So I finished Part One and had a few hours to think about it. The show is definitely interesting. It’s not perfect but I see it setting-up to something bigger in Part Two. The first few episode are a bit off, not horrible or unwatchable but, does have some questionable pacing, lack of music, and some of the more direct jokes aren’t as funny as I would like them. A lot of the “good” jokes seem to be sprinkled in the background or hidden inside of other dialog, I wouldn’t be surprised picking-up on new jokes on a second re-watch. That said episodes 1-5 would be a 5-6/10. Normally a weaker opening to a series would lean me more towards dropping, however...
The reason I say the show is interesting is that the trailer and promo material advertises the show as a comedy first with some adventure on the side, however, it’s very much a slice of life series with hints of adventure down the line in Part Two. I wasn’t expecting this and I actually like this angle more. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Part Two was exclusively adventure focused. Most of the episodes in Part One are about the daily life of the disobedient princess and falling into situations, all the while adding a LOT of world building. Part One seems very focused on familiarizing you with the world, people, concepts, etc... While this is taking place we get short cutaways to an unknown group of wizards/sorceress monitoring the situation in Dreamland, the main location in Part One, suggesting something bigger going on.
I wont spoil anything at the end of Part One but the world building and hints towards a grandeur story definitely make this series interesting and I want to learn more. Obviously these are just promises for the moment but the care put into the world and the slower pace at the start to familiarize the characters gives me hope that this series will offer more. For now it’s a 6/10, good but until we see the rest I wouldn’t put much into the rating.
Also the 2D animation is very good. CGI blending is better than most shows and a surprising amount of the scenes have a lot of animation in areas you wouldn't expect it. Casual walks in the city treat you to scenes with plenty of bystanders moving and interacting with each others in 2D (some are 3D). Lots of other shows would offer stills & pans so this gives this show's world a lot of life.
I feel the need to contrast the existing reviews, in particular Carlos' 3/10 rating. I've wrapped the rest of this in spoiler tags for anyone who wants to go in completely blind, but I don't think anything written in my comment should ruin the film.
This film isn't meant to be a documentary, nor is it a faithful adaptation of The Wind Has Risen. Instead, it draws narrative elements from several places, and I think the end result is an excellent story. It's misguided, in my opinion, to critize the film for a lack of "accuracy" when this was never the film's intention.
I can understand that one would have misgivings about a piece of Japanese media portraying WWII or related topics, but in no way does this film endorse Japan's actions. Having watched The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, Miyazaki's views on this topic are (to the extent that I'm familiar with them) entirely respectable. He appears to me to be a pacifist, and isn't himself entirely comfortable with his own admiration of the Zero planes' design due to their usage in the war.
The "controversy" section of the movie's wikipedia article does a good job summing up why I find it hard to consider this movie "nationalist" or anything like that. Quoted as of 2019-01-13:
"In Japan, The Wind Rises received criticism from both the political right[27] and from the Japan Society for Tobacco Control.[48] Miyazaki added to the controversy by publishing an article in which he criticized the proposal by Japan's centre-right Liberal Democratic Party to change the Constitution of Japan, which irritated nationalists.[27][48] Some commentators were unhappy that a warplane engineer was the film's protagonist.[48]
In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Miyazaki said he had "very complex feelings" about World War II since, as a pacifist, he felt militarist Japan had acted out of "foolish arrogance". However, Miyazaki also said that the Zero plane "represented one of the few things we Japanese could be proud of – [Zeros] were a truly formidable presence, and so were the pilots who flew them".[48]"
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Rises#Controversy)
[6.2/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I get The Simpsons wanting to be relevant and topical sometimes, but when the show covers youth-skewing topics like e-sports, the sense that the show is written by a bunch of older men starts to be more exposed. It’s not like there’s anything so glaringly bad about the show’s take on competitive video gaming here, there’s just not anything particularly incisive about it. The show drops some lingo and matches a Clash of Clans-style game visually well enough, but the real story in the episode is about Homer’s parenting, which makes the e-sports set up seem like window dressing.
There’s also something weirdly...dramatic about the Simpson family here? I like it when the show feels down to Earth, but everything from Homer’s little speech about how he manipulates Marge to Lisa’s monologue about how she’s losing her grip on her sanity due to being overlooked just felt off in tone. Both were a different kind of dark and cynical than the show’s usual brand, and it made the proceedings a little weird. (See also: the extended masturbation joke.)
But hey, there’s a throughline here at least, with Homer becoming a stage dad to Bart until he realizes there’s more to life than competition and living through your kid. It’s a very meandering route to get to that point, but it’s something. The “live through your kid” song is cute enough, if a bit indulgent, and might play better but for the toothless e-sports parodies the show dispenses. Plus the whole Buddhist salt mandala thing comes out of nowhere and plays as too quick of a fix to the story’s central problem.
Overall, there’s some mildly amusing gags in here, and a complete, if herky jerky story told, but the lack of any real take on e-sports and some tonal issues bring this one down.
