The Great Anime Holiday Gift Exchange (Part One) – This Week in Anime Find help us

Coop and Chris unwrap the anime-viewing gifts under their virtual trees. Were they naughty or nice?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.

Garo -Vanishing Line- and Back Arrow are on Crunchyroll. The First Slam Dunk is on Netflix. ODDTAXI and A Place Further Than the Universe are on Crunchyroll and Amazon. Aim for the Ace! is on RetroCrush.

Coop

And as far I can tell, Chris, I’m pretty sure we’ve both seen Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town more than a few times too. But alas, we must put one foot in front of the other!

Look, if I could recommend more anime featuring Fred Astaire, I absolutely would.

Well, looking at the weather, I might be singing in the rain this Christmas. But anyway… Like the holly jolly beardo himself, Chris Kringle here has placed a trio of scrumptious recommendations at the base of my tree this year! These gifts include series that are either on my wishlist for Santa or something he thought would be up my alley. And, of course, I returned the favor with my own trio of recommendations.

There’s always the possibility of using the TWIA Secret Santa to inflict a series you’d like to see someone suffer through. But this is your first year here, so I didn’t want to harangue you with Hand Shakers no matter how hard it tempted me to see it slotted into your backlog out of what I assume is sheer morbid curiosity. Plus, the anime you recommended for me were pretty cool, so it’s only fair that I tried to forward you what I thought were unilateral bangers.



It helps that you and I have some particular taste crossover, which I presume prompted you to give me the gift of finally checking out toku-adjacent take-off Garo: Vanishing Line.

So Garo is something of a blind spot in my toku viewing in general. I love the crap out of Keita Amemiya‘s work on older classics like my beloved Choujin Sentai Jetman and, of course, the legend that is Kamen Rider ZO. But I tried out a few episodes of the original Garo TV series back in the day and just couldn’t get into it. Still, the connection there and the way so many of my peers, even ones not into toku, had talked up Vanishing Line as an anime always kept it back there waiting for me.



So, upon at last checking out the first few episodes here, it’s hardly surprising but still greatly fulfilling to confirm that Vanishing Line does indeed kick seven layers of ass. It turns out that when you get Sunghoo Park and MAPPA on a project before being consigned to the shonen mines and just let them cut loose, you get some inspired metal wolf-man action.

With the meager recollection I have of the original Garo, I find it incredibly amusing how Vanishing Line swaps its moodiness for, as you put it, a louder ’90s OVA vibe.



It’s an anime spin-off of a tokusatsu series set in America with all the customary bluster—its lead transforming hero is a steak-chomping, boob-loving, red-blooded bro named Sword. In the first episode, he does the Garo sword-circle-drawing henshin move by sliding around on a motorcycle. It rules.



My only caveat with using this as someone’s introduction to Garo is you’d need to attach a big asterisk saying, “No, they are not all like this.”

On second thought, I can agree with that. Garo, on the whole, carries a much much moodier tone in its proceedings, but not Vanishing Line. However, I have heard the occasional rumbling that Garo: The One Who Shines in the Darkness and its follow-ups do go a bit harder than the other series.

Dang, we’re one anime gift in and we’ve already derailed to rambling about tokusatsu, who knows how much of a chance this Christmas team-up has for the rest of the run. Back on track by speaking of charisma, I’ve enjoyed the early character-introducing episodes of Vanishing Line so far. Sword is complemented well by people like Luke and Gina, and the third episode introducing the latter has some solid Lupin vibes; I dig it

Gina’s introduction is a highlight for me in the series’ early goings. It plays at those sleazier ’90s OVA vibes with the action alongside the relationship between Sword and Gina. Like you said, it’s got that Lupin juice. It’s a fun heist episode that gradually makes you go, “I think y’all should leave this treasure locked up.”

It was fun finding out that Horrors can manifest in non-human things and carry on the proud toku tradition of monsters made out of random objects.




The monstrous teddy bear and ramen noodles from Jetman are looking down and smiling at the killer computer here.

As manifestations of the darkest human emotions, I really dig how versatile the Horrors can be. From a bloodthirsty lady in chains to a malevolent clock tower given life, they’re a doozy. And they’re not even some of the crazier ones.

I’m looking forward to seeing what other monstrous ideas Vanishing Line can throw out, and perhaps more importantly, what other cool ways it can have Sword slice and/or dice them.

Oh boy, you’re in for a fun ride! Speaking of “fun rides,” I should probably open my first gift, eh?

Go right ahead! The joy of the season is in exchanging gifts, after all, and the ones I recommended to you are some personal favorites of mine that I love talking about in general.

All right, just let me figure out exactly HOW to open it…



Oh wait, there’s a switch right on the side…



Huh, I didn’t expect a naked man to pop out… But, you know, Chris, I’ll take it! I’m, of course, talking about 2021’s Back Arrow. Like Vanishing Line, it’s a series that is not afraid to proudly display its hunky boys and buxom bombshells!

Man, I hope editorial wasn’t counting on being out of the toku-tinged woods just yet…



I think the other gifts I got you that we’ll get to are stone-cold modern classics, but Back Arrow is Back Arrow, and that’s all the reason I’ll ever need to recommend it to anyone.

I’m glad you did because Back Arrow‘s opening trio of episodes is a delicious helping of meat and potatoes mecha adventure from chefs who often work with these ingredients. Around the time of the series’ initial announcement, I was absolutely stoked to learn that the legendary Kōhei Tanaka (of Gunbuster and Sakura Wars fame) was scoring it, Macross‘ Hidetaka Tenjin was designing the series’s Briheight mecha, Gurren Lagann scribe Kazuki Nakashima was writing it, and s-CRY-ed helmer was Gorō Taniguchi directing it. That’s a stacked creative team! And by the way, Taniguchi shouldn’t need AI to make something entertaining. He’s done it countless times before without it.

So much of Back Arrow feels like Nakashima and Taniguchi collaborating to cash a blank check just to do whatever they wanted. I don’t know how much they expected Back Arrow to be the next big thing (Bandai produced a bunch of toys that swiftly, hilariously wound up on deep clearance), but it didn’t need to be when I’m just here to watch this team cut loose and throw stuff at the wall.



I know there’s already been so much to it, but believe me when I say Back Arrow continues to go places long after the opening episodes.

That includes more Shu Bi, who is absolutely the best.

Sadly, the Back Arrow toys heading to the clearance bin reminds me a lot of what happened to Bandai’s Tiger & Bunny offerings back in the day.

And oh boy, what a rascal.



But I’m glad you gifted me the opportunity to return to Back Arrow. I’d watched the first episode with the folks over at Anime Herald a good while ago, but I never circled back around.

What I enjoy the most about these opening episodes is how the creative team approaches the classic “Tale of Momotaro” while also playing around with some of the mecha genre’s greatest ideas.

• Allies with sketchy motivations? Check.
• A whole village living in a spaceship? Check.
• A loud manly man building an alliance around this ship? Check.
• Political turmoil? Check.
• Piercing the heavens? Check.

If you’ve seen some Gundam, Macross, Planet With, or even a little Thunderbolt Fantasy, you’ll be familiar with some of the things that Back Arrow does.



And for the Planet With fans out there, oh boy… Plenty of Kōhei Tanaka tunes are playing while pilots duke it out in robots made of their own crystalized conviction.

I love the gamut of designs of the Brigheights (which kinda straddle the line between robotic mecha and giant toku-hero transformations). Back Arrow is an original series, but it so feels borne out of that broader pantheon of more well-known genre entries, probably on account of the pedigree of the people who made it.



I originally watched it as it was airing and with the back half of Back Arrow coming out at the same time as SSSS.Dynazenon, I don’t think there’s ever been a period that was a stronger rebuttal to the suggestion that mecha is a dead genre propped up only by a few classic franchises.

Welp, I guess I’ve gotta grab those Blu-rays, finally. But while I start looking for a sale, why don’t we go from one BALLsy and brazen gift to another? I’m pretty sure I put another two under your tree.

Oh yeah, like my parents gifting me gear that they hoped would tear me away from cartoons and video games, you had multiple sports-themed presents for me. Thankfully, I’m perfectly partial to sports anime! I’m a huge Haikyuu!! fan, and The First Slam Dunk scratches that same itch.



It’s also one I’d been meaning to get to since, my god, it feels like people haven’t shut up about this movie over the past couple of years.

Slam Dunk is one of those titans of the genre and medium that I figured I’d always want to make time for at some point. And I knew this fresh film take was designed to be accessible to newbies. And fair play to all the fans; I get the hype upon watching it.



This is a movie that’s simple in theory, depicting a single big basketball game through its runtime. Except actually committing to that is crazy ambitious, alongside building on the full story of Takehiko Inoue‘s manga in just this single entry. So, seeing the film so soundly thrive in pulling all that off is nothing short of astonishing.

It’s still mindboggling to me that Inoue managed to create such an accessible standalone film while building on material from thirty years ago. It might be the manga’s last game, but for many, it’s their FIRST taste of this classic.
Hell, it’s the buzz around this flick that propelled me to rip through the manga on a whim.
Oh, and spend a good handful of months digging into the series’ stateside publication history.

I know there’s a ton to Slam Dunk, and cramming even a fraction of what they did into The First film is an accomplishment. Slotting in flashbacks to characters’ pasts is a smart way to break up the game itself and help newcomers keep up in a seamless way.


Unfamiliar as I was with Slam Dunk beyond its ubiquitous footprint, I may not have known the exact placement or chronology of this adaptation of the ending. Yet, I never once felt like I lacked context or got an “incomplete” version of the story.



It even easily made me a huge fan of the manga’s main character, Sakuragi, which is impressive, considering he’s not actually the lead in this movie!

I said this in my review, but I love Sakuragi’s “Hey, look at me. I’m the main character of basketball” moments. What a loveable doofus.

It’s great how Inoue plays around those key Sakuragi moments while turning the camera to Miyagi.

My favorite character in Haikyuu!! is Tanaka. Sakuragi has the same energy, so you know I’d be down for a series where he was just the actual main character.



Ryota effortlessly plays the lead role in this movie, and one might be shocked to learn that he isn’t always the main character. His story’s weight lends this film version a more dramatic quality, making it compelling with or without perfectly played sports action.

Without getting into the weeds, the tragedy that drives Ryota makes for such an engaging story. I especially appreciate its portrayal of grief as a nonlinear experience, especially from person to person.

It gets really heavy in places, but I think this movie and its treatment are suited to it. It’s paced and directed (by Inoue himself, no less) in a way that pulls off that sense of catharsis out of this big game in just two hours, instead of a mammoth amount of manga volumes.



I’d go so far as to say this isn’t just accessible for viewers unfamiliar with the original Slam Dunk; it’s one of those productions that could be enjoyed by a wide, general audience, even those who aren’t normally into anime.

Absolutely. In fact, my oldest nephew really enjoyed the film, and he’s just starting to understand what anime is.

It truly is a gift that keeps on giving! So I’m glad you gave me a reason to finally get dunked on with this movie, and I can give you the gift of unwrapping your next gift!

All righty, now this one’s a little ODD…and for more reasons than intended.



So far, ODDTAXI has been an incredibly down-to-earth crime drama. Especially in that it reminds me so much of the isolation and occasional jubilation you can feel while doing service work. Odokawa’s late nights as a taxi driver made me think back to my days as a bartender and video store guy. I ran into so many different people while working those jobs. Sometimes they’re the wonderful regulars you can strike up a conversation with, some dude trying to pull something, or just a straight-up asshole. These opening episodes really strike at the heart of those interactions. Not to mention how you can feel stuck in your life after a while. Let me tell you, I had some rough nights closing down the bar.

It’s a show that sucks you in on vibes to start. It’s a surprisingly human drama…starring a bunch of talking animals.

It’s funny you mention that because I’m not sure these folks really are animals. The first episode makes it clear fast that Odokawa has a handful of problems on his plate. He can’t sleep, feels stuck to a degree, and is not exactly a people person. It doesn’t help that he’s on strong sleeping medication to help with that first issue. And when the topic of missing psychotropics from his doctor’s office comes up, I couldn’t help but feel that characters might just be appearing as animals because of one thing or another.



I also got that impression when Odokawa referred to his doctor’s physical features in a way that seems to imply he isn’t actually how the viewer sees him. Perhaps the characters’ animal appearances are just an exaggeration of their features? Even if that potentially plays into some problematic caricatures. We’ll just have to see.

Either way, I love that Shirakawa knows capoeira.

It is funny to properly describe just how appealingly grounded ODDTAXI is, only to turn around and be able to praise it for also including a capoeira alpaca.



ODDTAXI felt like it came out of nowhere in 2021 to become the show of that year, so when I found out that you still hadn’t experienced it, I was thrilled to be able to recommend it to someone who was unspoiled. As your speculations have indicated, it’s the sort of show that invites you to second-guess everything that’s going on. Who is Odokawa talking to in his closet? Is he somehow involved with the missing high school girl? Who can he trust, and can we, as viewers, trust him?

I’m really curious to see how it shakes out by the end, but I may end up rewatching those first three episodes just in case I missed something. That’s all because I tried watching it on Crunchyroll through Amazon Prime streaming. And boy, those subtitles are rough. I could get through it because I’ve dealt with janky Hong Kong tokusatsu subtitles before, but I can’t imagine most viewers being willing to put up with it.



There were many situations where you’d see dialogue for two characters in one subtitle, timing errors, and a complete name inconsistency. I saw Odokawa, referred to as Motokawa, Irokawa, Atokawa, Itokawa, and Udagawa, all within the span of one episode. It’s a shame this gem wasn’t given the proper spit shine here. I opted for a normal CR subscription after this and my next experience. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of ODOKAWA’s story on CR proper.

Funny you should bring this up, because I think I know what’s going on here. Gifting ODDTAXI to you for this column led me to revisit bits of the series via the English dub and those AI-generated captions on Crunchyroll that there’s been so much ado about lately. And it looks like those AI CCs are where that abysmal Amazon job you watched came from!



For what it’s worth, I can confirm that the proper subtitles for the Japanese version that Crunchy used for the simulcast were generally good.

Hmm… some of those look familiar, but I can tell you that Odokawa said “Capoiera” instead of “Kickstarter.” I have a feeling it was an old script that hadn’t been touched up, but that’s just speculation.



Also, “Please. No more Kickstarter, No more Kickstarter,” is probably what most Dirty Pair backers are saying right about now.

As one of the said backers, I can confirm.

Even with the frustration of quality control marring a gift, I’m glad it sounds like ODDTAXI‘s inherent appeal has shone through to you. I’m kinda shocked to look back and realize it came out over three years ago already, since it still feels so fresh in its approach. Like The First Slam Dunk, it’s something I feel can be recommended to pretty broad audiences. So long as they don’t go in on the aesthetics thinking they’re getting something more like Bojack Horseman.



We love shows where animal people do murders. I need to jump on the new season of BEASTARS.

I could easily see a wider audience comparing this to Zootopia at first glance (I know I did), but finding something much deeper under the furry surface.



And with that, it looks like the ball is on your side of the court with this final gift!

Dezaki’s style is brilliantly predicated on getting quite a bit on the…let’s say, meager resources for TV productions at the time. And like you say, the results in Aim for the Ace! drive home how strong style and direction can be made to thrive with all the slides and pans you need to pull off to suggest fast-moving tennis action. Maybe there aren’t a lot of frames, but every one of them is a painting.



It also helps that, like Slam Dunk, the fundamentals of Aim for the Ace!‘s sports story are just that good. It’s a little uncanny for me, since I recognize the early beats of Hiromi, Reika, and Coach Munakata’s story as they were pulled pretty much one-to-one for the beginning of Gunbuster, but I get why the nerds at Gainax did that. This is strong stuff that lays the seeds for a full 26-episode sports opera, as well as a six-OVA space opera.







Also, Hiromi’s an iconic bisexual disaster, and I wish the world for her.

It’s just Aim for the Ace! with giant robots! And given how cool Aim for the Ace! is, I can see how that would be appealing enough on its own at the time.

There’s nothing like a classic anime theme that includes the singer belting out the title of the show. I totally get the hype.



I actually snuck in a watch of the fourth episode before this column because I really wanted to see what would go down in Hiromi’s match with Otowa. Much of my praise of this series has been couched in its connection to Gunbuster, because that was my initial lens for it. But I want to confirm that Aim for the Ace! is just a good classic sports anime on its own. It’d be neat to see someone check this one out and then follow it up with a first viewing of Gunbuster.

Yeah, I’d be curious to see that too. I know some folks, like our colleague Caitlin Moore, who revisited Gunbuster after Ace, but coming in fresh like that sounds wild.

Technically, that’s how it worked for viewers who came up in the era and caught both in order, but I can definitely feel your point. Either way, this recommendation was a long-overdue assessment for me and a reminder that it’s always a good idea to check out more classic anime. And more Dezaki anime. Seek that stuff out kids, Space Adventure Cobra will blow your mind!

Let’s bring this gift-giving celebration home. But to do that, we have to go somewhere—A Place Further Than the Universe. Isn’t that a nice boat?

It’s Christmas; I had to take you to a winter wonderland at least once.

But you know what? It’s oddly fitting that we’ve moved from one MADHOUSE joint to another. A Place Further is filled with obvious and subtle shoutouts to the studio’s history, including a little show about tennis.

I swear we didn’t plan this out when we decided on our gifts.

Like ODDTAXI, A Place Further Than the Universe was probably my favorite show from the year it was released, all the way back in 2018. It’s a really compelling concept that arrested me from the start, thanks to Atsuko Ishizuka‘s direction. And I’m curious how it comes off after all these years to someone who hadn’t caught it before.

Right off the top, this series is gorgeous. Even if the introduction to Kimari’s story didn’t exactly pull me in right away, these backgrounds and prop work had me firmly seated.

Even if we’re nowhere near Antarctica this early in the story, the presentation has atmosphere for days.

I’ve really appreciated the slow build-up surrounding the cast and their motivations for wanting to make this perilous journey. And once they’re all together, the girls work so well as a cohesive (and comedic) unit.



Like ODDTAXI, A Place Further hits you with the relatability hard and fast once it gets going.

No small amount of schmalz powers the show, but it’s also not afraid the let the girls be as goofy as real teen girls ought to be. It helps up that real-ness since they can feel like such knowable, multifaceted people.



I know I particularly took to Hinata in my original viewing. She is just an effortlessly cool character dealing understandably with her own cruddy situation.

She’s so great at bringing the group down to earth, especially when you can tell that this expedition is a little more than personal for Shirase.



But also, like ODDTAXI, my start with the series was a bit rocky due to the subs on Amazon. Fortunately, the text was generally coherent, but the subs were trying to do things I don’t think the player was designed for. I caught myself thinking, “These flourishes are great on a platform that can handle it, but just stick to the dialogue here.”

And now I feel like this cat—sleepy, thirsty, and happy for the wonderful bundle of gifts I’ve received this CHRIStmas.

Yes, it’s been fun opening our presents. I know I had a great time with everything you got me, Coop. But I think after all that, it’s time for these good kids of TWIA to go to bed for the evening.



We’ve got to be nice. You just know Steve got Lucas something off the naughty list.

Here’s hoping it wasn’t that “handshake” we were talking about.

Not even Krampus could be that cruel.