Author: AidanAK47

Some Quick First Impressions: Juuni Taisen, Sengoku Night Blood and Shokugeki no Souma S3

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Juuni Taisen

Short Synopsis: Killers dressed to represent the 12 Zodiac signs gather to participate in a battle royale.

AidanAK47’s review

The first show I check out this season and I must say it’s starting on a high note. Nisio is a writer I am mixed on but so far this series is looking to be quite interesting as we have it focused on the backstory of a certain character as she goes to participate in this battle to the death. It features some of the most impressive CGI integration I have seen as I truly had to second guess myself on whether it was truly CGI. The character cast all seem to be quite quirky and the story presented so far has interested me. Though moreso the girls backstory of how she got selected to take part in the battle. I do think this could end up disappointing easily if the story goes a certain way but so far this is a very solid recommendation to check this show out.

Potential: 85%

Mario’s review

A bit of unrelated trivia about the Chinese zodiac. Although many countries from Asia celebrate the Chinese zodiac, we modify some animals from the Chinese origin to be more suitable with our traditions. Japan, for example, includes sheep instead of goat and Wild Boar instead of Piggie (the Vietnamese zodiac, in case you wonder, has Water Buffalo instead of Ox, and most noticeably we choose Cat in place of Rabbit). Does the Chinese Zodiac matter? Well, in my culture we still favor the system whenever any couple decide to get married to see if they’re best match. If they aren’t, game over. Maybe that explains why both the elopement rate and the unwanted pregnancy rate are quite high in Vietnam (Blame you Chinese Zodiac!!). Let’s back on track with Juuni Taisen, outrageous character designs aside, if the rest of the series is like this then we’d have a winner in our hands. The concept of a battle royale between 12 Zodiac warriors, while not original, is too entertaining to ignore. This first episode follows one of the warrior, the Boar, so we have a chance to see how the rules set up, meeting other warriors through her lens, and learn more about her backstory. As soon as her backstory begins I have a feeling she’d be the first to get send off, but that twist in the end means that she still remains “intact” in the story. As expect from Nisio we have more amount of dialogues than normal action show, but the action scenes are nicely done. All warriors so far have some interesting quirks and even just a mere 20 minutes I can remember most of them. If you look for a (talky) action fix this season look no further than this.

Potential: 75%

 

Sengoku Night Blood

Short Synopsis:  A girl is suddenly summoned into an alternate reality Sengoku Japan.

AidanAK47’s Review

Ah yes, the Sengoku period of Japan. Where everyone was fighting to unify the country, random girls are introduced to the major hierarchy of an army for no reason, the female species is nowhere in site, all guys are pretty boys or cat eared pretty boys and werewolves and vampires were everywhere…something tells me this show isn’t going for a historical portrayal. It’s funny that i have seen so many of these shows that I can actually recognise the historical figures names.(Or perhaps that’s thanks to Sengoku Rance) So this show is just so boring and by the numbers that I don’t see how anyone is going to get anything out of it unless they like pretending to be the piece of cardboard that is our protagonist and imagining playing with all the pretty boys. Of course she has no personality whatsoever and of course all the guys want to bonk her on the principle that she is special somehow or misinterpret her boring run of the mill traits as some sort of unique characteristics. Only other female mentioned is some missing princess that supposed to be super important and most certainly will turn out to be our main protagonist because I am gonna be damned if they let some other chick steal the spotlight. Not the target demographic here but come on, this story is just too lazy and boring. You deserve better than this trash.

Potential: 0%

Mario’s review

Gosh, this show is a mess. Something something fighting… someone someone get introduced and then the main guy literally climaxes after licking a girl’s blood. The plot functions like a typical isekai show where the girl gets transported into… another world where the feud happens between badass boys who have overpowered techniques and I bet each of them has their own special moves. This show has a problem that they introduce way too many characters and clans and not much time for the lead. The girl lead, in particular is so plain and unmemorable that it’s hard to root for her (what is her name, anyway?). The fights are pretty much just there, no context and there is absolutely no sense of danger anywhere. And then they mix vampire, werewolf and tanuki in the process… that the show become a hot mess. In fact, the whole story is so insignificant that by the time you finish this episode there is nothing to linger on. An install noodle for someone who have a weakness for boys fighting with each other using cool techniques and saying cool lines, otherwise stay far away from this.

Potential: 0%

 

Shokugeki no Souma S3

Short Synopsis: Yukihira Souma plots to break into the Elite 10 at Totsuki Academy.

Lenlo’s Review

Souma starts off incredibly underwhelming. Perhaps I am looking at the first two seasons with rose colored glasses, but Third Plate just looks like it has so little passion behind it. Overused chibi animation for every little thing, lots of panning still shots with only a moving mouth. All that, along with the problem that the prior to seasons and an OVA are basically mandatory watching will likely put off a lot of new people. That said, the arcs getting adapted this season are interesting. We get the Moon Festival and the start of a big storyline that’s still going on in the manga right now. Assuming that the animation is being saved for the cook-offs, that you either know the story up till now or don’t care, and are ok with the inevitable food based fan-service of Souma, I don’t see any harm in giving Souma a shot until the end of this first small arc.

Potential: 65%

Wooper’s Review

I’m a fan of Souma’s original 24-episode run, but its second season spent too much time on culinary combat and not enough on maintaining its quirky atmosphere. If its first episode is anything to go by, the third season is on the verge of making the same mistakes, although there’s a baseline of entertainment it ought to meet just by faithfully adapting the manga. Yukihira is already gunning for one of the top ten students at Totsuki here, and the entire episode was a dialogue-heavy setup for their eventual confrontation. The whole thing felt a bit too safe and familiar, but the series’ past strengths are enough to earn it a light recommendation. At this point, you already know whether you’re in or out, so if it’s more Souma you want, the third season’s two-cour order really ought to whet your appetite.

Potential: 50%

Some Quick First Impressions: The IdolM@ster Side M, UQ Holder! 2 and Black Cover

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

The IdolM@ster Side M

Short Synopsis: An independent male idol group consider going pro.

AidanAK47’s review

Considering the amount of male idol shows I have had to subject myself to, this actually comes out better than most. I guess because this feels like it’s actually trying with it’s story. Most Male Idol shows just throw you into the thick of it and introduce all the characters at once. making them just feel like they came of a production line to appeal to as mainstream an audience as possible. This story instead focuses on three of the idols to join the studio first and I appreciate that. The characters themselves are basic stereotypes (The tsundere hot headed one, the childish playful one, the older responsible one) but at least have a bit more going on for me to consider them actual characters instead of fetish placeholders. Again the biggest problem with judging these shows is that I am not the target demographic but this one didn’t make me want to bash my head against a wall or bore me out of my skull so it must be pretty alright by boy idol anime standards.

Potential: 20%

Mario’s review

You might think that episode 00 serves as a prequel for this series, while part of it was true, this 00 episode is a standalone story about one of the Idol group, Jupiter. One little detail that pique my interest is this is a story when Jupiter was an indie idol band. While it’s overpowered to have a band as young as they are, can manage all the deals, the band’s schedule, dealing with fans all by themselves, the spirit of “DIY” is there. There are some decent interactions here and there between the group and the agency guy, but everything else is mild and forgettable. This main lead is annoying though that he can’t even take simple criticism and I don’t get why they are half an hour length because they can easily cut the performance part and the story is still intact. With this season that is heavily on male idols (we have 2 more coming, along with girl idols Love Live Sunshine), I don’t even think this one can stand out as the best of that pack, and already that bar is pretty low to begin with.

Potential: 20%

 

UQ Holder! 2

Short Synopsis: The Grandson of Negi tries to earn the right to go to the capital city.

AidanAK47’s review

You know it’s a Ken Akamatsu work when the protagonist is getting beaten to death by the main heroine for little reason. Author of not only this but also Love Hina and Negima, there is a certain nostalgic charm to this. However there are problems, one is a reason I was not that interested in this manga and that’s because at the end of this episode they confirm that our main protagonists cannot die. In other works that more or less a given but in this case they literally cannot die. Which kind of drains away any tension from battle when they can recover from any wound no matter how grievous. The second thing that put me off this series is that I never really liked the cast of UQ holder that much. And the third is the fanservice, the kind of fanservice that was in the beginning of this episode and the large amount of fanservice to come. Not to mention lots of fanservice of characters of rather questionable age. A while back there was a law that was trying to be put in place to outlaw nude lolita depictions of anime characters due to it possibly being considered pedophile pornography and you can bet that Ken Akamatsu was right in the crosshairs due to his series having a large amount of that. Still if you can look past the fanservice there is some good action to be had and this is looking to be the strongest adaption of his work to date so there could be something watchable here.

Potential: 30%

Mario’s review

We have a generic shounen story that neither original nor ground-breaking, but for what it worth it’s still a serviceable one. Although billed as a sequel you don’t really need the knowledge of the original to follow this. It ticks pretty much on the boxes of tired tropes, and the story of a young boy who turn immortal is something that done countless time before in anime, even how this little episode turns out is by-the-book so in terms of plot, this episode fails hard. What it makes up is the chemistry between the boy and his guardian and the confident pacing that thankfully hold our attention till the end. What happens next is pretty predictable though, they going to the city, meeting new friends while the young boy hones his skills. At that I don’t get why she can grow her body despite being a vampire and the fanservice is way too blatant. Should provide a fun, mindless ride with some emotional attachments if you’re lucky but don’t expect anything serious about it.

Potential: 20%

 

Black Cover

Short Synopsis: A boy without magic in a world filled with tries to gain a magic grimoire.

AidanAK47’s review

A good anime is like programing code. You need it all to work in harmony and all it really take is one small mistake, one tiny aspect, and the whole thing can fall apart.I thought the main protagonist of this series could be annoying but reading the manga I had the joy of not having to listen to him. But here they decided to hire a terrible voice actor for him who shouts his every line. Good god, it’s annoying. He has this way of drawing out the end of his shouts as well as inflection and once you notice it, it grates on your nerves. Hopefully the SimulDub tones down this as other than this horrible voice actor this episode was fine. Pierrot is changing some things unnecessarily but other than that it’s a solid first episode for a shounen. If you are a shounen fan and can bear the shouting the protagonist then I say you could have fun with it. If his shouting is too annoying you can always try the dub to come soon. Animation was fine as well so this could be something watchable

Potential: 40%

Mario’s review

We have a generic shounen story that… Wait? Déjà vu? Despite having different settings Black Cover and UQ Holder share the same DNA – the plot is full of cliché and general tropes; the characters are one note and that cheap one-time antagonist. How many times before do we see a main hero who has no power turn out to be the best?? Black Cover has a more realized setting than UQ Holder, depicting the fantasy world that rely on using magic. But the main character… boy, is he annoying brat. Overact and loud all the time, he’s the lead that helps me greatly in dropping this series without hesitant. Moreover, this show also teach me a valuable lesson that animating iron chain is the kryptonite of CG animation since it’s jarring consider how out of place the iron chain with the rest. The relationship between the two leads will be what ride the story forward, although I admit that I’m not too interested to follow either the plot or their rivalry. An easy skip for me.

Potential: 10%

Made in Abyss Review – 91/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Made in Abyss, Reviews by AidanAK47

There are few series which can capture the mystery and wonder of a fantasy world as well as Made in Abyss. Their world is dangerous, brutal and unforgiving but beautiful, wondrous and exciting in it’s presentation. The story is of a ordinary girl called Riko and a mysterious cyborg boy called Regu traveling down the levels of a massive chasm called the abyss. With each level they encounter new people and monsters alike as they work together to survive the darwinian nature of the chasms ecosystem. The story boosts some of the finest presentation of the anime of the year alongside a gripping tale that never lets go till its conclusion. The characters are memorable though which each level brings a new cast to the forefront. Ozen and Nanochi are the strongest out the cast. But the dynamic between Riko’s optimistic easygoing attitude and Regu’s more negative questioning nature works well in exploring the morality and dangers of this world. The shows strongest aspect is the world building and atmosphere of the setting. Accentuated by the visuals the Abyss is truly a marvel of nature that makes for a fantastic backdrop.

The pacing may be a bit slow for some but I see no way to make it faster and the character designs may look kiddy and lighthearted but Made in Abyss holds darker themes. When it goes for the emotional gut punch it is often heavy and effective. It doesn’t shy away from the uglier side of nature and exploring as well as the dark parts of it’s history. Aside from one or two rare moments the animation in this show is excellent and the backgrounds are beautiful landscapes giving even the best artists in the industry a run for their money. Which isn’t all that surprising when you consider that a former Ghibli background artist worked on the series. The music is equally excellent with standouts like the series ending theme Tomorrow and Hanezeve Caradhina. Tomorrow being a personal favorite for how it closes out the series with melancholy nostalgia and wonder.

Sadly at the point of writing this review this is the only season of the series and the final episode does leave many loose ends behind. This season can be seen as a prologue of things to come and it’s lack of conclusion hurts the series as a whole. The pacing takes it’s time and because of it’s single cour length people could feel that the story didn’t truly get started. At the moment chances of a second season look promising but in the anime industry there are no guarantees. As such people could be left wanting more by the time the final credits roll which is something that could be considering a positive as this is basically an advertisement for the manga but I need to knock off points as this story works some much better as an animated product that I doubt the manga could match it’s level of presentation. Nonetheless what is present here is more than worth checking it out as it still has powerful moments, atmosphere and world building second to none. I have no doubt that this series will be seen as one of the best anime of 2017 in future years to come.

Made in Abyss – 13[The Challengers]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

Normally when I finish a series I take a moment to think back on it and try to imagine just how I would make it better. Maybe better pacing or removing a certain character or story arc that went nowhere or just improving the animation at certain points. But with Made in Abyss I tried to do the same thing and found myself coming up blank. I really cannot see how this series could have been done better and in thinking of this I came to realise this series may have far more value that I initially realised. Potentially the value to be called a future classic of the genre but that may be me getting ahead of myself. Well the finale of this series goes out with a bang as we have a double length episode to close out the series. The majority of this episode detailed about how Nanochi began living in the abyss and how she and Mitty came to be twisted into the forms they are now. Finally ending off with Mitty being mercy killed and Nanochi joining Riko and Regu on their journey to the bottom of the abyss. I was right that with Nanochi added to the group that the group dynamic is far better as a whole. Nanochi adds a playfulness that makes the interactions more fun to watch and I am certain she would be a boon in the future of the story.

There were a lot of emotional moments during this finale and this may just be the best episode of the series. Bondrewd looks to be trying to make up for his lack of presence throughout the series by pumping all his villain credibility into this one episode wherein his actions are so morally disgusting that I was wishing for his death by the halfway point of this episode. The transformation of the two girls was absolutely brutal with Mitty’s horrific dissolving into a tangled genetic mess being the stuff of nightmares. I pray some ignorant parent does not mistake this show for a children’s cartoon or this would be a level of trauma they might not get back from. Provided they made it through the arm breaking scene. Though as disturbing as it may be that didn’t quite affect me due to my resistance built up over the years. However to my absolute shock the death of Mitty hit me harder than I ever thought it would. I didn’t think I would find her death so tragic but i found myself welling with emotion at Nanochi setting up the toys and comforting Mitty in her last moments. The dam broke when Nanochi had a brief moment of regret, calling off Regu and hugging Mitty while apologizing, only to walk back and ask Regu to kill her again. I didn’t cry buckets but tears did roll down my face and being the soulless husk that i am, I consider any show that can wringe that level of emotion out of me something truly special. As a side note i was surprised to see that Riko has a scar after all the treatment.With years of watching anime where in bandages heal all wounds without a single blemish it’s great to see some lasting consequences.

Sadly though I say I have trouble imagining this show being better, if there is one flaw I could truly pick out it would be this. The show ended at the point it wasn’t supposed to end. In the final minutes the main cast has come together, the main villain(At this time) has been made apparent and this truly is the real beginning of this story. Suddenly roll credits. Want more? Read the manga. The chances of a second season are not quite grim and I would like to believe that a show as good as this would get the sales it deserves. However anime continuation has always been tied to the sales of its source and no matter how good it is, if there is no return from that then there is no second season. It’s a sad thing that adapting a source to competition is the exception rather than the norm. I thought about picking up the manga again on this series end but as I saw the small balloon float through the various beautiful levels of the abyss with that evocative melody playing I realised that without the music, sound, colour and gorgeous backgrounds that this series just wouldn’t have the same level of impact. The artwork of the manga is nothing to scoff at but I still doubt it can bring forth the same magical feeling and atmosphere of the anime. So I will hold off on reading this group’s future adventures until I can be certain no second season is coming. Then I will jump in due to necessity. Hopefully that will not be the case. For now despite it’s incomplete nature I am willing to say this will be making it into my best anime of the year list.

Fate/Apocrypha – 13[The Last Master]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Apocrypha

We have officially entered the second half of Fate/Apocrypha and with that comes a new opening and ending. The ending doesn’t leave much of an impression but I do prefer this opening over the first opening. The first opening just didn’t really suit my tastes while I prefer the melody of this opening more even if the visuals of it are rather generic. As far as Fate anime openings go for the whole franchise I still believe that Fate/UBW has the best ones. For the past few episodes this series has actually been pretty good but it seems that streak has ended with this episode. Part of the reason is that the long action sequence has ended and another part is that Sieg is getting center attention again. I swear this kid is like a fun black hole, where all fun is sucked out of a scene just by his very presence. I don’t like the fact that I keep harping on about this kid but he really is that much of a problem. His design is boring and every line of his dialogue is archetypal and systematic. He’s quest to discover his purpose is gone and with that he has essentially become the most predictable and expected hero character you can write up. I can almost predict his every line of dialogue in any given situation.

Made all the worse by his continued climb up the Gary Sue ladder with him now not only being a servant himself but also a Master. Not exactly a new thing in the Fate universe as Medea from the main series also managed to summon a servant despite being a servant herself. Though that came with it’s own problems, one of which looks to have been severely hand waved here. For now Amakusa Shirou is is sole master for almost the entirety of the red faction. Now it may be a question for some that if a mage can summon a servant during a Holy Grail War then why don’t they try to summon more than one? There are no rules against having more that one servant. However the problem is that it is akin to trying to drive three cars when you only have enough gas for one full tank. Sure you can drive them all if you divide up the gas between the three cars but all three will never drive as far as one can with a full tank. There are even cases such as with Shirou and Saber in the original where Shirou didn’t have enough mana to fuel her and as a result her abilities were handicapped. So the question is, how is Amakusa Shirou managing to fuel six servants(Including the newly defected Caster of Black) without them getting downgraded? Even taking into account that Shirou is a servant himself who also requires mana. He did mention about potentially being incarnated but even a previously incarnated servant needed an external source of mana. I don’t really expect an answer to this as this show has already made it clear the rules don’t really matter all that much.

I don’t like Riders master. No, I don’t mean that in the obvious way as she is a character meant to be disliked. What I mean is that I don’t like how horribly and lazily written she is. With such a large character roster it’s understandable that a couple of characters would get shafted when it comes to characterisation but this really is F grade villain writing. She gets off on torturing others and throwing them into despair and it’s just such childish reasoning. If you want to write a character who has that with better motivations and personality then take notes from DanganRonpa’s antagonist. Here I just realize that the entire purpose of this character is for this one scene, to give the protagonist a free servant and the satisfaction of seeing her head get chopped off by Mordred. Not saying that wasn’t satisfying to witness but come on, Shinji from Fate/Stay Night had better writing than this. I also find myself immensely irritated at what is the worst forced servant retreat in this series to date.

We have only four servants on the enemy side, defected Avicebron, Semiramis, Shirou and Karna. On the good side we have Joan of Arc, Atlanta, Chiron, Achilles and to top it all off Mordred enters the fray. Five against four and two fo the four are low tier servants. So why did Sisigou order a retreat? Karna is a problem, most definitely but he can be kept busy and while Semiramis has a territory boost she still would have trouble with a Saber. With Shirou being the master of all red servants, all the good side needs to do is kill him to win. So why did Sisigou order a retreat? Shirou may have command spells but Joan of Arc is a Ruler Class and thus has two command spells per servant. She can quite literally order all the servants on the opposing side to stand down. Not to mention getting into the hanging Gardens of Babylon again would be a hard task and facing Shirou with such advantageous odds again is even harder. So just why did Sisigou order a retreat? I just can’t understand it no matter how much I think about it.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul Review 80/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews

“Dance!”

I have been a  reader of this blog for a long time. Indeed it would not be wrong to say that psgels and the current crop of writers have helped maintain my interest in anime for the last decade. So now here is my chance to give something back to this excellent blog. Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul /Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul, was one of the series the writers watched but did not review. With an exceptional year in anime (with shows like Made in Abyss, ACCA 13, and others) there is never enough time to cover everything. And while Virgin Soul was in no way a bad show, it was a conventional show. However, it was a well-executed conventional show.

Virgin Soul is the sequel of Shingeki no Bahamut:Genesis , aired back in 2014. Both are created by Studio Mappa, and both are based on a card game by Cygames. Now most shows based on games tend to be bad to mediocre, being nothing more than vessels to increase sales. For some reason the creators of Genesis and Virgin Soul avoided that. Indeed even the few references to the card game in Genesis are completely gone from Virgin Soul. To be frank, if the show was supposed to get you to go and buy the card game, it largely failed. But conversely you do not need to know anything about the game to enjoy the show.

“Arrgh, I want to play the card game too!”

The story of Virgin Soul takes place in the shadow of the aftermath of Genesis. In the end of Genesis, the heroes- flamboyant desperado Favoro, moody knight Kaisar, zombie-girl Rita- were able to stop the plans of the villain. It wanted to use the powerful monster Bahamut to destroy the balance between humans, daemons, and gods. But the price of victory was terrible as it demanded a heavy sacrifice. Between Genesis and Virgin Soul Mappa produced two short episodes that fleshed out a bit Favoro, Kaisar, and the secondary character of Jeanne, a knight who used to be favored by the gods. Even though the villain of Genesis failed to attain his version of the breakdown of the balance of the world, the effect of Bahamut’s Rage brought about change, nevertheless.

Virgin Soul takes place in this changed world. The new king of the humans, Charioce, in reaction to the destruction of Bahamut, decided that humanity could only find security in its own power. Using forbidden powers he went to war with both the gods and daemons and won. The gods were largely banished to their heavenly realm to sulk, while the daemons were enslaved to serve humanity, including being pitted in death matches for the entertainment of the populace(disgusting). On the slave labor of daemons, Charioce has built a prosperous human kingdom, though through tools like the Onyx Soldiers he represses any dissent. It is in this world that our protagonist Nina enters. Nina is an excitable teenage girl full of pluck and optimism. She is also a virgin. And, she is also a half dragon, and will turn into a powerful red dragon if approached or touched by a good looking man.

“Nina does a lot of running. You gotta expend that teenage energy somehow!”

When you think of the title, and of the condition of the protagonist, you could easily see how this show could go wrong. And yet like Marie the Virgin Witch, the show plays Nina’s virginity and condition straight, with little turn to vulgar humor. Now, the show does have its fan service, but it never felt creepy or leery. Instead what we get is a show that in general has a conventional plot, which is enlivened by the interaction of the characters. Virgin Soul is not a show you watch for the plot. It is a show you watch to see some interesting characters interact. In this sense it is similar to the live-action sci-fi show Killjoys, which has a conventional, indeed boring plot, but great characters interacting. Another thing that is similar is that in both cases the characters in general are what we might call good looking by fashion industry standards.

Those characters and their interactions are developed by secondary plot points, which in a way are worth more than the central plot. Nina is developed through a great and touching depiction of first love, rejection, and redemption. Kaisar by his struggle between his personal sense of justice, offended by the actions of the king his serves, and his duty to that king. The daemon Azazel, an obnoxious villain in Genesis, here is developed through his brotherly relationship with one of the new characters, his passionate and desperate fight to restore the freedom of daemons, and the inner struggle about whether he is driven by personal spite or a true need to make things right. Jeanne, the fallen servant of the gods, gets development through a touching depiction of mother-hood. Favoro by his struggles with the consequences of the events of Genesis and mentoring of Nina. Thus in general the main characters of Virgin Soul tend to be given interesting stories that make them interesting and sympathetic (Rita unfortunately not us much as they could had done ). Most of the time these are well done, though the show never really integrated these character developing sub-plots to the central plot. It also failed to resolve many of them.

“Here we see a friendly chat on the nature of liberty and duty”

The exception to these generally good secondary plots is King Charioce. Introduced to us like a cruel, ruthless, but efficient ruler, the show then makes him a major love interest of another protagonist. His two personas, lover and king, are very incongruous. This has led many reviewers to castigate the show. That is a bit unfair. The problem is not that Charioce the King and Chris the Lover are too different. Just read “Eichman in Jerusalem” to see that this is often the case in reality with these types of people. The issue is that the directors and writers did not really do a good job at balancing this. Chris the Lover and Charioce the King are never brought in direct conflict in the character himself. We only see the conflict through the eyes of other characters. Sadly that makes Charioce more of an object than a character. It is not grating, but it is a lost chance.

“But I played soccer with the street urchins!”

These characters, their interactions, and their adventures are rendered with animation and art that is generally excellent. Action scenes are fluid, and character facial and body expressions emanate personality (except for Charioce-though this might be more of character trait). As a result the show does a good job of giving its comedy, action, and tragedy depth. In both Genesis and Virgin Soul the animators of studio Mappa really like to show off their skills with elaborate dance scenes, and they do a good job of encapsulating what this show can give to the eye. Backgrounds are well done and lush. The only negative mark is the use of CGI with some of the creatures, including the titular Bahamut. This did seem a bit out of place next to the fluid animation of characters.

The music was in generally serviceable. The first opening was excellent, with the second one being more conventional. Both endings were quirky and cute. In the show, the best music scores were during poignant moments of tragedy, while during battles sometimes the music would try too hard and lose me.

“I, Charioce offer this light show as proof of my good party spirit”

Despite the conventional character of the plot I must give kudos to the writers for taking some decisions with characters that would make George RR Martin (of Game of Thrones fame) happy. But they also had some plots lines that were sloppy and not really useful (for example Nina’s fight with the dragon-hunter).
In the end Shigneki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul is a conventional show well executed. It has a cast of interesting and exciting characters that carry a rather mundane plot. The artistry of animation helps greatly the characters come to life. It is just a pity they are not used to their best. A solid 80 out of 100 (or B).

“Ahh, the ship that never shipped”

Characters: 90/100 (most of the central characters are interesting and receive development. But the blind spots are egregious)

Plot: 70/100 (conventional central plot,  but with some points of ruthless brilliance)

Art: 90/100 (animation and design is in general great, but CGI at points was not integrated as well as it could be)

Sound-Music: 80/100 (some good pieces and good music direction, a good first OP and EDs, but at other points it tries too hard)

Fall Season 2017 Preview

by AidanAK47, posted in Seasonal Previews

Yet again we are here in a new season of anime even though it feels just a moment ago the summer season had started. Seasons come and go, stupid controversies rise and fall and yet life goes on as it has always gone on. Well then enough with the sloppy rhetoric and let’s just get to what you are all here for. I must say that this season is looking very promising indeed as while we don’t have the abundance of shows present in the summer season, we do have quite a number of shows with the potential to be something real special. Depending on how this turns out I may be dropping less shows than I usually do and end up watching a majority of the season.

Same values as usual apply as I check out the source material of everything in the season along with the staff to give a better idea of what might turn out well. Below is a poll which can influence what we writers pick up to cover for this season so vote for as many shows as you want. Truth be told a lot of us have already decided on what we will cover for this season, but should we change our minds we will certainly take the poll results into account when choosing a new show.

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What will you be watching this spring?
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Once again thanks to Mario for gathering the images and helping with the format. And thanks to Wooper and Lenlo for helping with editing. Let’s get rocking.

The sequels/Shorts I don’t care about

Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara
Himouto! Umaru-chan R
Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou
Love Live! Sunshine!! 2
Hoozuki no Reitetsu 2
Osomatsu-san 2
ClassicaLoid 2
Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z
Itsudatte Bokura no Koi wa 10cm datta
Time Bokan: Gyakushuu no San-Okunin
Wake Up, Girls! Shin Shou

Series I don’t care about

Anime Gataris

Studio: WAO World
Director:: Kenshiro Morii
Script/Series composer: Mitsutaka Hirota
Source: Original
The anime centers on Minoa Asagaya, a new high school student in Sakaneko Private High School. Despite being a novice to anime, Minoa’s classmate Arisu Kamiigusa invites her to make an “anime research club” at school. Through conversations with her classmate Miko Kouenji, as well as various anime-loving upperclassmen, Minoa gradually gets hooked on anime. While they stand against the student council’s continuous efforts to disband their club, and they ignore the impending end of the world, they talk about anime, whether in Akiba, or in real-life “sacred place” anime settings, or the hot springs.

I am very ready to write this off as a rather uninteresting show as all signs point to this being a cute girls doing cute things show. This appears to be an adaption of what was originally a short animation screened during intermission at TOHO cinemas. The PV points to this being just cute girls in a club as well. But there is one thing here that throws me off and that is that tiny detail in the description: “and they ignore the impending end of the world”. My interest in this show depends on how literal that statement is. That is the make or break point for this show for me, because an anime club by itself isn’t going to sell this show (I would be better off watching Genshiken). But an anime club at the end of the world? There’s something to get me interested. Director really hasn’t worked on anything of note and the same goes for the series composer unless you liked the anime X-men adaption or the New Prince of Tennis. Despite this I don’t have very high hopes for this as it likely won’t be anything of note even if it goes for the impending apocalypse scenario.

Continue reading “Fall Season 2017 Preview” →

VN Recommendation – Doki Doki Literature Club

by AidanAK47, posted in Game Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47

I don’t plan to do this often but after playing this I wanted to make a post recommending it. I could have done a review like I usually do but in this case the story is so short and the VN can be downloaded for free so if I was to write a full review of it i would most likely spoil the experience. The length of the game is about 3 to 4 hours and while it likely doesn’t look like something all that interesting I can guarantee that it is well worth reading. The first hour is a bit tough to get through as it is rather dull and starts up slowly. But once things get going this story picks up immensely so power though till you get to that point. The visual novel was made in 2 years by a former Smash Bro’s Modder and despite it’s style it is an English Only Visual novel, meaning that it is not made in Japan. You can download the game from this site but it will also be available from Steam here. I highly recommend checking it out as it’s certainly a fascinating experience.

Kakegurui Review – 61/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Kakegurui, Reviews by AidanAK47

This show is one that makes conventional reviewing difficult as your enjoyment of your series will likely determine on highly subjective factors. For if I was to put this under scrutiny on matters of f-plot, setting and characters then it will end up lacking in all categories. The plot is just watching Yumeko face members of the student council in a series of gambling games. The setting is absolutely ridiculous with a unnecessary school setting that makes no sense whatever considering what happens in the series. The cast is made up of people whose main trait is being crazy in some form or another and go over the top with facial expressions. Yes to judge this show on these qualities would have it fall low indeed but that is not what makes a show enjoyable. I believe that style over substance is what I am getting at here as Kakegurui works mainly due to it’s presentation.

While gambling is the focus of this anime, the games themselves don’t really amount to much as we never really get a chance to look inside Yumeko’s head and see her work out plans or countermeasures. If you have just finished Kaiji and walk into Kakegurui expecting something similar then you will be undoubtably disappointed. For the common factor here is to see how smug the opponent is in how they rigged the game and having Yumeko eventually unveil that she knows about it and manages to win. Often putting her previous smug opponent down a peg.

Thus the satisfaction is in seeing the over exaggerated fashion at which this all goes down. The music, animation and art are often as over the top as possible with the soundtrack sporting trumpets and jazz like music while the characters faces distort into vile contortions be it in victory or defeat. Every character is crazy and none are crazier than our lead who often elapses into sexual excitement over the idea of risk. This aspect can get admittedly too much as it’s used to push fanservice as characters essentially orgasm over gambling and there are quite a few times where in female characters seem to be visually seducing each other in what would be otherwise a normal conversation. Yuri undertones are apparent here quite blatantly despite none of the character being made clear to be homosexual nor interesting in anything besides gambling and their own ambitions.

As such this is a series that I can’t really provide value through words, instead I say if you show interest then check out the first episode as that acts as an example of what you will receive for the entire series. However I would warn you to not expect something more than that as Kakegurui is only good at one thing and it will not move far from that one thing. This is a series about a crazy gambling girl showing smug assholes their place. That’s all you are going to get. But if you are fine with that then this is the show for you. Personally while i enjoyed it at first, I began to grow tired of it in the final episodes of the shows run so my rating for it’s that it’s a decent distraction but not one I will return to.

Kakegurui – 12[Gambling Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

It’s been awhile since I seen an anime original ending and honestly I was rather dreading it when I started this episode. Anime original endings don’t have a good track record as of course attempting to tack on an abrupt conclusion to an ongoing story is not going to turn out swimmingly. Even if I wasn’t aware this would be anime original, I believe the dialogue at the beginning of the episode would have clued me in. For I always notice a level of artificiality when it comes to anime original endings, like here where the characters are attempting to string together some feeling of conclusion from what is essentially the start of a story. However against all odd this actually worked out for Kakegurui. We have an ending which brings a feeling of closure while leaving open the potential for a second season, a second season which I don’t think this series needs. I will be blunt and say that this series has run it’s course and the only thing that lies ahead is more of the same. There is only so many times you can see the same scenario before it grows tiresome and so it’s better to stop while you are ahead than run yourself ragged. For anyone that wants more there is always the option to start the manga from chapter 27, where the anime leaves off.

So Yumeko bets against the president and in the source it was supposed to be that the president’s secretary challenges her instead. leading to a high stakes bet that involves a giant tower structure that the president built for the sole purpose of a single bet. Here though the president challenges Yumeko to a simple game using Tarot cards. Admittedly anticlimactic considering that if the president was dying to bet against Yumeko then she would set up a much more dramatic gamble but well we got one episode to wrap this show up and when you get down to it the gamble isn’t really the important part. The rules are simple, three people pick up a single tarot card. Each tarot card is worth a certain amount of points and depending on whether it’s upside down or rightside up those points could be plus or minus. The president wins if the points are minus while Yumeko wins if the points are plus. Both pick up one card and the last card is selected by Ryota. The loser of the bet must leave the academy forever and never come back. It is rather funny that out of all the bets Yumeko has been in, this is by far the most fair. In most other games the opponent was cheating but here it really does appear to be a game of luck and nothing more.

Though thanks to luck the president manages to put Yumeko in a position where the only card she can win with is the fool and Ryota must be the one to pick up that card. I really love the mindgame here however as one of the cards was marked by the president’s nail polish during a small demonstration, making it that all that needs to be done to win is to pick up the marked card. Though the question is whether the president truly marked the fool card or some other card in other to throw off her opponent. This leads to what might be quite frankly, my favorite moment in this series, where Ryota more or less confesses to Yumeko and ends up picking a card at random. The way that Yumeko practically transformed into a demonic entity guiding his hand is an image that’s likely to come to mind whenever I think of this series. Thus the game ends in a draw and neither have to leave the campus. Though whether the president marked the Fool card or not is left up to debate, to which I guess that she probably did. Thus we have a confrontation showdown between the two without compromising the possibility of a second season. I may require some rewriting to make it work but it can be done but much like I said before, I think it’s fine to leave this story like this. Kakegurai isn’t likely to get a second season and an ending like this is fine as she managed to challenge all the student council members and not leave too much hanging. Sure there is a bit of a sequel hook but it is my hope that this will be it as this show came, did it’s thing and now can leave the stage graciously.