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This Week in Anime - Is URAHARA This Season's Hidden Gem?


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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5436
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:48 pm Reply with quote
I watched the first episode. I did not have much of an issue with the very limited animation, but it bored me. And I thought this season's hidden gem (pun intended) of this season was Land of the Lustrous.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5533
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:01 pm Reply with quote
I really don't think there's a single good thing about this show.
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klv
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Joined: 08 Feb 2017
Posts: 84
Location: Ba Sing Se
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:15 pm Reply with quote
Thank you for talking about this show! I binged what was there 3 weeks into the season or so, but I had completely forgotten about it after. Now I know that I definitely ought to catch up.
Smile


Last edited by klv on Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
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MavenRaven



Joined: 05 Jan 2016
Posts: 30
Location: USA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:37 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
longtime anime fan who's tired of extremely polished marketing-heavy anime that's trying to sell you junk

Yeah, I think that's it. I only watched the 1st episode because of Crunchyroll's passport to Japan sweepstakes, fully expecting nothing. But there was something interesting about the aesthetics, and it's a fun, slightly wacky show with characters who had potential. I've fallen behind but I'm definitely looking forward to catching up now!
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Samiamiam



Joined: 31 Jan 2017
Posts: 227
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:53 pm Reply with quote
I watched the first episode and wanted to take my eyes out of my sockets. There are far better shows that are going under the radar than this one imo.
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jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:57 pm Reply with quote
This show gets plenty of discussion, as does Houseki no Kuni.

The season's actual hidden gem is Aiseki Mogol Girl, an excellent and incredibly sharply written stop motion pipe cleaner animation short about a pair of OLs who go to a bar every episode looking for love and meet a different man voiced by a different famous male seiyuu with a ridiculous and usually self-obsessed personality, usually a caricature of modern or universal concerns rolled into balls of neuroticism. Highly entertaining.
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Emdykay



Joined: 14 Nov 2017
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 4:15 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
So I guess if you're either a preteen girl or a longtime anime fan who's tired of extremely polished marketing-heavy anime that's trying to sell you junk, and you just want to see a weird little story about girls sorting through their problems with the creative process in a wee soft candyland, then URAHARA is for you!


Interseting, because that was pretty much the reason I skipped over it without a second thought, as I assumed it would be nothing but a marketing effort, considering the characters were based on an actual shops mascot characters in combination with the overwhelming cute of the show, only in cheap.
Depending on how the ratings and judgements of the show turn out to be once its over maybe I will acutally come back and watch it then, because that actually sounds decent enough.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The show feels very much like it's by and for women


I would have to disagree, the shows is cute (so was Madoka) but I do not feel the aesthetics are made for women like say Sailor Moon Crystal was at the start (for starters, this girls do not seem to be underweight). I would not be surprised if this show viewers were mostly males since the story has more to do with CGDCT than with any shoujo series I can think of. Many females mangaka write for shonen audiences.

For me the only surprise is that they took their sweet time to deliver the plot twist, that is why Madoka delivered the twist (or should I say a juicy bite?) at the end of episode 3, even if you are not watching it is more likely to watch three episodes (instead of six) if someone tells you the plot gets good later on.
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Morgan B.



Joined: 05 Jun 2017
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:11 pm Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:
I really don't think there's a single good thing about this show.



“Guess that's what happens when you get a female scriptwriter and director on board!” Sorry if you were expecting an all-male staff to write this anime since they clearly mention how this show “feels very much like it's by and for women.”
BECAUSE IT IS.
If you were expecting an anime with forced stereotypes and underdeveloped female characters, then I’ve got news for you: TOO BAD.
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JennLegacy



Joined: 12 Oct 2013
Posts: 108
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:46 pm Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
Quote:
The show feels very much like it's by and for women


I would have to disagree, the shows is cute (so was Madoka) but I do not feel the aesthetics are made for women like say Sailor Moon Crystal was at the start (for starters, this girls do not seem to be underweight). I would not be surprised if this show viewers were mostly males since the story has more to do with CGDCT than with any shoujo series I can think of. Many females mangaka write for shonen audiences.

For me the only surprise is that they took their sweet time to deliver the plot twist, that is why Madoka delivered the twist (or should I say a juicy bite?) at the end of episode 3, even if you are not watching it is more likely to watch three episodes (instead of six) if someone tells you the plot gets good later on.


I'd have to disagree with you on the aesthetic part. Since it takes place in Harajuku, the art is heavily based off of Harajuku street fashion and the general "kawaii" aesthetic that developed there, both of which were street identities created by young girls way back when. (There's actually quite a lot of feminist connotations behind the origins of kawaii culture. It's really interesting to read about.)
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:58 pm Reply with quote
JennLegacy wrote:
I'd have to disagree with you on the aesthetic part. Since it takes place in Harajuku, the art is heavily based off of Harajuku street fashion and the general "kawaii" aesthetic that developed there, both of which were street identities created by young girls way back when. (There's actually quite a lot of feminist connotations behind the origins of kawaii culture. It's really interesting to read about.)


It being set in Harajuku is no different from an obscure reference, some people might recognize it, most will not and does not affect your enjoyment (or lack of it) of the series. What everybody can clearly see is the character designs (which differ from the over stylized ones seen in most shoujo manga), the plot (there is no romance of any kind) and the backgrounds (similar to the one's in Astarottes Toy which BTW was the creation of a female mangaka but no one will say it's audience focus was on females).
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cddb



Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 13
Location: Hell, PA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 7:25 pm Reply with quote
the show has an incredible aesthetic and the music/OP is really good; the color design is great. it's not for everyone certainly, as evidenced by some of the comments here. I think people involved professionally in art or design might appreciate it more Very Happy
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4096
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 8:39 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
But I think that's part of its charm too. Shots like this look cheap but in a uniquely endearing way because you can tell there's a sincere but limited effort behind it


Words fail me but I see I'm not the only one. I only made it through the first episode but I certainly agree that I saw that limited effort through out.

Limited budget or time constraints resulting in a minimal project, sure, but mediocrity through just not trying? Truly endearing?

I'm fine with limited animation if they have writing to prop it up but that first episode only gave me the impression that they just threw ideas and characters at a wall until they made it an episode... if I actually finished it. I'm no longer certain if I even made it to the ten minute mark.

Quote:
If you're interested in seeing artists work out their reasons for doing what they do
... it's not Barakamon because right from the outset those two guys said they were just in it for the money, trying to create a successful enough manga to be made into an anime and the series is about their trails and tribulations into making product, wow. I'd personally go with Ef, a Tale of Memories, a series about a manga artist trying to prioritize, a filmmaker trying to get out of a slump and a novelist trying to figure out how to overcome a personal tragedy.

Work is what you do for others, art is what you do for yourself. S Sondheim.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1400
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:15 pm Reply with quote
For myself, Urahara definitely strikes me as charming, though I just didn't have time to keep up with it among everything else I've been following this season. The newest material definitely makes me curious though, and I definitely want to make time to catch up at some point before next season start.


Animegomaniac wrote:

it's not Barakamon because right from the outset those two guys said they were just in it for the money, trying to create a successful enough manga to be made into an anime and the series is about their trails and tribulations into making product, wow


I'd suggest giving that segment of the article another read-through. They're referencing Barakamon, a show from a few years ago about a calligrapher struggling to find his identity as an artist and develop his own voice as a creator. You seem to have confused it with Bakuman which is a totally different show.
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Octonian
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Joined: 07 Jul 2011
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 10:26 pm Reply with quote
I unreservedly adored this from the first episode. Sadly, I just got an email from cdjapan informing me that the release of the individual BDs, which I had preordered, has been cancelled. I can only imagine that this is because the advance sales were abysmal. There's still a box set release which I'll take, but I wonder if it will be relatively light on bonus material.
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