Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Eighty Six S2 – 6 [I Won’t Forget]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Eighty Six! This week we follow up on Lena, see her organize the defense of San Magnolia and have an all around good time! Or at least that’s what I would like to say. Instead we see even less of her this week. What happened in place of that? Lets dive in and talk about that.

First up though I need to give Eighty Six credit for this, the storyboarding is back baby. There were some really, really nice shots this week. Not much in the way of interesting cuts like we got last season sadly. But almost the entirety of Shin’s meeting with the general was just… really evocative. The way the sound cut out, the General’s dialogue fading away as Shin read between the lines and heard what they always did: Eighty Six. Expendable. The squad poofing away into the scrap metal with their names, clattering behind down behind him. This scene was probably the most engaged I’ve been with Eighty Six this entire season. This is the good shit! Now I just need Eighty Six to keep giving us this and less of the loli.

Continue reading “Eighty Six S2 – 6 [I Won’t Forget]” →

Ousama Ranking – 04 [First Trip]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Ousama Ranking

Alright, this week’s goal is to generate ZERO controversy with my post.  Just a nice, simple post saying how great this episode was, how I love the show, and how everything is hunky dory….well, that was the plan anyways.  Unfortunately, this week had some issues.  Looks like controversy’s back on the menu!

Continue reading “Ousama Ranking – 04 [First Trip]” →

Eighty Six S2 – 5 [Even So]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Eighty Six! Apologies for the delay with this, I’ve been busy this Halloween and only got around to watching the episode. I hope you all had as much fun over the weekend as I did. So without further ado, lets dive into it!

First up how about some praise for Eighty Six? I haven’t given it much recently, and I certainly wont after this, but credit where its due: The robots look good, Eighty Six has seriously stepped up their mech game. As far as standard anime CGI goes I think these are some of the better mechs I’ve seen in a good while. Their movements were surprisingly fluid as they ran and bounced around the city in those extended shots and the compositing was, by and large, pretty good. I never felt taken out of the scene by a 3D mech standing on a 2D background nor by MS Paint fire and smoke effects. And on top of all of that Eighty Six still managed to work in some evocative shots and edits, such as glass flying by Shin’s face or his charge. So yeah, good job.

Continue reading “Eighty Six S2 – 5 [Even So]” →

Eighty Six S2 – 4 [Welcome Back]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Hello everyone and welcome to what is perhaps the dullest episode of Eighty Six yet! Think I’m exaggerating? Then you clearly haven’t watched the episode before reading this. And if you have but still disagree? Give me until the end of this post to prove it to you. So without further ado lets dive in!

Obviously the place we have to start is with Frederica. I know that this is becoming a weekly segment at this point but I have to get this out somewhere: She is the worst part of Eighty Six. From the blatant and pointless sexualization to taking over the conversations between the 86ers and making them about herself, she’s bringing down everything that made Eighty Six good. What’s worse though is that she also isn’t bringing anything new to the table to make up for what she’s ruining. A 10 year old waxing philosophical in her little “moe” voice about life and death, am I supposed to not laugh?! How am I supposed to take this whole knight and fallen kingdom plot seriously when it’s being delivered by fucking Moe Moe Kyun? And actually now that I mention it lets talk about this “Knight” plot because it’s incredibly lazy.

Continue reading “Eighty Six S2 – 4 [Welcome Back]” →

Ousama Ranking – 02 [The Prince and Shadow]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Ousama Ranking

Hello and welcome to my ramblings on this season’s prospective dark horse – Ousama Ranking.  Truth be told, I was looking at other shows to review before seeing the premiere of Ousama Ranking (which ended up being one of the last shows to start its run).  So far, I’m happy with my choice, but some storm clouds are on the horizon for our tiny king’s adventure.  Let’s take a look!

Continue reading “Ousama Ranking – 02 [The Prince and Shadow]” →

Eighty Six S2 – 3 [Glad to Be Here]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Hello everyone and welcome back to Eighty Six! I’ve been a bit positive lately, what with my coverage of Haibane Renmei and gushing over some recent productions. So it’s time to go back to being a bit of a curmudgeon and take shots at someone’s labor of love! Lets dive in.

Now I framed it humorously in the intro but I am legitimately disappointed in Eighty Six this week. From both a production and narrative perspective this episode feels like a step down. And you know what’s so surprising about it? This episode was both Directed and Storyboarded by Satsuki Takahashi, who did episodes 5 and 10 back in the first season. Those were good episodes with incredibly striking imagery! From Shin’s shot in the mirror in episode 5 to the scenic shots of episode 10, I praised them a lot! So it’s really disappointing to see him return this week and not get more of the same beauty. I can only assume the reason is the subject material he had to work with. Those two episodes were much stronger narratively and seemingly more focused in their goal. Meanwhile this episode felt… predictable. More so than Eighty Six usually is.

(Though I will say the CGI looked much better)

Continue reading “Eighty Six S2 – 3 [Glad to Be Here]” →

86 – Eighty Six S2 – 2 [Its Too Late]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Welcome back everyone to another season of Eighty Six! If you’re reading this post you already know what you’re getting into so lets skip the preamble and jump right into it!

Right off the bat I want to, again, praise Director Toshimasa Ishii for Eighty Six’s visuals. The animation and compositing aren’t the best, Heike takes the cake in raw production values probably. But Eighty Six is making a fair go at the title for “Best Shot”. I just really love how it frames and cuts between scenes, imbuing meaning in even the smallest gestures. One of my favorites for the episode for example had to be around 7 minutes in. After being introduced to the now calm and peaceful daily lives of the 86’ers, something novel for them, we then get a short sequence of back shots. Fading between each of them as these days drag on into monotony, the music steady and unchanging but purposefully dull, without bite. It conveys what they are feeling really well! Now if only Eighty Six didn’t feel the need to verbalize it to.

Continue reading “86 – Eighty Six S2 – 2 [Its Too Late]” →

Sonny Boy Anime Review – 38/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo, Sonny Boy

Let’s start this by just ripping the band aid off: Sonny Boy is a disappointment. Both created and directed by the acclaimed Shingo Natsume of Space Dandy fame and animated by Studio Madhouse, Sonny Boy was well equipped to become the darling of the Summer Season. And early on its run, it appeared to be just that! Intriguing plots and characters were introduced, the world began to expand, it was engaging! But then it kept expanding. Questions kept being asked and no answers were given. Time and space became figments of our imagination and Sonny Boy itself seemed to forget that it was supposed to be telling a story. The whole thing quickly transformed from “Abstract exploration of growing up” to “Meandering arthouse with no idea what it wants to say”. At least, that’s my take on it. The purpose of this review is to explain how I got there.

So lets jump in.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Sonny Boy. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents.
Continue reading “Sonny Boy Anime Review – 38/100” →

Sonny Boy – 10/11 [Summer and the Demon/11]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Sonny Boy

Welcome back everyone to another week of me missing my deadline and merging two Sonny Boy posts together! I have no excuse this week I’m afraid. Sonny Boy has simply fallen apart and I had no desire to write. However I refuse to go two weeks without doing anything so here we are. Now how about we jump into it!

This week I came to a conclusion about Sonny Boy: It’s not good. It’s not that the show has fallen off though. That would imply that it had built something up from which it could fall off of. I watched Sonny Boy with the hope that it would all come together! That all of the disparate plot threads such as Rajhidani going out to sea, Hoshi leading the other students away or Asakaze and co effectively joining the military, would all connect back into a singular statement about how we raise the next generation and the choices that lay before them. Instead what we got was Natsume rambling philosophical for 11 episodes. He clearly has something he wants to say, a lot of somethings. Yet he has no idea how he wants to say them and no one was around to tell him no.

Continue reading “Sonny Boy – 10/11 [Summer and the Demon/11]” →