Category: Currently Watching:

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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Undead Murder Farce – 5/6 [The Undead in London/The Phantom Thief and the Detective]

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

Welcome all, to a special double feature of a week! Apologies for missing last week, Covid and other health problems sort of screwed me and I barely got out the posts that I did. To be frank some are still ongoing, so if I’m late on something that’s why. Getting old sucks yo. Anyways on with the show(s)!

First up we have episode 5, “The Undead in London”. This one was… Odd. And not in a good way. In fact the best way I can put it is that, at 5 episodes in, Undead Murder Farce feels like it’s starting to bloat. What do I mean by that? Well simply that Undead Murder Farce introduced a lot this episode, to the point where it has become very clear to me that the show isn’t going to be able to cover everything and maybe even won’t reach a satisfying stopping point. What does “a lot” mean? Well we’ve got the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, what was once just a cheeky reference are now fully fledge characters involved in the plot, a whole new organization of super powered monster hunters, who probably won’t like Rindo, not to mention our “antagonist” for this arc. It just feels like… a lot.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 5 [Premature Death]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, the the finale of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory arc! We’ve been talking about what makes Suguru become a villain for a month now, and it’s finally time to see what Jujutsu Kaisen comes up with. Here’s a hint: It’s pretty damn good. So let’s jump in!

Now in case it wasn’t obvious, as an end of an arc I really liked this episode. I think Jujutsu Kaisen wrapped everything up really well, tying up most of the loose threads. There was even a small bit at the end to tie us back into the present-day story, which I appreciated. The production especially was fantastic, with some really evocative shots. I’m not talking about incredible sakuga or anything, I mean that the episode was well shot and well framed. The way Jujutsu Kaisen communicated just how exhausted Suguru is was fantastic. From his tired eyes, posture and unkempt hair to that one scene in the showers. Even before he broke, before that final moment, you could tell how much all of this was weighing on him, driving him closer and closer to that edge. Honestly, just like the rest of the arc, it looked great.

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 33/34/35/36 – Throwback Thursday

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

Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin! Apologies for the lateness on this. Like I said in the Zom 100 post, I actually caught Covid this past week and its kind of fucking me up a bit. Expect things to be delayed. I’ll get them out, but man is it tiring. Anyways, on with the episodes!

First up is episode 33, “Fly”. This one is all about Erin completely ignoring Nasan’s warning deciding to train Lilan to fly on command. And you know what? I’m here for it. Not only for Erin to start proactively forging her own path but also for what it does to Erin and Lilan’s relationship. This idea that Erin lost sight of Lilan a bit, started to view her more as a pet/work animal than a partner, was intriguing. She was more focused on getting her to fly, on getting what she wanted, that she didn’t really consider what Lilan wanted. Not until the end at least, where she noticed and started to play with her again rather then force her out into the fields to work. Erin figured out Lilan needed to want to fly, she couldn’t be made to. And that was sweet.

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Zom 100 Bucket List of the Dead – 4 [Flight Attendant of the Dead]

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

Welcome all, to a tremendously late episode of Zom 100! Sorry for that, turns out I got Covid at Otakon and that’s kinda fucking me up. Don’t expect anything to be on time this week, or even necessarily coherent, cause I’m currently sitting here unable to feel my throat. Enough about me though, let’s shift from talking about one deathly disease to another, zombies!

Starting off, this episode was all about Kencho and Akira really spending some time together. Talking about their dreams, being open and honest with each other, and really just rebuilding their friendship. In that sense, it was quite nice. I like that Zom 100 is giving them time to just hang out and establish their relationship before introducing more characters. There’s no big overarching “save the world” plot nor is some kind of super serious survival thing. Hell the premise of the entire episode was going out to get an 80 in flat-screen TV to play games on! And that’s nice! Zom 100 has this levity to it that, when the serious bits do kick in, you aren’t suffocated by them. It’s a nice dichotomy, and one we see in this very episode.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 4 [Hidden Inventory 4]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, to the climax of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory arc! Much like Undead Murder Farce, I apologize for this being so late. I was attending Otakon this past weekend and while it was a great time, I’m behind on… literally everything. So enough lollygagging, lets dive into the episode!

Starting off, while this episode wasn’t as visually as impressive I was hoping it would be, thematically I think it was fantastic. Yeah, there wasn’t the same degree of spectacle as say… the ending of Season 1, or Mahito vs Itadori. But in place of that Jujutsu Kaisen managed to tell a story with its fights. The way Fushiguro played with Suguru, explaining himself in such a way as to purposefully mislead him while at the same time powering himself up as per his pact. Or how it communicated Gojo’s mentality in the second half. And none of that is to say it looked bad, it obviously looked great. It was just more… subdued then I was expecting, in a good way. They didn’t go over the top and ruin it with poorly composited CGI backgrounds like the previous seasons forests for instance. Overall I’d say it was… Just right.

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Undead Murder Farce – 4 [The Headliner Appears]

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

Welcome all, to another episode of Undead Murder Farce! This is a late one, apologies for that. I was attending Otakon this weekend and that took up a whole lot of my time. Was fun though, and I can’t wait to go back next year! Bought some nice merch. My weekend adventures aside, on with the episode!

First up lets talk about the production, because Undead Murder Farce kind of disappointed me this week. There’s the obvious, such as the really bad greenscreen effect that we’ve seen before. I still don’t understand why the show is doing this, it doesn’t look good, it doesn’t add to the aesthetic, it just looks like they were to lazy to do it right. There’s just nothing good about it. The less obvious issue though is Tsugaru’s fight. Now this isn’t meant to be some kind of big set piece, I get that. Undead Murder Farce isn’t that kind of show. But even with that in mind, the choreography and lighting of the whole thing just felt… bad. It wasn’t engaging in the slightest outside of Tsugaru’s dialogue, which isn’t how you want a fight to be. It feels like, visually, we’re just getting weaker and weaker as time goes on.

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