Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 6 [Akaza]

I’m back from New York City everyone! That was a fun trip. Got to see the city, hang out with some friends, go to a weeb convention and spend way to much money on food. Even got to see Pompo the Cinephile! Alright movie. But that isn’t what you’re here for, oh no. You want some Kimetsu no Yaiba! So lets dive into last weeks episode that I’m many days late on.

This was always my favorite part of the Yaiba movie. It has issues, especially in the TV format which we will talk about. But at it’s core this section is just unadulterated hype. It’s one big fight that they poured their everything into. From big fire and wind effects to flashy lighting and large CGI environments, this is everything Yaiba is good at. And we are only half way done with the fight! There are some issues, sure. The camera gets a little wild and Ufotable completely ignore the 180 degree rule making it a bit of a mess to follow. On top of that the CGI fire lion was a bit to much if you ask me. These are both relatively small complains though and by and large I think this scene shows us what Yaiba does best: Set piece battles.

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Ousama Ranking – 06 [King of the Underworld]

This week was certainly an episode of Ousama Ranking. It was not an episode I’ll remember for long.

“King of the Underworld” was a bit of a chore to watch. With several flashbacks and a fighting sequence that we had basically seen before, there wasn’t the series’ usual heart in this one.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 5 [Move Forward!]

Welcome everyone to another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This week is going to be a bit of a shorter post, we don’t have to much to talk about. I’ll do my best to cover everything that’s important though so lets dive into it!

Starting off, animation! And like usual Kimetsu no Yaiba fares pretty well here. I especially like the elemental effects. These things continue to be gorgeous, I absolutely love the Ukiyo-e style water and fire effects. The thick, contrasting lines of white and black within these bright colors sets them apart from everything else. And because of how heavily saturated the colors are I find myself not caring about the lack of detail such as shading or how they are composited. Maybe its just my love for heavy blacks, but I think it looks really good and reminds me of cel-shaded animation and games graphics. And on top of all of that the 3D camera work is actually really solid! At least… as long as you ignore the poop tentacles. Yes, you read that right. Poop tentacles. And they look just as ugly as they sound.

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Ousama Ranking – 05 [Intertwining Plots]

I’ve been harder on Ousama Ranking than any other reviewer I’ve seen.  I’ve criticized, nitpicked, complained.  But it’s not out of spite – it’s out of love, because I can see the immense potential here.  So let me be the first to say – “Intertwining Plots” was absolutely fantastic.  It earned the highest compliment that I can give a seasonal episode: I watched it twice in a row.  This episode was everything I want out of this show – and more.  Let’s take a look!

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 4 [Insult]

Welcome back everyone to another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba! We had a bit of a break there, partly for the show and partly for me, but thats fine more time for Ufotable to work on the second half. Or maybe… maybe even to work on this half. Because if my suspicions are correct, this isn’t just a reprint of the movie. Not entirely at least. Lets dive in and talk about it!

Starting off, if I didn’t know any better I would say there were some new cuts in this episode. Stuff that wasn’t in the movie! Really Kimetsu no Yaiba? You’re going to spoil me? And indeed, going by this post from reddit user “eitherism” there was a good bit added. From the falling scene with the young man in Tanjiro’s dream to making his suicide a bit bloodier as well as moving some stuff around to better fit these new scenes. Of course not all of it is great. Yaiba is still cutting out the occasional character or exposition scene it seems and causing some continuity issues. But ignoring what are admittedly very small issues, Yaiba has added more than it took out. As someone who expected this to be nothing more than the movie cut up and re-aired, that’s kind of impressive.

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Eighty Six S2 – 6 [I Won’t Forget]

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Eighty Six! This week we follow up on Lena, see her organize the defense of San Magnolia and have an all around good time! Or at least that’s what I would like to say. Instead we see even less of her this week. What happened in place of that? Lets dive in and talk about that.

First up though I need to give Eighty Six credit for this, the storyboarding is back baby. There were some really, really nice shots this week. Not much in the way of interesting cuts like we got last season sadly. But almost the entirety of Shin’s meeting with the general was just… really evocative. The way the sound cut out, the General’s dialogue fading away as Shin read between the lines and heard what they always did: Eighty Six. Expendable. The squad poofing away into the scrap metal with their names, clattering behind down behind him. This scene was probably the most engaged I’ve been with Eighty Six this entire season. This is the good shit! Now I just need Eighty Six to keep giving us this and less of the loli.

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Ousama Ranking – 04 [First Trip]

Alright, this week’s goal is to generate ZERO controversy with my post.  Just a nice, simple post saying how great this episode was, how I love the show, and how everything is hunky dory….well, that was the plan anyways.  Unfortunately, this week had some issues.  Looks like controversy’s back on the menu!

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Eighty Six S2 – 5 [Even So]

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Eighty Six! Apologies for the delay with this, I’ve been busy this Halloween and only got around to watching the episode. I hope you all had as much fun over the weekend as I did. So without further ado, lets dive into it!

First up how about some praise for Eighty Six? I haven’t given it much recently, and I certainly wont after this, but credit where its due: The robots look good, Eighty Six has seriously stepped up their mech game. As far as standard anime CGI goes I think these are some of the better mechs I’ve seen in a good while. Their movements were surprisingly fluid as they ran and bounced around the city in those extended shots and the compositing was, by and large, pretty good. I never felt taken out of the scene by a 3D mech standing on a 2D background nor by MS Paint fire and smoke effects. And on top of all of that Eighty Six still managed to work in some evocative shots and edits, such as glass flying by Shin’s face or his charge. So yeah, good job.

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Blue Period – 04+05+06 [Where Are We Headed? | I Know What to Do, I Just Don’t Know if I Can Do It | Mental Breakdowns Are no Joke]

Hello, everyone!

Here I am, back with another late post. This time around though, the delay was not caused entirely by my general laziness. After almost a whole year of exam prep, I decided to take a sizeable vacation, to go see if the world outside the four walls of my room still looked the same. And to my disappointment, it is just so. Hell, even the noisy crowds are back in full force now! (shudders) But hey, on the plus side, I got to be there for a baby’s first birthday and another’s first breath. Riveting stuff, I tell ya!

But ah well, all this chit-chat is not what you come to our blog for. You come here – rightfully so – for the insightful reviews of the hip anime of the season. In this case, the lovely Blue Period.

So, that’s what ye shall receive. Hop on!
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