Author: Lenlo

Spice and Wolf S2 – 9 [Wolf and a Reckless Enterprise]

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all to another episode of Spice and Wolf Season 2! I’m a bit busy this week, writing a lot of reviews, but that’s no excuse. Let’s jump in!

This is an interesting week of Spice and Wolf for me. It does something completely new by having Lawrence and Holo try to completely avoid conflict, avoid trade! This is rather novel and it’s nice to see the pair interacting so much after the feud last arc. But at the same time they are avoiding conflict, avoiding trade, avoiding… action. And that leaves the arc in a strange place. It’s not boring, because Holo and Lawrence have a great back and forth, but its also not exciting or thrilling. There’s not any sort of arch or story to follow in this town. It just feels like a way point, a pit stop, onto greater things. Maybe that will change as they interact with Rigolo and Eve makes her move! But so far it’s moving just a tad to slowly for my taste.

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86: Eighty Six Anime Review 65/100

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo

War stories with giant robots and a dash of racism are pretty common in anime. You have everything from classics like Code Geass, Gundam and Gurenn Lagann (depending on how you define “classic”) to the more cult-hit works like Muv-Luv and uh… Gunbuster? Can you tell I don’t watch much mecha? Regardless this year sees a new show try its hand: 86: Eighty Six. A Light Novel adaptation written by Asato Asato, created by A-1 Pictures and Directed by Toshimasa Ishii, Eighty Six looks to take an existing idea and perfect it. And judging by all the press and the reactions I’ve seen in the community it appears to have done just that. But does it deserve the praise and accolades it has been receiving? Let’s find out!

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Eighty Six. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “86: Eighty Six Anime Review 65/100” →

Megalo Box: Nomad – 11/12

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Welcome back to Nomad everyone! Apologies for missing last week but work and Wisconsin called. Lucky for us though that these two episodes feed into and fit so well together because we have a lot to talk about. So without further ado, lets dive in! And be ready because this is a long one!

Since I missed last week I wanted to start this post off by talking about where Nomad is going. I’ve talked a lot in previous posts about my dislike of the corporate angle, and I stand by that! I think it, Sakuma and Rosco as a whole, are at odds with the story Nomad is trying to tell. But credit where it’s due, Nomad has at least worked it in well. It has done the best with a bad situation. Nomad has taken Rosco and, while they are still antagonistic, removed them from the center stage. Making the focus not them, but their effects on Mac and his family. How corporations take advantage of, abuse and ultimately throw away the average person who is simply looking for a better life. Just like Chief. Just like the immigrants and their theme park home. And that’s kinda cool.

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86: Eighty Six – 11 [Here We Go]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

Welcome all to the finale of Eighty Six! Or at least the finale of the first half since it sort of has a second cour? But it doesn’t have a release date so its in a weird place. Regardless, how about we jump right into it because I have a review to write after this!

So my immediate thoughts after this episode are… why? Why does this episode have to exist? Why could we not have ended last week, or the week before? It feels like Eighty Six added this episode, and the big fight with the 86ers, purely to have a “finale” filler episode. Specifically one with a cliffhanger for the next season. Despite the fact that we already had a finale and an epilogue to boot! About the only thing of value in this weeks episode was the second half regarding Lena. All of the first half, with the 86ers? That’s just repeating more “feel good” scenes that we got last week. It’s almost like it was supposed to be an hour long special instead of 2 individual episodes, so closely do they match. And as for the cliffhanger? Well… since the sequel season exists no one believes that, right?

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Spice and Wolf S2 – 8 [Wolf and the Mysteriously Charming Traveler] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all to another week of Spice and Wolf! This is a bit of an odd one as I’m currently writing it from the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. But hey, maybe that will grant it some extra spice, who knows. My physical location aside how about we jump into this weeks Throwback Thursday!

Starting off this is a bit of a straightforward episode. The plot still hasn’t really started and Spice and Wolf is still just laying bricks for what’s to come. But it does a decent job of presenting those bricks and making them interesting! The way it slow-rolled us on the fur for instance. Slowly introducing what is happening through tidbits of conversation between Lawrence and Holo. Reminding us of Holo’s advanced abilities, etc. Leaving us to figure it out and connect the dots before explaining it to us via the barmaid and then introducing how to exploit it through the mysterious guest, Eve. It’s nothing incredible. Like most building-block episodes, it feels rather slow. But just like how the last arc started, it’s worth will be determined by the payoff. Was it worth taking this long together to? Was it worth slowly introducing all this stuff? Only time will tell.

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86: Eighty Six – 10 [Thank You]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

Welcome all to the penultimate episode of Eighty Six! For this season at least. This is an interesting week as from what I have been told this episode is almost entirely anime original. And yet despite basically being filler, its good. Like really good. So without further ado lets dive in! Oh and before I begin a reminder that I will be away on a business trip until Thursday, so no Nomad post until then. Sorry.

Anyways, on with the show! And what better place to start than with the production? Once again Eighty Six has some of the best editing and shot composition I have seen in ages. The way it takes everything from dull shot-reverse-shot dialogue scenes or simple travel montages and makes them visually engaging is a treat. From the way it emphasized the emotional distance between Shin and Raiden despite their physical closeness or the way Shin’s head turn and the water hitting the leaf were cut to the music. I shouldn’t be surprised by it anymore, Eighty Six has done this consistently from episode 1. However I can’t help but smile when I see editing like this. Toshimasa Ishii is doing a fantastic job with his full series directorial debut and I can’t wait to see more from him. Absolutely Kino.

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Spice and Wolf S2 – 7 [Wolf and Playful Days] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

It’s here, it’s here, a new arc of Spice and Wolf! And the post for it is just barely on time since this late still counts as Thursday! My lateness called out and my SEO goal of naming the show reached, lets jump into this weeks episode.

Starting off: Jesus Christ the flirting. There was so much of it! And it was good flirting to! There was more flirting in this one episode than the entirety of season 1! Or at least it felt that way. I’m honestly surprised with how much I enjoyed this weeks episode. I’m not usually into fluff. I find it boring or, dare I say, cringe. But there was something about Spice and Wolf’s, about Holo and Lawrence’s back and forth, that made it endearing. I’m not sure if it’s just how well written the dialogue was again or something else. Maybe I’ve just spent enough time with the couple in recent months that I’m invested. Whatever the case, for an episode all about lap pillows, hand kisses and not-so-subtle innuendo’s Spice and Wolf got a fair bit done this week.

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Megalo Box Nomad – 10 [Las derrotas pasadas son acompañadas por señales de buena suerte]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Hello all and welcome to another week of Megalo Box Nomad! This is late, I know, but I have a good reason. You see I will be out of the state for work starting Sunday and have been spending the week busily packing and prepping. This also means I will be unable post/writeup Nomad on Sunday as I won’t be able to watch it until Thursday. So yeah, expect this weekend and the week afters to be merged into one post before the final review. Sorry about that. Now on with the show!

And what batter place to begin than with exactly what I wanted to see from Nomad, the family stuff! So much family stuff this week. From Mac to Sachio, Joe to Yuri, the way Nomad managed to tie everything back into the 1st arc. This is exactly what I wanted from the series, up to and including minimal Rosco! While one reader might disagree with me on Rosco’s story overtaking Joe’s, I’m sure we can both agree that this episode benefited a lot from it’s family centric focus. And if I sound like I’m being purposefully vague here that would be because I am. I don’t wanna spoil non-watchers before the break but I also want to give a clear hook to make people read, oh the tightropes we walk. I’m rambling because I’m happy with the episode, I promise.

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86: Eighty Six – 9 [Goodbye]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

What an episode. Eighty Six has come a long way from classroom politics and shitty lakeside ecchi. While the other writers on this site might disagree, might thing Eighty Six weak, I can’t help but enjoy what its trying to do. So without further ado how about we dive in to that?

Now in an effort to be fair lets start with the only real negative I have this week: The CGI. Eighty Six tries really had to avoid the showing the CGI. It does everything in it’s power, from clever editing and shot composition to after effects like smoke, to avoid it. And most of the time this works! The Legion looks… fine in motion because the CGI sheen gives them an otherworldly/inhuman feel. That works to their benefit! Meanwhile the 86ers are largely stationary which makes compositing them into the shot much easier. But sometimes a crack slips through and when it does… it doesn’t look good. I’m of course talking about Undertaker’s big fight in the first half of the episode. Narratively I enjoyed it, and we’ll talk about that in a moment, but the mech fight felt like the worst part of the scene.

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Spice and Wolf S2 – 6 [Wolf and the Trustworthy God] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome back to another episode of Spice and Wolf Season 2, this week released on time! In this episode Lawrence and Fermi clash, Holo makes a choice and the arc finally concludes. Who wins? Read on to find out!

Now the question becomes: Where do I start? You see, my feelings on this arc are conflicted. It was a long and overall good ride to get here don’t get me wrong! I like the progress Lawrence made and the new stage his relationship with Holo has entered. But at the same time it feels like everything was resolved to… cleanly. There was no real confrontation with Fermi, no parting words. In fact it was largely skipped over via narration as if he never mattered at all. And in a way I suppose he didn’t. The primary conflict of the arc wasn’t with Fermi but within Lawrence himself and overall I think that’s fine. It does the job it needs to. Personally though I don’t feel wholly satisfied. Allow me to explain after the break.

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