Author: Lenlo

Steins;Gate 0 Anime Review – 40/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by Lenlo, Steins;Gate 0

Before I begin this review in earnest, I have to ask, who doesn’t know about Steins;Gate? The amazing, beloved original series that Steins;Gate 0 is an offshoot of. Well if you don’t, if you haven’t seen the original, then stop now. Steins;Gate 0 is not worth it. It is not for you. Without having seen the original, Steins;Gate 0 will make even less sense and fall apart even faster than you than it did me. Because, long story short, Steins;Gate 0 tries to do everything and in doing so fails to do most anything.

Lets jump in!

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Steins;Gate 0 – 23 [Arclight of the Point at Infinity -Arc-light of the Sky-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

And so Steins;Gate 0 ends, not with a bang but a melodramatic whisper. Welcome to the finale of Steins;Gate 0. Whatever it was trying to do, it mostly failed, so lets jump in!

So with this finale I can definitively say, Steins;Gate 0 failed to live up to the hype. It’s not a bad series by any means, but every time it came to a crossroads, Steins;Gate 0 chose the wrong path. This finale is an excellent example of that. It chose to follow Mayurii going back in time to convince her old self to slap Okabe. But that wasn’t the interesting part of the story. To me, the story I wanted to see was the video getting made. I wanted to see Okabe and co surviving to the year 2025, using the Time Leap machine or D-Mail to always stay one step ahead. That, to me, is a far more interesting and unique story than what Steins;Gate 0 has given us. And considering how much was just… left to rot, it would have been a leaner story to.

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Banana Fish – 12 [To Have and Have Not]

by Lenlo, posted in Banana Fish, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Welcome to the halfway point for Banana Fish. This week Ash prepares for his final showdown with Arthur, he has some moral quandaries, and gets terrified by pumpkin pie. Lets dive in!

So, general stuff first, Banana Fish’s pacing this week felt a bit fast to me. Banana Fish covered a lot of ground, from introducing new gang members, to explaining Dino’s grand plan and conveying Ash’s moral position. I have said it before, but the fast pacing only really works in the actiony parts. When bullets are flying and lives are at stake. In times like that, the fast pacing helps emphasize how hectic things are. In the slower moments like this however, the fast pacing just feels like Banana Fish is rushing everything. For example, I would have liked more time with the new gang leader Cain, assuming he is going to be a semi-important character later on. It doesn’t hurt Banana Fish much, because the actual content being rushed through is still good. I just think it could have been better.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 22 [Rinascimento of Projection -Project Amadeus-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

This week Steins;Gate 0, once again, brutally reminded me of the potential it started with ~5 months ago and subsequently wasted. We have lab-member shenanigans, emotional heart-to-hearts and overdramatic time travel sequences. Let’s dive in!

So in general, Steins;Gate 0 worked this episode. It really did. The emotions were on point and there was a good balance of tone throughout the episode. The lab scenes, the jokes, the voices, the planning, all rang true to the original. There was heart in these scenes that up until now has been lacking. Most likely because, finally, Okabe has a set goal to work towards. Up until now Okabe has most just… existed in Steins;Gate 0. Drifting from plot point to plot point, with relevant things only really happening when interacting with Amadeus. With a set goal and his Kyouma personality back, the series finally feels like it’s going somewhere. Problem is, this is just to late in the series. We have one episode left to resolve everything, yet sat through multiple episodes of meandering nothing. It is, as I said, a waste of potential.

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Banana Fish – 11 [The Beautiful and Damned]

by Lenlo, posted in Banana Fish, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Welcome to another week of Banana Fish. This week it slows down, gives us some heartwarming character scenes and the beginnings of a gang war. Lets jump in!

So, starting off, the general stuff. Overall I enjoyed Banana Fish this week, but we have started to see issues with the breakneck pace it’s had until now. Banana Fish tried to cover so much this episode that the tone felt all over the place. One scene we are enjoying some light hearted banter and fun between Ash and Eiji, then the next there’s a tragic heart to heart over Shorter. Throw some serious paranoia in there and it just feels… off. Individually each of these scenes were great, I enjoyed each one. But the pacing Banana Fish has had really hurts it in these slower moments. There’s just not enough time to really soak it in before something else happens. It’s a shame because in the action segments, the pace helps everything flow, so nothing drags. But slow moments are supposed do that, at least a little.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 21 [Rinascimento of Image Formation -Return of Phoenix-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

This week Steins;Gate 0 gave me, most, of what I wanted. It gave us a journey through the future, a Time Leap chain and the return of our favorite mad scientist. However, for all that I love it, its to little to late. Lets jump in!

So, where to start. Leaving the big spoilers for after the read-more tag, Steins;Gate 0 did a lot right this week. For example, Okabe’s VN did a fantastic job of changing just a bit for each scene as he went back in time each scene. In particular, its noticeable when we get to hear his Kyouma voice, which was radically different from our “normal” Okabe. Loved it. The music was also on point, giving us some classics from the original series along with some Steins;Gate 0 specific tracks. I never thought the music in any particular scene was out of place, and it did actually add to a number of them. I have also read that, supposedly, the entire reverse time leap sequence is anime original. That the VN just had a black page with text. If so, then good job White Fox. Because that sequence, mostly, worked.

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Banana Fish – 10 [Babylon Revisited]

by Lenlo, posted in Banana Fish, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Banana Fish, so consistently good that I am running out of interesting ways to start these posts. This week we have a jailbreak, miscommunication and a blond haired Rambo. Lets jump in!

General stuff first, Banana Fish was all go this week. Really, its sorta been that way for awhile, but this episode was explosions and bullets and death, oh my. There were some small issues with the animation I noticed this week. It was stilted in places, and really any scene without Ash didn’t seem to get as much attention. It’s nothing back breaking, as the entire episode still works and didn’t hurt enjoyment much, but it did catch my eye. Luckily Banana Fish’s thin line design and sort of muted colors, in contrast of normal anime’s bright and vibrant ones, makes it very hard to notice most of the time. The music also continues to be on point, really adding to every scene. Every instrumental Banana Fish puts out knocks its scene up another notch in quality. Non-spoilers out of the way, time to go into specifics.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 20 [ Rinascimento of the Unwavering Promise -Promised Rinascimento-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

Sometimes, even problem children will surprise you. This week, Steins;Gate 0 did just that. I was not expecting a leap to the future, and now that I have seen it, I want more. Sadly I don’t think I will get it. Not much anyways. Lets jump in!

So, outright, this episode wasn’t bad. I like that we got to see the dystopian future in more than just flash backs (flash forwards?). But after the initial enjoyment, all it really did was remind me of what a waste of potential this series is. Take this future episode as the perfect example. Why should we care about Ruka or Suzuha or Ferris here? Suzuha just “died” 2 episodes ago, and now Ruka is “dying”, but we are about to go back to 2011. Steins;Gate 0 hasn’t spent enough time with these characters to make me care about them. We didn’t see them suffer through this war, we didn’t see any of these experiences. Its like they are copy-pasted from the 2011 timeline into now, with military redesigns. Animosh, from our chatbox, said it very well. Everyone but Okabe feels like a character from a mediocre fan-fiction.

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Banana Fish – 9 [Save Me The Waltz]

by Lenlo, posted in Banana Fish, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Ladies and gentleman, for the first time writing these posts, I legitimately do not know where to being. This week Banana Fish proved itself, unequivocally, the best drama of the season. I am willing to admit, I started crying a bit this week. So let’s just jump in.

So, right off the bat, I was not expecting what happened this week. This felt like a finale for another anime, which since we are nearing the end of the cour sorta makes sense. But the fact that Banana Fish was willing to kill off one of its central characters in the 9th episode? And in such a brutal way. I am impressed. Banana Fish does a great job of making sure none of the characters feel safe. Sure, Ash and Eiji may survive, but at this point there’s no guarantee they will get through in one piece. That 4 characters have died in 9 episodes only enhances that feeling of unease. Its this kind of buildup that makes every confrontation with the villains tense. Because, unlike say a Shounen like Fairy Tail or Naruto, Banana Fish has proven that actions have consequences in its story. Consequences like say, Shorter.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 19 [Altair of the Cyclic Coordinate -Time-leap Machine-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

Hello and welcome to another week of, I don’t really care anymore. Apologies for the lateness of this, but I have simply been so… un-enthused with Steins;Gate 0 recently. So without further ado, lets jump in and see why.

So to start off, Steins;Gate 0 has become boring. And here is why. With easy access to limited time travel removed, it is afraid to commit to anything that shakes the status quo. It took us 19 episodes to get to the lock-down point. The moment that Okabe is supposed to dedicate the rest of the season to fixing, the big “wow” moment. And now that we are finally here, what do we get? A “are they aren’t they dead” scenario where Steins;Gate 0 is afraid to actually commit and kill off any of its titular characters. Hell, the only characters Steins;Gate 0 IS willing to kill off onscreen are Reyes, who is criminally underused, and Kagari, a character whom I hate even exists. There are no stakes. Steins;Gate 0 has backpedaled or reversed every major event with nary a scratch on our leads. It’s boring.

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