Author: Lenlo

Undead Murder Farce – 9 [Werewolf]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Undead Murder Farce

Welcome all, to another late episode of Undead Murder Farce! I’ll admit, I just sort of forgot that this episode aired. I just watched it last night, that’s how hectic things have been. Apologies for all the delays, life is busy at the moment, and I appreciate y’all sticking around. Now pity party aside, on with the episode!

Right off the bat, and I know I’ve been harping on this a lot but I swear to god it just keeps coming up, Undead Murder Farce has no idea how to handle darkness. That whole opening scene with the mob chasing someone through the night? You could barely tell what was going on half the time. When the lighting was good, whether from torchlight or burning buildings, the sequence looked good. Just skip to the end as the windmill burns down, there’s some great contrast in there. But the rest of the time? Good luck picking out details. It’s a shame, because Undead Murder Farce has the answer to these problems. Use dark blues instead of blacks, let the torch or moonlight extend farther, go for a more stylize/high contrast lighting. Any of these would help! But the show just refuses to use them.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 6 [It’s Like That]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome back to Jujutsu Kaisen everyone! After almost a months break the premier shounen of the series returns! After that absolutely fantastic first arc, I’m excited to see what Jujutsu Kaisen has up its sleeve. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Right away I want to say that Jujutsu Kaisen looked great this week, unsurprising considering that first arc. Everything was just so… snappy. From character reactions and the way they transitioned between faces/poses/scenes to just the energy within the scenes themselves. Everything just felt so… good. And I don’t just mean the animation, though that was obviously great. I also mean the direction, scenes like the Toudo v Mei ping pong and the way ball often became our point of view, or the shots of Nobara pouring herself a cup of soda right after the OP. Even if the actual content ended up being boring, and trust me it wasn’t, the way it was communicated visually was interesting. I really hope Jujutsu Kaisen can keep it up, because so far it’s 6 for 6 on visually engaging episodes.

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 48/49/50 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to the grand finale of Kemono no Souja Erin! This is it, this is what 50 episodes have been building up towards. Was it good? Does everyone get a happy ending? Do any of you care or are you just waiting to vote on the poll? Well that’s at the end, so you might as well read through to get there. Now lets jump in!

Starting off, as far as production goes this finale was a bit of a let down. With copious flashbacks and generally lackluster movement, it didn’t really feel any different from the rest of the series. Now I’m not asking for some kind of sakuga fest, Erin isn’t that kind of show, it never has been. Action simply isn’t what it cares about. But I would have liked a bit more… pizazz? Use that eye-catch artstyle a bit more, cut down on the CGI Touda, less flashbacks. It’s not like Erin can’t do it, stuff like Lilan’s roar and Nugan falling off the Touda looked good. But those were about the only “memorable” visual moments. Not even Lilan’s flight or Damiya’s last scene were really all that visually interesting. It just feels like a missed opportunity to me.

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Zom 100 Bucket List of the Dead – 6 [RV of the Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Zom 100 is back everyone! After some production delays, which reflect in the show itself as well, we’re back with another episode. This week Shizuka join the team proper, though I kind of thought she did that last time, and immediately get into trouble with the gang. Is it any good? Well lets dive in and find out.

Getting right into it, overall I thought this episode was on odd one. With two clear halves, one comedic and the other serious, both of them solid on paper in their own right, Zom 100 fails to find a good balance. One moment we are joking around about our favorite RVs and zombies, the next we’re having abuse-based PTSD induced panic attacks. The tonal whiplash between these two was just… It wasn’t great. I feel that the episode would have been better spent making the entire thing comedic and then ending it on a sort of cliffhanger at what is currently the half way point. Give us a clear delineation between the two tones, let us see that playtime is over and give us an episode break to get mentally prepared for what is honestly some kinda traumatic shit. Don’t understand what I mean? Well lets dive into details.

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Undead Murder Farce – 8 [The Banquet]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Undead Murder Farce

Welcome all, to another episode of Undead Murder Farce and the conclusion of the current arc! A lot happened this week, we have a lot to talk about, so lets dive right into it!

Immediate I need to say that this episode was just great. What a fantastic way to end an arc, especially one that initially started so weakly. We got to watch our heroes come together as a group, new members included, marking Sherlock as probably a repeating character. The bad guys got a bunch of characterization, from backstory to just how they interact with our leads and their shared history. On top of that the snappy editing is back, from great effects work such as Jack’s “aura” to imaginative cuts like Tsugaru snapping his suspenders into the camera. Simply put, this episode is everything I’ve wanted from Undead Murder Farce since episode 1. This is the strongest it’s been since its debut, and I am here for it. Hopefully it can do it at least one more time before the end.

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 45/46/47 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to the penultimate week of Kemono no Souja Erin! This is a short one, only 3 episodes. I do that so that next week can have 3 episodes as well instead of 2, it’s almost like I plan these things ahead of time a bit. Enough with the preamble though, we have a lot to talk about so lets just jump right into it!

First up we have episode 45, “Bird in a Cage”. This one sees Damiya further his plot, assuming direct control over Seimiya and the capital at large, as well as going head to head with Ial. Overall I thought it was pretty good. Damiya needed it, this sort of “Damiya-centric” episode has been a long time coming. And what better time to really take proactive control and start making overt moves against all of our lead characters then right after you basically become second in line for the throne? If anything it feels like Erin is backloading a lot of the work that could easily have been built up during the episode 30-40 stretch. This is fine, better late than never, but I can’t help but feel like that middle stretch wasted a lot of time. That’s not what were here to talk about though, is it?

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 41/42/43/44 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin! We’re getting close to the end here, with only 2 more posts left. That means we’ll be picking a new show soon, so if you have one you’re interested in being covered make sure to comment with it down below. Now without further ado, on to the episodes!

Starting off we have episode 41, “The Truth About the Queen”. This episode finally sees the political fallout of Erin’s little jaunt on Lilan. Surprisingly however, it’s not actually all that negative. Oh the Queen wants Erin and Lilan to move from Kazalm to Lazal, true. But they see it, or at least frame it, as more of a promotion than anything else. They want Erin to become the Queen’s personal protector, the one and only Beast-Lord rider who can keep her safe even against Touda. Of course it probably wouldn’t stay as just that, she’d probably be expected to look after/raise more Beast-Lords just like Lilan. But there’s a whole lot less threats of death and treason than I was expecting. At least until Erin turns them down that is.

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Undead Murder Farce – 7 [Free for All]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Undead Murder Farce

Welcome all, to another episode of Undead Murder Farce! I am here to announce that this episode was, pleasantly, kinda good. In fact I’d go so far as to say it was “pretty good”. There are a lot of reasons for that, so lets just jump right into it!

Starting off, this was one of the better looking episodes in a while. No shitty green-screens, no weird composites or dull action. In fact this episode actually had some pretty good action choreography, from three people fighting in front of a full moon to silly stuff like Tsugaru doing Rakugo to both explain their plan and just to have fun. It’s exactly the kind of shit I enjoy. The only complaint I have is that a couple of scenes, such as in the basement or the warehouse, were so dark as to be almost unwatchable. Like you couldn’t tell what was happening unless you shoved your face up against the screen levels of darkness. I get it, it’s a consequence of the sharp contrast they used effectively in multiple other scenes. But I feel those ones could have used a bit stronger lighting is all.

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Zom 100 Bucket List of the Dead – 5 [Hero of the Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Welcome all, to another week of Zom 100 Bucket List of the Dead! This is a late post no doubt, just a bit of a downer week for me. I’ll catch up eventually. Or burn out in a ball of fire. Whichever comes first really. Regardless, on with the episode!

First up we have some sad news, as Zom 100 is taking a break after this week. Most likely there are some production problems going on behind the scenes, schedules running amok, the usual anime thing. What’s interesting about that though is that this weeks episode is easily the best looking one since the premier. From a purely technical standpoint, this is the first one in almost a month to really move. From Akira running around in his super sentai shark suit to the shark itself barreling through the aquarium, the episode was filled with fun scenes. It’s the most fun I’ve had with the series in weeks, right down to the actual narrative of it as well. Part of it is that our leads seem to be on the move again, rather then stagnating on a rooftop, which is nice. But the production certainly helps too!

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 37/38/39/40 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin! This is a good week for me, I quite enjoyed it, it feels like things are finally coming to a head and it’s great. What do I mean by that? Well let’s jump right into the episodes and talk about it.

First up is episode 37, “Birth”. As per the title, this episode see’s the baby Beast-Lord be born! Surprisingly however, that isn’t actually the focus of the episode. Oh the baby being born was nice, it was a good scene. Lots of light rays and well framed shots, some good music, tastefully showing just enough that we have to recognize it’s significance without showing an actual live birth. As far as birth scenes in anime go, and god is that not a larger group then you’d think, I found it decently done. I was able to focus more on what it represented then all the gory details of the process. Like I said though, this was more the culmination of someone else’s arc rather then one of Erin’s It was only relevant in the finale. So the question becomes, who is it that’s so important for Erin to do this?

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