Yurikuma Arashi (8 episodes in). From the creator of Utena and Penguindrum[1]; romance/drama with a lot of… weirdness. And bears. Has this repetitive structure where a lot of it calls back to itself; the first three episodes are slow but after that it becomes very gripping, with some really clever surprises that seem obvious in retrospect. Has just the right level of pretentiousness; lots of “what is love?” themes and a lot of what I’m told is metaphor but have no problem enjoying on the object level. Lots of fanservice but it usually manages to seem artistic about it.
[1] Though I’m not sure how much stock to put in that; I disliked Penguindrum, my friend liked it, and we both like Yurikuma Arashi.
Yurikuma Arashi (8 episodes in). From the creator of Utena and Penguindrum[1]; romance/drama with a lot of… weirdness. And bears. Has this repetitive structure where a lot of it calls back to itself; the first three episodes are slow but after that it becomes very gripping, with some really clever surprises that seem obvious in retrospect. Has just the right level of pretentiousness; lots of “what is love?” themes and a lot of what I’m told is metaphor but have no problem enjoying on the object level. Lots of fanservice but it usually manages to seem artistic about it.
[1] Though I’m not sure how much stock to put in that; I disliked Penguindrum, my friend liked it, and we both like Yurikuma Arashi.