Category: Currently Watching:

Kakegurui – 10[Selective Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

It seems to be a common theme in Shounen series that as the series goes on, less and less happens in each episode. Which makes my job all the harder. In this week’s episode of Kakegurui Yumeko faces off against the student council treasurer and loses. Now that would be something rather refreshing for Yumeko to lose a high stakes bet but it appears that losing was part of the plan. As Yumeko pushes former antagonist Itsuki to put all her money down for a once in a lifetime chance to get back on a council. With the flashback sequence it tries to spur sympathy for Itsuki was recruited into the council by the treasurer as a pawn and tossed aside when she lost her usefulness.

It is indeed nice to see her back up Yumeko in order to put the smug self satisfied student council president in his place. However unlike Mary, Itsuki’s redemption is harder to get behind. After all while Mary did act as antagonist before, when she did she was just trying to put Yumeko down a bit. Itsuki on the other hand carries around a case full of human fingernails and threatened to rip off Yumeko’s nails if she lost. No matter how you try to justify her actions that still comes across as rather unhinged. Villain turnarounds in a shounen series are nothing new but the turn should be a little more gradual than this if the characters actions at the start where rather horrific.

Then we have the Treasurer and boy do I dislike these types of characters. The genius planner type that somehow makes out every situation as if it is some grand master plan calculated to the most minor of details. I don’t mind characters like the cast of Death Note as at least their reasoning is within a realistic context but this guy throws around probability like it’s ironclad law. No matter how smart you are and no matter how much you may calculate the odds, there is no certainty in it. It’s just guesswork and while you can be successful in gambling by being able to calculate probability, it is far from being foolproof. Having a character be so ridiculously self assured in actions which have plenty of room for failure just has me rather aggravated as all it really takes to knock them off their high horse is one small thing not going to plan. So yes, right now the Treasurer is self assured in his victory but knowing Yumeko it’s likely she wishes to put him in a position of real risk. Losing this match wouldn’t really cost the Treasurer that much and Yumeko’s usual code of play is to get her opponent into a position where they really have a lot to lose.

Princess Principal – 10 [Case 22 Comfort Comrade]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Remember what did Ange vow to the Princess when the two decided to go ahead with the Operation: Changeling? She will deceive everyone, including the Princess and herself to reach that goal. I was expecting how Princess Principal going to pull that feat off. And now we have an answer: Dorothy and Ange are ordered to kill the Princess. If there’s anything we know for sure, Ange would never kill the Princess (well, she has gotten soft, as noticed by Prefect this week). This is a development I was hoping for the climax and I am excited to see how Ange going to deceive the whole wide world. Another thing is, L from the Control “has been transferred”, which significant that he’s either punished by his own incompetence, or the higher up wanted some direct control over… Control and the Principal. Judge by how the new-addition General wants the Princess dead right off the bat, I have no doubt that the Duke of Normandy is the man behind all this. He has always hated the Princess and I’m glad at least he uses Ange for this mission. It could’ve been worse (I did suspect him figuring out the real identity of the Princess, which is much more sinister, though it isn’t the case here).

But back to this episode, Princess Principal again pulled another bittersweet tale about happiness, friendship and betrayal on a Christmas eve. Prefect is a solid one-off addition for this episode, having the same high-level skill sets as Ange, but much more attentive to details. The mission this week, to retrieve some important paperwork with the help of Prefect, turns out to be just a façade for a real mission: figuring out if Prefect is in fact a double agent. Only in this one episode, Prefect already form a very solid chemistry with both Ange and Dorothy. It’s understandable since they have a history together, as they are the “sole survivors” of the Farming (which remind me immediately to the Farm of the Promised Neverland manga – a great manga by the way). Ange is her rival, but when working together they are like a two-headed monster, each working seamlessly with the other without much instruction; and by their exchanges we could see how they understand and respect the quality of one another. With Dorothy, however, it’s all about feeling. The only time Prefect smiled, the only happiness she ever received in her doomed past was when they played at the Funfair during the Christmas exam (young Dorothy is cute by the way) and it was Dorothy’s carefree attitude that the more she’s stuck in her current situation, the more she wants to break free like her friend.

The sadder feeling when you eventually learn that Prefect is addicted to the purple drug provided by the enemy and now completely dependent on it (guess what is the only thing that she brings when she flees?). It’s a goddamn contrived plot but it works in this case because it adds context to the reason she shoot herself as a way to free herself. Someone suggests it’s a Cavorite’s drug but I can’t be too sure since her eyes react differently with the one who suffered Cavorite poisoning in episode 1. The best part of this episode, is when both Ange and Prefect, in their own ways, pull the triggers so that they can save Dorothy from pulling her trigger: shooting her best friend. Out of the five girls, Dorothy has always been the most “humane” girl, the one who actually shows her weak, vulnerable side; which totally makes her a bad spy but I think Princess Principal nails it when they focus the emotion beats on Dorothy. This episode finds Princess Principal back to its action-pack mission-heavy again, while tell a satisfying self-contained story and prepare us for the final showdown between the girls vs. the Duke and possibly vs. themselves. I sure hope for a bombastic climax.

18if – 10 [Dream Dimension α]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

I can understand a lot of viewers will get turn off by this episode, but allow me to say that the low frame rates and the off-model characters are all intentional and I can argue that despite its low-budget looking and jerky movements, this episode has very strong production values and inventive visual aesthetic. The person who direct this lovely episode, not surprisingly was Koji Morimoto; who directed episode 2 of 18if as well. I don’t think you can tell the two episodes were handled by the same person, since the visuals and the overall tones are vastly different, but one thing these two episodes shared lies in its total creative control. In fact, leering to the differences in styles between episode 2 and episode 10 make me more appreciate the broad range skills Koij Morimoto has. This is one of the best episode, along with episode 7, in terms how18if can use its dream premise to produce something audio-visually compelling.

Now, I want to dissect about this episode’s infamous artistic choices. You can see the character movements animate at the pace of the snail, and sometimes even the lines coming from the characters’ mouth seems off. The character designs, likewise, especially with Haruto and the Professor, are totally off – the ugliest designs we have encountered so far. Worst, the story doesn’t make much sense because everything is vague just like you experience a bad dream. But despite all of that, all those choices have its purposes. Low frame-per-second rate and off-model designs allow the movements, and the characters’ expressions, respectively, to be much more expressive than stricter, more traditional style. It’s important because this episode goes for expressionist style, most notably with its gorgeous background arts that stand impressively on its own (normally a bad sign but it’s precisely what expressionist art is about. If you look closely, those backgrounds arts are Hanako’s pictures hang in her room) and the top-notch musical score that not only strengthen the moody, dreamy atmosphere but also the way it handles the different types of music: a classical musical performance, tap-along-the-dancefloor beat and the rock guitar riff solo – all of them are magnificent. The background arts are seriously visually stunning, look at one of the screenshots above for the visual symmetry and I admit that I took like 40 screenshots for this episode alone. I will take a deeper look on those background arts later time to see if I can draw anything related to Hanako’s psychology or not.

Episode 10 also takes full advantage of its dream world, in terms of it follows its own brand of logic; doing whatever they feel like: swimming like a shark, flying like a bird, taking photoshoot in cute weird animal costume, having a sword fight, smoking and dancing. All these activities that Hanako wanted to try in real life but couldn’t. This week is one of the long time since the main cast is back as the main focus, which I’m glad to see; and I enjoy the interactions between them, especially now that the Professor can be able to see and talk to Lily, for some reasons yet explained. I also enjoy the company of the Witch this week – Hanako (or Jane Doe in English name – the most common name significant everyday man theme). Apparently, she still making blogs in the real world (and eat yummy strawberry while blogging), which further indicates that the dream world can have some connections and can have an influence on the real world (something that addressed explicitly in episode 2). Finally, it’s now more or less confirmed that Haruto experiencing Sleeping Beauty as well (hah!), and my guess is that the Professor needs all the previous Witches power to bring him back to life, and might as well to his sleeping sister. Wait, isn’t it make more sense that Haruto IS the Professor’s younger sleeping sister in real life? That would explain why the Professor give that much attention to Haruto and only him is the real-life connection to Haruto as of now. Only 2 episodes left, I believe it’s time we get to the gist of who or what Haruto really is.

Fate/Apocrypha – 10 [Scattered Flower]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Apocrypha

This was an action focused episode as Mordred takes on pretty much everyone. It is rather nice to see a Saber than actually lives up to the claim of Sabers are the best class. Upon examining the main Fate series poster girls record as a servant I find her to be disappointing due to her low win record and a Noble Phantasm that just is too risky to make use of. Though she isn’t overpowering as it makes sense as to why she can put up a good fight in this scenario. Her opponents in the beginning are Astolfo who is weak from taking on the hanging Gardens and Fran who is just a bad matchup to begin with. In Fate combat the combat is usually a matter of suitability as what may be an unbeatable foe for one servant is a easy win for another. Berserker is sort of a wild card of the system as while you get an advantage by boosting their parameters with madness enchantment there is a disadvantage in that you cannot control them. All you can really do is set them on an enemy and hope they can overpower them with mindless attacks. So against an enemy that cannot be overpowered and can fight tactically, a Berserker is dead on arrival.

Thus it isn’t a surprise that Fran couldn’t defeat Mordred but she certainly went out with style putting everything into taking her down. Backed up by a master properly using their command seals for once. Those things are more than a single use unbreakable order, with them you can give your servant a significant power boost when the need calls for it. Be it to power up an attack or boost your servants defense. I have to say I adored the scene of Berserker powering up her noble Phantasm, this show nailed that scene perfectly. Mordred did indeed almost die and if it wasn’t for Sisgou using a command spell she would have clocked out then and there. Sadly the second drop out of this holy Grail war is Fran. As for Rider, he’s at a disadvantage already seeing as he doesn’t have his mount. Thus enters Sieg with the powers of main character plot Armour to turn into Siegfried and put up a fight with Mordred. It’s a pity the kid couldn’t stay dead when Mordred stabbed him but on the other hand it’s nice to see Siegfried in more fights, even if he’s a possess homunculus or whatever nonsense they used to justify this. Well to be fair there is some logic behind it as this isn’t the first time a body transplant from a servant managed to grant someone power in the Fate mythos. However there are certain circumstances needs for that to be remotely feasible, ones that i am sure are getting hand waved away with the Homunculus argument.

We have pretty much reached the point foretold in the opening scene of the first episode with the exception of Joan of Arc fighting what is most likely Spartacus. Fight scenes went down rather well this episode and this makes it the second time this show has managed to pull off another genuinely good episode. That might be because we are getting what we signed up for, a battle to death between heroes of legend. Though I dislike that we had a recap on Siegfried’s past when it was already covered. We have plenty of underdeveloped servants and masters in the roster that could due with some fleshing out so devoting time to go over what we already know is a rather wasteful decision. One last thing I would like to note is that this series soundtrack remains fantastic. It was scored by a Masaru Yokoyama which is a name I need to look out for in the future as he did the music for Scums wish and Gundam Orphans. This man has some real talent. It is such a pity it’s covered up by the rather lacking sound effects, which sometimes can work but other times be far too overbearing, repeated and loud.

Classroom of the Elite – 09 [Man is Condemned to be Free]

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

Funny that with the sounding name like “Classroom of the Elite”, this episode moves as far away as possible from the “classroom” scenario and of course in no way those kids are the “elite”, because no elite argues about the need of portable toilet in the middle of a deserted island (because of course you need no toilet in the middle of a freaking deserted island); yet here they play it completely straight. That and somehow nearly the whole class don’t know how to set fire to wood make me question whether the writer himself knows anything about proper camping. Put the plot aside for now (because silly plot is… silly), it’s the setting that I find rather intriguing this time. Of course it comes from me who have zero experience of getting stranded in a deserted island before, so take my two cents below with a grain of sand. Suppose that a group find itself stranded in the middle of nowhere, what would they do first? Setting up a base, choosing the leader and looking for food. The basic, long-term survival plan. In that sense, Yousoko this week fulfills two of these, and they actually blend these two with the “bonus points” each class will compete with each other (finding the spots, only the leader can secure the plot and the guessing game of who is the leader of each class).

The most natural rule about setting up base, is to pick the place near the river/water. Maybe I come from the place whose big cities are primarily located in a coastline, so I’m biased; but I believe that control the water supply is one of the most crucial condition. Class-D, intentional or not, picks one of the best place to survive as a result. Then, you’d need to look for the food and this is where Yousoko does a poor job as the class has no trouble or even put much thoughts of finding food. Granted that they’re leaning on buying two meals a day anyway but this should be an aspect the show can make an interesting spin on it. On other notes, despite my moaning, I understand the intention behind the guys and girls arguing about that wrecked portable toilet. In order to work together as a team, you’d need to satisfy the basic needs of the members of the group. About picking the leader, l really adore the subtlety from Youkoso about saying the importance of guessing and figuring out the leaders of other classes (High risk, high return they say) and then the very next scene our guy Ayanokouji just happens to spot the leader of Class A – with his card on his hand, lecturing his classmate about “don’t talk too loud” no less. Choosing Horikita as a Class-D leader is a sound plan, mostly because she’s a lead (hah!) and that way Ayanokouji can work effectively in the shadow for the class’s benefit.

But behind all these complicated rules and “living in the island for a week” premise, the main meat is always about points. It’s not the matter of saving and gaining points, it’s more about how to use the points wisely. Not wasting any unnecessary points, but still fulfill the basic needs for everyone and gain more points by securing spots and identify the other classes’ leaders. Seems like Class-D get that aspect right, except that… the Tarzan Perfect Species doesn’t agree with any of that. Man, at this point I stop taking him seriously because who’s in the world except monkey would climb and hop between trees instead of walking normally like a normal sensible human would do? I believe he has another agenda for swimming away and admiring the moon, but frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. Another important development is that class-D decides to take care of Class-C girl’s Ibuki, who is beaten up by her classmates. It looks like a trap for me consider that we don’t really see the reason why she got injured in a first place and I know Ryuen is wicked bastard; but class-D proves again why they are at the bottom of the food chain by sharing her their food and genuinely care for her without any question asked. Until next week when all the cards are on the table should we know how all this play out, but for now, securing the spots, while having fun argue about portable toilet, how to use points and protecting themselves from the evil scheming of other classes sound like a pretty good fun for me. Do it with styles Youkoso.

Princess Principal – 09 [Case 11 Pell-mell Duel]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

Now I can forgive the show for taking too long to introduce Chise; because we have a Chise-focus this week and I’m glad that episode 9 of Princess Principal does everything just right. This episode serves as a glaring proof of how Princess Principal does non-chronological order the right way. Technically, this Case11 happens when Chise just joined the team; still feel insecure about her position within the spy group (Something we learned already in Case9). But the little story this week also addresses the social class issues among the noble kids (this is a Royal School after all) towards Chise – a country bumpkin girl from a forsaken country named Nippon. This issue earns a deeper layer now, since we already know the story of The Princess and the Pickpocket last week (which chronologically happen way forward in Case20) and understand how social order can be quickly flipped around like a flash. This, I can argue, is the strength of non-linear order, you can gain context on certain themes, on certain character developments that otherwise would be insignificant in a linear way (Like how insignificant Haruhi season 2 was. Anticlimactic)

Secondly, “Pell-mell Duel” does a bang up job of fleshing out Chise and gives a much-needed dynamic between her with the rest of the cast, especially with the Princess. Prior to this episode, most of the team’s chemistry has always revolved around Ange, but for my humble opinion, Chise is always a more fascinating character (best girl!!!). Follow the story through her eccentric point of view serve to be this week’s greatest tricks. Chise has amusing perspective to the new life around her, she carries a wide range of emotions and every single one of them brightens the scene. The way she “struggles” to fit in with this Western world, I must note, isn’t come from her culture shock but more because of her never-back-down attitude. It’s endearing to hear her thoughts about other members, her challenging to a duel, even her insecureness on the “weapon that she has yet to acquire” and finally, her warming up on the Princess and other girls. As a result, this episode is entertaining basically from start to finish.

Another thing the episode does right is the fact that the entire episode is mostly set in their school; something that has been nothing more than a decoration in earlier episodes. Usually school setting is a sign for disaster but in this case, it breathes some fresh air to Princess Principal. Not only by doing so the show lets us witness how Chise fitting herself in with the new environment; it allows us to learn the hour details of their study (and how Chise constantly “tops” herself in every subject), introduce us to new character (Lily, turns out to be one of Duke Normandy’s spy) and give that social class tension a necessary conflict for the climax. Talking about that duel, I know it’s just me but I always find the old British duel kind of dull. It feels more like a test of courage of trying to act calm where the gun pointed at you, and usually the one who get to shoot first have a higher chance to win. I know the show mentions that it isn’t easy to hit the target on the first try, but when the rule explicitly says, “the first one down loose” it gives the first person who shoot a clear advantage. Not that the rich kid deserves to win either; because unlike British rule, Anime rule says that when you cheat, you get your ass kicked. Thus, even if her method of shooting bullet is a bit… beyond the rule; justice has been served.

Plot-wise, there are two important developments in this week. First, that new girl Lily serves as a spy to report the Duke of Normandy about the Princess’s activities in case the bodyguards can’t fulfill that job (guess all of them failed miserably as the Princess comes and goes and changes to spy suits and does spy works as she’s please ever since we met her). Lily has some roles in this episode but I can’t help but think she’s a one-off and this development further confirm that the Duke of Normandy will be the biggest obstacle the girls have to face. Second, Chise and the Princess shares some solid chemistry here. The Princess herself supports Chise on arranging the challenge, and that sumo celebration at the end is heartwarming. Chise holds the position of evaluate the two nations and while she’s not sure if Princess will succeed, she genuinely wants her to. I have nothing to complain on this excellent episode, both entertaining (and I admit that I took more than dozen screenshots of Chise’s various facial expressions), and fleshing out beautifully the dynamic between the core cast. Two third of the way, Princess Principal is still running strong; let’s hope that its final arc will be rewarding.

Note: it just hits me that almost all our girls have Daddy issues – not sure about the real Princess – Ange’s father but other girls had fathers that outright abuse them: Beatrice: father experimented on her – Dorothy: father hit her – Chise: let’s just say father betrayed her – Ange: father turn her into pickpocketing machine… I don’t think this Daddy issues will have anything to do with the climax and it doesn’t even fit to the themes Princess Principal established so far. So, I just leave it here as a note, for now.

Made in Abyss – 09[The Great Fault]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

Surprising as it is, this episode appears to be mostly anime original content. Though not quite filler as it appears this content was supposed to be in the original manga but the author was pushed to cut it out due to the series not doing particularly well at the time. Seems that with the anime the author got it added back in with this episode and I am quite glad he did as it really shows Riko growing to appreciate just how much Regu does for her. As well as the dangers of Regu’s incinerator weapon which may pack a powerful punch but it’s cooldown time puts Riko in serious danger. On top of that we have an example of just how devastating the curse of the abyss can be on someone in the lower levels even when ascending a small slope.

I was originally put off by Riko sacrificing the little creatures in order to distract the bigger monsters from noticing them though it certainly isn’t out of character for her. After all she is the survivalist type who believes in the natural order of things. The thing is that I believe this action had great ramifications for her throughout this episode. These things have been watching them since they entered the great fault and after that action it honestly looks like they were trying to kill Riko. Riko comments the little guys were leading them to food and water however they end up leading her straight into the lair of a Madokajack. Then when being chased by the Crimson Splitjaw the Neritantans blocked the exit so she couldn’t get out before chickening out at the sight of the massive predator. Then it appears they lead her to a monster who would eat her up only for her to cut her way out of it. Finally they all gathered and attacked her at once which Riko blamed on her smelling like the fruit they eat. Taking all these little things into account I think these creatures were holding a grudge.

As pointed out by a commenter in the last post, the last episode of this series will be a one hour special. Taking that into account this series has about six episodes of content left. At the moment the anime has covered up to chapter 18 of the manga with about 42 chapters out currently. From what I hear there is a good ending point at chapter 38. Possibly with some faster pacing the anime could reach that point but I feel reluctant to say it should speed up. From what I seen, Manga readers appear rather flustrated over the anime’s pacing. Not due to it being inaccurate but rather at the speed it’s currently at they won’t be able to see the moments they want to see animated. However I find the pace of the anime to be perfect as we spend just enough time in each level of the abyss to stop it feeling like a tick on a checklist. My general problem isn’t so much how this series is presented as i actually considering it superior to it’s manga counterpart. My problem is more that this series doesn’t have the runtime it truly needs. The extended last episode certainly helps in this regard but having a two cour series could have done wonders for this show.

Kakegurui – 09[Dreaming Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

It’s an episode like this that really shows that the appeal of this series isn’t so much on the gambling games themselves but rather on the individuals playing them. In this case the gamble was barely present in the episode at all as it was a varity of 9 games in which the winner is decided by the audience. We don’t actually see the games being played, instead the show decides to skip over and montage the games. The cuts to the first game were rather jarring but understandable. They didn’t want to waste time animating three song and dance routines. But really the only game that mattered was the final one as it was revealed that Yumemi purposefully gave Yumeko a lead in the game so she could stage a miraculous comeback to make the show more entertaining. However she was taken completely off guard when the game she engineered to work in her favor was turned on her. The last game being for the two to guess the birthday of an audience member and because Mary was chosen instead of one of her fan club members, her plan was decimated.

I have to say that for all the confidence Yumemi and the treasurer had this has to be a massive oversight. Then again Yumeko’s level of predictive skill so far exceeds any logical level that she more or less has access to this show’s script at this point. This may be why I lost interest in reading the manga as there is only so long a game can remain interesting with a protagonist so overpowered as this. I enjoy seeing smug self confident horrible people get their just deserts as much as anyone but there is only so many times before I get bored of the situation. I want to see Yumeko actually work for a victory, not just smile and recite deductions likely only gained through precognition. As Yumeko puts it herself, there isn’t any fun unless both participants have an even level of risk. While Yumeko does stop her opponents cheating, everything tends to go exactly as she planned. Even if she leaves part of it up to luck. It’s much like the power creep of Isekai’s wherein the main character becomes so strong that only an act of god could defeat him. Otherwise it’s just a long line of the main character showing people how amazing they are.

Despite her true feelings being revealed to public, Yumemi manages to get away with her career intact as her fans decide to love her even if she finds them disgusting. I still think that she would be better off starting in acting rather than idol work for her end goal but well all’s well that ends well I guess. So Yumiko has managed to use this gamble to set up another gamble with the treasurer by accusing him of sabotaging Yumemi’s gamble. Despite the fact that it was actually the girl in the orange hood who send that letter to Yumeko. Already Yumeko has moved to challenge the next rung on her road to challenge the president to a gamble.

18if – 09 [Idols Don’t Go to the Bathroom!]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

We have an episode that serves as a commentary on the idol industry and as a cumming of dick jokes where dick can literally transform into a green genie. I can kind of appreciate the former but the latter is just as bad as it sounds, making it one of the trashiest episode in 18if. Depending on the source, this episode is directed by Kugatsu (based on the episode), or by Yoshikawa Shigarazu (based on its official website). Yeah, I don’t get that either, but whoever this fella is, I couldn’t find any useful information about him. It might speak to the overall quality of this episode, as this is one of the most awkward pacing with the least meaningful story 18if has done so far. Girls with big boobs; girls who wear school uniforms, gym clothes and… what the heck does the Witch wear anyways; girls who have dude’s face… and I don’t even get to the horrendous torture part. This is the first time we see the new side of Haruto, and that side… something we’re better of not knowing. Awwww

I’ll be frank that I consider Misaki, the witch of this week, my least favorite witch so far out of 18if. She does have a compelling backstory though. Before fall into a coma, which we eventually learn as a result of her crazy fan stabbed her multiple times (something that sound eerily familiar to the real life stabbing of Mayu Tomita just few months ago); she was a rising star of her pop idol band. The pressure from the jealousy of her peers (something 18if has consistently addressed), the pressure of pleasing the fan and the producers make her snapped. In her dream, she calls up all the people that gave her a hard time and give them a hard time herself by training them into idols. Again, I appreciate the show for telling us the dark side of becoming a popular star, although I can name about dozen other shows can do a better job of addressing it. The way I dislike this Misaki’s character lies in the fact her act feels very abrupted and inconsistent. One time she punishes the “girls” by burning their vaginas; other time she’s enjoying this idol training thing (where we know for sure that she hated all the hard works and these girls just train for the sake of it); and then out of nowhere she becomes emotional and drops her character completely. Also, remind me again how she can perform in the end considering she was stabbed multiple times before? This story is just ridiculous it’s hard to even take it seriously.

And then things get worse. The multiple “little Haruto” jokes are more align with hentai-quality level than say, Panty and Stocking’s sex humors – although I can certainly see Panty and Stocking can pull this off. We have that torture scene where they push those uncomfortable jokes to its limit and we end the story up with the Witch passes her ribbon to cover little Haruto; because she, I strongly believe, is fed up of his dick and all this shite just like the rest of us. I found too little to love in this episode, and worse this episode leaves a bad mark on me that will haunt me whenever I think about 18if.

Re:Creators – 20 [Before the Reverberation Disappears]

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

As speculated last week, Sota and Magane comes in save the day and provide the ending twist to the climax of the Elimination Chamber Festival but not before a barrage of powers being thrown at Altair in an attempt to end her.

Not even taking a moment to mourn the loss of Selesia, our embattled creations uselessly throw themselves against an overpowered opponent who can literally undo plot points. Altair seems to have adopted Shunma’s philosophy of not completely wiping out creations for the entertainment of the story even though it would be tactically effective. It’s all part of the plan to have the birdcage gain enough acceptance although I don’t believe that having Selesia getting herself deleted was supposed happen. The surprise appearance of Charon threw a wrench into plans and costed the government side a creation and her super fighting robot. Aside from that speed bump, the trump card of Sirius is a fun concept in defeating Altair by having a copycat consume her. I like the simplified crude design of Sirius as the show even acknowledge her as a throwaway character of a plot device. Of course, that wouldn’t be enough to take her down with two more episodes to go as it doesn’t provide a good ending to the antagonist and is unsatisfactory to the main plot. Even the explanation of how Altair subvert their perfect plan is meta as she isn’t tied down to one creator because we, the audience, all feed into her backstory and powers because she never had a original backstory to begin with. While the creations have their own unique character, Altair is creator is us, the audience, a fourth wall breaking idea that has been executed here.

How does one stop a creation with the power of literally thousands of creators behind her OP abilities? By going back to the opening scene where Setsuna decided to be turned into human paste. Getting there is the probably ending point for the odd relationship between Sota and Magane seeing that she’s already at the airport about to get on a plane to go abroad and murderously troll more people. If you recall, the whole mess with Sota started out with Magane deducing the massive amount of guilt associated with Setsuna’s suicide which led to a huge creation fight. It come full circle for those two to be connected back to Setsuna abit through a different process and have a constructive outcome.

Audience acceptance has been huge part of Re:Creators as it powers the existences and abilities of its characters. The way show bypasses that fundamental basis for the final twist before the climax was really clever as the reverse causality power that Magane passed onto Sota had all the hallmarks of good foreshadowing and built up.The audience doesn’t accept this Meteroa’s Hail Mary but the audience does accept the power of reverse causality so the result is that the audience will accept Sota’s character. It’s really meta if you think about it. Now that Re:Creators has gone back to square one, we can get the core of the conflict with Altair and her angst towards the world. Though, this Setsuna is only a copy of her real creator and there is no power that is able to bring back the real dead people unless the show pulls that card out of its ass. Re:Creators will most likely have Altair comes to an understanding and go back into her world with a happy ending with Setsuna but there always room for a surprise.