I swear the next two articles will be short and focused write-ups about recent shows I liked, not historical dives attached to 10 other essays. You can hit me with rocks if this isn't true in the end

The decisions they've been taking point in that direction. Going streaming-only lets them depict the extremely sensitive topics of bullying, physical abuse, suicide, etc without TV censorship, but what they actually had in mind was the creative freedom of not being bound by episode numbers & lengths

SudoP has expressed his wariness of Takopi being reduced to viral memes even while the manga was still running, and how he concluded that the author used the shock to convey a message rather than for its own sake. The type of awareness you want from creators but can't take for granted from producers

The TBS producer for Takopi, who's been working on it since 2022, is Kotaro Sudo. Which is to say, the amazing madlad who spent their once-in-a-lifetime wildcard to approve the demented Pop Team Epic anime... then left King Records having accomplished his mission blog.sakugabooru.com/2018/02/16/p...

Apocalypse Hotel👍

("Acting" and not just "character animation", as the former requires characters to actually be written and have distinct demeanors to pivot from. The show isn't the most articulate anime in that regard but it definitely has the thing that many, *many* TV anime lack)

Things definitely got tighter for the production around the end, but the contrast between pink joy and an eruption of energy Yachiyo doesn't know how to process is a delightful bit of acting

And because she's wired like that, humanity's nonchalant attitude will always drive her fucking insane. What a good relationship

Yachiyo's growth is compelling because it's not an erasure of her original self, hence why she's blind to the fact that she expanded her welcoming attitude to the whole cosmos rather than given humanity a cold shoulder. She's very human but will always have that dense, by-the-books robot dorkiness

The show ends with a positive development, as usual resulting from cultural exchanges. And yet, it's also a time for characters to come to terms with change being inevitable - goalposts move, and we need dreams themselves to evolve without obsessing about whether we accomplish them perfectly

Do you know how good an episode has to be to drop this after silently walking around the remains of a long-dead human race & it feels entirely earned

Best episode in an already crazy good anime?

ApoHotel believes that community is good, necessary, and frankly inevitable, so it feels right that Yachiyo finds salvation by being herself - happy to join even animals she comes across and entertain them

Easier to believe that you can pull off a quiet episode where someone simply walks around when your art direction & color design are exceptionally good, tbf

It feels very ApoHotel that this adventure kicks off with the post-apocalyptic dorks finding out about labor laws and enforcing a holiday, which means that they automatically take them more seriously than the human society that passed those laws

Takeuchi is paired with Lapintrack's Yayoi Takano again, with whom he clearly feels kinship as two broadly skilled artists. This time she was the episode *and* animation director, with separate top credits for 1st & 2nd key animation so she drew a damn lot. Sure helps a show barely making deadlines