Category: Finished Series: Action

Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 4 [Hidden Inventory 4]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, to the climax of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory arc! Much like Undead Murder Farce, I apologize for this being so late. I was attending Otakon this past weekend and while it was a great time, I’m behind on… literally everything. So enough lollygagging, lets dive into the episode!

Starting off, while this episode wasn’t as visually as impressive I was hoping it would be, thematically I think it was fantastic. Yeah, there wasn’t the same degree of spectacle as say… the ending of Season 1, or Mahito vs Itadori. But in place of that Jujutsu Kaisen managed to tell a story with its fights. The way Fushiguro played with Suguru, explaining himself in such a way as to purposefully mislead him while at the same time powering himself up as per his pact. Or how it communicated Gojo’s mentality in the second half. And none of that is to say it looked bad, it obviously looked great. It was just more… subdued then I was expecting, in a good way. They didn’t go over the top and ruin it with poorly composited CGI backgrounds like the previous seasons forests for instance. Overall I’d say it was… Just right.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 3 [Hidden Inventory 3]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, to episode 3 of Season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen! Apologies for the delay on this, I had a concert last night and was out until 4am. On a side note, all of you should go check out Ok Goodnight and Challenger Deep, great bands. Enough of that though, on with the episode!

Getting into the episode proper, I need to reiterate that this is, hands down, the best Jujutsu Kaisen has ever been. Ever. Without question. Everything about this season so far is hands and feet above what came before. From the character interactions and individual stories in this little stand alone arc to its implications on the larger story. The only thing I think Jujutsu Kaisen season 1 may have a leg up on is animation. Not because this season is bad, in fact as far as direction goes I would say this season is still the clear victor. But This episode showed us a bit of what can happen when you get to ambitious. Some of Gojo’s fight looked kinda sloppy, such as Gojo’s Blue attack. The CGI, compositing, and general style of animation just weren’t quite there for me. At least the character acting was top notch though.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 2 [Hidden Inventory 2]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome back everyone, to another season of Jujutsu Kaisen! This shouldn’t come as a surprise, we all knew it was coming and you all know I like to try and cover sequels when I can. What is a surprise though is just how positive I am on it, as I ended Season 1 with some concerns. Why am I so positive on it? Well let’s jump right in and talk about that!

Starting with the production, it should come as no surprise that Jujutsu Kaisen looks pretty good, on basically every level. The animation is fun, whether it be character expressions or battle sequences, the direction feels nice with good use of visual metaphors, such as basically any scene with Fushiguro in it. We haven’t gotten anything particularly incredible yet, nothing that breaks the bank or makes you go “Wow”, but overall I think it’s solid. Definitely above your average “Shot-reverse-shot” anime production. If I’m being honest though, I’m not really all that concerned about this? Jujutsu Kaisen is MAPPA’s Golden Goose, they aren’t going to leave it out to dry. We will get some fantastically animated action scenes. We will also, probably, get some questionable composites and schedule crunch just like we did with Season 1. Will that stop me from enjoying the right though? Not really. And here’s why.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 Anime Review 48/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Action, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Reviews by Lenlo

Another year, another season of Kimetsu no Yaiba. As what is most likely the most popular, and profitable, current Shounen series being produced, it’s no surprise Kimetsu no Yaiba got a 3rd season. The thing probably prints money. So you would expect at least some of that money to make its way back into the series, either in the form of grander visuals, longer schedules, larger time frames, better writing, etc. Yet the sad truth is that we don’t appear to be getting any of that. In fact it appears to me that this 3rd season, Kimetsu no Yaiba: Swordsmith Village, is the worst season we’ve got yet. Why could that be? It’s still directed by Haruo Sotozaki, still animated by Ufotable, and the original story still Koyoharu Gotouge. So why then is this the least excited I’ve ever been for the series? Let’s dive in and find out, but before you go on, which demon slayer hashira are you?

Be warned, this review contains major unmarked spoilers for Kimetsu no Yaiba Seasons 1/2 and minor unmarked spoilers for Season 3. It also contains major Season 3 spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 Anime Review 48/100” →

Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 11 [A Connected Bond:Daybreak and First Light]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to the double-length grand finale for Season 3 of Kimetsu no Yaiba! With double the runtime we have a fair amount to talk about this week, so lets jump right in!

Starting off my immediate question is: Did this need to be double length? Did it really? Personally, I would say no. Cut out a lot of the more useless flashbacks, the last minute tricks, the extended back and forth’s, this could easily have been a single episode. The only reason to make this a double feature is to add a bit of weight. That said, as far as endings go… This ain’t bad. In fact it’s better then I was expecting. We got a nice visual/setting change as the sun came up, a shocking amount of legitimately emotional gravitas, the first in the season, and some actually decent comedy. As far as endings go, this is more then the season deserved. At least until Yaiba managed to shoot itself in the foot. Again.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 10 [Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to the penultimate episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba’s third season! This week is all about Kanroji, the premier waifu of the season, from her backstory to her fight with the Upper Four. We have a lot to talk about this week, so lets dive in!

So, Kanroji. This is her episode. And you know what? It’s not bad. Overall I’d call it an improvement over the last few Tokito-centric ones. And you know what I think the biggest contributor to that? Her combat style. Everything about it is simply far more visually appealing. Her ballet-like movement, the poses, the moonlight flashing off her sword and the patterns it draws in the air Even the after effects of her attacks on the wood, the little burn marks and ash left hanging in the air. Kanroji has all the flare that has been missing from the rest of the season. It’s a damn shame she has so little screen time, because I think she could have made the arc much more memorable on that front.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 9 [Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This episode sees the conclusion of one fight and Kanroji’s appearance in the other. Is either good? Or is it more of last weeks disappointment? Let’s find out!

Starting off with the positive, this week saw a conclusion to the Upper Five fight. And you know what? I’ve decided I liked it. Yeah, it was a tad anti-climactic. And I still don’t think the Mist Breathing is very good for animation, though it makes for some great still shots. But overall I’m content. There were no gimmicks, no tricks or last minute twists. Just a straight up fight with a fully self-realized Tokito finishing the guy off. Considering what’s been going on with Upper Four, that was rather refreshing. I was expecting some kind of “This isn’t my final pot” sort of bullshit. And we even got some growth from Tokito to, some showing of emotion. It’s a bit weird, the kid is still very un-emotive aside from some random rage. But you know what? I’ll take what I can get.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 8 [The Mu in Muichiro]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This is… I won’t lie, this is a rough week for the series. There won’t be a lot of positivity in this post. But after last week I’m sure you anticipated that. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Getting right to it, this week was… Not good. Before even getting into the actual content, the episodes very structure was just terrible. Most of it was this slow-paced flashback, completely annihilating any kind of tension or pacing in an otherwise action-filled arc. This isn’t uncommon for Yaiba, it does this with basically every villain, following the exact same structure. But this one felt particularly egregious as it added so very little to the episode. It didn’t even manage to have any of Yaiba’s trademark flashy after effects! Instead it was filled with blurry rain, poor CGI forests and just kind of dull scenery compared to everything else we’ve seen. It honestly felt like a waste of 15 minutes. And the worst part? The actual content of the flashback wasn’t very good to begin with!

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 7 [Awful Villain]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This week sees yet another twist to the combat, as well as a bit more backstory for Tokito. A good bit worth talking about this week, so lets dive in!

So, starting off with my overall impressions of the episode… It was kind of mid. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the episode, nothing that stood out. At least not in a positive way that is. Rather, I’m kind of getting tired of the constant “twists” in the conflict. Part of this is probably due to the Upper Five fight really not doing anything yet, leaving the Upper Four to stand on it’s own. But even that doesn’t seem right, as by this point the Upper Six fight with Daki and Gyutaro was still going strong. Part of this was the presentation, last season was just overall more visually engaging. But I also think it has to do with the villains themselves not being near as interesting. As squandered as Daki and Gyutaro were, they still had something going for them. These two? Not so much.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 6 [Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to what I believe to be the half-way point for this season of Kimetsu no Yaiba! You know what to expect at this point, so lets cut the chatter and just dive right into it.

The main thing I want to talk about this week is flashbacks. On their own, flashbacks are fine. Not everything can happen in the now, especially not if it’s part of a characters backstory. So they aren’t intrinsically problematic. The issue though is how Yaiba uses, which is usually mid-fight. Again, this isn’t an automatic deal breaker. Stuff like the Hinokami Kagura flashback back in season 1 was fine. But if that was the high end for Yaiba’s flashbacks, then this week was the low end. Coming between all of the action, a sort of “Life flashing before your eyes” thing, it felt really out of place. Like a complete tone shift. I’m not even talking about the details yet, just it’s placement in the episode felt… rough. Yaiba really needs a new way to exposit, or to better set these this up before hand, because this wasn’t good.

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