When you think of a nuanced show, the source of the “Hestia Ribbon” does not nautrally spring to mind. However, this season of DanMachi, for all the previous misfires and service jokes, is setting up a complicated, interesting plot. Whether or not they can pull it off is a whole other thing entirely, but so far – season 3 has been great.
It’s often said that TV anime dump a disproportionate amount of time and talent into their first episodes, leading to a noticeable drop-off in episode 2. As a piece of conventional wisdom, it makes sense – producers want to hook as wide an audience as possible, as early as possible, so the extra effort would be warranted. And yet, we’re seeing a bunch of exceptions to this rule of thumb in the fall 2020 season alone. Jujutsu Kaisen had a terrific second outing that convinced me to follow the show week to week, while Dragon Quest’s employment of 3DCG animation in episode 2 was a massive improvement on the first. And sure enough, here comes Akudama Drive with a follow-up that’s just as unhinged and action-packed as its premiere. It didn’t manage to top itself (that would have been an absurd feat), but these twenty minutes surely delivered on the promise I saw last week. If you consider realism to be an optional component of your anime intake, this may be the show for you.
Hello there, one and two and hopefully more. A pleasure to have you along with me, in watching and appreciating all these new anime Fall has ushered our way. I shall be your host this coming season and bring you coverage of a rather niche show which deserves an audience far greater than it’ll probably receive – Adashima!
To whoever it may concern, this show had the best premiere of the season for me and even though I saw somewhat greater potential in Kamisama ni Natta Hi (more on that later in the weekend), Adashima was the show that resonated with me on a stronger level. So, how did it follow up such an outstanding premiere? Let’s find out! Continue reading “Adachi to Shimamura – 02 [Adachi Question]”
Welcome to week 2 of Twelve Kingdoms, where we hit episodes 4, 5 and 6! The OG Isekai does it again, with this trio being just as engaging and interesting as the last. We have friendship, betrayal, politics and rebellion, all with a dash of character conflict. So without further ado, lets dive in!
Production wise Twelve Kingdoms managed to impress me once again. While not as consistently sakuga as the first episode, every scene that needs animation gets animation. I am talking fights, emotional character scenes such as Nakajima’s arguments with the sword etc. It isn’t an above average amount of animation like we see in modern works like Mob Psycho 100, but it uses what it has in the best ways possible. Additionally the color design and background work is all really appealing. Twelve Kingdoms is doing a great job of establishing the world, of making it all feel like the same setting while still keeping it visually interesting. The best way I can put it is that Twelve Kingdoms feels… consistent. Consistent in its artistic vision, in how it wants to portray the world and its characters. And that’s one of the best things you can be in my book.
Continue reading “Twelve Kingdoms – 4/5/6 – Throwback Thursday”
Einstein’s oft-quoted definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. On that note, here we are with a new season of DanMachi! This one will be great! And, as Amun doesn’t learn (despite recently dropping Fire Force), I am absolutely pumped and certain that this season will be the one that gets the franchise back on track.
Also, I like how it’s taken 3 seasons for “Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in A Dungeon?” to fulfill its name – that question is actually this season’s entire plot!
Continue reading “DanMachi 3 – 01 [Wiene (Dragon’s Daughter)]”
Well we are here and I now have the outlook of a drug addict whose supply has been cut to now face a Winter of cold turkey. Or I suppose Autumn. I do think that this episode continues the streak of great episodes and I can’t really criticise it for not bookending the cour as from hearsay I don’t believe it was ever intended to. Word on the street is that this wasn’t originally a split cour but due to intervention from that virus that everyone loves, they couldn’t finish the episodes in time and decided to split it. I of course have no problem with this as if we are gonna animate this story it’s better to have it done right than to have the quality suffer by them trucking forward. But god even if I understand and agree with the reasons the wait for the continuation of this story is going to be murder. The title of this episode may be apt as once I heard the ending theme song I certainly wanted to cry. Oh on that it’s crazy that they only played the opening and ending 3 times throughout the entire run. The extra content is always great but it just makes me think that there is no point whatsoever in making a new opening for the second cour. Matter of fact might as well not bother making both for all future seasons. On that note, please more seasons I need it all.
Continue reading “Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 13 [The Sounds That Make You Want To Cry]”
Here’s the thing. At this point, I know that I have slacked off in posting these weekly episodic reviews, you know, weekly. And it has happened so often that it’s basically become normalized. But I PROMISE that I’ll be better next season! So, let’s just pretend that everything’s fine and all is forgiven and bygones are bygones.
Can we do that? Yeah, we can do that.
So, with that public apology and acceptance of guilt out of the way, let’s jump into the review! Continue reading “Deca-Dence – 10+11+12 [Brake System|Engine|Decadence]”
There is only one more episode left and boy do I both eagerly await it and dread it. The dry spell is upon us and this time it’s going to be a bad one. Well at least this time we at least know more Re:Zero is coming and don’t have a four year wait but oh god it’s still going to be torture. Speaking of torture though Subaru this week has gone through a new batch of suffering and one truly has to either be impressed or scared of the various degrees that Tappei can come up with to torture our boy. I have seen my fair share of torture porn and even manga darker than darkest black edge with a straight razor on the side but I still marvel at how much he can make Subaru suffer while not having it become excessive or ludicrous. You only need to look at shows like Mahou Shoujo Site or any grimdark anime you can think of to see the way such excessive dark themes can be royally messed up to become comical. Yet here it is anything but and makes for a show you just can’t take your eyes away from.
Continue reading “Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 12 [The Witches Tea Party]”
In my coverage of this series I can acknowledge that I have likely spent too many of my posts covering the actual events of the episodes as opposed to my opinions on them. When considering that this is my favorite series of the season and surely my favorite of the year, it would be easy to drum up opinions on episodes that I clearly enjoy. However I have found myself restricted by my own declaration to not spoil details from the source as the current events in Re:Zero are dependent on mystery and speculation to which I cannot speculate due to my own knowledge of future events. Still it is also an issue that the quality of the series speaks for itself as when airing the first season had a more polarising view to the anime community but in light of a four year wait and the outstanding calibre of the second season, many are rethinking it to be a potential anime masterpiece. So what am I to say when you could just watch the series and see it’s splendor for yourself? Perhaps it will still not be everyone’s cup of tea but as many a corporate capitalist media maker fails to realise, a story tailored to everyone is a story that appeals to no one. Taking that into account, I am just going to assume you have seen the episodes plot and meander into my adulation and diatribes.
Continue reading “Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 11 [The Taste of Death]”
Here we are again. I was feeling pretty good after the last two episodes – both solid outings.
BUT.
This week, it’s just another episode of Fire Force with immense potential….squandered. This may be one of the last episodes I review, as we’ll discuss at the end of the post. But for now, let’s get into this tragedy of an episode.
Continue reading “Fire Force S2 – 11 [Dark Hero]…plus an update on the future”