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| Lovely animation. Also what the crap. |
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| Stunning production values but seriously what am I even watching? Easily the weirdest show that I’ve given a go in a very long time! Okay, so we have this Kappa Kingdom and apparently our main characters somehow unlocked/forced the successor of the particular Kingdom to awaken in Earth or something of the sort. Apparently, the two kids doing those weird kappa-like things are as a result of the successor’s calling or whatever. Leaving that aside, due to the fact that he was being called a ‘frog’, they lost their whatever special organ which apparently could turn one into a Kappa. Some crazy visual direction there though, I’ve to say. Seeing the successor poop them out quite literally and that satisfied look on its face reminds me of the after effects of stanky and tough diarrhoea for some reason was super disturbing. Getting back on track, it seems as though the Kappa Zombies are aplenty and are the source behind the mysterious flying boxes which supposedly hides ones’ innermost desires or so. Our first victim of this apparently likes to have boxes on his head while being naked, talk about an unknown fetish right there. Secondly, our main character apparently cross-dresses as an idol and is cho-very popular but he’s got a legitimate reason. Well, firstly, I’m really curious as to why! I don’t see how anyone sane who could pull off something like this for any reason whatsoever. If I recall correctly, he mentioned something about connecting to a certain girl, I for sure thought it was that weird chick but I’m more curious as to who now! Could it have anything to do with the girl shown at the very end before the ED kicked in? Moving on, looks like there’s a couple of police officers who have gotten the hang of this power I suppose. Now, that’s one way of working as a detective, I’ll give you that. It’s a really crazy episode and I’ve got mixed feelings all over it! Op and ED were just fab though and that’s great to have! Op visuals are totally random and crazy but the song and the visuals totally deliver and the ED is just stunning, real life beautiful Japan right there + our main characters count me in! I’ll definitely watch the rest of the episodes because I’m just genuinely bloody curious about a lot of things from the show! I’d planned to binge this a little earlier actually but I’ve finally found the time to slowly binge it (as in a couple of days’ time or more), so here goes! |
#Anime4Life be my Life Motto! #PrayForKyoAni  |
| Well...it's definitely an Ikuhara show... |
reading some people comments I thought it would be really weird, but it looks pretty reasonable with the songs, kappa transformations, crossdressing and the weird fixation of buttocks Not gonna lie, I would smash that kappa #nohomo? |
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| It was fine until we started focusing on the inner asses of 14-year-old boy-turned kappas....and then I was done. Just no. Ikuhara, you have ONE more chance to change my mind....if I end up hating Penguindrum too, I'm DONE with ya! |
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| This.. has got to be one of the craziest, weirdest 1st episodes I've ever watched (or at least in quite a long time), but I admit, I'm as confused as I am intrigued |
 "In the past few months since we met, I've shared many memories with Nagato. Though I've also shared memories with Haruhi, Asahina-san and Koizumi, I found that I've experienced more events with Nagato in particular. In fact, every situation seems to involve her. I might as well mention this, she's probably the only person to cause the bell within me to shake the most vigorously..." ~ Kyon, TMOSH |
| Is it possible to fall in love with a show from the first minutes? Yes, if that's a show by Ikuni! What can I say, this episode was just sublime, and has everything I enjoy in Ikuhara's work - weird symbolism that actually makes sense when you yhink about it, societal messages, incredible transformation sequences and just a general feeling of watching a work of a crazy genius. Glad I came in knowning the basics of kappa and otter folklore so I could at least make sense of shirikodama extraction. Some complementary reading about the production: https://blog.sakugabooru.com/2019/04/12/sarazanmai-production-notes-01/ Puns: https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2019/05/sarazanmai.html IRL locations in Asakusa: http://e-asakusa.jp/en/information/4196 My personal notes: - The silhouettes for background characters resemble those of Penguindrum. However, while in Penguindrum they all looked alike (which made sense given the theme of the show), here the silhouettes are strictly divided into men and women...with their hairstyles resembling those of old feudal Japan. Is this implying the traditionalist, patriarchical society our main characters exist in? Is it connected to the apparent homosexuality being explored in the show? Even if it is, Japanese society has always been more tolerant about this, so I'm not sure what to make of that observation. - Kappas and Otters briefly appeared in Penguindrum (Ringo's parents arguing), and a kappa-styled item can be seen in a certain episode of Utena about Saionji - All three main characters in their Kappa form have different patterns on their backs - Very possible connection of ア to Lacann's objet petit a (unattainable object of desire), apart from many other things like the first letter in "Asakusa" and so on. This makes even more sense when you think how Keppi transferred Enta into the ""Desire Field" by slapping a アsymbol on his face. The other side of the symbol is an otter and it's somehow linked to the cops, as well as the kappa zombies. This whole desire thing also seems to be connected to Lacan's concept of three orders. The main kappas even transform into something resembling the three circles used to represent this concept. There's also something very similar to this circle at the very end of the tranfering sequence, right after we see the Kappa Zambie die (it says "no beginning, no end, no connections"). There're also these circles inside the police station during the post-credit "judgement" sequence (I got Yuri Kuma Arashi vibes from that, and one of the cops is voiced by a person who voiced a certain character from Yuri Kuma Arashi). They're performing "desire extraction" in a surreal sequence, something not entirely unfamiliar to Ikuhara fans. Desire or love? That's the dichotomy (again, remember Yuri Kuma Arashi). Moreover, notice how the ア side represents the human world, while the "otter" side represents the world of Desire. When the sides are flipped - the "world" changes. The human world has ア slapped all over the place, and the world of Desire has otters. Slapping this sign on Enta's face transferred him from the world of humans to the world of Desire. - Asakusa show is probably going to be the Greek chorus of Sarazanmai. - Enta's sister looks like Lulu from Yuri Kuma Arashi. Their house has a tanuki statue in the garden, which is straight in-your-face during one shot. Is it important? Tanuki has a huge role in Japanese folklore, and is known for shapeshifting (just like the otter). - Each main kappa seems to be associated with a particular color and environment. Kazuki (red, water), Enta (orange, forest), Tooi (blue, skies). Kappas' (and the whole show's, it seems) signature poses are gorgeous btw. - Shirikodama transfering via WiFi, oh yes. - All those totally-not-amazon boxes probably have something to say about consumerism or something in that vein. Also I must note that Keppi is INCREDIBLE. His voice, looks and design are just superb. I laugh every time he gets triggered at being called a frog haha. The short diorama sequence was also awesome, as well as the OP, ED, and, well, the entire episode - excellent and enjoyable direction. I've spent disproportinately more time on analyzing the episode and reading various things about it than actually watching it, and it's great. That's part of the Ikuhara experience, and it's a pleasure to do that again with every of his shows. |
St0rmbladeApr 23, 2020 5:44 PM
| what... the fuck? no seriously, what the fuck did it just watch?? it was going okay until... until... then..? what just happened??? |
| whole episode I was like "wUt?" So many questions and no answers lmao |
| That was probably the weirdest first episode I've ever watched. Apparently that is par for the course for this Ikuhara fellow. Pretty interesting. Depending on how this goes I might check out some of his other stuff. |
| The genre is Ikuhara. |
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| stand by me... i'm giving it another try |
| We are but mere stains in the presence of divinity incarnate, "Kunihiko Ikuhara." This episode was absolute fire. I have been holding off on watching the show because I didn't want to run out of Ikuhara anime. However, I could wait no longer. |
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| went in blind, literally no clue what this show was about.... definitely made me say wtf. definitely something I can get into! |
DRINK SOME WATER! FOOL!!! |
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