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Insomniacs After School (TV) (w/ index).


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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:35 am Reply with quote


Insomniacs After School (TV)

Source: Manga (ongoing @ 11 volumes, by Makoto Ojiro)

Demographic: Seinen

Animation Studio: Liden Films

Genres: comedy, drama, romance, slice of life

Themes: astronomy, insomnia, iyashikei, photography, school

Plot Summary: Two sleepless teenagers find kinship as they escape to their school's astronomy observatory. Unable to sleep at night, Ganta Nakami is cranky in class and unpopular with his classmates.

He discovers that the school observatory, once used by the now-defunct astronomy club, may be the perfect place for a nap—but he's not alone. Fellow insomniac Isaki Magari is willing to share the observatory with Nakami, and a friendship between the two begins as they bond over the most unlikely of things

Air Date & Platform:
April 10, 2023 (Monday)
Available on: HIDIVE

Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes
----------------------------------

EPISODE INDEX

(Clicking on the episode will take you to my post that has a summary, comments, and screen-caps)

Episode 01: Capella -The Charioteer-
Episode 02: Mu Scorpii -The Cat's Eyes-
Episode 03: Fomalhaut -Piscis Austrinus-
Episode 04: Venus

Episode 05: Canopus -The Keel-
Episode 06: Shooting Star
Episode 07: The Fireworks Star - The Plelaides Star Cluster-
Episode 08: The Congregation Star - The Plelaides Star Cluster-

Episode 09: Altair and Vega
Episode 10: The Elder Sister Star -Spica of Virgo-
Episode 11: The First Stars of Dawn -The Pleiades Star Cluster-
Episode 12: Wandering Star -Planet-
Episode 13: The Oldest Star -Methuselah-


Last edited by Tony K. on Thu Aug 10, 2023 7:17 pm; edited 14 times in total
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2023 12:30 am Reply with quote
Episode 01: Capella -The Charioteer-

Summary: Pending

Comments: The irony is that I've been losing a lot of sleep for the last week. And then reviewing this kept me up late, and now I'm really tired. I also find it ironic that when these two are together, they sleep. I need to take notes on how to get more (sleep).

Chill slice of life shows are my thing. It's usually the most mundane things in life we take for granted the most - like sleep(!). Magari (main gal) is quite bubbly and a good counterbalance to Nakami (main guy), and it looks like this'll be another one of "opposites attract" kind of romances till they eventually rub off on the other.

Art and animation are great, as well. That last cap I got of the cloud in the night sky is wallpaper quality. I don't usually go out of my way to find rom-coms. But it looks like this season is gonna' have pretty good quality ones!

Screen Caps:







Last edited by Tony K. on Sat Apr 22, 2023 12:28 am; edited 3 times in total
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2023 3:40 am Reply with quote
Welp, I thought it was low key and very watchable. I get the appeal of having a secret world all to yourself while everybody sleeps. I get up early every morning so that I can have a few hours to myself before the daily grind. Of course, I do things like drink coffee and talk about the anime I saw instead of walking the streets.

Speaking of which, friends who have lived there tell me that Japanese cities are extremely safe compared to America. I'm sure there are degrees and different worlds in the same space, etc.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 2674
PostPosted: Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:59 am Reply with quote
Solid start, I can only imagine what it would be like to get so little sleep for a long period of time. Also, that cat has some special tastes since it went for the lettuce.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4158
PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 8:20 am Reply with quote
Episode 2
They wouldn't do it, would they? Here's an idea to keep me from wondering if this work will go off the deep end: Just stop repeating the story of the girl who died and ended up looking down from the moon already. Just. Stop. It.

On one hand, it's a high school romance complete with a meet cute, that's nice. On the other hand, this show absolutely oozes existential dread in amounts I haven't seen since Girls' Last Tour.

Maybe now they're a club they will relax more...
"I started those rumors."
I made up that story, I spread those rumors, no I started those rumors. By making it up? Right? Or by being mistaken for a ghost?

I like the show but until I get a good idea why Isaki can't sleep, what her home life is like and why she can spend the night on the school roof with only a boy for company, I don't trust it.
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Wed Apr 19, 2023 4:30 am Reply with quote
Ew, so far it seems to be going more towards the cute and astronomy club moments than any real dread or sadness. They have now secured their base and can gaze at the stars plus more members will probably show up sooner rather than later. They also have a cat that enjoys lettuce and their sensei seems reasonable enough.

If it turns into an actual ghost story then I would be very surprised.
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:59 am Reply with quote
Episode 2

I'm not worried about this being a surprise ghost story. Way too many people actually see and interact with Isaki for that to be plausible. However, what I do worry about is that this story is going to end up being a tragedy. I have no familiarity with the source material or advance knowledge at all, but to my paranoid mind this show is flying some Isaki death flags.

Yes, there's the whole girl who died and went to the moon business, created by Isaki, but more ominously was her telling Ganta that she was in poor health as a child. Also, remember the first image we ever got of Isaki: her asleep in a locker. Guess what that image looks like? Isaki lying dead in a casket.

I hope to Hell I'm wrong, but let's face it, folks... when am I ever wrong???

Anyway, setting my fears aside, I really like this. Engaging lead characters and a cat. What more do you need for a successful show?
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 12:27 am Reply with quote
Episode 02: Mu Scorpii -The Cat's Eyes-

Summary: Pending

Comments: Magari's clueless-ness was kinda' cute. Way to be secretive about your secret meeting place with your secret guy friend who's not your boyfriend (yet). The "understood" salute to the only other guy texting on his phone in your vicinity while you're also texting shouldn't draw any attention Laughing. Not sure what her true feelings are, but I feel Nakami is definitely developing some slight feelings of infatuation.

I love how the nurse's first question when finding their secret place was "are you guys having sex in here?" The script doesn't like to pull punches, and with social media and Internet being the way they are, I appreciate how to-the-point it got.

The astronomy club thing could be interesting, especially if the allude to some of the actual science of the field. I also feel there are lots of parallels that could be made between all sorts of themes ranging from romance to insomnia or life in general. If it's as slice of life as I think it'll be, I hope it turns into various amounts of allegories.

Screen Caps:







Last edited by Tony K. on Mon Apr 24, 2023 5:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:43 am Reply with quote
<<Yes, there's the whole girl who died and went to the moon business, created by Isaki, but more ominously was her telling Ganta that she was in poor health as a child. Also, remember the first image we ever got of Isaki: her asleep in a locker. Guess what that image looks like? Isaki lying dead in a casket.>>

I only watched episode 2 last night because life has gotten a bit hectic lately, but I had a bad moment at the end of the episode because there was that long, strange moment when Isaki made that comment about getting in touch with Ganta if she ever goes to the moon, and the moon is framed behind her when she says it. And then the anime focuses on her pupils for a long moment of silence when Ganta basically asks why she's talking about dying and then she did the "Just joking" bit.. Before that, I was just taking all of the moon girl stuff as a lead in to the Astronomy club stuff, but then alarm bells started going off. Actually came online this morning to see if anyone else was worried that this is going to go into terminal illness territory.

That said, any other season I would be inordinately fond of this anime. It's very clean - and I don't mean G rated, I mean its well drawn, with a clear plot, likable, non-cliche characters, and not a lot of clutter. But in a season with Skip and Loafer, Yamada at 9999, A Galaxy Next Door, My Clueless First Friend, and oddly enough,the Darkness in My heart (haven't caught up with those last two yet either) my warm and fuzzies romance meter is red lining a bit. So I'm only...can you be *ordinately* fond of something? Anyway, I like the show a lot, I'm just not waiting for the day it comes around to watch it the way I normally would be.
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2023 8:26 am Reply with quote
Yeah, it is rather a packed slice of life romance schedule, isn't it? I'm not sure if A Galaxy Next Door applies given it has an alien which might take it out of the strict slice of life definition, but I completely get what you mean. As for whether ordinately is an actual word or not, I don't care - I'm using it going forward, dangnabit!

The prospect that this may end up being a tragedy is drawing me like an emotionally masochistic moth to a sadness flame. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I won't be able to look away if I'm not.
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Edjwald



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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 4:05 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
The prospect that this may end up being a tragedy is drawing me like an emotionally masochistic moth to a sadness flame. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I won't be able to look away if I'm not.

Well, unless they're going to pull some Tonikawa: Moon over You number and have the female lead be some kind of exiled moon princess,(Tonikawa is also back this season BTW, and it has the same sweet romance vibe) I really can't think of another scenario. Well, I mean, it's anime, and shows have often pulled out tangents I never dreamed of, sometimes at their own expense. That's one of the reasons I got pulled into the genre.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 4:04 pm Reply with quote
Episode 03: Fomalhaut -Piscis Austrinus-

Summary: Pending

Comments: Shiromaru's introduction was a nice surprise. I thought it was just gonna' be the main two in the club, so I think this adds a lot of potential or character/personality diversity. The photography stuff was also really cool. It should definitely increase opportunities for some great background shots throughout the series.

There are so many rom-com or slice of life titles this season. I have seven on my slate, and I think it's really hard to rank them, because they're all unique in their own ways. Ironically, two of them involve a quirky cat side character, two of them have a character named Yamada; but most importantly, all of them have really good art!

Screen Caps:







Last edited by Tony K. on Tue Apr 25, 2023 7:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 5:15 pm Reply with quote
The good news: I did not detect any Isaki death flags this episode. Doesn't mean there weren't any, but if there were, they blew by me. Oh wait. There was a scene of her swimming... water... sleeping with the fishes??? Yeah, probably not.

As Tony K. pointed out we met an important new character who I quite like. She's obviously a loner who marches to her own drum. I think it will be good for her to have a couple of friends, even if they are just high school kids. Also - and believe me, I understand this observation wins me no Sharp Eyed Viewer points - but I have to assume the white haired shorty we saw at the beginning of the episode is related to Astronomy Senpai somehow. Show continues to be good stuff - carry on until the inevitable heartbreak and waterworks!


Last edited by Blood- on Tue Apr 25, 2023 7:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Edjwald



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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 7:00 pm Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
Shiromaru's introduction was a nice surprise. I thought it was just gonna' be the main two in the club, so I think this adds a lot of potential or character/personality diversity.

Yeah, I was a little shocked to find out that she came across as a real person. Cool..
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 7:05 pm Reply with quote
Laughing I mean, I honestly thought the series would just be centered around the two of them and that everyone else would be an afterthought. Shiromaru's personality seems like a total 180 from Ganta and Isaki, though. I like her!
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