The graphics in this episode were utterly amazing. The animation was as excellent as ever, but that’s not all. This episode had some excellent background drawings, and especially the animation near the end of the episode was full of life and imagination. It’s here where the direction showed its best again: that climax was really drawn and portrayed with power. Finally this show does something with its potential!
It also just shows how this series lacked vision. I mean, the final quarter was pretty much the best thing that happened to Fractale. So how did they get there? By having Clain wander off on some flying machine for no reason, having this machine broken down and somehow ending up in this fantastic Fractale world. It’s completely random! No build-up whatsoever, it’s just there. What is this awesome world doing so far away from the plot here? Why didn’t the first half spend time fleshing this thing out? The creators did not spend enough time here thinking how to fit everything together.
As for Clain… well, he got better. He still had his moments of annoyance, not to mention the strange idea of the creators to suddenly dress him up as a girl and make his hair grow, but once he twisted his ankle he got surprisingly interesting. I really feared this episode once it started off with those boobs and all, but as the episode progressed it twisted those fears right upside down.
This episode improved my impression of Fractale a lot, though. Especially after I found out that the character designer of Kaiba, Kemonozume and Yojou-han was the animation director, and it shows. Variety was exactly the thing that this show needed in order to save itself from being a complete bore-fest, and this episode delivered there, and then some.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
“This episode improved my episode of Fractale a lot”
^This episode improved your….what?
Kaiba was exactly what I was thinking when I saw the city. God I really enjoyed this episode. It makes me confused by how doppels are used, though. I can’t tell if a doppel is some sort of virtual reality you that you transfer your consciousness into, or if it is some random data that is your personality. I’d always considered it the latter, and the doppel and real person just sync up but I guess that’s not it at all. It’s so confusing to me, though. I’m probably just thinking too hard.
I don’t feel like Clain just wandered off, though. I feel like he was driving that big ship they’re on, although I have no idea why that family would let him do so. Then he got kidnapped and for some reason was put into the city. Parts of it still don’t make sense to me, though…
Clain was looking for drinkable water. That much is clear from the dialogue.
When Phryne wandered into the cave full of sculptures all I could think was “Oh dear god please don’t let the woman with the huge rack be that weird old guy…”
The situation did seem pretty forced though. Seems a bit odd that even looking for fresh water the L.M. people would travel so close to a place with such strong connections to Fractale. And they haven’t explained yet why Clain’s balloon just fell out of the sky all of a sudden. And I know they’re getting to trust Clain more but they just sent him off alone? I don’t really think Nessa counts as adequate backup.
Vage: ack. Impression, not episode. Fixed now.
This episode was certainly interesting, but the show’s also getting on my nerves a bit. The direction of the show is completely erratic. Sometimes it wants to be a comedy, sometimes it wants to make social commentary, and now it’s going practically grimdark. They should either pick a genre and stick with it, or blend the genres together more effectively.
uh i so quote #6: “The direction of the show is completely erratic”. I fear another Angel Beat…ed here
Anyone else noticed Phyrne’s reaction with the old man? Like what that image she saw and how she says she doesn’t deserved being love?
@Tan-Tan
Maybe she was violated back then? Considering she had a horrific vision whilst being forced I guess not being loved means she’s not chaste.
#8+9: I hope they don’t go for the cheap drama there.
Definitely reminded me of Kaiba too! I still think the show is a bit of a hit and miss, but this was definitely a hit. Gorgeous city, great new characters and finally some plot stuff happening.
Shame they had to destroy the city right away, would’ve been interesting if they had another episode in it. Also a shame some of the ideas of this show are a little half-assed. I think Psgels review is spot-on.
@Tan-Tan: Yeah seems she was violated by the guy we saw at the end of the episode.
This is another of those mistakes in the reviews i was blabbering about elsewhere. I mean, as guy at #3 said, the answer was just clear from just watching the anime, unless to a distracted viewer. It’s not the first time i notice such mistakes, the first one being in Shiki’s last episode.
I noticed how anime reviews increased greatly in the last season. I’d dare suggest to watch less anime, but with added concentration. By increasing observation skill, “Objectivity” also will be much increased in the process.
Solaris: I’m sorry to disappoint you, but my episode reviews have always contained small mistakes like this. Heck, in the past I made them even more.
The reason for this is that whenever a subbed version is unavailable, like here, I watch an episode raw. I know enough Japanese to follow each episode, but not enough to literally understand every single line. I apologize for these details I missed, but this blog has been like that for years. The reason why I don’t wait for subs is 1) impatience and 2) it allows me to pick up things that happen on the screen (like anmation, or gestures) that I would normally miss while being too busy staring at the bottom of the screen reading the subtitles.
Wait a moment: I’m not trying to pick up a fight here. I’m addressing an issue that wasn’t present before. Maybe it’s me that never noticed it, but I don’t recall such kind of mistakes: I remember how you wrote down what happened in the anime in a very detailed way and how you made up suppositions and explanations to the level they became spoilers. Of course those evaluations sometimes proved to be wrong, but I wouldn’t call those mistakes. Your reviews improved a lot since those times, to the point you did highlight key points and do analysis without spoilers at last. But it never happened you got it wrong by observation. So, I don’t think that’s a matter of lacking of understanding, but some decreased level of attention. It’s like you’re overdoing it, especially now that you’re lacking time ’cause of the new job. Well if you say it’s not the case, I believe you. Sorry to bother you.
Finally!! It really upsets me that Fractale can actually do something decent and yet it wasted so much time on dumb build-up crap (that just made for me the characters more hateful). The 2 episodes before this one should have been compacted into one. And there should have been more build-up about this whole setting. I hope it stays good like this.
Solaris, yes you are trying to pick a fight, or else you would have never posted the comment.
maybe if YOU had better observation skills you would have known what Psgels explained to you already. . .hes explained it MANY times over the years.
Please upgrade your observation skills, or stop posting rude criticisms to Psgels