Author: AidanAK47

Zombieland Saga – 02[I ♡ HIP HOP SAGA]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Zombieland Saga

Zombieland Saga is madness. Pure insanity that could be complete genius or absolute idiocy. So for those who haven’t heard this anime is not the zombie apocalypse show that was initially thought, as a matter of fact the zombie apocalypse footage in the trailer was in fact a video the producer showed the girls to illustrate what happens to zombies if humans realised that they existed. No, Zombieland Saga is not that kind of show for it is an idol show. An idol show whose idols do screamo death metal and scare the hell out of people when they walk around at night. Also our idols happen to be the living dead who subside on squid for reasons unknown. I truly wish I could have been at the pitch meeting for this anime and shake the hand of the man mad enough to greenlight it. This is truly why I love anime as this is the kind of story that could only see the light of day here and not to mention, actually be pretty good.

It’s fairly safe to say that the voice actor for the producer is having a real fun time Houyon Kyouma-ing it up and his interaction is pretty damn funny. Particularly when someone calling him on his lies and all he can do to respond is throw a tantrum. What is real goals are at this point certainly seem elusive as it’s hard to tell if he has any agenda at all or is just doing this for kicks. There are mysteries that he refused to elaborate on like how the girls became zombies in the first place which he dodged by just saying to watch a zombie movie, which is pretty amusing considering that most zombie movies do not elaborate at all on what actually causes the outbreak. There is also the matter of the legendary Yamada Tae who is the only zombie not to wake up, seems to be the first zombie that the producer brought to life based on her designation of the number 0 and that she is literally known only as the legendary Yamada Tae without any info on what in particular that makes her legendary. He doesn’t even state as to why an idol group would save the saga region or even why he is interested in doing so in the first place. But then again this guy can’t seem to decide what the bands name is and just throws them on a stage with little in the way of preparation. both times which somehow worked out

I died when they started rapping on stage as I watched this show go from Love Live to 8 mile out of nowhere. The manager beatboxing, the courtson putting in a beat with a shamisen and Sakura bobbing to the music while having a rap battle a undead fromer motorcycle gang leader who is pissed cause her tamagotchi died. All of it had me smiling ear to ear and not to mention the rap actually sounded good despite it being used for the plot for Sakura to finally get the girls on board with the idol idea. So the question is whether this show will eventually have them performing idol songs or are they just going to jump from genre to genre? Cause I hope it’s the latter option because it is far too entertaining to just have them spontaneously jump into unfamiliar genres and if they ended with a version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller then…well greatness shall have been achieved. But admittedly that does run the risk of making this show rather formulaic when surprise is it’s greatest factor and this episode did follow a similar plotline to the first episode. As a last note I hear that Funimation have decided to simudub this series for this season and god have mercy on them. This second episode is going to be a nightmare to dub but hopefully they can pull it off and hopefully the actresses they got can rap as well as sing provided they dub it and don’t just switch to japanese for the rap. So will the girls finally sing an idol song next time? Will the legendary Yamada Tae wake up? Will they finally decide on a group name? Will Saki get over the death of her tamagotchi? Find out next time on zombie love live.

Planet With Anime Review – 90/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Planet With, Reviews by AidanAK47

Planet With is an anime that likely leaves many unimpressed when they look at the cover and makes for a solid proof that you cannot judge a book by it’s cover or even by it’s first episode. Many have overlooked this show in it’s season but for those that did give it chance it went above and beyond expectations. It is the first original anime work of Satoshi Mizukami, who is most well known for Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle which are both highly lauded manga and personal favorites of myself. The story is twelve episodes long and yet tells a tale that could very well have been two cours in it’s small span of time. Now in many cases that would be disastrous and result in a rushed mess of an anime but Planet With beats all odds and not only manages to make it work, but provide a masterclass in using a single cour to its fullest potential. It’s writing is top notch, this show never wastes your time and things are always escalating and subverting your expectations, making you never truly know just what is coming next.

The story involves a boy with amnesia who is dragged into a war between humans and aliens. Indeed the setup seems rather rote but by the first episodes end things start getting changed up. The boy isn’t fighting the Aliens but instead the humans and the agendas of each faction become a lot more than simple world domination. The characters can at first be trope heavy but end up with a depth to them that you wouldn’t expect. Eventually the stories scale grows grander that it resembles the escalation of Gurren Lagann. In fact as far as similarities go, Gurren Lagann and it’s old school mecha contemporaries make an apt comparison. The is a hot bloodedness to the action but also a playfulness to character interaction that lets things flow naturally. It’s a show that knows when to buckle down and get serious while spotting times it needs to take itself less seriously. So you never quite question yourself on why you are so invested in a show with a giant mascot cat fighting a dragon while an alien dog watches with his secretary. While there are aspects of animation, art and music which could be more polished, the writing is something I have a hard time criticizing. Any nits i could pick could be attributed to the shows one cour length but a lesser writer would have caused it all to fall apart.

There are negatives to this in that it takes a few episodes for this show to truly start, the mecha battles are done with awkward CGI which while watchable is still jarring and can’t match animation, the music can get a bit too cheesy as it goes for traditional hot blooded mecha style, the name of the show is hard to google and the ending could have used a bit more of a epilogue. But the more critical negative is that much like the rest of Satoshi’s work, this will likely remain a anime gem not getting the popularity it deserves. Still I implore those willing to listen to at least give it a chance as it deserves that much. With enough time perhaps people can look back on this and come to appreciate everything this show did.

Satsuriku no Tenshi – 08 – 12

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Satsuriku no Tenshi

This isn’t the end of Satsuriku no Tenshi as there are still four more episodes to come though this show has certainly been taking it’s time for the past few episodes. The general focus has been on Zack getting mortally wounded and Rachel traveling back down the floors to find medicine for him. All the while being tested by the priest who looks to be using this journey to judge her character. While the journey up has been a show of Zack and Rachel growing as people, the journey down for Rachel is much like the degeneration of her mental state, hinting that her true character is of a much darker nature. The priest points out to her that she doesn’t truly care for anyone other than herself and many of her actions supposed to help Zack are really all for herself. All culminating in Rachel’s faith in god getting destroyed and effectively deciding that Zack is her god. I had hoped that the journey down would serve to characterise the floor masters better as they all tended to be fairly onenote and cartoonishly over the top but sadly they remain one note and over the top. It’s a bit hard not to see the last few episodes as a slog considering that not much truly happened in them and all that was really accomplished with Rachel having a slight change of mind and saving Zack. I will say though that I rather liked the flashback of Zack and the old man that took care of him as it reminded me heavily of Frankenstein where a blind old man took care of Frankenstein while being completely unaware of what he was.

Episode twelve is where things feel like they are moving again as we have a floor that looks to be built to look exactly like Rachel’s family home. Something which causes Rachel much distress because the priest planted the idea that “God” does not like unclean things and she worries that if Zack were to truly find out who is is then he would abandon her. The final revelation is something which doesn’t come as much of a surprise at this point with all the foreshadowing it’s been doing but Rachel looks to have killed her parents gruesomely and potentially was a floor master like Zack who killed anyone who enters her floor. it does make me wonder just how messed up Rachel is with her sewing her parents together but considering how this series has handled people in flashbacks so far i have no doubt that Rachels parents were also one dimensional assholes with no moral compass. There is also the revelation that the priest built this place in order to test people which seems to hint that this show takes place in reality and that would make a lot of things highly questionable. The thing that excuses a lot of the game logic and unrealistic aspects of this show is the hint that this may be taking place in some kind of purgatory or afterlife. If it actually takes place in reality then a hefty amount of plot holes are going to appear and i hope this show avoids that conclusion. For one the amount of blood Zack shed was enough to kill twenty people so if it turned out this was actually reality then that would be pushing anime logic too far.

While this isn’t the end of the series, this would be a good time to look over my opinion of the series as a whole which hasn’t changed too much from previous assessment. Again, Satsuriku no Tenshi is interesting but deeply flawed. I like what it is trying to do and what it is trying to be but it’s execution is certainly lacking. While the main characters have nice chemistry and decent depth, the rest of the cast is just insane to comical degrees or unabashedly evil. The story can’t hide the moon logic of it’s source with it having puzzle solving with supernaturally constructed puzzles and Rachel sometimes turning into a makeshift Macgyver just to push things forward. Now while i do say this show is interesting, it is more from a objective perspective rather than personal interest. This show can be rather dull sometimes and as episodes went on I felt more and more detached to the goings on of the story. But I do really like the flawed moral nature of the protagonists and a willingness to drop into darker subject matter.(When it doesn’t go too far and just becomes silly.) I would like to see an anime attempt this again with something that maybe isn’t so tied to Rpg Maker gameplay and more surreal in its approach to horror. For as flawed as this show is, at least it’s trying something different (and not completely failing at it like Occultic;Nine) that the other shows like “I’m a high school boy isekaied to a fantasy land to become a magical overpowered mage and idol singer with everyone bowing at my awesomeness and wanting to mate like rabbits while in a club with cute girls drinking tea. ”

A quick and dirty review of Angolmois: Record of the Mongol Invasion

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews
Our protagonist

What it claims to be about: Angolmois (a reference to a Nostradamus prophesy which is rather irrelevant for the show, as he lived several centuries after the events) focuses on the first Mongol Invasion of Japan in 1274. Specifically it focuses on the early phase of the invasion when the Mongols attack Tsushima, which essentially is a way station for invasions from Korea to Japan and the other way around.

What it really is about: We follow a band of criminal exiles, which are conscripted into defending the islands by the local feudal lord’s daughter, Teruhi. Among them is Kuchii Jinzaburō a spunky samurai with a good grasp of military matters. He is headstrong and that is what nets him his exile. The show follows the attempts of Teruhi and Jinzaburo to defend the island against overwhelming forces, while at the same time exploring elements of Tsushima myths and culture in the era.

Our protagonist again. Another side of him.

Why you should watch it: In general Angolmois is a mediocre show. It does some things right. The “Mongols” are presented ,as was historically accurate, as a multi-national force including Koreans, and Chinese. The Mongol openness to giving service to anyone is also correctly presented, as is their rapaciousness. The Japanese arms and armors seemed well researched to me, as well as the fashion. I found Jinzaburo an interesting character with complex motivations, but with enough blood-lust to not make him boring. The Mongol secondary characters are interesting, ranging from the timid but intelligent, to the blood-thirsty. The show does not dreg into too much overt nationalism and myth making. Do not get me wrong, the view of the Japanese as unique is still there, but it is not done in a vulgar way (I am looking at you Kopeki no Kantai). Indeed the show honestly dives into the more localist and personal motivations of the protagonists, including ones that lead to betrayal, without sermonizing. The end is well played out, being at the same time brutally realistic and still hopeful (in this sense sharing similarities to the excellent Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans-watch that instead). Character art was in general pleasing to my aesthetics.

Why it is mediocre: The problems though are major. First, the secondary characters on the Japanese side are very shallow. While the Mongols get some great secondary characters, the creators on the Japanese side only focused on developing really Jinzaburo. From the eight exiles only one more gets any real development. The rest are really archetypes. Tehuri is a crucial character but her development is never pursued (perhaps realistically as war engulfs all).

Second, the animation was a complete and total failure. This was surprising, as I expected a historical anime, based on a manga, dealing with such a rumph rumph nationalist fervor topic would get more funding. Indeed the first and second episodes had some good work. Alas, it did not last. Still shots dominate, the battle scenes lack animation, and while bravo for the show pointing out the multi-ethnic character of Mongol armies, all those Chinese, Mongols, and Koreans look like each other. Over the whole animation is a filter that tries to convey the feeling that this is parchment, but fails. Instead it looks like a tv screen splashed with muddy water.

As a result the story suffers and the presentation also does.

Finally, you leave the show with a feeling that you just watched demo for a bigger show on the full invasion of Kuyshu. There is a feeling of indeterminacy. It is true our main characters get closure. But many of the secondary characters seem to have been shoved in for no other reason than to premeditate a sequel. Perhaps there will be, perhaps there will not. But I hope if there is that they actually spend the money for better animation.

The music is nothing to write home about. The Opening is pleasing enough, but not a home run. The rest is

End point. If you are looking for a light historical show and like spunky characters watch this, but do not expect much. A C- in my grading system.

Fall Season 2018 Preview

by AidanAK47, posted in Seasonal Previews

What happens when the anime season ends? That’s when the anime season begins. You would think that after all these years of this I would stop being surprised at a brand new anime season hitting faster than expected but it’s just one of those things you constantly underestimate.

Now last season we had a decent run with some stand out shows and this would normally be the point where I tell you that the next season coming also has potential greats in it. But this time I am afraid I cannot say that for I have done the research and this season is truly barren. There may be a few alright shows here and a new Jojo is always welcome but everything else is just bottom of the barrel. If those original shows don’t turn out to have merit this could very well be the worst season of anime we have had in a long time. Considering that is coming from me of all people that should at least give you an idea of the quality we are dealing with.

So same rules apply, I will check out all the source material I can to give an idea for what we are in for and there is a poll below for you to vote on what you wish to be covered this season.

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What will you be watching this spring?
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Once again thanks to Mario for images, some previews and layout help and Wooper and Lenlo for editing.

The sequels/Shorts I don’t care about

Fairy Tail (2018) (sequel)
Bakutsuri Bar Hunter
Devidol! (short)
Souten no Ken: REGENESIS 2 (sequel)
Grimms Notes (???)
Gurazeni 2 (sequel)
Gyakuten Saiban: Sono “Shinjitsu”, Igi Ari! 2 (sequel)
Himote House (short)
Hora, Mimi ga Mieteru yo! (short)
Hoshi no Shima no Nyanko TV (short)
Inazuma Eleven: Orion no Kokuin (sequel)
Jingai-san no Yome (short)
Kira Kira Happy ★ Hirake! Cocotama (sequel)
Okoshiyasu, Chitose-chan (short)
The iDOLM@STER: Side M: Wake Atte Mini! (short)
Pingu in the City 2 (2018) (short)
Seizei Gambare Mahou Shoujo Kurumi 2 (sequel)
Senran Kagura SHINOVI MASTER -Tokyo Youma-hen- (sequel)
Shuudengo, Capsule Hotel de, Joushi ni Binetsu Tsutawaru Yoru (short)
Sono Toki, Kanojo wa. (short)
Space Battleship Tiramisu II (short)
Sword Art Online: Alicization (sequel)
Toaru Majutsu no Index III (sequel)
Tokyo Ghoul:re 2 (sequel)

Series I don’t care about

Akanesasu Shoujo

Studio: Dandelion Animation Studio
Director: Jin Tamamura
Script/Series composer: Shougo Yasukawa
Source: Video Game
October, 2018. Girls who live in a provincial city perform a certain ritual. The girls are in the “Crystal Radio Club.” It is an interest circle that Asuka Tsuchimiya, a girl known for her cheerfulness, started with friends in her high school. That ritual was considered just an urban legend. However, with several conditions coincidentally falling into place, it stops being fun and games…

I originally had some hope that this would be a kind of horror anime but the trailer unfortunately confirmed that it wasn’t. What this does seem to be is a mixture of a cute girls doing cute things club and supernatural battle anime. Not to mention it’s for a smartphone app so likely another gacha game. The director was previously involved with A Sister’s All You Need, and the scenario writer hasn’t done much to write home about. I honestly wouldn’t expect much from this.

Anima Yell!

Studio: Doga Kobo
Director: Masako Sato
Script/Series composer: Fumihiko Shimo
Source: Manga
The story follows Kohane Hatoya, a 1st year high school student who is a bit clumsy and scared of heights but who has a very bubbly and outgoing personality. Kohane decides to join the cheerleading club to try to make friends and overcome her weaknesses.

It’s a 4-koma manga with four cute girls in a club so you know the drill. Quickfire gags and cute girls being all cute and shit. I’ve only seen two chapters of this but already this feels too much like many, many things I have seen before. The cheerleading aspect is pretty much superfluous and can be interchanged with any school activity you so desire. The characters are copy pastes of the same archetypes you have in these kinds of series, and while these chapters were short, I found my eyes glazing over before I finished. My taste for humor has never been all that compatible with anime but even then I feel this series just isn’t really funny. To me this is an anime to fill a quota for an anime season. We gotta have a cute girls doing cute things show so let’s slap something together to just tick that box.

Continue reading “Fall Season 2018 Preview” →

Planet With – 12[Behold, The Universe is Filled With Blessings]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Planet With

The madman actually did it. Satoshi managed to take a massive story and crush it into 12 episodes without anything feeling too rushed. To be perfectly fair this episode did need a bit more of a epilogue and if we had a OVA episode to just go over what the character did after this then I feel like this show would be prefect. As far as Satoshi’s work goes it’s certainly my favorite anime from him but that’s mainly be virtue of being the only anime he’s ever made. In terms of his other work I would say that it ranks third below Biscuit hammer and Spirit Circle. Though I have yet to read Sengoku Youko which also seems to be fairly highly lauded. For his first outing in anime i would consider this a great success, Satoshi has shown himself to be a strong anime scriptwriter. In fact he may very well be better at anime script writing than manga as he know how to make use of the time he is given. Satoshi was given 12 episodes to write this story and he made full use of them.

Truly I cannot sing praises enough and it’s a damn shame that Planet With is a underwatched as it is. For the fact of the matter is that Satoshi has made a better Trigger anime than Studio Trigger ever has.(And trigger certainly did try and fail with Darling.) Well on to the episode itself, it acted as a great conclusion to the story. While I wish the battle was more action packed it still was an exhilarating fight with the heroes pushing the dragon into subspace. The dragons mental attack on Souya was certainly a surprise until I recall that Souya is the one of the only ones who never got a sealing device flashback. The dragons motive was certainly interesting, compelling Souya to hate him and act as device to carry on the dragons sense of justice. The contradiction is certainly interesting as the dragon looks to know that his actions are wrong but still feels that his line of thinking is right and wants someone to carry on his will.

This and the dragons final dream of his human family goes to show that his time as a human truly did change him but not enough to truly change his line of thinking. I will admit that the music in this episode could get a bit overbearing cheesy, in particular when the people of paradise pulled Souya out of the dream. Nonetheless there were some truly great moments like Ginko’s conflicted gratitude towards the dragon for inadvertently saving her home by attacking Sirius and breaking down over finally being able to express it after all this time. I loved the design of the dragons inner self and the final dream of his that finally allowed him to join his race being of his life as a human, showing that the silly old man we all love could very well have had a massive impact on this story. Lets not forgot Souya pushing the dragon into the subspace hole with a clog punch and everything returning to where it all started, at the dead planet of Sirius.

The last thing that the people of paradise say to Souya has a strange impact, namely that we can view this story from whatever view you like. What is right and wrong here is highly dependant on the one looking and if you look at it there is a far amount of moral ambiguity in what happened here. But all accounts the thinking of the sealing faction and the dragon isn’t necessarily wrong, though there actions are questionable. Well this has been a hell of a ride, it had a slow start but once it got going Planet With never let up. Again i think it could have used one more episode, though not to tie up loose ends as they most certainly did tie up everything with the last episode but rather just for viewer satisfaction. I at least would have liked confirmation on Nozo and Souya’s relationship through heavily hinted and I think some cooldown time was needed after the climax as it really did feel like it cut off too suddenly. But regardless this was a show that remained constantly unpredictable and fun throughout its run with it being my favorite of the season.

Planet With – 10/11[Karellen and Rashaverak/Azrabarakura]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Planet With

Forgive me for not covering this last week but believe me when I say it wasn’t due to lack of interest. Planet With still remains a show that just tops itself with every episode. Though I don’t have much to say about episode ten other than it being another episode which could have acted as a finale to the entire series. It’s interesting that the names of Generalissimo and Sensei turned out to be Karellen and Rashaverak which are the names of the alien overlords in Author C Clarkes “Childhoods End”, a reference which truthfully I can’t quite discern the meaning of. I mean there is a certain similarity in themes of humanity evolving and aliens interfering with humanity in order to guide them towards a certain path but admittedly it could just as well be a small reference. The fight between the pacifist faction and the sealing faction was some good old mecha showdown action the likes I have not seen since Gurren Lagann. It could have very well have tied this series up with a satisfying bow but we have a time sip where we face off against the final boss of the series, the dragon on the dark side of the moon. Episode eleven really felt like a set up episode as it primarily focused on where everyone was after five years. Most ended up working for Nebula and even Nozomi is becoming a very powerful telepath. So now Ginko is a christmas cake, Takazou died choking on mochi,(Honestly thought it would be the steak to do him in) Benika, Hideo and Yousuke are working with Nebula with it not being established if any romance happened, Miu and Harumi spent college forcing Souya into the judo club so they could kick the crap out of him and bully him regularly(Might be a bit of spite involved there but there does seem to be a flirtatious vibe to it too.) and Nezuya has an alien girlfriend, because of course he does….man, I love this show.

It’s pretty heavily implied that Souya and Nozomi got together but I would like confirmation. normally shipping would annoy me but I like these characters too much and all hell will break loose if they don’t kiss at least once. I really must applaud just how well this show is concluding as this episode pretty much answers every lingering question one could have. What is the dragon? A member of the people of paradise who refused to give up his body and built psychokinetic armour around himself till he lost his human form. Why are the people of paradise helping? The person helping Souya is the older brother of the dragon and wishes to save him. Was Takashi related to the dragon? Yes, he was a part of his psychokinetic armour that fell from the moon and formed into a human being which the dragon ”dreamed” of.(Was it that a dragon dreamed of being a human or that a human dreamed of being a dragon?) How is humanity dealing with the weird incidents from five years ago? Still debated but most have moved on with their lives. Even as far as where everyone is currently at in their lives and how they developed has been answered and the only unfinished business is dealing with the dragon himself.

Standout of the episode was Ginko and Souya’s talk on the roof as it really does highlight how they have developed a brother sister relationship against all odds considering they are from two previously waring races. It’s nice to see Souya move past vengeance and seek out retribution for the things his race did highlighting that no one in this show is truly evil, but rather has their own perspectives which can clash badly. Even the Dragon seems confused and lost as he lost his place when his rare evolved past bodies, leaving him without anywhere to go back to. In fact the Dragon feels like he is in the same place that Souya was at the start of the series, having lost everything he ever cared about and lashing out. His actions in destroying Sirius were mainly motivated in his sense of justice and believing Siriuains were beyond hope. Now he himself is in the position of being beyond forgiveness, yet still being forgiven by the same race whom he deemed beyond hope. I admit that these things are rather cheesy, especially when talking about evolution of love but is feels like the right kind of cheesy for this kind of show. That is the thing, for a show featuring mass genocide, this show is remarkably positive throughout. Everyone is trying to go there own way in life even if that way leads them to make some awful decisions. But not everyone is beyond hope provided they are willing to reflect. Of course not everyone will reflect and that’s when you need to punch them in the face with a steel clog. That will put things in perspective…probably. Well on that last note I will say that if the final episode does not end in a clog punch that I will be greatly disappointed.

Planet With – 09[Messenger of Awakening]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Planet With

This week on Planet With, wimpy paladin decides to take on a sealing device, becomes an antagonist and…wins? I mean wow, I never saw this coming. Yousuke generally felt to me to be the gentle sort who was looking out for others but once Benika fell prey to her own sealing device causing her to lose all drive and motivation, Yousuke just went full villain. Not that I don’t understand his motivation here, he lost his brother and now the woman he loves is stuck in a eternal dream with that same brother so the only way he can see himself being happy is joining Benika in that dream. Of course the sealing faction won’t do that for free so Yousuke needs to seal the earth in Benika’s place, essentially fulfilling her last wish before falling to the sealing device. The parallel between him and Souya’s current mental state is interesting as both lost everything they care about and no longer care what happens to the world. So I love that Yousuke actually turned out to be the greatest threat to the earth despite being the more timid paladin solely because he didn’t approach the objective of sealing the earth with half hearted feelings. Benika didn’t truly want to seal the world and the sealing faction themselves seem torn on the idea with Generalissimo holding great respect for cat sensei’s wishes and Shiraishi not quite keen on the idea herself as she didn’t really want earth to go down without a fight. Yousuke on the other hand has strong conviction, kicks all the other paladins ass and accomplishes the goal.

If there is some spirit being channeled in this episode it’s hot blooded robot anime as what happens after this is true super robot action with all it’s cheesy glory. I am a little disappointed that Nozomi’s role remains firmly in the love interest alone category but damn if the second half of this episode was some truly hype action. Seeing what happens to a world that’s been sealed was interesting as it felt as though time had stopped and the direction from that to Souya pulling everyone out of the dream was excellent. Souya’s new found conviction was a little on the sudden side but I can see how he reached it and hopefully the people of paradise don’t end up some massive deus ex machina for the rest of the series but looks like this will be the one and only time they will lend a hand. It’s been very much an unsung hero of the series but the sound design is absolutely excellent. It can be easy to overlook such a thing but it can really make the difference when action is on screen. I have been taken out of the moment at times when I happened to recognized a stock effect being used.

I recall a show I watched were it showed a laser about to fire and I noticed that the power up noise was literally Samus’s arm cannon charge sound effect from Metroid Prime. Here through you can really feel those blows and the impacts. I recommend watching this series with headphones as it is certainly an experience. It’s a shame that the CGI cannot match that level of quality, I have gotten used to it for the most part but I find myself thinking of how much better things would looking if they animated the fights in 2D instead of 3D. My apologies to the CGI team of this show but these robots just don’t fit in this series they are far too out of place so it would have been better they someone made some filter to help them blend better or just scrapped CGI entirely. Well the Paladins are all down and that leaves just the sealing faction and the Dragon left to take down. So how hype will those fights be? Considering the scale of escalation it’s looking like the Generalissimo fight will be in space with them ending with fighting the dragon on the moon, which sounds pretty hype to me.

Planet With – 08[Power Is What Dwells Within Your Own Self]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Planet With

Why is it that no one is watching this show, as it is legitimately great. Looking online it’s sad to see that this show has pretty much no hype around it whatsoever. Those that stuck with it look to be pleasantly surprised but it seems that many got turned off by it’s first episode. It’s a shame truly as this show really has come into its own. It could be that Satoshi’s nature of making use of tropes and subverting them is working against him as viewer deem him as unoriginal before he managed to go against expectation. Take for example this episode where it has Souya refusing to fight the Sealing faction because his revenge is essentially complete now that the dragons power has been collected. Souya has no real reason to fight anymore and points out that everything he ever knew or loved is gone. Sure he has new friends on earth but the fact of the matter is that he truly lost everything before coming to earth. Any other anime the characters would start kicking the kid when he’s down and telling him to man up and fight the alien. Even in Evangelion they go out of their way to berate Shinji for not wanting to pilot a robot. Here it looks like they are heading in the same direction with even a member of the sealing faction questioning just why he isn’t fighting. But here one of the former paladins releases that Souya is just a kid and takes up the responsibility to fight the battle. Regardless it looks like Souya is going to get dragged into the battle no matter what as the paradise race tell him that the dragon is coming back at the dark side of the moon.

Benika got some development this week as she relates the story of a detective she used to admire who was killed by a kid with a gun. Making the reason why she joined the sealing faction being that she doesn’t trust humanity with power and believe that they will lose control like that kid who got his hands on a gun. What’s more it looks like the detective is the brother of Yousuke who likes Benika but looks like he feels he can’t measure up to the memory of his brother. on that if I am not mistaken it Benika looks to have feelings for Hideo and may have subconsciously wanted him to defeat her. Oh and great callback to him being the strongest of the paladins and having him defeat her. I thought that with the first half over and the paladins defeated that the op would need to be updated but they are gearing up to play a role in the second half of the series too. Comedy was on point here too with Souya seeing through Shiraishi’s illusion and having a mental crysis over whether real or illusionary boobs are better when she pressed up against him. Again, it starts as a common trope but then twists it in such an interesting way. Not to mention that cheeky little ghost in the shell reference at the beginning.

Overall I like that the paladins are coming back into the story as new warriors to fight the sealing faction and Souya’s growing psychic powers. Little disappointed that Nozomi didn’t take up the position of protecting the town but there does seem to be hints of her taking a more active role besides romantic interest. The comedy still makes things quite fun with even the antagonists lightening up like Shiraishi buting green with envy over Souya and Nozomi’s date. Benika looks like she’s out of the sealing faction so I wonder just what she will do now after being defeated. Well who knows what could happen in the best show that no one is watching.

Satsuriku no Tenshi – 05-07[Don’t let me kill you just yet./Zack is the only one who can kill me./Who are you?]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Satsuriku no Tenshi

These two episodes felt like Zacks time to get a little development as we get a bit of a look at his childhood. I will admit that this series has a particular problem with showing it’s villains as any villain shown so far has been quite one dimensional. Now I hear that later episodes will address this with the floor masters at least but Zack’s guardians in is flashback were equally cartoonishly evil. The idea is solid however in that Zack his averation towards being treated like a tool do to his caretakers making him bury the dead bodies of other children at the home. Zack did seem unaware of what it was he was buring and upon discovering a skull in the ground he copped on to just what his caretakers were making him do. I don’t like that he got the idea to kill them from a slasher flick playing on tv as well, it seems to be reinforcing that notion of violet media creating serial killers. Still it does explain to a degree why Zack acts like a slasher villain and you can say that it was far from the only factor in his decision. So Rachels gave of making Zack relive his childhood and having Rachel unwittingly torment him by telling him what to do was a delightful bit of psychological torture.

The death of Cathy was certainly satisfying. Not because she was any kind of interesting character or anything like that but more due to not having to listen to her annoying laugh or voice anymore. She certainly was hateable so I suppose it worked to a degree. She certainly knew how to press Zacks buttons with how she pushed him to take a drug to push him berserk enough to kill Rachel. Only to have him attack himself to stop himself, pissing off Rachel as she wanted to be the one to punish him. Her end was certainly cathartic in getting wounded by criminals and then shot death by her own judgment miniguns. So with Zack mortally wounded it looks like he’s out of the story for a while with a priest like character taking his place. To save Zack Rachel must descend the floors again and revisit each one. Which in turn does look to be a descend into a darker mindset as she is not allowing anything to get in the way of saving Zack.

The third episode is the most emotion we have gotten out of Rachel since episode one. I particularly like that the more we delve into Rachel, the more messed up she becomes. The hallucinations she experienced during the episode really painting her quite differently from her initial appearance. In particular it’s worth nothing that Rachel broke when she heard her parents were dead and originally it was through that was a driving factor towards her deathwish. However in this episode she has a hallucination of her parents which painted them in less favorable light and she got out of it by cutting open the painting they came out of. Heavily suggesting that the one who killed her parents was Rachel herself. In fact there have been several hints towards Rachel being quite unhinged, seeing as she keeps a gun in her purse and the look she gave the “Zombies” when she activated the miniguns to mow them down. Not to mention that to ascend a floor she had to take their nameplates and place one in the shute, throwing away the sinner. Rachel threw away her name plate without telling Zack, labeling herself as the sinner. Which you really have to consider, what did Rachel do that she considers herself worse than a serial killer?