Category: Currently Watching:

Re:Creators 16 – [This is the actual beginning, isn’t it?]

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

After over a month and a half of talking heads, recaps, scheming and theorization, Re:Creators is finally on the cusp of having every creation throwing themselves into a massive team deathmatch complete with live performances, streaming and a raving fandom packed into a stadium.

Thus far, Re:Creators has largely managed to avoid their creations be subjected to the pitfalls of fanservice within the anime but this episode goes all out on the nudity with everyone going to the hotsprings. If you ever wanted to see what the creators and creations looks like underneath all those costumes, then this is the episode for you where all the tired tropes of hot springs episodes comes to its full realizations. The rest of the episode was forgettable as it only has the government’s representative drunken dominatrix crazy rant as its punchline.

The real meat comes in last half of the episode as everyone gets into their positions that is six months in the making for the big battle. Vogelchevalier finally comes back to Seleica and it going to be a giant brawl with two mecha on the side of the government against Alrair’s forces. The question becomes on whether on the various upgrades that the creators have augmented into their own creations are enough to defeat the God-like powers of Altair and the unpredictableness batshit craziness of Magane. I’m surprised that Alice is still sticking with Altair, given her maneuvering with Magane and the release of her own creator. Given that Altair already has these God-like powers of predicting the future through her tarot cards, it wouldn’t be a stretch to already have Alice’s plans already unraveled.

With six episodes left to go, the events of the Elimination Chamber will certainly not be the climax of the series but it looks like the agonizing slow pace of the last couple of episodes will finally pay off in a grand arena where everything comes together in a delightful merger of light, explosions and meta anime goodness.

Note: Episode 17 is very likely delayed this week due to scheduling issues like its awkward 22 episode format.

Made in Abyss – 04[The Edge of the Abyss]

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

One level of the Abyss down and so far things are looking good for our two explorers. Though the only thing they really had to worry about was the search crew coming to take them back to the orphanage. The adventuring spirit is in the air and if their is a dump truck full of misery and death ready to drop on our protagonists then I haven’t seen signs of it yet. Not to say there is not foreshadowing as they certainly are making it clear that whatever is waiting down there isn’t going to be pretty. From the start of the episode we can see that Regu is doing the main heavy lifting and while Riko is helping out a little with food and does have useful knowledge but it’s certain that she needs to really start carrying her own weight.

Without Regu, Riko would be dead several times over so it makes me shocked that she actually intended to head down on her own at the start. Riko does provide something though as we can only insinuate to other people’s intentions though her theories. She believes that the message from the letter was her mother’s message to her, that the artifact(That she lost moments later) pointed to the depths of the abyss and that the leader purposefully let them journey off as some sort of test. But as we know, Riko is far from infallible and many of these assertions are being made on a personal whim. We don’t really know what’s really happening here and I have a feeling there is more to it than Riko’s simplistic conclusions.

Though it passed me over while watching, I seen someone put together a series of shots which really show off the cinematography of this series. There are plenty of background and visual motives which present this as these two descending into the belly of the beast. Throughout the episode there was a serious sense of foreboding and this does feel like the last safe haven for the two. After this the training wheels are off and they need to deal with the full wrath of the Abyss and everything that comes with it. So right before the second level our two get a visit from a Black whistle diver Habo who surprisingly doesn’t stop them from continuing their journey but instead brings supplies and news. It is a wonder as to why he doesn’t try to prevent them from doing this but he seems to have a degree of resignation that this would happen eventually. Perhaps it is like Riko said earlier, all things that come from the abyss eventually return to the abyss and as we know, both of these two originally came from the abyss.

At least he did originally offered to guide them down to the third layer but after Riko’s refusal and seeing the letter from Leader decided against it. Habo does mention about a active white whistle in the third level who happened to be the person who helped carry baby Riko out of the abyss when she was born. In a way she may be considered Riko’s godmother and Riko is certainly excited to met her despite Habo’s warnings that she may not be the most trustworthy. Next episode we have the second level of the abyss, the forest of temptation and already I feel sad that this series is only a single cour when we only just get started four episodes in. However the anime has currently covered about ¼ of the source material(This covers up to halfway through chapter ten and there are 42 chapters currently.) so we could very well be up to date with the manga by the time the series ends.

Kakegurui- 05[The Woman Who Became Human]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

When gambling in this show:
Rule number one: Always cheat.
Rule number two: If using another person for your cheating then don’t use someone with a clear grudge against you or treat them like dirt.
Rule number three: Never ever bet against Yumeko Jabami.
There is a certain satisfaction in seeing someone like this thug get so brutally destroyed by our main duo even though he’s a relatively one dimensional nobody. I tend to favor villains with a bit more moral nuance and more well written but nonetheless cannot deny a certain level of glee in seeing someone so utterly morally bankrupt get his life ruined. Sure you could argue that his crimes were no huge enough to have the remainder of his life detected by a notebook and be treated as trash for the rest of his days but considering the arrogant mentality of this guy there is no better medicine than a good reality check and a ass kicking. But again this does not mean that he’s well written as it’s not a difficult task to make someone hateable, All you really need to do is have them in a position of power and have them do clearly evil deeds while convinced that it’s totally alright for them to do these things because they are special in some way. If you want a well written villain then work on making a character with a unique worldview, sympathetic or logical motivations, a personality and a backstory to accommodate these aspects.

If you want to make a hateable villain them just have them do something clearly morally repugnant and then refuse they did anything wrong. “Oh it’s perfectly ok for me to bully this kid because I am better than him and he should just go die.” “Oh I killed that bitch but she was clearly in the wrong when she tried to pretend she wasn’t my woman.” “Oh I burned down that orphanage but it was full of gutter trash that wouldn’t be of any use anyway, society should thank me honestly.” It’s funny in that it’s not so much the act itself that makes it so despicable but rather the contradiction and flawed reasoning these characters use to justify their actions as not wrong. Indeed there is no better way to rile up the internet into a fury than to have someone do something wrong and them do everything in their power to refuse to admit it. So to see a character get a shift kick in the nuts is a rather cathartic experience and I fully admit that I fully read the source of the upcoming “Rising of the Shield Hero” anime adaption purely for the satisfaction of seeing the villain get taken down a peg.

I couldn’t quite follow how exactly Mary and Yumeko managed to trick the delinquent but I believe it had something to do with Mary and Yumeko lying about the amount they owed before the game and then switching her board with Yumeko to confuse the delinquent into miscalculating the end game totals. So these two had the game in the bag right from the start as the delinquent didn’t have the scoreboard right from the beginning. Though the thing this episode is named after is Yumeko’s last little gambit to encourage the pet girl to go against the delinquents orders. Throughout the game she had been helping the delinquent cheat out of fear and her own institutionalisation to her status of pet. I rather like the metaphor that Yumeko puts to it, being a pig in a open cage. This girl could fight back, could rebel but instead settles for small freedoms granted to her within the cage. In truth the very name of pet is apt for that is what these people are conditioned to become.

Thus Yumeko managed to break her out of that mentality through her provocation. Though um…why was it…so suggestive? I generally don’t tend to look too far into these kinds of things but when you have two girls with faces intimately close to kissing distance while reserved girl has a heavy blush that really does seem to be fuel for hime-danshi(This appears to be the opposite of the Fujoshi term being for males(Hime-joshi for females) who ship lesbian couples though doesn’t quite hold the same level of infamy as the fujoshi term) Yuri baiting did come up in the manga but it really is much more pandering when seen in animated format. Look if you are going to start insinuating lesbinism or bisexualism then go all in, don’t just shove it in halfheartedly for Blu-ray sales. Still while i have neglected to mention her before but next episode appears to feature a girl who is going to really amp up these Yuri undertones so I at least hope we keep things somewhat classy.

Fate/Apocrypha – 05[Will of Heaven]

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

Seeings as we are five episodes in and my joyous period of fanboyism has subsided I believe it is time to admit something. I don’t actually think this show is that good and I am questioning just why that is. I don’t believe my assessment of the source material was wrong as it was indeed a strong narrative there which had my full attention. However here, something is off. I can’t quite pin down what precisely it is but something is killing this story. My previous culprit to blame was the pacing but in this episode they thankfully slowed down. Perhaps the animation? No, while A-1 is far below the quality one could expect from a Ufotable production this isn’t a terrible looking show. Still not gone on the character designs but animation wise it’s fine. No, perhaps the fault lies in how it’s adapted as there are some questionable choices at work here. Take for example Lancer of Black, aka Vlad Tepes. I say most would be surprised to see his leniency in punishing Astolfo in this episode considering his legacy in the common eye as a bloodthirsty tyrant. But in the novel this wasn’t much of a surprise as it went into detail on just why Vlad has joined this battle and I personally though his motivation was a stroke of creative genius. I can’t really go into it at that point as it’s bound to be brought up sooner or later but I think this is the problem with rushing the beginnings of this story. In doing so a number of characters have been left with one dimensional characterisation. I wouldn’t blame a fan of fate animated works being disappointed in this as I too find it much more underwhelming than its book counterpart.

My current state of thinking could be just a temporary thought as this was a rather weak episode in comparison to the others. Mainly because the focus was on Ruler and the newly named Homunculus, Sieg. These two really do drag on and I think that instead of rushing the cool battles we were supposed to get last episode we could have rushed this instead. For this is remarkably dull watching these two utterly bland characters. Ruler I will give a pass as it more or less is her sticking to the character of Joan of Arc and the role of the holy maiden. Still it doesn’t make for great characterisation and at times I am missing the interpretation of Joan from Drifters. She’s isn’t completely boring as she has the standing above all the servants and is badass in her own right but I worry that the main reason this episode got more focus than the last is due to her being prime “waifu” material. But if there is something I just find dreadfully boring with no upside it’s this Sieg fellow. You can give Shirou a lot of grief over his survivor’s guilt and superhero complex but at least it made him interesting. Sieg on the other have is a dull emotionless empty character who basically needs to learn how to live and grow a personality. He’s self insert material and I dislike that he has a role in this at all. He’s dangerously close to becoming the usual light novel protagonist and I even see signs of girls falling for him for no reason and with Siegfried’s heart he’s bound to get free power ups to show how “cool” he is. This kid is a chekhov’s gun that’s just ready to kill any potential this story has.

We get a small glimpse of Assassin of black and her master this week and yet again we have another servant who has been shafted by the anime. Assassin of Black actually has a short story detailing her summoning and the main book did dedicate time to showing just what went down. At the moment they are basically the Ryou and Caster duo in being chaotic evil. Now as it’s revealed in this show our Assassin here is Jack the Ripper and out of all the strange servants on Apocrypha this one is the one I have the hardest time suspending my sense of disbelief with. Personality wise I actually find it interesting to interpret Jack the Ripper as a child demon born from discarded babies from the positives of London. Her relationship with her master is equally interesting as they have a mother daughter relationship instead of a master and servant one. It was made a point in the books that when Jack calls her master she simultaneously says Master in a way that can also be interpreted as mother. But despite this concept being very intriguing and one I can get on board I cannot for the life of me take her remotely seriously based on her design.

I mean, Jack the Ripper, represented by a Lolita in dominatrix gear. It’s just really really dumb. There is in fact another interpretation of Jack the Ripper in the Fate Universe and that comes from Fate/Strange Fake which was written by Narita Ryohgo of Baccano/Durarara fame. In there Jack was shown as a shapeless being who could assume many forms as the real Jack the Ripper was never caught so his legacy is that of an anonymous serial killer. In the particularly quirky style of character writing that Narita has this servant was summoned as a berserker but due to Jack the Ripper already being insane, placing mad enchantment on him only ended up turning him sane. Both interpretations have there great points but in Fate/Apocrypha case I wish that Jack’s design wasn’t so obviously geared towards fanservice. So with the final moments of this episode we have pretty much established that the Red masters won’t be playing much of a role in this war, if the opening and character designs of the them didn’t tip you off to that already.

Princess Principal – 04 [Case 9 Roaming Pigeons]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

And we’re back for some James Bond’s cute girls action’s dose of the week and I am happy to report that we have a very good episode in our hands. In fact, I won’t hesitate to say that this is the best Princess Principal we’ve seen so far. Well, case1 builds more groundwork than this week but this case9 has far more exciting case than previous weeks. Not only that, this episode builds up the interactions and hints towards the deeper intentions of all the girls, save Beatrice (seriously, who’s in the right mind to put her as action spy? She’s a dead weight girls. But somehow… I like her that way). But even in Beatrice’s case, now the team knows how to shut off her annoying scream so I’m totally happy with this episode. Moreover, this week is the only time that I can feel Princess Principal slows down the pacing (it’s still fast though) that allows more character interactions, while still maintains the beat throughout and as a result, the episode flows extremely at ease.

This week, the team uses the Princess’s position to gain access to the Cavorite mine and get the prototype from the underground lab. That prototype, a mini Cavorite control unit – looks eerily similar to the one Ange has. I like the way Princess Principal keeps expanding the use of that special device. This episode, she shoots the device to activate scanning the previous objects situated in the room. In other events, the Princess’s grandma and the Duke of Normandy make sure to let the Princess (and us) know that they have a plan for her marriage with the Russian Empire to calm the high tension between the two countries. The actual search for the prototype is interesting enough, each of the girl contributes to one task of the mission, there is of course twist and turns along the way but those don’t overwhelm the story. Moreover, they don’t pull any overpowered, unbelievable skills in there like previous weeks. I actually have quite a great time following the case this week so I hope Princess Principal keeps this tempo from now on.

It appears Princess Principal will go for a non-chorological order; pretty much Haruhi-style, now that we jump to case9 and my hope for a proper introduction of Chise is still in place; although this episode does spill the beans about Chise’s hidden agenda. Damn, I’d pretty much prefer if they keep it more ambiguous but the reveal does tell us a lot about her motives, as well as her current situation. Well, I honestly wouldn’t expect Chise expresses so much cute reactions but let’s see what she has on a serious side. She works under Lord Horikawa, whom I assume is belong to Japanese Imperial Family; who uses Chise as a spy to determine which side to ally, the Commonwealth or the Kingdom. This “White Pigeon” team is indeed an ideal team as they have 2 members from the Commonwealth, and other 2 from the Kingdom; so Chise can have a clear picture regarding the situations of both sides. She feels insecure about her role in the group, however, as she gets really upset by the way Ange constantly puts her out of action field considering she has the greatest combat skills of the group. What she doesn’t know is that Ange uses her as a safety net for the Princess, to which the Princess doesn’t agree with (very great characterizations all around). How does she and Lord Horikawa found out about the team is anyone’s guess right now, but I’m secretly glad that she isn’t here to kill the Princess or Ange off. Or will she?

Dorothy has also grown a lot on me. Now, it becomes a norm and I am really looking forward to her doing a femme fatale’s impressions to seduce whatever male species in the world. But this episode goes further than that, having her in a bind herself to keep a closer watch on the Princess, the person that she obviously grows accustomed with. Just see how Dorothy feels uneasy about the mission, and then relieves when the suspicion is proving wrong; towards her remark at the end: “White pigeon isn’t grey” and you can sense how much she went through to protect what she considers as friends versus her mission. Speaking of “friends”, it’s worth noting that while Ange considers only the princess as true friend, hence over-protective of her; the Princess considers everyone in the team as friends. Will Ange come to trust other members of her team? They all have different agenda anyways so whatever happens, the end-result will be a big battlefield between the casts. And those who fight for their love usually are those will end up being miserable in the end.

18if – 04 [The Witch of Gluttony]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

Well, it was a very shaky 18if episode this week. After episode 2 when the show went for much darker territory, and episode 3 when 18if filled my heart with its bittersweet moments, episode 4 goes back to the style of premiere episode and even when putting these two episodes together, this one gets pale in comparison. The director of this episode is Hiroko Kazui, who mostly known as the storyboarder of later Monogataries series, and key animation of Tokyo Godfathers. As you can guess from the title “The Witch of Gluttory”, this episode is all about eating, food-porn about curry rice and donuts. Here come one of the main issues of 18if, and it isn’t about the different directors handling each episode; the 18if’s cases lack urgency. Only episode 2 produced some sense of urgency because the cast tried to save the bad guys in real life. Other episodes though, no one in the risk of danger, even the Witch that it’s hard to see any importance of saving the case throughout the episode. One thing worth mentioned is that the girls don’t necessary have a Sleeping Beauty Syndrome or in a coma to become a witch; as Airi still keeps her normal daily routines at day and become a chibi witch at night.

The episode follows a girl who has eating disorder known as bulimia because she wants to maintain a skinny body. Thus, she consumes a large amount of donuts and cakes at night, then immediately purges them out. I know18if is very inconsistent in its art and quality, but what they’re really consistent so far, is how jerk they portrait the male characters who break the Witches’ hearts. This one simply breaks up with Airi because he finds someone else who skinnier than her. Jerk. She ends up feeling insecure about her weight, which lead to her eating disorder and her distaste to her favorite curry food. Well, she isn’t really distaste the curry meal, because she still cooks them tastefully, and in truth I still can’t connect it with her problems. Look, this episode is way too vague about her issues. I bet most of us after watching this episode don’t even know whether she gains weight by eating a lot or loses weight by throwing those foods. Can anyone even guess who was the other little girl in her dream? You can’t? I guess so – why include her then? Consider that this aspect was already the episode’s strongest, you would know how misfired this episode find itself in.

Because when you start mentioning other aspects then it falls apart rather quickly. The dream sequence is string of cartoonist wacky adventure (with overloaded cakes) and experience a severed tonal issue that it’s hard to take any of this seriously. Not only Haruto, our recurring cast fares so much worse and overall are inconsistent with their character so far. The scientist has a “curry kick” and singing and exaggerating with no purpose whatsoever; Lily suddenly has an urge for donut that makes her more superficial and goofy than engaging; and Haruto has zero chemistry with the Witch that I don’t feel any emotional investment in any of this. The story and its pacing all have its problems and worse they can’t even maintain a consistent tone. 18if is fascinating project, that’s for sure, but they need to do better than this to really engage us. This episode is a big “meh”, not bad enough to be a disaster, but unmemorable and uninspiring.

Classroom of the Elite – 03 [Man is an Animal that Makes Bargains: No Other Animal Does This – No Dog Exchanges Bones with Another.]

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

Just like what the long title suggests, this episode’s all about “bargaining” and establishing the hidden rules behind this academy. If you originally think Class D got the high scores due to their own efforts, well you’re in the wrong show then. You see, the bottom line here is that you can use the points to buy off everything within the school: old test’s questions and even buy off the exam’s score. Not only they get away with all that, it is heavily implied the teacher and the school expect them to work that way. That’s the world they live in huh? It’s just a matter of knowing and exploiting the system (what they call as a S-System). So, using points as a trade for something they need, that’s one part of this system. The next past would be how to gain points for the class then. From what I understand, all the points class D received from the midterm test are 87 points – not that much by any means but when you compare how many points class C improved after the test (from 490 to 492 – 2 points), it does indeed feel the gap has narrowed. But in order to aim for the top they need to have a bigger plan to gain points and slowly move up their rank – which I believe will be the main plot of Youkoso going forward.

But the way Youkoso executes its theme and its plot still leaves a lot to be desired. The story did jump back from few days before the exams and Sudo gets a fair amount of screen time this week but never at once we see him make any real effort for the test, so why go your way to save someone like him then? I feel like Youkoso just creates a situation so Ayanokoji has to step in and uses his negotiation skills to save the day. The show also introduces many characters from other class, most notably the bullying Ryuen from class C (who got praised from the “elites” of class A for gaining 2 POINTS), and the blonde Ichinose from class B – for my money they will become their respective class representatives when the time comes. I know this school setting isn’t supposed to be realistic, but they really stretch the idea too thin: Teachers who never explain the rules but berate the students for not figuring out themselves; tests that don’t change for at least 2 years, down to the exact words; the scores are already announced but somehow can be altered. I guess for the sake of enjoyment, we just need to look away those foolish details but even then, the story so far doesn’t have any lasting power.

How Youkoso handles the main leads though, is far more successfully. Ayanokoji proves to be the right main behind the job who would do anything necessary for the sake of the class and Horikita shows another soft side of her of wanting to help her classmates out – something that she would never consider doing before (on that note: it completely lost me why she had to lower her English score for the sake of helping Sudo? Could anyone give me an explanation?). But the powerstar of this week, of course is Kushida as she reveals her other ugly bitchy side of her. It’s interesting to note that in the novel, Kushida gets pissed at Horikita in a part where Horikita just shrugged of the “3 Fools of D-Class” from her tutorial and she still gained Ayanokoji’s trust nevertheless. But in the anime, Kushida revealing her true colors come from her jealousness towards all the attention Horikita “gets”. In other words, more bitchy and cruel. Again, same content, different meaning. If you ask me which version I prefer, in this particular case I’d go for the anime version; since what better way to show another dark side of a character than showing of their selfish bitchy side? I like the way she handles Ayanokoji by intentionally let him grab her boob. Give boob-grabbing the whole new meaning.  As much as I like the new personality-twist, this week unfortunately isn’t Youkoso’s best moments.

Kakegurui- 04[The Woman Who Became Livestock]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

I could make it point to go on about how ridiculous it is for a school to allow a student to carry a firearm or putting forward a life plan which I am fairly certain is a clear violation of human rights but honestly that dead horse has been beaten enough. In Kakegurui this is just how things work and that’s that. So with the major loss last episode Yumeko has now been reduced to pet status and it’s shown that being a female pet is significantly more dangerous than a male pet. All things considered it would be pretty obvious for male students to take advantage of such a position so we have the usual rapists come on scene to try and assault Yumeko. This is a common trope in anime, these random dudes who jump at the opportunity to grab a woman the minute she’s left alone. It appears in anime so often than I am genuinely curious as to how true to life it is. Are there really random guys who wander around Japan just trying to rape every girl alone on the street? Considering Japan has a declining birth rate and some reputation of men being Herbivores I find it rather dubious. Either way when it comes to these kinds of scenes at least this was the more tasteful of the sort. I got worried when Yumeko started taking off her underwear but the show at least knew when to stop. Truthfully though what did Yumeko expect from this situation as oddly she seemed disappointed when these guys said they were not going to violate her. Taking her personality into account however this does make a degree of sense.. Yumeko is someone who gets a thrill of gambling her life so this to her could have just been another gamble. Can she escape them unscathed or would she be caught and violated? That certainly sounds like a bet she would take on.

We have the return of Mary from the first episode and it looks like were are getting the old shounen trope of first time villains turning into allies. Based on the first episode alone you would think that there would be no way to redeem her but these past episodes have shown Mary to be the lesser evil in this school. Mary more or less aimed to embarrass her where as our other villains here are aiming to rip off her fingernails or ruin her. With a taste of Humble pie Mary has actually become one of the most reasonable people in the cast with her selfish intentions being less malevolent and more petty. Even in context it felt that she only targeted Yumeko in the first episode out of Jealousy over the male lead if I am reading this right. She has show a level of attachment to him and she’s has blond twin tailed hairstyle which is often chosen hairstyle for your typical tsundere. Yumeko doesn’t seem to hold hard feelings towards her either and they two do make a good duo of easygoing madness and level headed crook. Seeing the two work together is fun and I can tell the voice actor had a whole lot of fun with the last line of the episode.

So to get Yumeko back on top we have entered a high stakes game of two card Blind man’s Bluff, aka Indian Poker. Rules of the game is that you can see one card from everyone’s hand but your own and know one of your cards. A win is decided by getting a pair of matching numbers(Pair) or a pair of matching suits(Mark) with no match being a Pig. Upon two people getting a mark or a pair the winner is decided by who has the highest number. So if you are going to cheat at this game the best bet is to have a partner who can signal what card you had to show the group. Yumeko and Mary are clearly working together somehow as Mary talked to her before the match but it does seem to be something less obvious. As the villain of this gamble saw such a play and was bluffed instead. It’s pretty clear the villain is cheating somehow as well as in this show the villain is always cheating. Thus it becomes a game of who can out cheat the cheater and knowing Yumeko I doubt this delinquent is getting off easy.

Made in Abyss – 03[Departure]

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

This episode looks to be setting up the big adventure to guide us through the rest of the season but I really cannot comment enough on how much of a terrible idea it is. Riko is pure rookie when it comes to abyss diving and here she is deciding to take on the challenge of making it to the bottom of the Abyss. All for the vague idea that her mother just might be waiting for her down there. In the world of children is a brave and noble quest. But in the world of common sense it’s just a really dumb idea that’s certainly going to get them killed. But hey we got to have a story and I certainly cannot call this a plot hole as no adults are consenting to this mad gamble, though the dorm leader seems to be letting on that he knows more than he’s letting on. But I am with the other kid on this once, either Riko’s mom is dead or she’s in a place where she can afford to wait a few years. The smart idea would be for Riko to earn her way through the ranks and get close to a white whistle. Then decide to drop down to the lower levels as right now I don’t think they even have enough food to last them the trip. But I guess that’s what going to make this whole journey all the more tense, seeing these two notice just how ill prepared they truly are.

So it’s been around for awhile now but beneath Made in Abyss’s bubbly like exterior does hide some rather disconcerting elements. Like Riko’s room originally being a torture room, the slums of the town which seem to have people regularly dying of toxins from the Abyss, Skeletons found in praying posture, foreign invaders and we even have a rumor of children that die on their birthday with they look into a mirror. That last one is rather concerning as the smallest child’s birthday is soon and he’s showing signs of being sickly. That sounds dangerously like a death flag to me. I have said before that I am wary of this show transitioning into a darker tone as such a change requires a deft hand at writing and plenty have failed to capture the potential such a tonal shift brings. Though perhaps these dark details will just be food for thought in the background like the way Adventure time slips in details about the world that betray it’s sunny disposition.

I can’t say I was that broken up over Riko’s departure from her friends as her friends haven’t really been around much to get attached to. Though it seems that people did get broken up about it when my focus was on Regu’s introspection on why he was made and his connection to the Abyss. As well as questioning whether he’s a robot, Cyborg or Android. Based on RIko’s inspection and him still possessing biological traits I am putting a firm bet on him being a Cyborg, a human modified into a robot. The purpose to this is still up in the air but it was confirmed in this episode that Regu isn’t affected by the curse of the Abyss. So he could very well be an ambassador from the lower depths who has forgotten his mission. Though considering he has Megaman arm cannons his intentions may not have been peaceful. As to where he came from the best bet would be this Capital of the unreturned level of the Abyss meaned in the map. Could those who have ventured into the abyss have established their own colony in the lowest levels of it? And if so, are they friend or foe?

Fate/Apocrypha – 04[Price of life, Redemption of Death]

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

There are many things that can lead to one anime downfall but even with certain weaknesses in area a anime can shine through. Berserk 1997 showed that a strong story can make up for a powerpoint level of animation. Tatami Galaxy showed that even with lacking art a compelling story can be told.(I am sorry but despite it’s creativity I find Masaaki Yuasa’s artstyle to be ugly.) However I believe there is one thing which no amount of quality in animation, story and art can make up for. That thing is pacing and there are two shows this season which prove that. One being the Vatican Examiners anime and as of the last two episodes, Fate/Apocrypha. Yes, no amount of quilty could make a difference when you rush through the story like a speeding train. It kills emotional impact and makes it hard to truly connect with the events on screen. Fate/Apocrypha isn’t Shakespeare(Despite it well…featuring Shakespeare.) but this episode truly felt to me like actors soullessly reenacting the events of the novels. With the gravitas of reading a wikipedia article, the events of the novel are places on screen but without any of the significance that make them meaningful. It’s a true pity as from what I hear these novels start strong but grow weaker as they continue. So we are essentially fast fowarding what could be the best parts of the story.

Art and animation have certainly taken a hit with the berserker scenes featuring some truly cringeworthy examples of poor quality. Still frames and crude artwork really killed the scene along with a pacing that robbed it of it’s meaning. This episode should have been a big confrontation from the big players on the scene but it just felt so lackluster. For an example of missed connotation and am certain anime only watchers would be confused over just what Darica was so mad at Gordes for. To clarify this has to do with Siegfried’s legend where it is well known that he was bathed in dragon’s blood which provided him with a level of invincibility. The blood covered all of him except for one patch on his back which was covered by the leaf of a maple tree. What this means is that Siegfried has a massive weak point on his back which is why Grodes refused to reveal his name in the second episode. However in that battle Grodes was forcing Seigfried to use his noble Phantasm which would announce his identity to his enemies. In fact this makes the slip up last episode all the stranger when he announced himself to Karna and Gordes didn’t make a sound. Point is that informing an enemy that you have a critical weak point is generally a bad move. Hence why Achilles kept his identity to himself as his his very name has become synonymous with a metaphor for a fatal weakness.

Speaking of Achilles he certainly got shafted here along with Atalanta. Unless you know the history the significance of these events will likely puzzle the regular viewer. Thing is that Chiron is Achilles teacher and he taught quite a number of heroes. He also outranks Atalanta as a Archer as he is the basis of the star sign of Sagittarius and possibly one of the best heroic archers.(That well…are actually Archers) Might as well note that it’s nice to see some genuine archers in the Archer class for once. Both Zero and Stay nights archers only qualify as an Archer on a technicality. Though one thing that is odd is that the servants of this war all seem to have independent action which is a trait generally only given to the Archer class. Servants should have to stick close by their masters but because the Archer class is primarily a long range fighter they are given the ability to be able to last without a master and move a significant distance away from them. Here that rule seems to have been thrown out completely but somewhere in the massive bunch of tangled wires called Nasuverse lore there bound to be a technicality of sorts.

So we have the first casualty of the Great Holy Grail war and by Suicide of all things. As mentioned before it’s hard to truly feel for Siegfried’s sacrifice when we barely knew him and the pacing is so fast that all you can really feel is mild surprise. Even in the novel I didn’t quite care for him though his nature of acting as a hollow automaton which carries out people’s wishes is a similar demeanor of that of Shirou. He said he had no wish for the grail but it appears his real wish was simply to do something for himself rather than someone else. Such a shame that this act would be to save the life of what seems to be the most agreed upon weakest element of this story, the Homunculus character. I didn’t see a lot of him as I only read the first two volumes but I do remember the parts that featured him dragged horribly. I truly don’t look forward to seeing this fellow more in the future. Still there is something rather odd here, the opening of this series featured Siegfried facing Mordred and yet here shows he committed suicide before he could face her in battle. How very strange.