Category: Finished Series: Action

One Punch Man S2 – 6 [The Uprising of the Monsters]

by Lenlo, posted in One Punch Man S2

Sigh Welcome once again to the sinking ship that is OPM S2. This week we see a fantastic character done dirty, botched pacing, and more boob shots than you can swing a stick at. Lets dive in.

As always, production, and oof. OOF. JC Staff screwed the pooch this week. I won’t even talk animation, because that’s obvious. Instead lets talk about how JC Staff screwed up direction and shot composition, when Murata had already laid it out for them. Throughout this episode, we have 2 conflicts going on. Genos vs the Monsters, and the Tournament. OPM cuts between the two, progressing both at once. However, what happens in the manga is the tournament comes first in ever sequence. Showing a martial arts technique and its effects, then cutting straight to Genos performing an S-Class Super Hero version of the same thing. High Voltage Fist, Machine Gun Blow, Rocket Stomp, all these mimic techniques of the martial artists. Yet JC Staff couldn’t even do that right. Showing them out of order, with no impact or connection between them. This is a staggering level of incompetence.

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Dororo – 18 [The Story of the Cape of No Mercy]

by Lenlo, posted in Dororo

Welcome one and all to Dororo’s redemption, the episode that takes us back to first cour quality. We have demons, sword fights, and poignant character moments. Maybe, just maybe, I won’t be disappointed in 2 months. Lets jump in!

First up, thank you MAPPA, for getting production right this week. Every aspect was, at the least, decent. There are still small nitpicks that could be made, but they are just that. Nitpicks. The actual big picture is that this episode felt like one from the first cour. Sure, the demon shark fight was rather fast, but that wasn’t the focus of the episode. That was Hyakki vs Tahomaru and co, and I enjoyed this. It was animated much better than previous episodes, really moving the “camera” around and giving us full body shots. Yes some detail goes away at points, but in its place we get a much more movement. To top it all off, the music was great and there were lots of picturesque shots that adored. It’s entirely possible my standards have fallen, but I am just glad Dororo is actually animated this week.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba – 6 [Swordsman Accompanying a Demon]

by Lenlo, posted in Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome everyone to another episode of Yaiba! We are 1/4th of the way through now and Yaiba is 3 arcs in, with no plans of slowing. We arrive at the town, a hunt ensues and combat begins with our first super powered Demon. Lets jump in!

As always, production first. I could go on and on about how pretty Yaiba is. How much I love the water effects and uneven line work, etc etc. I have done that every week though, so this time let’s talk sound design, cause whoo. It’s good. Not only is it a Yuki Kaijura OST, always a plus, but Yaiba is just nailing the folly work. Seriously, whoever did the sound of the gnashing teeth deserves a raise. That was a suitably creepy and hair-raising, a unique sound I have no heard before in anime. As a whole it all comes together for a simply fantastic sounding episode. My only real complaint with it is the CGI crowds/walking. Yaiba is finally starting to show some cracks in the CGI, with the wide shots. Luckily all of the closeups are still 2D. That aside though, onto the story. Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba – 6 [Swordsman Accompanying a Demon]” →

One Punch Man S2 – 5 [Martial Arts Tournament]

by Lenlo, posted in One Punch Man S2

God damnit OPM. I thought we were past this, I thought we could get along. It was my hope, after these last two episodes, that you could make it. I was wrong. This week OPM disappoints me, and I once again get to go on a rant. Jump in if you dare.

Right off the bat, and I am gonna do this for a few hundred words, let’s talk production. My god, did OPM trip and fall down a ditch this week. There’s so much to talk about here, I have to split it into sections. Starting off, animation. Not only was it limited, reusing it in the same god damn fight, but what little good OPM had was covered up. Flashing screens, cut to black with flashes of light and shaky cam ruin whatever punch any of the fights could have had. Combine that with terrible direction, ruining the flow of blows, and it just becomes a mess. One redditor described it aptly as “The fight wanted itself to end”. Then there’s Metal Knight, flying around like a static image through the sky. This sequence could have been amazing and instead we got… a PowerPoint presentation.

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Dororo – 17 [The Story of Questions and Answers]

by Lenlo, posted in Dororo

Welcome one and all to the best episode of Dororo this cour! The animation is still disappointing, but the story is returning to form. Lets jump in!

Starting off, I have to say, it’s good to see Dororo getting back in form. Not production wise of course, no it’s a mess on that front. With delayed blood sprays and reused clips. It gets even worse when compared to the flashback clips shown in this very episode. No no, I am talking about the story, because this week we finally get back to the family drama. For the first time since the 2nd cour started up, Dororo has returned to its primary plot. Focusing not on combat or side stories, however they might connect into the story, but on the characters and what has happened to them. Suffice to say, this made me really happy, however bad it looked. So that said, spoilers after the break, and let’s go.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba – 5 [My Own Steel]

by Lenlo, posted in Kimetsu no Yaiba

Another week, another saturday morning cartoon episode of Yaiba. This week we finish up the exam, Nezuko wakes up and Tanjiro gets a fancy sword. Lets jump in!

As always, the visuals are great. Ufotable does right by Yaiba every week on this front. I have gone over the big stuff multiple times though, so instead, I want to take not of some smaller details. For instance, I love how Yaiba is employing the masks. They inform a bit about a person’s character, and also saves them time on animation. Letting them instead do a lot of character animation, such as Haganezuka’s waving arms. It’s something I think is worth pointing out. Another detail was the sound design this week, specifically the music. There were a lot of moments that were enhanced by it. I can’t comment or not on how “traditional” it actually is, but I quite enjoyed the string’s aspect of it. With Yuki Kaijura at the helm here though, this isn’t really surprising. However repetitive her style can be, fact is, it’s a good style.

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One Punch Man S2 – 4 [Metal Bat]

by Lenlo, posted in One Punch Man S2

Hello and welcome to another surprising episode of One Punch Man Season 2! This week OPM gives us another S-Class Hero, Garo’s past and some cool monsters. Lets dive in!

Starting off, I have to say, JC Staff is surprising me. OPM’s animation is actually pretty good, the Centisenpai cuts were fantastic. Not just in comparison to the rest of this season, but as standalone cuts. Check below the break for a clip of that. If JC Staff, and more specifically Kenichiro Aoki who animated this and Tank-Top Masters cuts, can keep this up the season has hope yet. All they have to do is nail the finale and I will be content here. I don’t know what in god’s name happened in episode 1 and 2, but they are in no way representative of the final product so far. Sure, the gradient is still crap and so to are some of the filters. But the actual animation? The 2D animation layered over CGI? Credit where it’s due, JC Staff isn’t completely bombing this.

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Dororo – 16 [The Story of Shiranui]

by Lenlo, posted in Dororo

Welcome all to another week of Dororo! This time Hyakki takes a break, Dororo hangs out with an old friend, and we meet a cannibal. Good times. Lets jump in!

Starting off, after the travesty that was episode 15, let’s talk production. While it’s still nothing stunning, Dororo has returned to its usually mostly acceptable with blips of good quality. I say mostly acceptable because there wasn’t much actual action this week. Consisting mostly of pans and stills, Dororo still has yet to match its first cour. The best we have gotten so far was Saburomaru, the shark, diving out of the ocean. Yet I could almost have been fooled into thinking it was just sliding up the screen. It’s a disappointing that, were the direction still not strong, would have Dororo losing me. As it is, visually I am only really hanging in there for Dororo’s interesting direction. Such as our return to the flashback and its bright red flowers against a field of shades of grey. Story wise though, Dororo remains strong.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba – 4 [Final Selection]

by Lenlo, posted in Kimetsu no Yaiba

Hello and welcome to Kimetsu no Yaiba’s strongest week yet! Training concludes, the Yaiba starts the Selection begins and Tanjiro shows off his skills. Lets jump in!

Starting off, production! This was a good week for Yaiba, it looked and sounded fantastic. I’ve gushed about the animation/art before, so I’ll keep that part short this week. The water effects on Tanjiro’s sword were beautiful, and I love the thematic nature of them, as I don’t believe they have actual water powers. What I really want to talk about here though is the sound design. Both the VA’s and the music were fantastic, with Midorikawa (of Dio Brando fame) nailing it as the Demon. His whole counting sequence, and insane breakdown as to the era were chilling. Yaiba just had a lot of fun with everything this week, and as a viewer you could tell. Even going to far as to pay homage to the Dio Brando walking shot the internet loves so much. This isn’t the only place Yaiba excelled though, the story did as well.

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One Punch Man S2 – 3 [The Hunt Begins]

by Lenlo, posted in One Punch Man S2

Alright OPM, credit where it’s due, you managed to recover a little this week.  Garou gets more screen time, the animation is a little less shit and ONEs writing is starting to shine through. Lets jump in!

Starting off, as fun as it would be to rag on OPM for another week, it’s improved. This is a great step up from last week, with legitimately good looking sequences. Yeah there are still issues, the terrible fade effects and direction are still there. For some reason JC Staff is unable or unwilling to animate faces. Cutting them off at their chins, or at terrible angles for the sake of not animating them. Saitama’s face is also still… weird, and the gradient still pisses me off. But credit where it’s due, this is a large improvement over episode 2. If OPM keeps this upwards trajectory in quality, it might actually not be an embarrassment by the end. One can hope, because this episode Garou actually got the treatment he deserves. Most of it, at least.

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