Short Synopsis: Lief and Barda take on the first guardian with the Topaz, they witness his story, and his downfall. Jasmine also returns.
Good: A surprisingly huge amount of thought put behind the story of the forest and the guardian.
Bad: Lots of talking + my level of Japanese = X_X; Strange use of recycled scenes
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Deltora Quest keeps amazing me when it hugely deviates from your usual shounen-adventure with its well-developed characters and thought-out plot. Despite the concept, this anime cleverly stays away from all of the clichés that plague this genre, and delivers a great tale about Lief, set out to collect the seven gems.
I was surprised when I learned that the guardian had an actual back-story. When he appeared during the previous episode, I just expected he was a brainless goon, and that this episode would focus a basic fight. Boy, was I wrong. During the fight, it seems that he’s been protecting something else. I couldn’t pick up everything, but this is what I think what went on:
In the middle of the forest, there are some flowers which can produce the elixir of life. When the gems were stolen, this guardian was sent to that place, in order to protect it, along with his three comrades. When they saw the flowers, though, they started to fight about them, and the guardian ended up killing his two comrades. Over time, he began to get confused about his original goal, and in the end, he told himself he had to protect the flowers, instead of the gem. I’m not sure why he didn’t know who Adin was, though. It seemed like he’s been there for a lot longer than 16 years…
It also seems that Jasmine has been after these flowers for some time, and she finally got the chance to get it when Lief and Barda arrived. She’s interesting, as you wouldn’t expect her to be the one to save Lief and Barda. It often goes the other way around when the main female lead turns into your usual damsel in distress.
The next gem seems to be hidden inside a lake. Probably the water-country. In there, there’s a fearsome witch. She’s apparently famous, as even Jasmine has heard of her, and she’s been living alone for almost her entire life. It seems like she’s going to be quite interesting, perhaps even more than the armoured one we saw in this episode.]]>
Category: Series which were Dropped
Deltora Quest – 02
Okay, with this post, I’ve made up my mind. Deltora Quest will be blogged, Himarari!! won’t. That makes three series I’ll be blogging this season. Will Venus Versus Virus make four?
In any case, I really like Jasmine and Barda. Jasmine got introduced in this episode, and she has quite an interesting character. Already she’s moving away from the usual female side-kick. She’s got a rather sad case. When she was 9 years old, her parents were abducted by some evil guards, and ever since, she spent her time alone in the forest. Because of that, she learned quite some interesting abilities, like the ability to talk to trees (What? You can’t do that? ^^;), and she trained a cute pet and crow quite well. She’s also probably one of the first female side-kicks who actually knows what she’s talking about.
Barda (I keep spelling his name as Baruda… damn katakana) on the other hand, is the skilled warrior with the subtle sense of humour. These first two episodes also showed that he isn’t perfect, especially when he fights and has to keep an eye out on Lief. He first collapsed because Lief was doing something stupid, making him get hit, and later he takes his eye off Lief in order to ambush the monster. He obviously starts yelling at him when he finds out that Lief also went to try and slay it. 😉
This anime also is moving surprisingly fast. I originally suspected that each country would get a large number of episodes dedicated to it, though with a bit of math, it seems that in order to give all seven countries some attention, each can only have three episodes for itself, with the ±5 final episodes dedicated to close the story. It’ll be interesting to see this, seeing as I’m currently watching Futago Hime as well, which is a show which spends a lot of episodes dedicated to one country.]]>
Bleach – 91 – [Insert Random Comment Here]
I just wrote a post about this one, only to click the window away due to lack of motivation, spaced-out-ness and that annoying popup of photobucket. In any case, the end is near. At least withing twenty episodes. Ishida was kindof good, while Strawberry was boring. And some other things, but I forgot.
[Update]I’ve decided to stop Blogging Bleach. When I started blogging it, I imagined that I needed some kind of show to bash, but in the end, I’m finding much more joy in blogging about the shows I like. Out of all the shows I’m currently blogging, Bleach is the only one which feels like a chore. I’ll still be watching the series, though I don’t have the motivation at all to keep blogging it. [/Update]
Bleach – 90 – Ah, So That’s Why They Did It. Yawn.
This episode was very funny. Ganju is in his store, wondering where Hana went. He then runs into a random magazine, and gets excited by a “certain” picture inside of it. His manager sees this, and suddenly begins to get sad when he learns Ganju’s true tastes. Afterwards, he runs away crying. Just what have the two of them been doing. ^^;
Oh… wait… that wasn’t the episode? It was just the Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book? Ah.
In any case, Renji’s able to beat Mister Four-Eyes but gets buried under rubble afterwards when the entire cave collaps. Strawberry is the only one remaining as he heads for Mr Smarty Pants. Gorilla dude meanwhile summons a gate towards another dimension while Mr Smarty Pants and Strawberry have a little fight. Of course, Mr Smarty Pants totally pwns Strawberry, as the latter has yet to go into bankai-mode. Ishida, meanwhile, gets his powers back. Woohoo. I am so looking forward to the next episode. *coughcough*
I realized that the more Bleach draws to the end of the Bounto-arc, the more boring the episodes get. Though I never realized that they’d be this boring. Just let those Bounto hurry and kill the 12th squad captain in order to get their revenge done.
Bleach – 89 – …
Dear god. Someone please tell Strawberry to bring a flashligh. Ugh. It’s extremely annoying to see that the creators gave the bounto all kinds of weaknesses, without them being used at all. Also, no matter how many times I look at the OP, its lyrics remain the most cheesy ones ever.
In any case, this is one of the episodes which can be summarized in one word, and one word only. I’ll gladly make use of this:
Boring
Bleach – 88 – Behold, The Wisdom of Vice-Captains
This episode can basically be summarized in one word: boring. What happens is that the four shinigami have found the Bounto-base, so the four of them head in to infiltrate. And of course, all of them have had an extensive Shinigami-education, so they do exactly know what to do in a situation like this: Just storm the damned thing, split up and wander around aimlessly. Of course. So, what was the school for shinigami’s purpose again? Ah, yes. It’s like a school for body-builders. That explains everything.
In any case, it’s not surprising that the shinigami go down immediately. Strawberry and the others meanwhile also head for the bounto-base. Everyone’s recovered, except for the unknown brat that Renji rescued. It seems that his soul has already weakened too much, and he needs to rely on his will to live in order to be able to survive. I’m interested to see whether such an unknown brat can make it or not. Apart from that, we had a touching scene in which Ririn broke down in front of Strawberry. But apart from that, this episode was just boring.
Still, in the preview for the next episode, Kon gave some very fitting descriptions for each of the bounto. I think I’ll be using them from now on: Gorilla Dude, Scary Old Lady, Freaky Guy, Fishin’ Gramps, Mister Four-Eyes and Mr Smarty Pants. All that’s left is the Shinigami. Any suggestions?
Bleach – 87 – Yawn
This week finishes where last week left off. As episode 86 was surprisingly interesting, you’d think that this episode would be enjoyable as well. Well, no. This episode was just boring.
Why? First of all: no Ururu. Why does she need to be a damsel in distress? She’s too awesome for such a thing!
Second of all: in episode 86, Sado struggled with his reasons to fight. No clue of this appeared in this episode.
Third of all: the art. During its climax, episode 86 featured some brilliant art. The old guy really looked freaky in this. No clue of this in episode 87.
Though the major factor remains that episode 86 had so many things happening at once. The pacing was incredible. Episode 87 just featured a plan which got carried out and worked with the help of some conveniently unexplained powers. Exciting.
I also had the urge to smash my screen when the guy just retreated like every other villain. I mean, what exactly was the point of this fight!?
In any case, what follows is a mysterious invisible intruder who has the guts of invading the soul society. You wonder how he got in in the first place. The 12th squad captain also discovers the “big secret” of the bounto, and he realizes why they needed a quincy, as he’s the only one who can gather and materialize spirit particles.
The only worthwile moment of this episode was Ishida. He loves to do at least something, but as he lost his powers, this doesn’t quite turn out well.
Bleach – 86 – Strategy? Bleach? Yes, it is possible!
Well, this is more like it! Bleach finally uses some strategy, and on top of that, it’s got the perfect set-up for characters: Chad, Nova, Matsumoto and even Ururu versus the old man. The beauty of things is that each of them isn’t a walking steam-engine (both in terms of raw power as intelligence), so each party has to use some kind of plan in order to win. The combination with some very effective comedy made this a worthwile episode.
First of all, the old man has the most creative doll I’ve seen yet. Come to think of it, it’s the first doll that didn’t annoy the hell out of me. Anyway, his doll is a small whale, which can travel through dimensions and which can create another dimension inside his stomach. Nova’s power matches so well with this.
Second of all: Ururu. Probably the strongest member of the Bleach-cast. And thank god the creators show this in a very creative way. ^^; It’s just awesome to see a little girl fighting like that. I kept waiting for a chance to see her really in action. Even though she didn’t last long, it was awesome.
Third of all: Matsumoto. I especially loved it when Chad was underestimating her a bit. She really showed him that she deserves her place as a vice-chief. ^^ Her overall joking mood really brightened up the episode.
Fourth of all: Nova. He was so cute when Matsumoto thanked him and he got embarrassed. ^^; He also really had the chance to show the other what he’s worth, as, in comparison to the other modified souls, there were no “important” characters which needed all the attention and screentime they could get (*coughInouecoughIchigocouch*). The result was awesome.
Fifth of all: Chad. I really like his backstory. It’s too bad that he hasn’t gotten too much development lately. Thank goodness this episode changed this a bit. I like the way that he wants to protect, and finally he has some more flashbacks of his past. Finally he gets his own struggles again. Ururu and the others really helped him in this.
Another thing that I loved is that at the climax of the episode, the animators suddenly decided to go very creative creative. I really mean it when I say that the climax was incredibly animated. It was great to see such messy art, especially the old man looked really freaky in this, I couldn’t help but love it.
Overall, Bleach needs to have more episodes like this, in which characters actually think, instead of just fire a bunch of spirit power at each other. It had a great bland of comedy and action, although I’m not too sure about the way the episode ended. Somehow, I’m again fearing for the next episode.
Blegh! – 84/85
Oh… the pain. The horrible pain! When I thought that Bleach couldn’t get any worse, here it comes and waltzes the viewer down with a whole hour of garbage. And when I say garbage, I mean PURE garbage. I can’t believe how incredibly cheesy this episode had become. If I had a spoon nearby, I’d gouche my eyes out.
Ichigo’s fight was okay, I guess. He didn’t do anything, no flashy powers were shown, nothing special at all. It was decent, except for the fact that the bad guy managed to get away, leaving total progress at zero again. How long to those guys plan to continue this horror.
No, the horrible thing was Inoue. I remember that I hoped for the combination of her, Rukia and Cloud to think up one fantastic strategy to beat that woman. I think I like that woman the most, from all possible bounto’s. She’s the only one who has mastered her doll, it seems. And yes, the woman was pretty entertaining. Even though it’s a talking sword, the fact that the two of them argue with each other has pretty awesome effects.
Then, the horror struck, when the woman leaves, and a bounto whose doll can take over persons appears. THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES are spent for Inoue trying to save Rukia who has been taken over. And what about strategy? Well, that could have saved the day. Until you realize that Inoue has the intelligence of a sheep, chasing its own tail. I mean… ugh. >.< In any case, the way this was resolved was just horrible. There are countless Deus ex Machina which could even make Star Ocean Ex jealous. Cloud could have saved the day, but he just doesn't do anything at all. The bad guy easily lets the good guys have a conversation before he attacks, and Inoue finally saves the day by collecting all of her inner power which seems to be strong enough to defeat Rukia. Then, to make things worse, the bad guy doesn't die, he escapes. So, what was the total plot progress of this episode again? I think we need to explain the meaning of those words to the creators before we can answer this.
Bleach – 83 – Well, this is a surprise
You can say a lot of horrible things about this anime (with which I totally agree, by the way), but you have to admit: this episode really was unique for Bleach standards. The creators decided to let one episode focus around the history of Claude (the big guy who plays with large marbles), and they managed to choose a great setting: a poor, 18th-century farming village. And for once, they just take their time in telling the story. Almost no action at all. Just two bounto living together, and having their own problems. Okay, the animation looked horrible, but this is such a huge improvement. I also just loved the generic design of the young man who was introduced this episode. He was nothing special, he just looked like the son of a farmer who has just reached adulthood.
But then, of course, the ending of the episode completely ruins the good mood when the flashback ends, Ichigo’s about to die and the vice-chief of the 3rd squad arrives just in time to save the day while making the same mistake Naruto did while in his utmost beginner-days. (Ambushes? Who needs ambushes? Ambushes are for sissies!) Not only that, the creators also throw away every chance they could possibly have at a strategic battle, as it’ll be certain that the bounto-woman will drive Inoue and Rukia in a corner, only to be taken out by one of the other three shinigami who were sent to the human world as well. Next week will feature another 1-hour special, and it’s just a hunch, but at the end of that episode I’ll probably be gouching my own eyes out with a spoon. I’m going to pray for the bishie-shinigami (forgot his name) to save the day. And my eyes.