Secret Sabunga Notes #01

The Sakuga Blog is run by people with the brainworms of endlessly long articles that often entail (even if it's ultimately not required) rewatching many things and doing all sorts of research. Even coming up with formats to allow shorter topics to be combined hasn’t stopped that. And it kinda sucks! To bypass that, I’ll be posting compilations of quicker notes here on Patreon; locked to subscribers not because this information is exclusive (they’re mostly things already discussed to some degree on Discord or social media), but so that I don’t feel bad for sharing rawer, more stream of consciousness writing without proper editing and focus. Don’t tell me I shouldn’t feel bad in the first place because I know, it’s the worms of brain that won’t accept it. I watch a lot more (seasonal and otherwise) stuff than we can publish long posts about, and often come across interviews that we don’t get to refer to either. Hopefully this helps broaden the writing horizons a bit. This first entry is on the longer side of things, but we might end up with shorter ones to share some interesting passing thoughts every now and then.

Also, shout out to Good Haro for drawing that Myaamori that we’ll be using as a header for these. She’s good at many things, and unlike bitmap, she isn’t stinky to compensate.

Food Court rules (this is good) and Wada is terrible (this is also good)

I read the few chapters of Food Court that were available a few years ago and found it to be on the pleasant end of web manga. Nothing super complex and with a clear formula, but the author has the fundamentals to build skits around one fun idea that can reemerge at the end as the punchline. Coupled with a likable duo, it was hard not to smile at least once a chapter. And ever since then, I’ve been finding out a few more things about it; the author’s surprising range across other genres, the fact that he’s a trans person (FtM) which informs the occasional queer themes, and also the fact that it would get animated.

And the anime is… good! The adaptation isn’t transformative, but it does enough to work just fine—the type of floor that Kazuomi Koga’s direction provides. If anything, the funniest part is that notorious yuributa Kyuta Sakai is the designer and chief animation director. Upon seeing that, my first thought was “did they bait her by showing her two girls that look like they could be a yuri couple?”. And you know what, even if they had done that, it’d be fine. The series may not go there explicitly, but it’s a great ship. And the reason why goes a long way to explain why this modest project (barely making deadlines for a half-length anime with extremely light animation calories...) is such an easy rec.

Wada (tame-looking but actually a lunatic, petty, vulnerable to many things) and Yamamoto (flashy exterior but level-headed, focused, attentive, yet still a teenager) have excellent chemistry. In a lesser show, the former would be terrible. In this one, she still is, but in a charming way. She’s the type of person to become a yumejoshi who won’t stop talking about her anime boyfriend to her pal, and then get weirdly possessive of her if she stupidly misunderstands that Yamamoto may have a real partner.

The shorter length (12x12 would have been ideal, but 6x24 will also do the trick) allows her antics not to overstay their welcome, and the character writing is strong enough to sell why the two would be so close regardless of Wada’s faults. Watching her interact with non-Yamamoto people is upsetting in how fake and dispassionate she presents herself, but that actually sells her honest, goblin-esque behavior around her close friend as real. Funny show with great gremlin x gyaru chemistry, you should give it a try if the idea of doing nothing but chatting in a food court doesn’t scare you away.

New Panty & Stocking: Uneven fun?

The return of PanSto has been, so far, more of the same for the good and for the bad. If you enjoyed the original, I’d recommend watching this new season but NOT rewatching the original to prepare for it—doing so highlights the lack of new ideas in some respects. Of all skits so far, it’s curiously the ones led by Imaishi and his closest friends (who have always been at the core of the series) that I’ve found disappointing. Yes, this is a juvenile cartoon made exactly to appeal to their sensibilities, but retreading ground when making an irreverent, shocking cartoon is a poor move. After a weak start, their premises are getting better at least; “Fast & Furious except the movie’s cast is sperm” is a potentially funny concept, though it wears thin when it only has two additional gags across five minutes.

In that regard, the biggest offenders were the first… 1.5 episodes. The original twist ending of Pansto wasn’t funny because of what it meant for the lore, nor because it was a tortured reference to an obscure series. It was funny because it came out of nowhere to ruin Christmas. Returning to the show with lengthy narrative justifications of why this sequel exists, what actually happened, and then another half episode mirroring the original series is kinda missing the assignment. As is not animating transformations from scratch for everyone! At least the condom twinks will force them to deliver what is needed: new ridiculous things.

#releasethem #wherearethey

On the flipside, there are some positive changes like the updated colors; the original was ever so slightly dull for such an otherwise vibrant show, somewhat masked by the inherent haziness of a digital SD anime. Now that we’re in 2025, the brighter look of the show is a positive change. And as for skits led by other people, they’ve been nice! #02-B (Rino Yamasaki script, Amemiya storyboard) and #03-B (Rino Yamasaki concept and script, Sae Otani SB/ED/design work) are my favorites so far.

The former pokes fun at nerd culture while being gleefully nerdy, with the added entertainment of (positively) ruining genre tropes because Panty is a menace. And Amecchi timing is great! Meanwhile, the latter takes easy but deserved shots at the unhealthy vanity around social media validation seeking. But most importantly, it was an excuse to come up with a lot of cute, fashionable outfits for the gals (Stocking in particular). Pansto is a nasty, crude show, and so is this episode, but in the right hands it also leans into the fact that the cast is full of glamorous celebrities. This affects Aoi Abe’s animation direction too. Normally, the show operates on 3 levels of stylization: the super simplified cartoon look it deploys in gags, their usual PPG-ish look, and the beautified aesthetic of the transformations/special shots. This fashion-conscious episode introduces a step in-between the latter two, since they’re just that obsessed with looks.

Watching the show give a spin to new approaches like that is what ultimately convinces me that there’s still potential in there. #04-B, creative led by Yostar Pictures (who the hell are you hiding behind that, geso like they’ve done in the past? Kengo Saito as the strongest link between the companies?) is another good example of that. In just a handful of minutes, it reimagines a classic story of someone who doesn’t give a crap about a newfound cute pet that they’ll inevitably fall in love with, all through the raunchy and crude lens of Pansto. And it does that simple thing very nicely! It’s tender in a way the show rarely ever gets to be, but at no point do you feel like the events are outside the possibilities of Panty as we know her.

Wish I could say the same about the Kai Ikarashi corner after that, but despite his incredible draftmanship and commitment to the bit, I found that it overstayed its welcome about 5 times over. It does at least have the type of figure I was looking forward to: a single artist conceiving nearly everything in a skit, which has in the past led to some of the best moments in Pansto. If there’s a future episode along those lines that I find to really hit, I might write something on the blog about such singular guests in the series. Given the spotty track record though, I’m not sure that’s going to happen.

I’m excited about the Madoka movie

I consider this character growth for me, and character regression for the anime industry. Long story short, I didn’t enjoy Madoka as much as I’d anticipated during its original TV broadcast. That relative disappointment blended with the fact that, for no real fault of its own, it poisoned the discourse for an entire genre; frankly, for no fault of people who actually engage with the genre either, since it was mostly guys who never cared about magical girls & their history suddenly deciding that Madoka was revolutionary and frankly the only show of its kind worth paying attention to. That was never enough to make me hate Madoka itself, but my relationship with it as a phenomenon kinda clouded my perception of everything—even Rebellion, despite that movie being a blast.

So what did I do a decade ago when a sequel began being teased, 4 years ago when it was formally announced, 2 years ago when more was unveiled, and last year when they said nevermind about that date we told you because we’re going to miss it spectacularly? Well, I was always going to watch it, but this tail end of the production process in particular has gotten me more and more excited about the result. This isn’t particularly about SHAFT themselves; god knows how wary I am of that at all times, even when I enjoy their works. No, it’s everything else in anime that has made me appreciate the prospect of a grand Madoka movie a whole lot more. At this point, I feel like funneling that excitement toward a revisit of the series as a whole might be a good idea, since I’m due for a reevaluation with a clearer head.

But to the point: the reason why Madoka is so much more exciting by contrast is that the state of theatrical anime is depressing. I don’t mean this in the sense that great anime films aren’t being made right now. If anything, I think that quite a lot of them are even in the commercial field! But there has been an undeniable shift. We’re not that far departed from the biggest anime films being synonymous with directors with one-of-a-kind worldviews, yet right now those are expensive megaphones for already popular shonen jump hits. In place of directors with bold styles we have hired hands attempting to be transparent manufacturers with safe work that has someone else’s fingerprints (if anyone's). That's how you get to a situation where records are being shattered by ufo’s blandest director. It’s not like those theatrical figures couldn’t miss (don’t talk to me about modern Hosoda), but whether there was source material to their films or not, they aimed to make something that felt deeply theirs.

Again, this isn’t to say that we just don’t get good anime movies anymore. You can have beautiful, deeply resonant work away from those high-profile theatrical efforts. But there is value to that status, and we’d be stupid to ignore that. Certain types of technically proficient artists are more likely to be attached to projects that can afford them, and the level of resources can make a massive difference on more levels than that. Even from a sociological angle, these films have the ability to shape what anime is for countless people. The view of this entire industry has been narrowing and becoming safer, both viewers and producers happy to have familiar “products” to “consume”. And in the midst of that, one of the biggest films of 2026 will be a demented pastiche of styles dedicated to a weirdo original magical girl story? Walpurgisnacht, count me the fuck in.

Yama & Yama followers opening bonanza

We recently published a lengthy piece about recent anime openings and endings, focused on the externalization of the production process and the current specialists with the most influence. Even though he wasn’t in charge of any sequence at the time, a recurring name was Shingo Yamashita. He’s just that influential a figure now!

Move forward a few weeks, and what do we have? For starters, two new openings with visuals blatantly inspired by his work; the Silent Witch one led by Nakayama isn’t a surprise given their link, but Teramoto’s mimicry with Water Magician is maybe even more impressive given the gap in resources. Though it’s a bit sad that it’s only one side of Yama that has had this much of an impact (what about his pure, silhouette-only era!), and sometimes it’s only the surface that is scratched, some people are getting quite good at that style.

And you know who else is quite familiar with it? Yama himself, who dropped two new sequences too. First came the opening for Dragon Raja S2, and then the absolutely insane intro for Nukitashi done under his R18 circle name (the same that made those viral joseimuke porn shorts) that fools no one. I want to shout out the latter in particular because, in that process of reducing Yama to exactly one type of work, the kids have apparently forgotten that Yama LOVES eroge; as if having an R18 circle wasn’t enough indication. This is not something he jokingly produced—I mean, it is in the sense that it’s a comedic porn game, but he does genuinely love these things. I doubt I’ll get around to it, because my brain would force me to play the game (and sequel) to try and understand how the goofy nukige got an anime at all, but I respect that this inexplicable adaptation is letting many eroge nerds in the industry have fun. Osame, I see you too, even if you work under a pseudonym.

Recent news corner

• The Wandance anime continues to pique my curiosity. Mind you, I don’t think it’ll be an exceptionally polished show—the first cut in the PV has more than a few shoddy drawings already. But it’s directed by Michiya Kato, collaborator of the likes of Kon and Oishi, and co-produced at his studio Cyclone Graphics. His range is amazing, though recently he’s been rather into experimenting with the mixture of cel with photorealistic 3D; maybe being a centerpiece in Kizumonogatari just affected him that much. I doubt a wide audience will enjoy what he’s doing because the dancing is unashamedly 3D. I might also not love it either, given that I struggle to link the “perfection” of CG with the evocativeness of art forms like dancing. But it is interesting even with its kinda ugly aspects! The way it’s trying to find an unusual middle ground between very painterly (and great) 2D backgrounds and the 3D environments looks curious so far.

• Let me watch Hyakuemu already ;; We’re lucky to be in the timeline where On-Gaku rewired many producers’ brains, so now we get to enjoy Iwaisawa’s unconventional style mixed with the technical backbone of (good) commercial animation. After loving Chi / Orb but understanding the people who wanted the adaptation to be a bit saucier, another Uoto adaptation that actually oozes style sounds perfect; though I wouldn’t expect it to hit as hard writing-wise, given what I’ve heard and the fact that it’s their debut work. Still though, cool!

• The Kyohei Ebata / WIT dispute was embarrassing. The way he went public with it made it clear that they would reach out to him because studios have come to hate this type of negative attention. Lo and behold, they did! But it sucks how, just by hearing the vague details about what had happened to him (unilaterally lowering rates, baffling forms of threats), people could immediately tell the specific management person behind it because he’s been up to similar shenanigans before. I know it’s hard to separate, but the issues in the industry can happen both in the macro (unfair system) and the micro (shitty people who are happy to punch down). Unfortunately, WIT often gets to be an example of both.

• Will keep writing about CITY obviously, but adjacent topic: they might drop a commercial for the studio’s next work at some point during the broadcast. Entirely possible that they wait until it’s over, but they’ve done so during ongoing TV shows thanks to the fact that all CMs are already for their works. Maybe during episode 9, they seem to like that number.

• Hirayasumi fucking rules and I’m hopeful about the anime. Don’t know anything about the production yet, but it has landed at a studio with potential and excellent connections. The most obvious ones don’t point at creators I’d expect in a work like this, but still, let me be happy for now at least.

• New Oishi real…? Announcing the whole Kizumonogatari gang for a convention, noting that the producer is attached to a new studio, and even stating that he’s working on an upcoming project feels like it can only mean that they’re all preparing something together. That, or the world has a good reason to be upset at Otakuthon and Canada altogether.

• The idiosyncratic director who is definitely back is Souta Ueno. What a wild career he’s already got, with just two (one right now?) projects under his belt. It’s easy to point at his extraordinary qualities, and don’t get me wrong, you should; his work in Gimai Seikatsu was captivating like few commercial projects are, so bold in its belief in contemplative tempo and so diverse in cinematic influences it always recontextualizes rather than merely reproduces. But also, he’s been lucky as hell! The two shows he has led so far distinctly feature core otaku staples (a step sister, now the maid and bunny girl outfits worn in death games) but also happen to be written by people with bigger ideas, be it sociological or with the political edge that his new work has built into it. Those might not be as sharp as you’d wish in the source materials, but when they become part of Ueno’s world, the result is fascinating. I’m seated for more. Ueno is special.

Next time, I might write about other seasonal stuff that doesn’t have an article on the blog already locked (Ruri Rocks? Kaoruhana?) as well as whatever else comes to mind. Yes, this means you can deduce the topic of upcoming seasonal articles by noticing what is missing here. Yes, I will also accidentally troll you by double-dipping sometimes.

Edit: Oh yeah I forgot to say, feel free to leave comments here, usually we just dump links on Patreon but if we use this as a platform then I guess this is another feedback place.