Author: AidanAK47

Schwarzesmarken – 09

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Schwarzesmarken

For the past few episodes we were able to get past the lack of character development by focusing on the situation at hand. However with an episode like this which depends on emotional investment in the characters; Schwarzesmarken really shows this animes weaknesses. Lises situation is unfortunate though she still remains nonredeemable. Pham’s death didn’t invoke any emotion from me as her screen time in the anime has be rather limited. I guess they tried to make it more meaningful by having her comfort Theodor and Theodor admiring that he always thought of her as an older sister. But this scene felt contrived and forced due to the interaction between these two being absolutely minimal throughout the series. I would even bet this is the first time we seen them talking to each other alone. It’s clear that a lot of content is missing here and likely cut due to the anime’s time limitations. This is adapting seven volumes worth of light novels after all. In that line of thinking this may be best an anime seen after reading the visual novel or light novels; as then you would have the context needed to be affected by the struggles of these characters. If anything this show displays the importance of downtime in a story. You need to lay back; let your characters talk and interact. Allow the audience to know the person behind the giant Mecha. Then when the time comes to have them face challenges it won’t fall flat like this.

Axemann entering the fray again wasn’t exactly a surprise as he’s a bit too good of a villain to be killed off screen like that. His presence does present a dilemma in that to defeat the Stasi they are forced to work with Stasi. Especially someone like Axemann whom is hardly trustworthy. While allying with him it increases the chances of overthrowing the Stasi; it also presents the possibility of repeating history all over again.Axemann wants a seat of power in the new government and if they give him that well…it’s only a matter of time before he begins to take over again. Though I doubt he’s going to survive this series as he just has far too many enemies about. Even background characters are out for his blood.

So when a hefty amount of character interaction is chopped out this makes Pham’s sacrifice very unnecessary and illogical. What does she hold such faith in Lise and why is she going to such lengths to go outside with a rocket launcher and attempt to disable her TSF? It makes you question whether Pham was just an idiot seeing as she seemed to be banking on Lise not firing back at her after she hit her with a rocket launcher. Personally she might as well have just jumped into a TSF and used that to disable Lise. You could say she was too weak for that but she did just carry a rocket launcher through snow for a considerable distance. Pretty sure she could manage a TSF. Taking this into account I can only look at Pham’s sacrifice as pointless which lessens the tragedy of it. A tragedy I find much more compelling is that Lise’s current stance. This episode Lise revealed just to what lengths she went to in order to protect her brother. Sold out her friends, sold her body, killed dozens and even sacrificed her humanity by becoming Axemanns “pet”. She did the absolutely unthinkable and all for the day when she could be with Theodor again. And now she stands baring everything she is to him and he can’t possibly forgive what she’s become. Her efforts ultimately ensured that Theodor would never be with her and the sad fact is that she is far beyond redemption. The only thing Theodor can do for her now is put a bullet in her head which he sadly cannot bring himself to do. Considering just how broken Lise is; I think he’s going to really regret that. After all Lise has already shown the depths she will resort to if it means she can be with her dear “Onii-chan”

Boku dake ga Inai Machi – 09

by AidanAK47, posted in Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Currently Watching:

We come to the climax of Kayos arc and the time when that mother of hers gets what’s coming. Admittedly I would have preferred that the payback was a little more forceful as they essentially cornered her and killed her with kindness. A character like Kayos mom is a difficult one to make deep, as many writers just resort to the minimum effort of characterisation. An abusive parent whose abusive because they are. By making a character unapologetically evil and them being unaware of the right of their actions just spurs a feeling of wanting to slap some sense into these idiotic simpletons. While this shows efforts didn’t quite make Kayos mom a more complex individual; at least it tried to give some logic behind her actions. I truly appreciate that it recognised that Kayos mom had gone too far to become sympathetic by showing the onlookers to be largely unaffected by Kayos breakdown into tears. I now understand just how she came to beat Kayo; namely because of the stress of being a single mother and that Kayo was a reminder of a previous incredibly abusive relationship she had with her husband. But while I understand why she came to do what she did; that doesn’t excuse the fact that she’s beating the crap out of her daughter. I feel her plight is even more apathetic when you consider that we have a perfect example of a single mom in Sachiko to contrast her with. Cry all you like; I am not going to forget that just minutes ago you nearly took Sachiko’s head clean off with a snow shovel. I admit that this resolution to Kayos problem is a little too quick and clean. Though having this all done does serve to benefit the story seeing as the heavy focus of Kayo put the main plot to the sideline a bit too much.

On that note this show certainly is making an effort to remove suspicions from the teacher being the murderer and I find myself questioning it. Before I was dead set that he was the one but now he has become so suspicious that I begin thinking he’s a red herring. He remains prime suspect due to the fact that there is no other characters who fit the bill but that would make Satoru’s view as a father figure quite tragic. The big reveal of a stash of candy in his car compartment almost seems like a dead giveaway but his explanation behind it is so quirky that I find myself believing it. So with Kayo out of the way we have moved on to the other two victims of the killer and I fear Satoru is making a big mistake. He’s continuing as through the pattern of murderers will follow the same path but he has interfered with it. The episode ends with an ominous shot of the girl who previously attempted to fame Kayo for stealing money following Satoru’s friends. Heavily hinting that she may be the next victim. Personality this looks like a fake out as it’s likely the animators thought they needed to carry the tread of ending every episode with a cliffhanger. Chances are she will follow the boys and get involved with what’s going on. Though the chance of her ending up as a new target is quite high. It would act as a perfect wake up call for Satoru to realise how his actions have consequences.

As this episode ends the ever looming question remains. Just how do they plan to cover the rest of the manga in the remaining episodes. We have reached a point where they have too much to cover and yet have gone through the story so much that there’s not enough left for a second season. As I see it we have two outcomes to this. One is that they plan on announcing  a OVA or movie at series end to conclude the series. The other is that they plan to rush the remainder of the content at mach speed. Considering the level of care that has gone into this adaption; outcome two seems unlikely. There is no way they planed out these episodes and didn’t see the issue of the remaining content. That would just be a densely grave oversight. A movie seems like the most likely option and the best one. It would give them the remaining time they need to conclude the story and up the production values. Boku Machi is a show that deserves a worthwhile ending.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 08

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

This was an episode of emotional baggage and we got plenty from our cast. This was a great episode in how it developed our characters and foreshadowed the troubles to come. I believe I have misunderstood Sukeroku’s intent with his Rakugo. I am now convinced that Sukeroku’s aloof exterior hides the mind of a truly intelligent man. After all, what carefree simpleton takes the time to think though the future of his profession and realise that his art needed to change in order to match the times. Sukeroku’s solution is an interesting one; to have a Rakugo performers that’s experimental and adapts the art. And to have one to keep the traditions of old alive. It’s a good strategy; after all despite the being at the advent of VR gaming, the love of traditional 2D side scrollers as not diminished in the slightest. But Sukeroku’s path is a thorny one as evidenced but the masters reluctance to move up his rank as a performer. For people don’t like change and Sukerokus efforts to keep Rakugo relevant might end up destroying his career. In his words that two people before them intended to inherit his master’s name; one succeeded while the other died penniless in a theater. I fear these words will be prophetic to the fate of Sukeroku himself.

Miyokichi laying bare her soul to Sukeroku was also rather telling as she explains just how she has been used by men over the years. She’s smart enough to know Yakumo is cutting her off but it makes it all the more painful when he’s the only person she’s ever truly desired. Sokerokus embrace was a rather sudden move but to me it felt calculated. He did it quickly and without any passion. To me it felt like he knew Yakumo was around and purposefully gave off the wrong impression in order to get a reaction out of Yakumo; to show Miyokichi that he really cared.  Him shouting at Yakumo to go after her does show that he supports them and is rather contradictory considering what he just did. But perhaps he simply intended to comfort Miyokichi. However it backfired and Yakumo only made clear his disinterest in her sexually. I believe it when he said he loved her and the master telling him he can’t begin a family with a girl like her looks to be his excuse. Though in the old days of Japan such a thing could hurt his standing in the Rakugo world. It’s possible Miyokichi could be happy just standing by his side as she said however there are few who could stay in a position and never desire more later down the road.

The master also has a small bit of development as it seems that he doesn’t believe he truly lived up to the name he inherited from his master. This may be referring back to the man Sukeroku mentioned as perhaps he had a similar rivalry and felt inferior to the man Sukeroku got his love of Rakugo from. In fact perhaps that is the reason he took in Sukeroku in the first place. I think Yakumo’s feelings in in this episode could be greatly misinterpreted. Of course I could be wrong in my assessment but to me it felt clear what Yakumo was talking about when he considered being with Sukeroku painful. He cares for Sukeroku but he reminds him of the rakugo he can never do and the traits he can never have. Yakumo admires him but in looking at him he can only find the faults with himself become all the more glaring. I am reminded of the relationship between Guts and Griffith from Berserk; which was also considered having homoerotic undertones. Yakumo stated that he could simply just fall back and enjoy being a friend/caretaker of Sukeroku, but Yakumo wants to stand on the same stage as Sukeroku. As an equal. From how things look; Shouwa Genroku is building towards a tragedy. The events that lead to the future from the first episode are coming into place; it’s just a matter of how it all happens.

Schwarzesmarken – 08

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Schwarzesmarken

This week on Schwarzesmarken. The squad is captured, the bad guys have won, our main character is in a emo coma and the little sister character has gone full bitch. So in one fell swoop the Russian faction of the Stasi has wiped out the Berlin faction and taken over East Germany. I was previously under the impression that they planned to use the Schwarzesmarken team as hostages to stop the Berlin faction but it seems that their Russian friends have given them some brand new TSFs which were used to wipe out Axemann. Oh Axemann, you were so confident in this Coup d’etat that you didn’t know that all you were doing was rolling out the red carpet to welcome your enemies. With that the Stasi have practically won; they have the resources to resupply the front lines and control over the government. Other countries have no choice but to work with the Stasi in under to fight the BETA. And if the Stasi happens to enforce a full on totalitarian dictatorship in the process then who has the right to protest?

The real highlight of this episode is Lise; who has dropped the cutesy little sister act and revealed her true colours. Symbolised by the removal of her hair ribbons. Now she’s given the job of torturing her former comrades for information about Katia and damn if she isn’t reveling in it. She looked to show a small bit of reluctance when ordered but she certainly is smug in torturing them. It does look like her feelings for Theodor are real but I would guess that he is the only only she cares about. I peaked a little bit into her history and she’s certainly not had it easy. I won’t elaborate as it may be expanded on in future episodes and frankly I want to not look further into it as there is a chance of the Schwarzesmarken visual novels getting officially translated, as the Muv Luv kickstarter stated they were planning to translate a demo of it. (Just to note. Schwarzesmarken started as a series of seven light novels. AGE later made a visual novel covering up to the large scale attack with the Americans in the anime. Which is about up to volume 3. Another VN is coming out to cover the rest of the story) Regardless of what she went though however it doesn’t excuse her actions now. This change from little sister character to cold blooded betrayer has caused me to like Lise a whole lot more. I previously groaned at her very first appearance as she leapt as her brother with a “Onii-chan!” but she has undoubtedly improved the show as whole. I am hoping with her reveal and Axemann out of the way we can finally see Beatrix jump into the position of main villain and show us what she can do. Of course BETA are the main threat but I put them in the same place I would put the whitewalkers of Game of Thrones. That being a looming threat to raise the stakes but not the focus. Beatrix has been heavily underused for these past 8 episodes and I want her to prove her presence worthwhile in these last episodes.

The last part of the episode focused on Katia convincing the rebellion forces to use her status as the daughter of a hero to rally support to overthrow the Stasi. This finally snaps Theodor out of his emo coma and he remembers his promise from the very start of the series. I must ask Theodor, what were you thinking about while dazed out. It has always being a curiosity of mine as to what goes through a Mecha protagonists head when they crunch up in fetal position and their eyes go dead. Maybe they just think roundabout logic like Shinji Ikari or maybe they enter some dream world where they are a protagonist of a harem or something. (That statement may be dramatic irony considering the beginning of this franchise. Though the internet’s constant debate of what is and isn’t ironic has caused me to not even be sure what it means anymore.) To me this scene represents one of the biggest flaws with this franchise. I mean, I do love Muv Luv but it has its fair share of problems. This problem is; the heavily over dramatic speeches. There are plenty of moments in all the works of characters getting caught up in huge dramatic speeches that go on and on without taking the context of the scene into account. The pragmatic nature of the writing can get overbearing at times. Admittedly the Schwarzesmarken novels were written by Hiroki Uchida whereas the main series was written by Koki Yoshimune so it’s toned down a bit here or simply cut short to fit it in the anime. Still seeing Katia getting into a big speech that manages to stir Theodor out of his stupor was too cheesy for my liking. That said; it worked on the general so I guess we can move on to overthrowing the Stasi. Just how they can manage that will be something to see.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi – 08

by AidanAK47, posted in Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Currently Watching:

A calm episode of Boku Machi this week but certainly a very strong one. The teacher looked to be removing suspicions on him this episode with his efforts to get child services to finally catch Kayos mom. However my prime suspect remains him and if anything I think hes proving his guilt. Removing the camera shots that make him look suspicious; we have some things here linking him to the killer. For one, the kids discovered that the bus they were keeping Kayo in was also being used as the killer’s hideout. Kenya mentioned that the bus was used by the school and abandoned. Which stands to reason that the killer knew that the bus wasn’t being used as well and is connected with the school. The teacher is the one calling social services on Kayos mom; which stands to reason that he’s the perfect person to tip her off about the visits. But then why get social services to investigate in the first place? Well it looks like he isn’t the only one concerned with Kayos situation and Sachiko is involved as well. He might be doing it for the sake of appearance. His knowledge that Satoru had hidden Kayo is also suspicious; it’s possible to come to that conclusion but I feel he was so certain because he knew that they were using his hideout as a place to hide her. You can’t fool me, mister teacher. You are still my prime suspect.

Satoru thankfully takes my advice and decides to trust in his mother after the base is compromised. If Sachiko hasn’t won the award for best mother in anime before this; she certainly has now. Taking Kayo in and giving her all the care in the world made the second half of this episode truly heartwarming. Also a bath scene that wasn’t pandering fanservice. See anime? You can do it if you try. It could be argued that we are spending too much time on Kayo and putting the main storyline to the wayside. Especially as we are reaching the end of the series and still have a large amount of material to cover. I do have my concerns about that but frankly this was an excellent episode. In particular the scene with Kayo crying at the sight of a lovingly made breakfast was truly powerful and moving. Truly masterfully done. The thing that makes it all the more effective is that Kayo up till this point had been very mature child. She never cried at being abused by her mother, or at anything she would have every right to cry about. But when faced with genuine unconditional love, all the barriers she set up melted away and she became a kid once again. I am impressed by that scene and particularly annoyed when Yuki Kajiura wormed her piano song into in and started get me thinking how it’s too damn similar to Fate/zero and that using piano for this scene is so damn lazy and goddamn it Yuki! Gah! Personal gripes with that aside it was well executed scene.

I remain in a strange position with this show. For you see I do think this has been done wonderfully so far and I want to lavish praise on it. But part of me is reserved on doing so because this show isn’t over and I feel if I begin to push it as anime of the season I risk jinxing the remainder of its run. Then there is the big worry, the fact that this anime has been confirmed to portray the manga ending, yet it has only covered about half the manga so far and we have only four episodes left. I am praying in my heart that there is a second season in the works or at least a small series of OVA episodes because no matter how good the execution has been so far, I cannot see the situation of shoving twenty one thirty page chapters of manga into a short time frame ending well. Of course, I want to be wrong on that, I want this to all work out. Well in coming back to the episode we have Kayos mom getting antsy now that Kayo isn’t around to let her take out her frustrations. But this episodes cliffhanger looks like she will finally be getting some just desserts.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 07

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Things are looking up for Yakumo, he’s finally found his rhythm, he’s becoming more popular and his talent is being recognized. The only problem is that girl that keeps forcing him to go on dates. Yakumo’s romantic affairs are strange in that he never actively searches for love but inadvertently finds himself in relationships despite that. In his love life it’s often the girl that’s coming on to him instead of the other way around. I don’t think Yakumo ever looked at these girls in a sexual way as his interactions with them often feel distant. I never seen him light up red even when a girl is throwing herself at him. Likewise I feel this is evidence enough that he’s not homosexual as well as he’s never got embarrassed bathing with men either. The time he was most embarrassed and vulnerable was when he was dressed as a woman for the play. Which leads me to believe he has no interest in sexual interaction at all. It was sort of a blessing that Yakumo’s previous girlfriends never stuck around long enough to realise he wasn’t that into them. A blessing our dear Miyokichi does not have. It’s a tragic development that the first man Miyokichi truly falls for is someone who isn’t romantically interested in her at all. Which is one of the main reasons she fell for him in the first place. However with Yakumo’s career taking off it looks like now he’s decided to finally cut her out but from the looks of it this isn’t out of malice or annoyance. I think it’s pretty clear he does care for her seeing as he let her push him into a relationship. But he won’t feel the same love for her as she does for him and is likely nipping the relationship in the bud before things get too serious. It’s cruel but necessary and Miyokichi likely knows that better than anyone. I personally see this as the beginning of her targeting Sukeroku, mainly to get a reaction out of him.

Rakugo wise we have a shift in power as Yakumo looks to be becoming more popular than Sukeroku. Even their master acknowledges Yakumo’s skill over Sukerokus by taking him touring with him which considering how he was previously left behind during the war, must truly mean the world to Yakumo. Sukeroku’s reaction to this is hard to gauge, it could be jealously or him being happy for Yakumo. His demeanor doesn’t change much besides some small reactions. This is just my own thoughts but I think Sukeroku is hiding some more complex feelings under his facade. This is the time when Sukerokus weaknesses are becoming more apparent when contrasted with Yakumo. His disrespect for his seniors, his impulsive experimentation, bad time management and shabbiness of his appearance. Yakumo is trying to help him in his fussy responsible sibling manner but Sukeroku isn’t the man to listen to words asking him to change. I say that it is Sukerokus eccentricities that likely made the master choose Yakumo over him as his Rakugo remains good. Yakumo and Sukeroku have always been opposites and now it seems that just like Yakumo’s weaknesses lay in performing, Sukerokus weaknesses lay outside of it. I think we have moved on to how Sukeroku will improve as a performer and something tells me that the thing to make him straighten up is a certain geisha girl.

Schwarzesmarken – 07

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Schwarzesmarken

These latest episodes of Schwarzesmarken have started to show the shine I once saw in the MuvLuv Alternative visual novel. Characters remain underdeveloped but the show has benefited from having the characters defined by the situation and thus we can ignore that fact that they are very thin personality. The BETA battles are excellently animated too and really show off how much of a difference it makes between fighting laser class and heavy laser class. The Static sprites of the visual novel made it difficult to convey the level of threat each BETA strain posed. You were told of course, but when it came to combat all BETA were the same. Combat is fast and tense, I just wish I felt more for the characters to let it put me on the edge of my seat. Though Theodor just went up a notch in my book and for one simple reason. Dear readers I have seen so many anime that try to make you think the that the main character is about to get laid. So much so that I practically assume that no matter how good the situation looks, something will prevent it. So when I heard that Theodor genuinely slept with Lise I had to do a doubletake. I thought that maybe it wasn’t what it sounded like but they made it abundantly clear, Theodor had sex with her. Well Theodor you are now above over 95% of harem protagonists just by being able to do the deed. Even if you choose to do it with the worst person possible.

Well Lise is a Stasi spy, just as I figured. Her allegiance looks to be with the Russian faction of the Stasi and the move looks to have caught Theodor off guard. Theodor wasn’t a complete idiot and held on to the possibility of his sister being a spy and it seems he slept with her to keep her under his thumb. Logically speaking that’s a decent move as it does look like Lise truly loves Theodor but Theodor simply isn’t good at manipulation. He’s too oblivious to others feelings and far too straightforward to be able to effectively keep her under his control. One of the biggest issues are that it’s clear to anyone that he holds feelings for Irisdina and very nearly confessed to her at the end of the episode. I am guess this was the main motivation for Lises choice of hostage at the end of the episode. Theodor made it abundantly clear to Lise just how much Irisdina meant to him when she asked him to run away with her. Though thinking of that, she likely suggested this to prevent him from seeing her do the dirty work of killing his teammates. The second is that Theodor greatly underestimates his step-sister. Truly who knows what kind of dirty work Lise had to do while within the stasi. She is not the same little girl you knew back when you were kids.

Things are looking bleak, the BETA are performing Zerg rush tactics, the Stasi have instigated a Coup d’etat and now they have captured the Schwarzesmarken team. From my speculation I would say that the move to capture the team and the Coup d’etat are the two factions working separately. The Coup seems like Axemanns work and the capture of the team looks like Beatrix’s work. Based on this I would say the Russian faction is planning to use the team as bargaining chips to get the upper hand over the Berlin faction. I doubt the Stasi is unified in this Coup d’etat as while it has a high chance of success when in the middle of a BETA attack, once you have managed to overthrow command, then the Stasi will have to be the one to deal with the BETA attack. Considering they spent most of their time overthrowing isn’t of defending against the attack, it’s doubtful things would end well. As with many a war, it’s always the idiotic commander who happens to mess things up for everyone. There’s may be giant robots and Aliens about but in the end, war never changes.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi – 07

by AidanAK47, posted in Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Currently Watching:

From back to the future to back to the past and not a moment too soon. Satoru’s plan is something I find a little strange as despite his efforts to save Hinazuki’s it making it easier for her to get killed. Taking Hinazuki away from her mother is a good call, leaving Hinazuki alone in an abandoned location is not the right call. It’s a little bit of pity that Satoru was stopped before pushing Hinazuki’s mom down the stairs, even if Kenya made a good call in stopping him. That fall could very likely kill her and as satisfying as that would be, it wouldn’t put Satoru in the best position. This time around it’s nice to see the little details as this is Satoru’s third third going through all this and he’s a bit more in control. One really interesting detail is that when the surprise party happened, the reaction from Satoru was more forced than his initial reaction the first time. When looking at his eyes you could tell he was expecting it.

Satoru’s plan this time around was far from perfect and I believe his first mistake was trusting Kenya. Due to my suspicions of the teacher I never quite trusted Kenya, especially with his unusual level of maturity. Also he was eagerly forward to help Satoru this time around and while he did talk with Satoru many times after Hinazukas disappearance last time, I feel like Kenya is aware that this isn’t the first time they have been through this. Personally I believe Satoru has a perfect allie around who would prove to be far more trustworthy and useful than Kenya. That of course is Sachiko, Satoru’s mom. If Satoru sat down and explained everything to her I am sure Sachiko would believe him. She’s had his back before when facing off against Hinazuki’s mother so I have full confidence that she would be behind him if he said it was for Hinazuki. However it is possible that our mystery visitor at the end of the episode is Sachiko. She was aware of Satoru leaving in the middle of the night and she does have a tendency to follow him if she’s worried about him.

I hope so as to see Hinazuki die a second time would be heartbreaking. Over the years I may have found myself distancing my feelings for characters if I was under the slightest suspicion that they would be killed off but Hinazuki holds that factor that makes her endearing. He definitely gives you the feeling of wanting to protect her and I am aware that’s generally a moe character thing but Hinazuki does not hold the traits that often make moe characters very irritating. I would say I good example of this would be the female characters in a Jun Maeda work. Often to make the tragic twist hit all the harder, he makes his female characters as innocent as possible. As a result the girls in his works don’t really act like teenage girls, they act like kindergarteners. Hinazuki is at the age where it would be justifiable to make her act like a Jun Maeda heroine but she holds a much higher level of maturity and intelligence. She doesn’t try to act cute, she’s just loveable the way she is.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 06

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

This episode was a bit of a re-thread as after Yakumo has discovered his talent for Rakugo, he’s now wondering as to who he’s doing it for. We have a rather pointless flashback to when Yakumo was a child and it seems before they took him to become a Rakugo performer, they tried to make him a Geisha. I wasn’t aware that boys could become Geisha, and this episode seems to agree on that. Which makes me wonder what cruel mistress would toss him away into a profession where he is doomed from the start. I believe the point of this was to remind us that Yakumo was pretty much abandoned once he lost his ability to dance due to a leg injury. Hence him coming to the realization of wanting somewhere where he belonged. This would be fine but we have already established this before and this just seems like an unnecessary reminder. Sukeroku has displayed that there may be more to him that meets the eye as it’s possible that his actions of getting Yakumo to star in the play and push him to do more racy Rakugo could be Sukeroku helping Yakumo’s talent blossom. There definitely seems to be a method in his madness as even in this episode he helped Yakumo realise something important for his Rakugo by bring up his reason for performing. Yakumo does look to hate receiving guidance from Sukeroku as it makes him feel inferior to him. Even upon realising that Sukeroku was the first to suggest he perform racy Rakugo caused him to tremble with irritation. I think Sukeroku knows this on some level and hides his guidance under drunken stupor or his easygoing attitude. Sukeroku might just be more that meets the eye or he could just be doing this subconsciously. Either way it looks like he and Sukeroku are now equals on the Rakugo front and Yakumo has gained a huge boost of confidence.

Rakugo once again takes up a huge portion of the episode but that is by no means a bad thing. You really can see just how the characters improve their acts but I don’t necessarily like how the stories they tell are getting more visually represented. Understandably it does show they are painting a picture of their stories better and the show does avoid giving a completely clear picture. Plus we have to give those artists someway to put in their creative side. One nice little touch I liked was that before the performance, Yakumo was shown in black with just white outlines. It was interesting as his expression in that shot mirrored the expression he had when he lowered his head to the floor at the end of his performance and you could see the reflection of his face. Perhaps it was to show his new found confidence for Rakugo in that he knew that he would perform well before he even started. Or symbolism of the uncertainty over why he performs and then his clear resolution by his stories end. On another note, I can safely say that Shouwa Genroku is a anime that is outright impossible to dub. A pity as I feel the stories would have more impact if they were heard instead of read but truly there is no way this could be dubbed satisfactory. Not only would the stories humor be lost in translation, but the voice actors would need to present a slow progressive performance of showing how the characters improve at Rakugo. If there are english voice actors who can pull off such a feat, I would certainly be impressed. So with the main conflict out of the way, I wonder just what this series will focus on next and from the looks of the preview we will be delving a little into Yakumo’s romantic troubles.

Schwarzesmarken – 06

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Schwarzesmarken

In a pleasant turn of events, this was the best episode of Schwarzesmarken to date. We didn’t have much mecha action but instead we have a high focus on Schwarzesmarken’s strongest asset. Namely its setting and internal politics. (Strange as with a Gundam series I tend to hate those aspects) there were some nice bits of character development, though Gretel’s should have been established much earlier. We learn that the Stasi is not united and is instead undergoing a power struggle between two factions. One lead by Axmann who wishes to cut ties with all foreign nations for the Stasi to stand on it’s own and other lead by another man who has Beatrix under his thumb and wishes to strengthen ties with the soviet’s. With that the suicidal nature of the Stasi makes so much more sense. The Stasi isn’t just trying to take over the military but is also fighting for power within itself. Everyone is so concerned with solidifying their position that they don’t take into account the inevitable demise of the country by the hands of BETA. Much like any apocalypse story, the most dangerous thing on the planet are humans themselves. We have a number of players on the field, the two factions of the Stasi, the military and minor factions such as Theodors group and this new group. Even in modern times, the game of thrones continues on.

The second half of the episode focuses on a particular dilemma, whether Lise is a Stasi spy. For Theodor this is troublesome as he what’s to believe in his sister but as things go on she just gets more and more suspicious. So much so that the entire team is on hand to take her out by episodes end. Even Katia joining the witchhunt. Axmann stirred up the pot, likely because he thinks Lise is a spy for the Russian faction of Stasi and this isn’t helped but Lise’s suspicious actions. Her efforts to get the team to dismiss the thought of her being a spy and her efforts to try to get Katia and Theodor to admit to fighting the stasi only serve to damn her further. Her last action this episode seems to be a move of pure desperation as she tries to seduce Theodor. You could write this off as typical harem nonsense but I have never seen a harem girl make a move so daring.

So do I think Lise is a spy, that sweet innocent girl who only wants the best for her brother? Well…she’s a spy without doubt. How am I so certain of that? The most damning piece of evidence is her conversation with Katia. True her insinuations about having Theodor to herself if Irisdina was out of the picture is pretty telling when she’s the one making the move on him at episodes end. But that’s not what gave her away. For you see when Lise gave back Katia’s necklace she said “You should be careful carrying around a picture of you and a westerner” and here’s the thing. Katia burned the picture of her and her father in an earlier episode. This episode showed her replacing it in the necklace with a newspaper clipping of their victory at the BETA battle. So how did Lise know what picture was in the necklace before? This is a most interesting turn of events as Theodor must now come to terms with his sister being a spy as I highly doubt her seduction will work. But if Lise is found out I doubt the Stasi will let her live so Theodor, what will it be? Let your sister be sent to her death a second time or sell out your team to save her life? Now this Schwarzesmarken, is my kind of entertainment.