With all the dislike going on for this series, I’m starting to wonder why I’m still enjoying this series so much. Seriously, at times it feels like I’m the only one who isn’t a rabid fangirl who’s still into this series. While I agree that the pacing has been slooooooow, but is it really a universal truth that fast = good and slow = bad? It’s not like every episode looks the same or anything. Or am I missing something here?
In any case, this episode yet again didn’t convince me that this show is dull when Teito from out of nowhere got possessed by the Star of Mikhael, and I mean really out of nowhere: Frau and Castor were talking in front of an unconscious Teito, the episode really had this air of building up after the previous episode, and then suddenly without any prior warning all sorts of crazy stuff starts showing up. That really took me by surprise.
The rest of this episode though is really an aftermath, including the obligatory “angsting and being shown the light” subplot. I know that they’re really necessary to each plot, and characters would be a bunch of unemotional paper bags without them, but they remain boring. Still, they’re worth it for the character-development. And in this episode Frau and Castor did a pretty good job of keeping the viewer busy while Teito was busy with sorting out his own feelings. It was pretty simple this time, but I’m still curious what this series can do once it hits its second half and the character-development really starts kicking in.
One thing that I don’t like in this series is something that plagues just about 90% of every anime: Teito’s fate can either save or destroy the world. That’s pretty much the most generic and overused subplot you can think of, and yet NEARLY EVERY SHOW uses it. But yeah, I’ve long ago given up on complaining every single series that attempts this, so complaining about it every single time it gets used obviously isn’t magically going to solve it.
Rating: * (Good)
Standard aftermath with quite a nice surprise in the middle
Teito from out of nowhere got possessed by the Star of Mikhael, and I mean really out of nowhere
=== not exactly out of nowhere I think. Mikhail took charge because Frau’s scythe was gonna attack Teito, and Mikhail defended his master. Hehe.
I love this episode. Even without my bias towards Mikhail. Heehee
It’s something you can’t really get by. A lot of shows use generic or cliche’d character archetypes or or something that’s been used before. It’s something people need to get over. Cliche is not bad, and you’re pretty much never going to find something truly original so why muddle over the little things? Any anime character or plot you’ve seen has been done somewhat similar before but the quality between certain shows is certainly evident. It’s all about enjoyment factor and how well done things end up being in the end. As long as a show is well done then the cliches really don’t matter. Think Touch. Those characters have all been done before but that doesn’t matter at all, the show still kicks a lot of ass.
As for pacing. Slow is good imo. Never been too big of a fan of fast pacing. Think Real Drive. That show had imo perfect pacing despite how slow it was to some people.
I wanna know where the hell that little pink thing that sat on his shoulder most of this episode came from. Did I miss something in episode 9? I guess it’s supposed to represent Mikage cause of the scar but seriously if that thing had explanation I missed it entirely.
Taka: yeah, it’s the reincarnation of Mikage.
Okay, so let’s get this straight…the plot development was that Teito is not leaving. Didn’t see that coming. Also, the 7 ghosts have now gotten the memo that teito possesses the Eye of Mikhail. Plus he can SAVE the world or DESTROY it!! Finally, people from the army are coming to fetch Teito.
Now character development. Teito breaks down again, showing that his mental instability. Then he realizes he shouldn’t go on a “mission impossible” and instead stay with the ghosts. Next, Castor is a ghost and can erase memories. Wow, super cool imho.
I mean come on people? This whole episode was filler with very little development. The only significant part that I saw was that there is some inherent connection between Frau’s scythe (which isn’t really his) and the Eye of Mikhail. Anything more to add? Nothing really came out of this episode and it was totally predictable.
Kokutou: define “filler”. I always thought that it either was material that isn’t in the manga, or material that doesn’t have anything to do with the main storyline. I mean come on: Teito just lost his best friend who saved his life multiple times. Who wouldn’t be sad or unsure what to do at such a time?
In this regard, I mean filler as time used up that gives no value, nor furthers the storyline or character development. Teito’s sadness was the only prevalent theme within this whole episode, as with many that preceded it, and the 20 or so minutes of this episode were used up showing teito’s emotional state of mind. The whole “love” between teito and mikage is being a little overblown. The last scene was especially overdone with Mikage’s last words. The story really isn’t moving, making it seem like there is simply a lack of material. Not that it was necessarily boring, but simply had no value. That is my definition of filler.
I mostly agree with kokutou…but at least the animation retained the previous episode’s quality (mostly, anyway).
This episode was fairly bland. This show so far does have some pretty awesome moments (the previous episode), but most of it thus far is filled with static.
Also, the eye of Mikhail’s power was pretty overkill here. I was a bit stunned – doesn’t the slave collar restrict it? If it was just an illusion, then fine, but why didn’t he pull that kind of stunt with Ayanami, huh?
Also, if I understand the manga correctly, the problem isn’t that the scythe “isn’t Frau’s,” it’s “who it belonged to in the first place.” =)
Anyway, the next (clergy/training) arc is kinda boring for me, but maybe the show will spruce it up, as it has done with most of the action sequences.