plus minutes of silent comedy, driven only by animation and Tsutsumi Hiroaki’s on-point score. It’s the best dialogue-free comedy sketch in anime since Mitsudomoe’s (by the same mangaka as BokuYaba of course) Episode 9 oil-can chapter over a decade (!) ago (that one put a thumb on the scale by using a Mozart sonata). It’s the sort of material one might have guessed was anime-original but no, Yamamoto put this in the manga – dialogue-free as well – though the anime did add the postscript with Yukari and Mina.
The “Desk Check” bit was more in the line of the classic Takagi-san trolling sketch, though it did have me musing on just how grievously Japan stomps on the individual rights of students. I can take one of those per week no problem, even enjoy it – but I’m glad the anime pretty much limits it to that. Of much more interest was the library chapter, which was spot-on and hilarious in so many ways. I loved dinosaurs too, dammit (and still do). And the way Takagi-san managed to slip that “I love you” in under the cover of quoting Nishikata’s recommended novel was a classic Takagi moment.
Finally, “Sunset” – a really beautiful adaptation of a really beautiful manga chapter. Nishikata is so simple, really – not in a bad way, just in the manner of his age and gender. Takagi-san taking advantage of this over and over can teeter on the edge (and sometimes over it) of cruelty, until one considers that she’s the same age he is – and a girl’s childishness in 8th-grade often manifests in such a way as to exploit a boy’s. Her facade isn’t nearly as implacable as Nishikata believes it to be though, and Takagi knows it. They both get the payoff they want, after a fashion, even if she’s still the one pulling the strings.
As for the ED, we stay in the 90’s this week (which really was a glorious time in Japanese pop music) with Judy and Mary’s 1995 hit “Over Drive”. I’m guessing based on the fact that most of these ED songs were hits when Yamamoto-sensei was a teenager himself means he has a hand in choosing them, but I really don’t know – I just know that they’re almost all bangers, and add a lot to the anime experience. And adding a lot to the experience is basically what this anime does better than anything else.
Marty
January 16, 2022 at 2:51 amThe adaptation of S2 and so far S3 of Takagi-San makes me wonder if the other properties adapted this season from the Forehead-Verse will bump into troubles of their own. For example, the anime team for Takagi has the advantage that the manga is essentially a collection of short stories without an explicitly clear narrative, so chapters can we woven together for Thematic purposes, while leftovers can be left in the editing room.
However, it appears that besides a few introductory chapters, a manga like Shogi Ayumu is more story-driven, or at least the chapters follow a clear chronology of events that aren’t easily dismissed.
If memory serves me right, three different studios are adapting them, so it will at least be interesting to see how each of them adds their own twist on their adaptations.
Also, that silent bit was golden; I like it when stories take little creative choices like that.
Guardian Enzo
January 16, 2022 at 11:36 amThis is an interesting series in that sense. It is as you say a string of seemingly unconnected vignettes, and that does give the anime the luxury of picking and choosing what to adapt. But the manga is like that little brother you see every day – you don’t notice and then one day you look and realize he’s taller than you are. The story progresses quite a lot through those chapters, and which (and in what order) the anime chooses to adapt has to reflect that progression.
I’ve seen a lot of bitching about the silent chapter and it just depresses the hell out of me.
Krembotop
January 17, 2022 at 12:36 amWait, there were complaints over the silent chapter somewhere? Really?! I’ve seen nothing but praise towards that segment in the various communities that I tend to look up. A lot of people brought up that it reminded them a lot of various “old school silent western gag cartoons”. And having grown up watching several of these (Looney Tunes, Pink Panther, Oggy and the Cockroaches, and ofc Tom and Jerry), I totally agree with them. The music was very much on point. The funny thing is that I can recall Takagi-san being loosely compared to Tom and Jerry ever since the former’s first season by some (based on the core setup of the standard teasing stories), so it’s amusing that things have kinda come full circle this week.
Good analogy about the manga’s progression too. It’s quite slow and subtle, but very much noticeable if one pays enough attention. It’s still quite sad when some readers, and even ones who enjoyed the anime, claim that the manga has little to no progress; even in recent times. This episode was almost all manga material, and the developments shown there were more than clear.
Guardian Enzo
January 17, 2022 at 6:41 amYeah, I’ve seen a lot of “how stupid to start with a dream sequence and a silent chapter, wasting the season”.
The Tom & Jerry comparison seems obvious with the silent chapter (though I was more put in mind of Looney Tunes) but TBH it never occurred to me that it does sort of apply to the premise as a whole. And it does sort of fit, if Jerry were actually in love with Tom and didn’t kill him every episode.
Krembotop
January 17, 2022 at 1:18 pmHuh? Guess some were not expecting this season to begin a tad differently from the prior ones. It was a mildly unexpected start indeed, but in a good way. Those dreams are justified in that they sort of serve both as an immediate aftermath of the festival, seen from each protagonist’s POV; as well as setting up the apparent major story themes of this season. And it’s best to put something like the silent bit early on or it might not be as fitting later. It is basically the core premise as simplified as it could get, which was exactly what I thought when “reading” its source chapter back then. At most, I found a few joke claims that it was a “budget-saving” move; with the lack of dialogue and everything.
Also, the Sunset story happening right away in this second EP instead of the halfway point (I’ve read that a few were expecting that to be the case) should be a really good indication to look forward to the following episodes. It was kinda surprising that it was adapted so quickly.
And btw, after recently reading some of your posts about it (and a few scenes randomly getting recommended on my YT feed beforehand), I might soon check out Senpai ga Uzai if I have some time to spare. It somehow flew over my head last season, but now I’ll be interested in giving it a shot.
Guardian Enzo
January 17, 2022 at 6:47 pmI enjoy it. It’s not deep or a masterpiece, but it’s fun and cheeky without being mean-spirited about it.