Author: Lenlo

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 10 [We Live and Learn]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Mahoutsukai no Yome

Welcome to week 10 of Mahoutsukai! Finally, oh so finally, we have are given some backstory on Elias! Our mysterious male(?) lead gets some explanation. We also get the start of a Chise only arc and finally some more information on Lindel. Lets jump in!

As the main focus of this weeks episode, naturally I have to talk about Elias first. Turns out, Elias has some form of amnesia, so we only get his story since coming to the human world. Told from Lindel’s perspective, is interesting to see how modern Elias differs from his old childlike version. He’s taller and acts more like a child, which both explains Lindel’s relationship with him more and has some genuine humor. Elias drinking the sea-water or shrinking to fit in the door were much better jokes than anything the Chibi are has given us. It also did a decent job of showing Elias a bit more animal than the man he is now. Like the zoom shot on Lindel’s neck as they eat their soup. All in all, not a jam packed backstory, but its more than we had before and I expect more to come soon.

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Inuyashiki – 9 [Shihjuku People]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Inuyashiki

Welcome to another week of Inuyashiki! This week we have incredible sequences of terror, fearless Directors and death flags! Lets jump in.

Obviously, the first thing we need to talk about this week is Hiro. A lot has happened in the few hours since Hiro attacked the Station. Interestingly, yet weirdly, Hiro has garnered a fan club. I don’t understand this. Do mass-murderers in real life gain admirers? Regardless, whatever fans he had at the start Hiro has since lost them. The first half of his murder spree is basically a public shooting. An opening salvo, of 100 people, to declare his war. Had they done it any other way I would have no problems with it. As it is, I can’t stand Hiro’s TV gun. Air or Light bullets I can accept, but what is the explanation of shooting through screens? The fantastical nature of it is too much for me. Everything else at least was explainable as Alien technology, but this is modified Earth technology. It makes no sense.

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Mahoutsukai no Yome – 9 [None so deaf as those who will not hear]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Mahoutsukai no Yome

Hello and welcome to another week of Mahoutsukai! Lets hop right into it.

First and foremost, let’s talk about Chise. As the main heroine of the show, naturally it’s going to focus on her a lot. This week zooms in on her relationship with Elias and what it actually is. Characters and situations comment on it throughout the whole episode. From Simon the Priest mentioning Elias is rubbing off on her, to Angelica calling out her Stockholm Syndrome. Even the little side story about the Leannan Sidhe, which I will talk about later, is a commentary her relationship. Usually, I would applaud this sort of commentary, making the characters think about their lives. But with Chise, while I like how she has grown, we know based on previous experiences she won’t question anything. Its not that it’s bad writing, that’s far from the case, I just find it uninteresting to watch.
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Inuyashiki – 8 [Mari Inuyashiki]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Inuyashiki

Hello and welcome to another week of Inuyashiki. We are approaching the end, with only 3 episodes left. The end-game has been revealed, Hiro returns to his roots and Inuyashiki gets found out by someone close to him. Lets jump in!

To start off, Inuyashiki tipped its hand this week as to the ultimate ending. A news report mentioned a 50 km wide meteor hurtling towards the planet. This is something far beyond any human technology to stop, but luckily we have two alien cyborgs to save the day. The only real question is which of the two is going to inevitably sacrifice themselves to stop it. On one hand we have Inuyashiki, the old man dedicated to helping people. Its completely in his character to save people, yet he has much more to lose than Hiro. On the other hand, Hiro sacrificing himself would complete the “redemption” arc/theme Inuyashiki seems to be going for. I am not sure which I would prefer, or how both of them sacrificing themselves would fit in. Regardless, the general ending is now obvious, we need only wait and see how it’s done.

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Mahoutsukai no Yome – 8 [Let Sleeping Dogs Lie]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Mahoutsukai no Yome

Hello and welcome to another week of Mahoutsukai. This week, as predicted, Chise gets a new friend, our evil Sorcerer gets a name, and Chibi art ruins scenes. Lets jump in.

To start off, lets talk about Chise. Its a good week for her. She shows off her own magic power and smarts with the Tarantula Hawks, a wasp species that hunts spiders. She shows to have potential equal to or above Elias’s, with devouring his hand accidentally, and she binds a familiar. Who, by the way, I am looking forward to seeing more of. Our pair needed a third person to bounce off of. For Chise, I am glad she is standing out more and more, as this is her story.  Shes no longer the cowering new slave from episode one. However, there are still some things that bother me.

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Inuyashiki – 7 [Shion Watanabe]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Inuyashiki

As disappointing as it is to admit, Inuyashiki has broken its hot streak. This week, thought it has both highs and lows, was on average a let down. From heel-turns to a blistering pace, there is a good deal to cover, so let’s jump in.

While the show is named Inuyashiki, we have seen far more of Hiro than of the titular main character. This episode, we finally see Hiro own up to what he is. He admits to Shiro he is the killer, opens up about being a robot. It feels like some progress is about to be made for him. Then in a ridiculous heel-turn, Hiro decides to heal people to make up for all his murder. On one hand, I like their exploration of “the good outweighs the bad”. It’s a worthy concept to look at. Yet on the other, it’s so sudden and comes after a veritable murder spree, because a girl he doesn’t care about asked him to. Its like he is latching on to anything to make him feel human.

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Mahoutsukai no Yome – 7 [Talk of the Devil, and He is Sure to Appear]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Hello and welcome to another week of Mahoutsukai. This a good week for us, as Chise becomes more independent, Elias hulks out and information comes to light about the Sorcerers dark plot. Lets jump in.

To start off, let’s talk about Chise. Compared to the first episode, she is like a different person now. She has confidence and a new found enjoyment of life. This comes through in most everything she does this episode. She studies under a tree, surrounded by fluffy magical creatures. She brews her own potions and does work without Elias looking over her shoulder. Chise even defends herself against spirits and humans with her own power and knowledge. Its nice to see her starting to stand on her own to feet and handle herself. Naturally fixing larger problems is beyond her, but she is clearly growing through the episodes. I can’t wait to see where she goes magic and ability wise, for when she stands next to Elias instead of behind him.

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Inuyashiki – 6 [People of 2chan]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Inuyashiki

This week Inuyashiki fulfills last weeks predictions in a rather unexpected way. Strap in for some suicide, mass murder and the tail-spin of everyone’s favorite sociopath. Lets jump in!

Rather than being a parallel between our two heroes like usual, this episode is focused almost entirely on Hiro. To me, this episode hits loosely on the 5 stages of grief, thought I admit its not a perfect fit. It starts off with Hiro in denial, not recognizing or refusing to acknowledge what is happening. He just sits in a room of the girl who confessed to him, doing nothing. Most likely just watching TV. We see him consider killing the girl and her grandmother, yet remember he swore last episode to stop killing people right before the police found him. I believe he was still hoping things could return to normal if he could only fix it somehow. Then however, his mother comes back into the picture, denouncing him to the media.

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Mahoutsukai no Yome – 6 [The Faerie Queene]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Mahoutsukai no Yome

Welcome to what is, in my opinion so far, the most beautiful episode of Mahoutsukai. Stunning art, world-building and character progression await you inside. Lets jump in.

The best part of Mahoutsukai this week to me was easily the art/music and the world-building. I bring these up first because they were easily the most standout parts of the episode. The entrance of Titania, the Gaelic (?) folk-like music. Her and Oberon’s designs, the filters/lighting whenever they do anything was all fantastic. I could do without the weirdness of Titania’s brazier, but shes Fey, i’ll let it go. This all did a lot to really sell Titania’s other-worldliness. The forest changes just by her presence, every time she moved there was a soft sound and then she just appears, we never actually see her “walk”. Oberon just appears next to Chise once we pan back over to her, surprising even Elias. Mahoutsukai did a good job of depicting the Queen and King of Tir na nOg and the Summer Court and making the Fey stand out.

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Inuyashiki – 5 [Yuko Shishigami]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Inuyashiki

Welcome to another episode of Inuyashiki! This week we head back into the Inuyashiki/Shishigami conflict and get to see new sides to both of them. Lots to talk about this week, so lets jump in.

Continuing the parallel theme going on between our two main characters, we see new sides for each of them this week. However the clear star of this episode was Hiro. We finally see a different side to him, showing he does have people he cares for. To me, this made him a more real character, and a tad more terrifying. To the first point, I found it difficult to believe that Hiro would have nothing left of his life before becoming a cyborg, so seeing his family made him more than just Hiro the Murderer. As for being more terrifying, we saw how deep his devotion to his mother ran. Right now he murders to feel something, with no impetus for anything bigger. With his mother however, it’s clear she is being setup for some terrible event that will push Hiro to greater evils.

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