Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Deca-Dence – 09 [Turbo Charger]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Deca-Dence

Look, I’ll be honest here. I am biased towards Deca-Dence.

I tend to overlook its flaws and shower praise on the many many things it does right. I do it because there simply hasn’t been another anime so unabashedly rife with real world commentary and socio-political allegory… ever? Well, certainly not one in recent memory.

And even though it has had absolute belters for episodes (especially at the start), episodes which have been an absolute delight to write about, I’ll admit that I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Continue reading “Deca-Dence – 09 [Turbo Charger]” →

Deca-Dence – 06+07+08 [Radiator | Driveshaft | Turbine]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Deca-Dence

Right.

So, how’re things goin’ on this ol’ blog of ours? Last I checked, I worked here and used to write weekly reviews for seasonal anime but that was almost a whole… * flips back calendar pages * month ago.

Wow. Time sure flies by, huh?

But what can ya do? Sometimes real-life stuff takes precedence over our creative projects and of course, we anime fans are not unfamiliar to such hiatuses. * cries in Hunter x Hunter *

Anywho, getting to the agenda for today: Deca-Dence!

We have had three installments of the show since the time I last wrote about it so let’s quickly look at how our rag-tag team of tanker-gears and their alien overlords is faring these days, shall we? Continue reading “Deca-Dence – 06+07+08 [Radiator | Driveshaft | Turbine]” →

Deca-Dence – 04 [Transmission]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Deca-Dence

After being disappointed with the colossal crap-pile that was episode 4 of GoHS, I really really needed Deca-Dence to come up with the goods to keep alive any remaining hopes of the summer season not becoming a collective letdown.

And… did it?

Of course! Of course it did.

In what was the series’ most narratively straightforward episode (though I am almost certain that that’s not going to become the norm) Deca-Dence offered some sweet Gadoll-slaying action, creepy monster designs, badass fighter girls and a ridiculous amount of sakuga. Continue reading “Deca-Dence – 04 [Transmission]” →

Deca-Dence – 03 [Steering]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Deca-Dence

Another week, another clean hit at bat. Deca-Dence is fast becoming the MVP of the summer season and for good reason.  Every new episode connects multiple threads the previous one left hanging, imparts the setting with more painstakingly created detail while disregarding any expectations and doubling down on the established status quo. It does all that as it builds upon the world we know and gives us a whole lot more to ponder about till next week.

This is smart, intellectually challenging storytelling which is unconcerned with alienating mainstream viewers for the sake of the story it wants to tell and I can’t ask for more.
Continue reading “Deca-Dence – 03 [Steering]” →

Deca-Dence – 02 [Sprocket]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Deca-Dence

With the final premiere of the season airing yesterday, Anime Summer 2020 has officially kicked into second gear. And with that, I have taken up the duty to bring you weekly coverage of one of its flagbearers: Deca-Dence!

Remember how last week when this show premiered, we got an anime episode equivalent of a head-scratch? Multiple plotlines were introduced one after the other with the bare minimum of possibility for coexistence and many viewers were skeptical as to whether the writing would be able to bring it all together in the coming weeks. Well ((dramatic buildup)) ladies and gentleman, let me present to you the anime episode equivalent of a ~moustache twirl~!
Continue reading “Deca-Dence – 02 [Sprocket]” →

Tower of God Anime Review – 56/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo, Tower of God

Whatever many might say, Tower of God is not the first Korean work to get an anime adaptation. From the obscure Shin Angyo Onshi to those people barely know were originally Korean such as Freezing. Whatever the reason, be it heated diplomatic relations or just disinterest in the works, Japanese adaptations of Korean works are rare. So to see one of Korea’s largest series in Tower of God, originally created by SIU and read by millions, get one is a momentous occasion. Its success could mean the opening of the door for other Korean series, such as The Breaker. A possible breath of fresh to what sometimes feels like a stagnating industry. Its failure could mean that door stays shut for a long time to come. So the question is, is it good? Adapted by Telecom Animation and Directed by Takashi Sano, this is Tower of God. Let’s dive in.

And warning, this review will contain spoilers for Tower of God.

(Disclaimer: I am working to make 50 the new “average”. 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Carry on.) Continue reading “Tower of God Anime Review – 56/100” →

Tower of God – 13 [Tower of God]

by Lenlo, posted in Tower of God

Welcome all to the finale of Tower of God! I would say a lot happened this week, but lets be real, very little actually happened. What do I mean? Well strap in and find out!

Right off the bat, lets talk about recaps, because that was this week effectively was. A large portion of the first half, was just running us through events we had already seen. Now yes, they were from Rachel’s perspective and we did get some new scenes we will talk about later. But on the whole I don’t like it. Because Tower of God has cut a lot of content to fit 78 chapters into a single season, a lot of that content being some of my favorite. So for it to then insert a half-episode long recap with Rachel’s voice over just feels wrong to me. We already know how she felt throughout most of that, she isn’t a particularly complex character just yet. If you were going to add stuff like this, I would prefer more reactions from Khun and co. Alas, we got a recap instead.

Continue reading “Tower of God – 13 [Tower of God]” →

Tower of God – 12 [Underwater Hunt (Part Two)]

by Lenlo, posted in Tower of God

Welcome all to the penultimate episode of Tower of God! A lot of questionable decisions were made adaptation wise this week, some good, others not. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Once again we have to start with production, but not with animation this time. Rather, I want to talk about the direction and pacing of this episode, because god was it a mess. The constant cuts every minute to a different scene were jarring to say the least. I understand what they were trying to do. Tower of God wanted to portray all of theses events happening in tandem, and thats all well and good. However what works for a Webtoon across weeks/chapters won’t work for a single anime episode across 25 minutes. So while all of the cuts were in largely the same place, the pacing of the anime made it much harder to follow along. The moment I get settled into one scene, remember where we are and all that, we cut to another. I can only hope they tone it down for the finale next week.

Continue reading “Tower of God – 12 [Underwater Hunt (Part Two)]” →

Tower of God – 11 [Underwater Hunt (Part One)]

by Lenlo, posted in Tower of God

Last week I was rather harsh on Tower of God. Justifiably so I believe, but the fact is I heavily critiqued it for its adaptation. As a source reader, I still believe that it screwed up a fair number of important scenes. This week however I can happily say that Tower of God has brought it back. Both in terms of pacing, adaptation and in showing scenes that I previously believed had been cut. Yes, I could still nitpick plenty of small things. Endorsi not getting her new outfit, cutting small dialogue or changing the fights a bit. Except those are actually improvements this time. You see in the original Webtoon, this arc took up 18 long chapters, and often felt rather bloated. Some of this was simply poor pacing between scenes or long bits of dialogue. But large chunk of it is combat, which animation can naturally adapt faster.

Continue reading “Tower of God – 11 [Underwater Hunt (Part One)]” →