Author: SuperMario

Princess Principal – 07 [Case 16 Loudly Laundry]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

This week in Princess Principal … what exactly did I just watch? Suddenly spies do (steampunk) laundry and do business as well? Getting 231% raised in revenue and catch a thief in a process? That’s a bit of a stretch here. And who in the right mind would think it’s a good idea for a spy to step up and buy the business of a place she currently works undercover? She wants to get herself exposed of being a Princess? Phew. This episode is just as necessary to the main plot as the appendix in our body. Furthermore, it’s just dull. The only saving graces I can possibly take out from this episode are 1) their positive treatments to all the female casts: although all brought up in difficult backgrounds, girls can be good at their jobs – without men – and can control their own lives; and 2) the various precious facial reactions from Chise, and to a degree, Beatrice (geez, the moe factor eventually gets into me).

This week, the girls decide to join the laundry team in order to find the Poison Gas Jack (possibly a rip-off to Jack the Ripper), a terrorist whom they believe to be a military man. The plan is to find the uniforms that reacts to a pyridine test. Sound like a well-thought plan, right? Except that they have to go through hundreds of uniforms and there is a chance that the culprit doesn’t leave his own uniform for washing (you can always hand-wash your clothes, you know?); so guess what the show did? The spy girls bought off the place after learning about its debt and the culprit’s uniform was just accidently sent to the laundry service by some unnamed hero military men. Haizz, the more I talked about the plot the more painful I get so here’s the gist: this episode just feels sooo mundane and unrealistic at the same times and it betrays the fast, plot-driven tones Princess Principal has established so far. We don’t feel any tension regarding the actual case, we don’t feel excited because the action happens like… 10 seconds. Chise has a fair bit of interaction with the laundry leader, Marilla, but even that relationship feels half-baked at the end.

Chronologically, this is case16, which should be the second most recent (after last week’s case18) and there is a guy (the loan shark guy) that appears in both episodes. Funny that the only thing that connect him with the spies in both episodes is him being kicked in the butt by Dorothy, and Ange, respectively. Let’s see if he’d appear in later episodes but if he does, I suspect that he’d be the first one to make a connection about those girls who seem to be everywhere (he met 4 out of 5 girls already) and sell off the information to the Duke of Normandy. The part where our girls working together to repair all the steampunk laundry machines is warm that signal us that they’re all genuine people who care to help others (although why Beatrice is the only one who looks dirty?), but others than that, this episode is just unnecessary and the production isn’t that great with many off-models and the laundry girls’ designs are all uninspiring. Filler episode at its most head-scratching quality.

18if – 07 [And now There are none…]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

This episode is one of the reason why I am glad that I’m still putting my faith on 18if, an episode that displays a complete different range of visual style, and a satisfying children’s story about friendship as a cherry on top. There’s a lot to love here, from the beautiful aesthetic that heavily influenced by the European stop-motion-like (it’s still hand-drawn though) animation, to the tale that inspired by children fairytale with more mature, political undertones and the song “And there were none” at the end nearly take my breath away. This freedom of creating wide range of visual-storytelling based on each directors’ own visions is 18if’s most appealing factor, and episode 7 is when that freedom works totally for the show’s benefits. This comes as no surprise that the director handling 18if this week is veteran Kouichi Chigita, a director who responsible for Last Exile; Brave Story and Full Metal Panic. Apart from a bit of obvious, shaky CG opening, the rest of the episode moves with ease with the stunning visual that pays homage to many other Western animations, but nonetheless is original enough to stand on its own.

I’m not attempting to discuss about the actual plot of this beautiful episode (ala what all this means in the real life), as I believe the dreamy story we witnessed makes sense enough that trying to dig deeper into the plot kinda do its story a huge disservice. Instead, I will delve into the literacy inspirations this episode makes references from. The most obvious comparison would be The Little Prince, both because of those similar styles, but also they share the same kind of fairytale story and the same mature feeling those two manage to pull. Well, the main character, Pol, is a prince if there’s any more doubt. The character designs are decidedly simple that are reminiscent of stop-motion puppets and a fair bit remind me of Pixar’s characters of all things. The art designs are another highlight as 18if produces an enormous amount of standout backgrounds, from the peaceful forest, to the doomed city life to the creative kingdom designs. At one time the show reminds me greatly of Samurai Jack as you can see in one of the screenshots, and at other time the character designs, especially those who manipulated Pol, take a nod towards those villains in the Triplets of Belleville and our mains this week are another nod to the characters from the Wizard of Oz. Like I said, while this episode has huge inspirations, never at once I feel it as a rip-off, because those influences are in service of deepening its narrative and manage to bring the emotions across.

Then, the characters of Pol and Pot are heavily implied as a reference to Polpot, the infamous Khmer dictator and the Khmer Rouge and the even more infamous The Killing Fields. The way Pol eventually abandons his friendship, becomes heartless in the process and rules the Kingdom of massacre of innocent people, people died from hunger, totalitarian rules and the way he was just a puppet figure head all have very dark political undertones pointed towards that dark period of Cambodia. It’s also implied that Pot, his best friend, is executed for the crime of “treason”, the same crimes that the Khmer Rouge would use to kill intellectual people (more commonly known as “people with glasses”).

But all the metaphors and references are just a mere service to tell a story about a friendship between Pol (the Prince), his best friend Pot and the girl Nene, whom later become a Witch. And I would recommend you not to look so much into the deeper metaphors because the story is beautiful as it is, while at the same time tell us just enough about the Witch’s issues. It’s a rather tough trick to pull considering that the whole episode is from Pol’s (not the Witch’s) perspective; but we can really understand what make Nene drifting apart and come to hate the friendship that she used to love. The story literally goes all the phases of emotional progressions (the Five Passions: joy; pleasure, grief, anger, hate), while paralleling all the phases of their friendship from how the friendship is formed, how it comes to a genuine love and how everything just broken apart afterwards; how Pol comes to term with accepting the fault he made and how eventually Nene comes to forgive him about his misdeeds. It’s a story about growing up, all told in a form of dreamy fairytale that might not appear to make sense on the surface, but make total sense narratively.

Well, I’m intrigued to see what 18if will go from here. This episode alone receives a perfect 5/5 score from me and I’m not pressing to say that this episode is my favorite standalone episode of this season. As in the nature of 18if, this episode is a standalone story so everyone can watch it and see the stunning, simple yet elegant little story for yourself. Sometimes it’s nice to see something like this in an anime-landscape, which remind me again of the possibilities and the globalization anime medium is capable of.

Classroom of the Elite – 06 [There are Two Kinds of Lies; One concerns an Accomplished Fact, the Other concerns a Future Duty]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

Youkoso embraces its true nature this week, pulling off some resolves that are pulpy, but clean up nicely the conflicts they present this episode. With episode 6, not only class-D settles the accusation from class-C; they set up, and quickly resolve, Sakura’s stalking issues and gives a much-needed concern regarding Ayanokouji’s own agenda behind his actions: lurking in the shadow, (possibly) manipulating people around for the benefits of the class. Or does it? It’s about goddamn time we need to know more from him. Youkoso makes it quite clear that the guy doesn’t really care about the class, so why does he agree to help Horikita moving up to Class-A in a first place? The flashback hints that he was in some sort of lab experiment in his young age, that might attribute to how he’s exceptional, or rather, overpowered, but passive; doesn’t want to stand out (although people do notice) and most importantly, prefers to.be left alone. I don’t mind this direction to be honest, Youkoso is at its best when it’s stay true to its ridiculous elements, so if the show pulls off another orphanage that is a secret lab experiment to create the new Hitler, I’m all in.

My real complain for the first segment of this episode simply lies in the fact that I never believe those guys from Class-C would be that stupid to go meet Kushida, at that crucial time of the investigation. All three of them. Do they forget that Kushida is in class-D as well? Or do they forget about the case altogether? Other than that though, it’s nice to see Horikita and Ayanokouji pull off such plan: set up the camera where the incident happened, make them think that the camera caught on their actions, and then persuade them to drop the case. Well, it’s more of a mind game than an actual plan but it works like a charm because the thugs from class-C are assigned for fighting, not for thinking by themselves. It’s a bit manipulative but isn’t Youkoso all about manipulation?

Sakura has a much darker story to tell. Stalking isn’t funny, after all, so although Youkoso just hints about her issue in the beginning of this episode, we feel the stakes are there. But… who’s in the right mind would go to dark alley while being stalked? Geez Sakura… you should’ve known better. While the conflict itself is nicely done, we get to see how Ayanokouji would save the day and thus, how Sakura starts to trust the guy and believes more in herself and what not; I have a hard time dealing with the whole implication behind this conflict. Not only Sakura is framed as a worst image of feminism ever: get into trouble and then whoops, the Prince comes and saves the day (not to mention her bouncy boobs that have no place in the story); the way Youkoso treats that clerk’s character is just so unpleasant. You can’t show us how awesome a character is by an expense of another character, ever. Well-written characters, even the evilest ones, we still have some level of sympathy towards them because they’re layered with their personalities. For all their actions, there are always a solid reason behind. That clerk man here, do you feel anything else about him other than disgusting and repulsing? Youkoso tries too hard to make this clerk creepy, that I am creeped out by the way they frame him instead.  Imagine each character as a “soul”, and I feel pity for that “soul” for being born as a deformed, one-note character whose the sole purpose is to be booed by everyone.

Half way in, can’t say myself that I enjoy Youkoso that much. It’s not a terrible product but I feel totally… indifferent to it. This episode, for example, while I could say that overall this is one Youkoso’s better episode, I personally have so many issues regarding its treatments to the plot and the characters.  I’m trying my best not to sound overly negative in my review, as I still see some solid qualities behind the show and I know constant ranting don’t do either you or me any good. I will stick with it till the end so maybe it’s better that I need to just enjoy the ride and don’t think too hard about it.

Princess Principal – 06 [Case 18 Rouge Morgue]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

We have a very tender Princess Principal episode this week. Instead of exciting spy action like previous weeks, we get to the place that is largely ignored by the rest of the world: a morgue. A place where they’re near the dead than the living, where time just passes by slowly but endlessly. A place that feel like an endless cycle of corpses stacking up. I’m in awe with this setting. Normally anime shows don’t depict a morgue right; they tend to play up its creepy atmosphere for cheap horror effect; but here, they nail that grim atmosphere perfectly. Certainly didn’t expect this from a stylish spy show with cute girls like Princess Principal. The pacing, when you compare with their previous episodes, is much slower and this case is the least relevant to the main plot. That said, this episode is dedicated to give a spotlight to Dorothy and in that regards, this episode excels. Not only Dorothy becomes the most genuine character in this spy team (something that they remark as being weak), the solid execution towards the ending part successfully make us root for this poor girl without being overly manipulated. We have another solid Princess Principal in our hands.

The case this week, case18 (which is the most recent chronologically) – Dorothy is given a mission by Control to work in London’s morgue and recover a code cipher hidden inside the tooth of a deceased Kingdom agent. She takes Beatrice with her to the morgue and meet the person who is tasked by the Duke of Normandy to find the agent’s body – her father, Danny. Danny is a sore sight though, bursting out all the times, blaming the others for his own misfortune and has debt all over the place. The father-daughter reunion is uncomfortable because Dorothy (her real name: Daisy) has a mixed feeling about him. He’s aggressive and vulnerable at the same time, caring at one time, out of control at others. If I have a say myself, this was a very abusive relationship and she did the right thing of running away from that madman. The episode keeps teasing us on whether behind his loud mouth, does he indeed care for his daughter. Dorothy, on the other hand, has gotten soft. Too soft for a spy really, as when she finds the code cipher, she still intends to hand it to Danny for him to pay off his debts. It is telling that she uses her mother’s name as her alias, as a way that she regards her family as dear and important to her.

And it does seem like most of our girls have daddy issues. Beatrice has her throat sliced altered by insane papa. Chise had to go all the way to foreign land to kill off her insane dad, and now Dorothy was beaten by her insane otousan. I also like the coupling of Dorothy and Beatrice this time. They have a nice chemistry and like Dorothy remarks, only Beatrice can be able to understand why despite all the hardships, Dorothy still comes to trust and love her father and for once, the girls’ relationship feels genuine and base on mutual understanding, instead of lies. This episode gives a necessary development for the last girl of the team, Dorothy, make her the most grounded character out of the spy team. Well, I still prefer they give more time to show how these girls bounce of each other, as Ange, Chise and Princess are all relegated to some minor scenes in this episode. Plot-wise, not much to gain either as this case adds little to the main conflict. I can see Princess Principal divide the audience sharply this week: those who look for non-stop action will end up disappointed; those who look for more character’s development (like me) will have a lot to boast about. Whatever side you’re on.

Owarimonogatari – 03 [Ougi Dark]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Monogatari Series

Well done Monogatari for building up a final showdown that is tense, not by the climatic battle but by the amount of information release, how the pieces of the puzzle finally get into place. An ending that tied up everything the show has paintakingly constructed from previous dozen arcs; an ending that emotional satisfied and an ending that unlike any other ending. Usually for the climax this crucial, all the important players will be in place to play their roles; here in Monogatari, it’s an one-on-one confrontation, mostly through talking, and concluding with a single line of acknowledgement on top of it. Monogatari series has always been a show about growth, about characters who learn about themselves and embrace their dark side. Thus, isn’t it fitting that after saving all the girls, it’s time for Araragi to face his darkness and save himself? Growth, after all, is about acknowledgement. It’s until Araragi acknowledges his dark side that he’s truly become more mature. How NisiOisin make an ending that perfect and conclusive really prove me again how I fall for his style in the first place. The following paragraphs will content huge spoilers of the whole Monogatari series, so if you don’t want to spoil yourself, I guess I will see you out there in the chatbox.

Gaen makes herself very clear to Araragi by her two “minimum requirements” in order to reach everyone’s objectives: assign a new Deity for the North Shirahebi Shrine; and exterminate Ougi Oshino (one of them ultimately failed by the way). Since Araragi unexpectedly bring Mayoi up from hell, she becomes a perfect candidate as a new God for the shrine. And to think that the catch phrase that I always overlooked “Kami Kashita” is a forshadowing all along – from back to episode 3 in 2009. My hat off to you NisiOisin. If you really notice, despite having a large cast, Monogatari never had more than 4 characters in the same sequence (something I’d love to write more about, another time), up until this episode. Here, basically Gaen’s monologuing and info-dumping us much needed expositions about the history of the Shrine, and how everything came to the way it is now. The exposition is long and demanding, so Shaft again uses their old tricks to engage our attention: having Mayoi and Ononogi playing around, and then emphasis on irrelevant topics like playing baseball and cricket (something I’d love to write more in deep some time, again. I regard this technique as “the art of distraction” to keep our attention). Originally Gaen intended to put Shinobu as a Deity, but it’s rather fitting, and surprisingly make so much sense to enshrine Mayoi as a new Deity. The snail that defeat the snake part is a bit of a stretch to be frank, but all those info had been planted well before in previous arcs (notably, Shinobu Time and Hitagi End) that it just comes all together in a neat package.

The second minimum requirement is to exterminate Ougi. But what makes Ougi dangerous is that her true identity is a total mystery. In fact, she has only two purposes: to eject those broken the rules, and to point out how imperfect Araragi’s approach is. The one thing left she knows she has to do is to exterminate the biggest “fake” of all: Tsuhiki the Phoenix. Tsuhiki, stays true of being one of my favorite (but under-developed) characters, and stay true to herself, doesn’t care about the future and just simply enjoys the present. That what her character always is: embracing the present, having fun while supporting what other people do, especially Karen and her brother. “I’m pretty good at living.” That is indeed a marvelous thing that she can say confidently. In that moments alone, Ougi feels compassionate towards Tsuhiki’s “fake” nature. Coming to face Araragi, I sense something about Ougi I had never felt before. A hint of sadness. She comes to the fight knowing that she’d get suck by the Darkness, but it’s the fight she has to fight. Kudos to the seiyuu of Ougi who give such a demanding performance that make her sound emotional towards this final climax, a feat that isn’t easy to pull consider her spooky emotionless role.

And here, all the concepts the show has built throughout its near-decade long all surface: The act of selfless sacrifice for the sake of others. The concept of rightness. Justice. We know before that Araragi keeps pushing himself over his limit results in him slowly losing his humanity. But he also forms a guilt towards those girls that he had helped: regrets that he could do it better, feelings that he cheated because of his vampiric immortal ability, blame himself for the unfortunates of others. All those negative feelings, plus the strange occurrences of the town (most notably during the First Minion’s period) that create Ougi – or Koyomi Darkness. Ougi is an appariation that has all the special abilities of those girls he helped, specifically assigned to attack Araragi, form a justice that oppose to his very ideal and has a dark intent to crush all the girls and his ideal down. Araragi just does what he thinks is right, and Ougi does what “right” by eliminating the “wrong”. In the end, no one is truly right and wrong. And Araragi just doesn’t give a damn about what is right anymore and come saving her instead, if it means that he would be exterminated too. That act, that Araragi finally saves himself, is the biggest personal grown for him. Bye bye adolescent. Araragi now becomes a full-fledge adult and Ougi the Koyomi Darkness now becomes Ougi the niece of Meme Oshino.

All the girls all make an appearance in this last episode. It’s rather heartwarming to see how much Nadeko has grown since her last arc, and she’s cute now because she doesn’t try to be cute. Hanekawa’s still kicking ass, getting Meme back all the way from Anartica goddamnit (the only place where there is no oddity, thanks to the Lost Cow effect by Ougi) and Shinobu shines just by little things that she said. Brilliant. I would love to see more from Kanbaru but this ending just hit all the sweet spots in my body, so I’m done complaining. This is a conclusion that easily justify the insane amount of time I have been following this series. I’m not at all joking when I say I’ve grown along with Monogatari and at a specific time of my life few years back, this show, along with their characters who struggled for their own issues, connected deeply with me in a personal level. As for what my opinion is about the possibility of further adaptation of the Monogataries series. As much as I love the whole cast and its universe, I believe that the story (pun obviously intended) has run its course. Monogatari series had been blessed with too much efforts from Shaft and I would love to see the same kind of attention for some other materials out there that needed adapting. Not sure if I can be able to grade this Owarimonogatari, or the whole Monogatari objectively so I guess I will spare you guys on the full review. Monogatari is one of a kind series, there’s nothing like it, just like there’s no place like home.

Owarimonogatari 2 – 02 [Hitagi Rendezvous]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Monogatari Series

This arc certainly is a calm before the big storm, in which instead of the final showdown promised at the end of Mayoi Hell, we have a date between Araragi and Hitagi, a day after his college exam and a day before the actual graduation. Their last date as a high schooler. Normally I would be in tears because seriously, a date when we’re nearly reaching the climax? But I’m totally at peace since it offers more Hitagi’s precious time. As much as most people regard her as the main heroine in Monogatari series, in truth she barely has any screentime at all. Her first own arc was right at the start of the whole franchise, and her second arc was a disguise of Kaiki’s arc. As such, her presence is always there but she has mostly relegated to scene-stealing moments from other arcs (most notably, in Sodaichi Riddle).

Well, as far as a date goes, Hitagi and Araragi spend some sweet times together, and I’m honestly quite surprised that their date is really a normal date. No battle between appapriation. No other characters interfere (actually, yes, but this girl Ougi hardly counts) and they enjoy their date like any normal couple would do: driving a car, going to the planetarium, playing bowling, drinking some tea and singing karaoke. It kinda funny to know that she intentionally put up a penalty: the promise of absolute obedience for loser but then keep losing the challenge to Araragi. Especially, in a karaoke turn when she sings her own song “Futakotome” and somehow still lost to Araragi when he sings Hanekawa’s song (guess what the karaoke’s comment was? “You have very high singing skills, but emotional expression seems slightly week” Great touch there Shaft. A true tsundere huh?). At first, I thought she goes easy on him in bowling but after learning about her request, this isn’t the case. For all her manipulatiion and emotional demanding, the request is as sweet and simple as ever: Hitagi wants Araragi calls her by her first name for the rest of their lives, meaning their relationship is taking more intimate step this time.

Ougi again appears like a shadow and she’s as spooky as ever. Well, her true nature is still a question mark (and finally we going to have a glimpse at it in final arc) but her intention is getting clearer this time. Her main role is to eject those that have broken the rules. In addition, she clearly states that she isn’t the Darkness, an entity that almost swept away Mayoi’s existence before. The long-winded presentation about the constellations from Dream Ougi might not make much sense, but I’m digging how she compares the Hydra with Shinobu. Now that the show mentions it, it was the same method they kill the Hydra that almost killed Kiss-Shot: cutting their heads/limbs apart and destroy those before they can regenerate. Apart from the nightmarish air she always manages to bring, this time around I can also sense the desperation from her. She knows that she’s in inferior position right now, she knows damn well that she’s about to step into the enemy’s trap, she knows that not only she has to face Gaen, she will face off invincible Kiss-Shot as well. But as a “principle of the universe” she won’t back down, knowing that her chance to get defeated is coming right near. She asks Araragi for his assistance and Araragi has a tendency to take on such request from any girl. The big battle is coming near and I’m sure heads will roll this time.

Owarimonogatari 2 – 01 [Mayoi Hell]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Monogatari Series

The Monogatari-fest is reaching near its end. For those of you who are slightly off about the current events; here’s a brief break down. Araragi wakes up in Hell and learns from Mayoi that he had been killed – chopped off by the kokorowatari – by Gaen, just so that he will be resurrected back again. Sound like a meaningless roundabout course of actions, but in truth, there are some subtractions and additions involved. The “subtractions” part: his vampiric ability is fully gone and thus, restore Shinobu into a full-fledge sparkling eye-winked vampire lord Heart-under-Blade (such heartwarming to realize that even now when their bond is broken and Araragi is no longer her “master”, she’d go such length – threatening to rip Gaen apart – to bring him back). The “additions” part: Araragi also grabs Mayoi back up, the decision that wasn’t initially planned by Gaen, but something she did expect from him; and a neccesary time to reassert his actions and learn more about his role in this masterplan.

I must say that the cast of Monogatari is one of the rare cases that I have personal attachment to almost all of the characters; and I like Mayoi well enough (her matter-of-factness regarding her staying in hell to pile stones up everyday like it’s a part of mundane daily life totally won me over). But the chatter banner between Araragi and Mayoi has always been one of its weaker, more questionable part that does more harm than good in my opinion. Even at large, the introduction part when characters get together has never been Monogatari’s strong forte as they usually rely too much on established gags and wordplays that really hard for us, foreigners to comprehend. Here, Araragi apparently is all over the moon and can’t keep his desire to “touch” her. Bleh. Apart from that though, even with her role this time as an assistant for Araragi to lead him back to surface, Mayoi more than hold her own. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that his help meant the most to Mayoi more than any other harem character. Others still have their lives beyond their apparition nature, her life was an endless cycle of wandering alone – the lost snail. Thus, more than anyone, she understands about how all his efforts really worth, as a result she won’t accept the low-esteem, woe-is-me Araragi. That’s why when she’s furious and hits Araragi for his insecure rubbish, it holds so much weight. For all of its “heavy-dialogue nonsense” and “irrelevant visual style” and “weird characters’ poses”, the series’s heart is always in the right place because the show understands the characters’ struggles and sympathy with them.

As Mayoi leads him to meet Teoru, they pass through all the girls he had “saved” with a “what-if” scenario. What if he didn’t save Hitagi back then? What about Hanekawa? Interestingly, he always regrets about saving KissShot because obviously his life would take a very different turn had he walked away from her. Even in Nadeko’s case it’s a sense of regret that he failed to help her, or to be more exact, he failed by helping her. But make no mistake, although he’s at his lowest confidence, if he had a second chance to redo everything, he’d still help those girls out. This episode also raises another interesting theme: the difference between doing the right thing and correcting mistakes. I believe this will tie up to Ougi’s arc as she always believes that she does the right thing by erasing the part that don’t function like it’s supposed to. I highly believe that she was the person behind the darkness entity that threaten to erase Mayoi in “Mayoi Jiangshi” for example and I think the reason she said she’d come into the trap that Guen prepared is to exterminate Kiss-Shot for good.

I didn’t expect to see this guy Teoru back, and he has one or two intesting expositions to spare. First, all his kipnapping, his supposed “death” in Yotsugi Doll was all scams to deceive Ougi. In reality, since he failed in his own experiment, he became an entity himself: half human – half monster, wandering the boundaries of material world and the afterlife. Meme got him into the plan and he was put in hell to prepare for this moment: bringing Araragi back to life. Second, he also reveals the person who ordered him to exterminate Araragi and Shinobu: none other than Ougi. Really love the fact that this episode set in Hell (that made it the third Hell episode I’ve seen this year, all of them were fantastic), so that Shaft even has more opportunity to go wild on the visual; and the visuals were spot on for most part. The OP is good though a fair bit forgettable. Now that all the pieces are fit into place, we’ll head to the next equally important part: Araragi and his college entrance exams plus his full date with Hitagi the next day. Unbelievable, right? That’s Monogatari series for you.

18if – 06 [Curses Return Upon the Casters]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

This episode… certainly is random as hell. While the first half is a decent treatment of a bullied girl case who escapes the world by becoming the anime character that she loves – a priest; the second half… suddenly they’re in a mecha robot to save the world from aliens. Wild imagination there. Feel like the producers just demanded that “We want mecha robot. Make it happen” and here is what they came up with. At least 18if is being weird, that in itself is rewarding enough. The director of this episode was Yukio Takahashi, whom mostly done episode directing, most notably in Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam, Seirei no Moribito, Shangri-La and B gata H kei. Not that impressive resume but the episode is nicely done as she handles the various tones: the drama, the various action scenes, and the goofy Scooby Doo’s actions quite alright. It’s the writing this time that takes the fall.

The witch this time, Natsuki has a relatable – if a bit too obvious – circumstances. Bully in school happens more frequent than you think and in her case, receiving constant bully and being completely isolated from the class is a serious matter. For a show that each episode is handled by different director, 18if is surprisingly very consistent in how they emphasize each witch’s circumstance as a victim in her own society. A feeling of sympathy perhaps, and as a result, a disapproval, somewhat angry attitude towards those who cause the misfortune. In episode 2, Haruto assisted the Witch to kill one of the killer, FOR REAL; episode 6 also has the same message: Curses Return Upon the Casters. They reap what they sow.

Natsuki is also has a nerdy side of her, as she’s a secret fan of On-Bara, an anime about a priest who protect the town by killing dark spirits. Thus, when Natsuki commits suicide, she tranfers to that world and becomes the said priest. She has fun fight off dark spirits; until she realizes that there are just so many of them so she… curses her friends instead. This is the point where the show just lost its rhythm and do its own Freeform. First, Haruto just speaks like, 3 lines and he already convinces Natsuki to change her mind. Wow,just wow. And then, the alien invasion is just on a whole new level of goofiness that it’s rather refreshing to see. Ya know, just throw all the build up we have so far through the window and let’s play some robot. Save the world. Keep bullying the bullies. Then returns back to life because life is precious (or rather, because living a shounen life is too taxing and cursing alone is lonely).

I have nothing much to say unfortunately; since this is an episode where you have to see it to know for yourself. Personally, I have a good time watching 18if this week. The sum of its part is terrible, the transition from a touching, serious subject to full campy B-movies is too jarring and too much to take in, yes but the first sequence and last sequence are so vastly contradict each other that seeing how they move from A to B is rather entertaining to watch. Next week in 18if we have an Agatha Christine’s inspired title” “And Now There Are None” so I expect great dark mystery in the vein of episode 2. Let’s wait and see.

Classroom of the Elite – 05 [Hell is other People]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

We have a slightly better Youkoso this week, although I have a feeling that they drag this case for far too long. Throughout this episode, we have two new developments: Sakura begins to trust Ayanokouji and as a result agrees to be a witness, even at a cost to expose herself (quite literally); and the courtroom happens later on in which no compromise being reached (11 ANGRY MEN). Though, to be fair, how Ayanokouji and Horikita eventually find a way to prove Sudo’s innocence could be interesting. With no concrete evidence regarding who began the fight; I guess the angle they could delve on is making the Class-C spill the beans about the set-ups. Just make sure don’t pull any out-of-nowhere evidence because it’s just a cheap, cop-out way to resolve the conflicts. And to think that Class-C pulled this dirty scheme to sweep all the points from Class-D, but they might face an expulsion (or even class-regelation, I prefer that) instead if the truth ever comes out. Overall, this is a stronger week for Youkoso, and I hope they stick with the tactical how-will-Class-D-gain-points-and-move-rank plot because it’s the only thing that makes Youkoso remotely interesting now.

I said that because as of now the characters in the show are pretty much unconvincing. Ayanokouji still holds his ground so far but the girls Horikita and Kushida don’t fare very well. I mean, after Ayanokouji (and us) see another dark personality from Kushida, it remains quite baffling for me as to why she still keeps that mask even when she’s alone with him. If the evil, angry Kushida is supposed to be her real personality, I can stand it; but if it’s there as a split-personality from her, then it’s just poor execution. The new girl Sakura, likewise, has a weak entrance this week as she never makes clear what she wanna do, or say. It leaves up to the audience on the rather “unsettling” sequence of her trying to repair her camera in a store as to whether the clerk is a real creepy guy or it’s just all in her head as she suffers from social anxiety. I’m leaning on the latter (but the store camera IS ON, damnit) as I believe it’s an effective way to know more about her through her lens. Apparently, she comes to trust Ayanokouji for his dead-eyes (“your eyes weren’t scary” huh?), but his advice is really on point. She does that not for the sake of others, but for her sake because she won’t feel guity for not helping Sudo out anymore. On a grander scale, it might as well be Yousoko’s own philosophy: everyone need to work together for the sake of the class as awhole, but ultimately, it’s for their own sakes that they help out each other – and there is nothing wrong with that.

The latter half when the courtroom happens is much more exciting. Class-C claims that Sudo asked them out so they need another guy – an experienced fighter – as a bodyguard, but then they contradict themselves with the statement that they tried best to avoid the fight hence all of them were heavily injured. When Sakura comes in and proves that she was in the scene when the fight broke out, class-C tries to make a compromise. Which sounds like a great deal, except it’s not. The bottom line is that Sudo is framed for the conflict, and Horikita and Ayanokouji will find a way to prove him not guilty. The hip-grabbing moment is quite hilarious as it snaps Horikita out of her brother-complex mood (seriously? Why do anime girls have to be so reliant to the male character who treats them like shit? Worst image of feminism ever). The President takes this as a good opportunity to see the real potential of Ayanokouji, although the guy himself remarks that he has no plan whatsoever. And DODGE. How can they prove it? Will Youkoso get better from now on? Does Sakura have more lewd selfies in her gallery? As Ayanokouji remarks at the end: “That’s a good question.”

Princess Principal – 05 [Case 7 Bullet & Blade’s Ballad]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, Chise gets a proper introduction this week. Regarding the non-chronological order, I believe this week being case7 makes total perfect sense. Case in point, in case9 (last week), Chise is still struggling to find a concrete role in the group; signals that she’s still quite new to the group. Beside; I don’t really think they will go back to earlier cases anymore, so they will probably go with the chronological order from now on. What do we have so far? In case13 (episode 1), there was a hint of Cavonite leakage that caused victims suffering from Canonite poisoning, and case9 the team goes after cavorite-related technology; if my guess is right the next episode will be somewhere between case9 and case13 to further elaborate about the Cavorite, which has has been consistently lurking in the background for quite sometimes. A Cavonite explosion perhaps? Here’s the thing that I absolutely love about Princess Principal, you can watch all these 5 episodes in any order and it still makes sense. All the episodes are self-contained, yet there are many subtle hints that become clear when you watch other episodes, like Duke Normandy’s real motive this week that really make me question the real intention of suggesting Princess to marry away to the Russian’s Emperor. Either he suspects the Princess or he just hates her guts.

About this episode, though, God, the animation is a major step-up this week. The fight choreography is excellent and the character’s movements in particular, are distinctive, smoothly and full of life (just look how the Princess moves in the beginning or how Ange and Chise run differently from each other). I looked up at the animator and it turns out the episode was handled by Ryouma Ebata, who was a key animator for Shounen Maid, Noen, the first episode of Madoka, Tsuritama OP… this guy totally rocks. Just look how dynamic Chise fights on top of the train or the big swordfight with Todo Jubei, those sequences are really something to behold. The direction was pretty excellent too. Princess Principal hints us the whole assassination scheme through the sequences of: the janitor drops the mop into the big map right where he wants to blow up the linkage; then cut to the Duke of Normandy to signal us that he’s the mastermind behind the assassination; then to Dorothy catches on to the scheme and then the explosion. I don’t usually notice this much but the technical craft of this week’s Princess Principal is so impressive and top-notch that it elevates the material to the new high level.

On top of that, Chise has an amazing entrance as well. It’s not that surprises to learn that Todo Jubei was her father all along (gezz, look at their contrasted costumes, isn’t it obvious?), but when she repeats that magic spell from her late father; my heart skipped a beat (although the explanation later makes thing pretty obvious). I think it’s a nice contrast to see that although Chise regarded Todo Jubei as a traitor, maybe it’s her who turn her back to her clan and serve the Lord instead (remember one guy who said to her -”You would betray us, Chise?”). For my money however, it might be all just an act to gain trust from the Princess and Ange. But her tears in the end are real. Goddamnit. And did I mention that Chise and Ange make a really great and lethal team together? Those are combat girls at highest level and it’s such a blast to see them fight together, or even against each other.

Can’t believe I would say this, but… now we know another function of that “amour” throat of Beatrice. Thanks for the sciencemadness that Beatrice ultimately saved her head, right? Now all the girls have all formed special connections to Ange, which is a great sign, but I would love more if Princess Principal establishes more chemistry between other members of the group. I’ve kept voicing my concern that Princess Principal will fall off its skate; but it turns out that the show is just getting better and more exciting by each episode. Now with all the introductions are in place, let’s see how Princess Principal will take us from there.