Author: Lenlo

Steins;Gate 0 – 5 [Solitude of the Astigmatism -Entangled Sheep-]

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

Another week another new character added to Steins;Gate 0’s roster. This time we have a new scientist lady, more lovable “English” and answers to already obvious mysteries. Lets dive in!

So right off the bat there are some small things to mention. Like how Moeka clearly suspects Daru for his time travel work, or the clear connection she still has with Mr.Braun. She wouldn’t be introduced so early, nor would the camera frame her and Braun the way it does, if she wasn’t going to be trouble in the future. Viewers who have not seen the original Steins;Gate may be confused, so let me once again recommend you just binge the original and come back to S;G 0 once your done. We also have Judy Reyes, another new character. Based on how she was introduced, I am convinced she is a villain of some kind. Her intro started with a creepy stalker sequence and panicked phone call to Okabe. If nothing else I need her to be evil because we have to many lovable good guys already.

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Megalo Box – 5 [The Man From Death]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, Megalo Box

Hello everyone and welcome to Megalo Box, now with added 100% more feels. This week we have a story of disabled boxers, war and mutual mistakes, and I loved every second of it. Lets jump in!

So lets get this out of the way right now, I was not expecting anything that happened this episode. I was prepared for some backstory on Aragaki and some sort of grudge with Nanbu. What I was not prepared for was a more effective story of war and lost limbs than anything I got from Violet Evergarden. That might seem an exaggeration but over the next few paragraphs I will explain. Specifics of the war story aside, I am glad Megalo Box is taking the time to build up its boxers. We need more than the end boss Yuri to carry this story, so compelling or interesting opponents are a must. Not only do they let Megalo Box tell interesting stories, but we get to explore Nanbu and Joe through their opponents as well. It gives Megalo Box real breathing room for its character moments.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 4 [Solitude of the Mournful Flow -A Stray Sheep-]

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

Welcome to week four of Steins;Gate 0, now with more time travel! This week we have dystopian futures, new characters and the first hints of darker tidings. Lets jump in!

Now, I don’t know what it is about the 4th episode of anime, but just like Megalo Box this is Steins;Gate’s first stumble. The world line jumps/flash forwards/back had issues this week. Not only was it occasionally difficult to tell just when we switched, but they came at odd times. The opening world line jumps for instance somehow turned into a dream sequence and then we popped back to the rooftop of last week. It was difficult to follow and, at least for now, doesn’t add much or make sense. PTSD alone would have worked better there. The reason time travel worked in the original Steins;Gate was we followed Okabe through it chronologically, so everything still fit and had an order to it. Here however, perhaps because of route format, the world line jumps simply feel out of place. I hope this is a one-off problem.

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Megalo Box – 4 [Let’s Dance With Death]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, Megalo Box

Welcome one and all, to the real start of Joe’s boxing journey. This week Megalo Box’s starts to show its first cracks and gives us more fights than we can shake a stick at. Lets jump in!

Overall, this was a good episode in every respect but one. The music, story and pacing all do wonders. The one sticking point for me this week though was the main fight and its animation. For the most part it works, having Joe struggle with fear as his main opponent was brilliant. With both Joe and Nanbu caught up in it, Sachio had to be the one to save the day. The kid needed to be more than the plucky sidekick. However the fight animation itself worried me. It feels slow, delayed in places. Not smooth and snappy, nor working with the music like previous fights. In addition, ending the whole thing with one punch after all that buildup felt like an anti-climax. It wasn’t a bad fight by any means, let me make that clear, but I was hoping for more in our first big match.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 3 [Protocol of the Two-sided Gospel -X-day Protocol-]

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

Welcome to another episode of Steins;Gate 0. This week we have suffering Okabe, suffering Mayushii and, oh yeah, suffering viewer. It’s a good week to be a Steins;Gate fan. Lets jump in!

This episode hit me about as hard as it hit Okabe, for one simple reason. I fell for the exact same trap he did. Throughout the entire episode Okabe is talking with Amadeus, more than any other cast member. He speaks to her before/after class, during lunch, before dates, while just walking around town. Both Okabe and we, the viewer, get more and more comfortable with Amadeus and we watch him get more and more animated. It gets to the point where he leaves a Christmas party just to talk to her, hes like an addict and shes his drug. And I loved it. Steins;Gate 0 used the entire episode to build up to one simple reminder: Kurisu is dead and shes not coming back. S;G 0 is determined to break us down before getting to time travel shenanigans and its working.

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Megalo Box – 3 [Gear Is Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, Megalo Box

Another week, another good episode of Megalo Box. Its like dose of old school action. This week we get a subversion of the “upgrade” and some evidence of how bad life in the slums really is. Lets jump in!

So my first thought after finishing this episode was, wow there are some awesome camera shots in here. Cutting from a cross hanging in a car to Yuri resting on the ropes? Joe examining his cut in the rearview mirror? And how about Joe standing, with no gear, before Potemkin? Each of them convey so much beyond the basic information they needed to get across. They sell Yuri’s already massive power or the David vs Goliath feeling against Potemkin. The shot with the rearview mirror puts us in Joe’s shoes as we see him how he sees himself, not to mention it’s just interesting to look at. Its angles and direction like this that can make even the stillest or low-res anime interesting to watch. For more proof of that just go watch Monster. Another example of the effect of great direction. That’s not all Megalo Box gets right though.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 2 [Epigraph of the Closed Curve -Closed Epigraph-]

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

7 years. It has been almost 7 years since the original season of Steins;Gate. Since Okabe overcame received a mysterious video message, which prompted him to finally save the day. Back then it was a rather clever, if thin, plot device to get a happy ending. Steins;Gate 0 is the story of this video message. The story of the Okabe who failed, who doesn’t get a happy ending. And I could not be more excited.

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Megalo Box – 2 [The Man Only Dies Once]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, Megalo Box

Welcome to the Spring 2018 anime season! I am proud to present to you the Ashita no Joe 50th Anniversary project, Megalo Box. Easily the most stylish anime of the season. Lets jump in!

With just 2 episodes, Megalo Box has become my favorite for the season. Everything about it feels like it comes from a different age of anime, the time of Hajime no Ippo’s first series, Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. Even the story, so far, is Ashita no Joe with robot arms, with certain shots coming straight out of original 1970’s anime. In today’s anime landscape, Megalo Box is a breath of fresh air. Its thick, rough line work contrasting the all to clean and thin art we normally see. The vibrant color pallet that gives us bright greens, blues and oranges instead of muted browns and greys of regular highschool life. The only negative I can think of with Megalo Box is that, at least the Crunchyroll version, seems to have some resolution issues. Like it was upscaled to 1080p. Luckily with its style, Megalo Box doesn’t suffer for it much.

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Kokkoku – 35/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Kokkoku, Reviews by Lenlo

There are lots of bad anime out there, for one reason or another. Whether it be stilted animation, terrible writing or bad direction, a good portion of each season is simply not worth it. Kokkoku is not a bad anime. It is something much worse. Kokkoku is a mediocre anime. Bad ones get talked about, jokes pop up, they become lessons on what not to do in the future. Mediocre anime however simply get forgotten. Kokkoku, for all the promise it started with, will not be a cult classic. It won’t get sub-standard fan-fiction or people arguing on whether its amazing or terrible. No, the best it will get is a review on a couple random blogs that few people will ever read.

Lets jump in!

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Mahoutsukai no Yome – 50/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Mahoutsukai no Yome, Reviews by Lenlo

Fantasy is a rather prolific genre in anime, with a vast majority of Isekai and Shounen fitting snugly into it. Most take place in their own unique setting, either Amestris of Full Metal Alchemist or the made of world of the latest Isekai trash. Few however try to set themselves in our world. To peel back the mystery of our own myths and legends of lore. Mahoutsukai no Yome attempts to do just this. To bring magic into our regular dreary world. However it Mahoutsukai stretched itself to thin, attempting both a fantasy epic and a sweet character drama, only to fail at both.

Lets jump in!

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