As for the shows I’m not going to blog:
– Rio Rainbow Gate is one of those rare shows that are so bad that they’re good. But it’s still way too stupid for it to be interesting enough to blog.
– Kimi ni Todoke just was too annoying, despite how the graphics have gotten even better in the process.
Note: this season I’m going to have a bit of a strange blogging schedule, due to Heartcatch Precure and Showa Monogatari, so in about half a month I’ll have room to pick up two more shows (yes, I am going to end up blogging 50% of this winter season!). Even with that taken in consideration though, I don’t think that Kimi ni Todoke will be one of those two, due to the large amount of other interesting shows this season.
Note2: I’m going to be blogging four shows on Thursday. So yeah, some of them will be delayed. Especially because I’m not often in the mood for these low quality versions that often pop up first.
In any case: yeah, I’m blogging a Shaft series again. Soredemo Machi last season did a great job of taking away a part of my bias for them, and this show holds some nice potential. It obviously takes a lot after Nanoha, but brings enough of its own for now. I’ve seen Shaft do much worse in this area before, in any case.
This episode wasn’t as good as the first, but I still liked it quite a bit. This show is especially good at its action scenes, which are really artistic and well directed and do a great job getting me to care about the characters. This entire episode built up pretty decently to that scene at the end, though I would have liked to have seen more details into the witch, and less general explanations.
Now, this episode did show that we shouldn’t expect much from the humour in this show. There was this one bit in which that classmate of the lead characters started making lesbian jokes… and they didn’t work at all. It just shows how dry Shaft’s humour has become, and I don’t mean that in a good way. Thankfully it was just limited to one scene and this show takes itself seriously during the other parts of this episode.
Rating: * (Good)
SHAFT fanboy checking in. I am absolutely in love with this series even more than I was after week one. Everything from the character design/shading and music to the dialogue and mystery has me hooked. My only worry at this point is the design choice for the “witches”… not that it’s bad, just that it seemed to hinder the battle scene.
The backgrounds are alive and crazy enough without adding to the mayhem. It was hard to tell exactly what Mami was fighting. Anyway, this is still my #1 for this season after episode 2. Hope it keeps up.
I’ll add that I agree with you completely on Kimi Ni Todoke. I got through the horrible pacing int he first season based on the look alone but I honestly can’t take another 13 episodes of Mamiko Noto repeating the same internal monologue OVER and OVER and OVER again.
Really, the characters haven’t talked to each other much for two months because they changed seats in class? Blargh. Shoujo pitfall I guess. This first episode took the bad pacing from season 1 and made it worse. No matter how good it looks, I think I’ll have to pass.
I rather enjoyed this second episode. Although I have to agree with you, the humour is just pretty bad -_-‘ Also, I kind of wish for the things to not be the way they seem. Wouldn’t it be awesome of the witches were actually good beings and Mami and that creepy cat fairy thingy the real ennemies š Please, let there be such a twist!
I thought this was really good, but I hate the “paper art” look at the fight scenes… Seriously wtf is that? It makes the fights the worst part of the episode… Stupid shaft :/
Why is there a picture of the Road Warrior from Mad Max 2 at the end of this show? lol
Man, I thought the lesbian joke was hilarious.
Hmm, maybe itās just me, but did anyone else notice the German on the wall when they entered the building? From what I could see, I recognized it as a quote from Faust, the alchemist who sells his soul to the devil. Iām pretty sure Kyubei and Mami are more sinister than it appears, and here are my reasons, based solely on these two episodes.
1) Hemura showed up at the school to warn Madoka to not become a mage. Did anyone notice the setting there when Hemura told Madoka to stay as herself? The two were on a bridge. mmm, symbolism.
2) Hemura was trying to kill Kyubei so he couldnāt give Madoka the offer
3) Kyubei said he *wanted* to make a *contract* with the two girls. That means he was actively seeking them out, specifically Madoka. Also, notice the language he uses at the very end of episode one. He says āI want you to do something for meā.
4) Kyubei said he could grant one wish as his part of the contract. Sounds like a devilās offer to me
5) Mami threatened to kill Hemura
6) Mamiās gem didnāt become brighter due to a recharge, it became brighter because the darkness left it
7) Mamiās apartment was poorly lit when she was describing everything, implying something is being hidden.
8) Mami is trying to convince the two to sign the contract, hence the witch-hunt. But, she earlier states that a possible motivation for Hemuraās warning was to reduce competition. Something seems off here.
9) The quote from Faust in the building where the two girls participate in the witch hunt implies that the contract they’ll likely sign won’t be a good thing.
All of that makes me think weāre going to be in for a big plot-twist later that shows Kyubei and Mami arenāt as nice as they appear.
@ anon234
I agree with you and most of your points are valid however Mami never threatened to kill Hemura.GG’s translator misheard a line and gave a wrong translation,they corrected it in a 2nd version of the script.
She said she would ignore Hemura,not kill her.
@anon234
I thought the same.
At this point I am fairly certain that Mami will turn evil. After all she is the one luring them into danger. Hemura has tried to prevent them from becoming magical girls. Where as Mami is encouraging them. When you think about it logically Mami is leading these girls into a fight that has nothing to do with them and could get them killed. And Hemura is trying to prevent that.
Besides this is from the mind of the writer of tales such as Saya no uta. This will turn dark.
I enjoyed this episode far more than the previous one. My only complaint is that the paper cut fight scenes are really annoying. However the animation outside of meta realm doesn’t bother me as much anymore.
I personally love the paper cut fight scenes. It has that Monty Python feel to it. I expect to see a giant foot come down and squash everyone š
I agree with Anon234, there is some very dark undercurrents with that senior girl. I’m really looking foward to see how this develops.
It’s more than possible that the reason Mami wants the two girls to become Mahou Shoujo is because she knows that if their gems turns to black they will become witches themselves, which means more grief seeds for her. Man. Mami’s evil.
While poor Homura was probably fooled by Mami too by accepting the offer to become a witch. Being good of heart, Homura warns Madoka and refuses to use her power to hunt witches.
Aww. Wonder who’s going to die first?
Crokus:
If your speculations bear out it would make for a very interesting turn of events. Magical girls must hunt witches for their grief seeds or they will become witches themselves. Therefore magical girls must keep recruiting, because if they don’t eventually they will all turn into witches with no magical girls to fight them. It’s self perpetuating with no possible solution in sight but to perpetually recruit magical girls.
If that’s actually a quote for Faust, and it turns out to be foreshadowing, that would be AWESOME.
Like, REALLY awesome.
What a clever way of using an allusion. I have to write this down. : )