Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Re:Creators – 22 [Re:CREATORS] – 75/100

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Anime Reviews, Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

There was never going to be a epic fight with every creation squaring off against the overpowered and invincible Altair. That possibility died when the creators threw the copycat of Blank at her only to have that plan backfire horribly. Besides, it wouldn’t have been a satisfying conclusion to Altair’s story to have her be brought down by the remaining supporting characters given that Selecia disappeared in the blue ether beforehand. Predictably, it comes down to Altair convincing herself that the world is worth saving and the conversation between Altair and Setsuna was really well done with both voice actresses going back and forth with their arguments about placing the blame on the world that was so cruel to Setsuna. There is a parallel between those two and how Bltiz choose to switch side when confronted with the opportunity to gain back the very reason for their motivation to end the world. As well, the transformation from the PPSh-41 machine gun to an actual violin is a visual symbolism of her ultimate choice to create and not destroy. As the far as the main plot goes, Re:Creators is finished as its antagonist goes happily off into sunset with her creator into their own world of adventure and fun. It’s not the best twist ending but I’m perfectly satisfied with how the series build itself up to that point and concluded it.

After everything’s said and done, the final episode wraps up with everyone having a celebratory meal, saying their goodbyes and reflecting on past sacrifices. The creations go back to their own fictional world but Meteora, due to the untimely death of her creator, which begs the question of what happened to Magane. Curiously absent from the final episode, I would infer that she would have lost her powers just like Meteora and go on to become a regular trolling schoolgirl. It’s not quite the ending for those who wanted to see justice be served for the murder of the shopkeeper and her own creator but I think it better to see her leave quietly than having a upbeat epilogue scene for her. The ending summarizes the points of the series in that creators will keep on creating even to the point where a creation, like Meteora comes full circle and end off the series with her own work of Re:Creators.

Re:Creators marks the third series that Studio TROYCA have made with Aldnoah.Zero and Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru being the first two. While their original mecha show was a wild ride of disappointment that really needs more time to flesh out its characters and concepts and the episodic nature of its investigative show took away from the overarching narrative, I felt that they succeed in having and executing an interesting premise while having a few flaws. The biggest glaring issue I had was the uneven pacing in regards to the infrequency of actions scene and mid-series lull of dealing with Sota’s underlying guilt and laying of the foundation for the Elimination Chamber Festival. Also, as Rei Ham (Writer of Re:Creators) regretfully mentioned in an interview, Mamika exited far too early in the show as she was probably one of the best characters arc by growing out of her naive magical girl persona. Her replacement of Hikayu wasn’t all that great despite the creators having fun with her backstory and power-ups. Finally, the 3D stilted animation of the mecha hasn’t been improved over their effort of Aldnoah.Zero and just cements the reality that 3D and mechs don’t mix (Knight of Sidonia is an exception). Aside from those quibbles, I enjoyed my time with Re:Creators over the past half year and looked forward to watching it every week. It looked nice, had that sweet sweet Sawano soundtrack and always had something interesting to say about the nature of artistic creation.

7.5/10

Made in Abyss – 12[The True Nature of the Curse]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

Today’s topic is the curse of the abyss alongside much needed revenge against the creature that put Riko in a bad spot. We get a rare glimpse of the topside village where one of the orphan kids we saw previously is deathly sick on his birthday. This caught me off guard as I believe I heard Regu mention that the boys birthday was soon when he left and it hit me that the two really have only spend a few days in the abyss. Over the weeks of watching them the journey certainly felt a lot longer and that really is a great thing for a series to make me feel a disconnect with time that Riko and Regu feel. The child suffering from a fever is taken to a medical ship and just by looking at it is bound to remind people of Ghibli works. The reason for that is simple for the background artist for this series has indeed worked on Ghibli movies. The purpose of this scene is to show that the child’s sickness disappears once he leaves the island which does seem to suggest that the curse of the abyss doesn’t just affect those diving but also the town on the surface.

Nanochi goes into greater detail over how exactly it works by using a thin sheet as a representative of the curse. One her word the curse appears to be some sort of forcefield that is affected by things pushing against it. The important aspect to this is that more dangerous creatures of the abyss can use the curse to anticipate how targets move, making it seem like they can see the future. Nanochi appears to be able to see the curse and she sends out Regu to take down the orb piercer as a test for him to get a feel for it. In the test Regu manages to save a cave raider and even surprises Nanochi with his beam cannon ability. But even so the beast manages to escape before being blown apart. Our episode ends with Nanochi making a request to Regu to have him kill Mitty with his beam cannon. Quite a depressing turn for the end of the episode and really makes you think on an earlier comment by Nanochi. For earlier Nanochi started that Mitty’s blood can neutralize orb piercer poison but the question is, just how did she find that out? By anyones guess she may have attempted to kill her by injecting the poison into her, only for it to backfire. Nanochi seem reluctant to do the job the messy way so it’s likely she tried alternatives to kill Mitty. Of course not because of hate but rather to put the poor thing out of it’s misery.

That may be something RIko objects to as Mitty and her seem to have had some sort of spiritual connection. The dream which RIko had was odd as it seemed to involve some memories of her being carried in the relic when she was a baby and taking comfort in the eye of Mitty staring at her. In regards to Mitty I had a feeling that she was going to have to be gotten rid of as she is the only thing tying down Nanochi to this place and without her she can then join Regu and Riko on their quest to the bottom of the abyss. Though Mitty’s blood would make for a useful thing if it really can neutralize any poison but it certainly would be cruel to drag her down into the abyss. But she also clearly cannot survive on her own, even if her survival depends on Nanochi’s horrible cooking. That’s an aspect I wonder about as I am not certain if the transformation has killed Nanochi’s taste buds or her childhood was so messed up that she didn’t know what good food tastes like. Next week is the last episode of the series and while we are getting an hour long episode i wonder just how this series will close off. The way it’s currently looking is that Nanochi will join the group and the series will end with them journeying to the next layer which would be a rather anticlimactic conclusion.

18if – 12 [The Witch Wars]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

Let me just say, I’m all in favor for 18if having a proper closure, but I’m wholly disappointed with what happening right now. This episode is just all over the place. For instance, I’m just as glad as the next person to see all the Witches gathering back in real life to help Haruto, but even I, who covering this show week to week, have a hard time to tell apart all the Witches (why don’t they number them just to make things easier? Just a thought). Like, who is the girl in the computer? And if you count them all, there are 11 Witches, that inconsistency makes things more awesome. At that, some of the Witches have significant bigger roles than the others, which is a shame. I remember one of the group doesn’t have any speaking lines or contribute to the plot at all. Mind you, my heart isn’t made of stone so when Witch 3 pops up (The Witch of First Love), I was in great joy. The way she popped up though – through a text message and all – feels creepy and the way other Witches think that it’s funny is way creepier. 18if always has that tonal inconsistency but in this episode that tonal issues are way too lame and goofy for its own good.

And then the plot progresses too randomly. Turn out my guess about the true nature of Professor’s sister Yurina is off the mark. She’s neither Haruto nor Eve. She’s the virgin witch who guard the door for Eve (now that I think about that probably all other Witches might as well are virgins. Why? No clue. Might be like in Madoka virgins hold the most powerful energy). Yurina is revealed to be a former idol who goes to big sleep because of the pressure she received (sound familiar?). As a result, in order to overcome her challenge, Haruto and the team use Witch 9 – an idol Witch. An idol for an idol, one who command CG shooting tanks and the other uses whips, and then Haruto finishes the new Witch off by impuring her in the manner of kissing her (how that logic apply is beyond my graps). The way this episode feels all over the place is mainly because there is no set “rules” in the dream world. The only rule is “anything can happen in the dream” which is frankly the reason why nothing hold up at all. Add that with goofy characters who do stupid things and we have a clear winner for “Something so Gross 2017 edition”.

And the plot progresses too conveniently. Remember how they found Haruto in real life? By one of the Witch who “happens” to skip the searching to pay respect for her doctor who “happens” to be the mysterious guy last week who “happens” to treat a Sleeping Beauty Boy named Haruto. Yuck. This doctor even has the time to inform the condition of said patient to some strangers too. Then isn’t it a bit convenient that when one of the Witch goes back to sleep, they will enter Haruto’s world to fight off the villain? If so, why don’t all of them go? It doesn’t help at all that the animation is at its most uninspiring this episode, with the CG models feel out of place and the characters and the fight don’t look decent. One thing we should pay attention is how Haruto realizes that Eve’s door is the same door that Lily always use, so that makes Lily some part of Eve? Does Haruto need to kill her in order to kill Eve? Is she a friend or foe? This episode of 18if is loud with too much explosions, but beside its noise it doesn’t leave much impact or have any neat idea to tell. Too bad that 18if would end on this unsatisfied note.

Made in Abyss – 11[Nanachi]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

It’s been an issue I have wanted to bring up before but the previous episode recaps of this series are rather long. Today’s was the biggest offender as the first three and a half minutes was just footage from the previous episode. While these kinds of recaps are handy for those watching weekly to catch up, they do pose a problem to those marathoning the series in the future as they will likely be moving from episode to episode which each starting with an unnecessary reminder. Of course I realise that these recaps are not so much for informing the viewer of previous events but rather making it that less needs to be animated for each new episode. I doubt Made in Abyss is a cheap series to produce and those backgrounds alone must take serious effort. Regardless being the greedy sod I am I cannot help at feel disappointed that less content is present in each episode. Whether you love it or hate it, Re:Zero did right by making it that the opening and ending were often cut from the episode in favor of animating more content. (Still waiting on a second season White Fox. New Ova is giving me hope, but there better be a second season announcement.)

As the episode title suggests, this episode was all about Nanachi. Nanachi being living proof of what happens when you try to ascend the abyss from the sixth layer. She got off lucky by keeping her sanity and personality despite be turned into a rabbit like creature but her friend wasn’t so lucky. Mitty is more like the real result that would happen should a human try to ascend the abyss, a gelatinous genetic mess with little cognitive function. It’s still uncertain as to what the curse of the Abyss is but this certainly qualifies as a fate worse than death. I really like that this show really doesn’t hold back on the glorious duties of hospital treatment. Suppositories, piss soaked rags and even attaching fungi in a similar manner to leech therapy. This stuff isn’t pretty but it gets the job done and when you’re a patient, dignity stays at the door. So far I like Nanachi’s dynamic to the group as she’s the more experienced but also playful and smarmy addition to the group. She already works well with Regu’s straight laced nature and with Riko’s earnest attitude I think she could add a lot to the series. Of course it’s still a question of whether she is actually going to join the two on their quest to the bottom of the abyss but the opening and ending of the series almost makes that a certainty.

There is a small glimpse into Regu’s memories as he recalls being present at the grave marker for Riko’s mother and the words he recalls seem to suggest that Riko’s mother was the last to see Regu off when he journeyed to the surface. I sincerely doubt that RIko’s mother is alive at this point and even if she is alive i would say she’s likely no longer human. In fact I was willing to bet on Nanachi being the transformed form of her mother but considering her reactions to the whistle and her connection to the other white whistle that is looking to be unlikely. We are nearing the end of this series and while the last episode is an hour long feature I have to wonder on just what note Made in Abyss will end on.

Fate/Apocrypha – 12[The Holy Man Returns Triumphant]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Apocrypha

If Fate/Apocrypha can keep up this level of quality till the end, I may just change my overall opinion on it. I don’t think it would match the works of Fate/Zero or Unlimited Blade Works but it could beat out the 2006 Fate/Stay Night, Prisma Illya and Fate/Grand Order. It’s a decently respectable position in that regard. But of course this is mainly because the following series of episodes have been one extended action sequence and it will be a wonder as to how the show will move forward after this. So against the wishes of Vlad, Darnic forces him to use his Noble Phantasm, Legend of Dracula. Thereby turning Vlad into a bloodsucking vampire with all the benefits and negatives that come with the change. I can’t say I am fond of the forms design as I think the ears are too big and make him look silly. He gets a fairly massive power boost and has the ability to turn those whom he sucks blood from into his vampiric underlings. An ability quite dangerous for achilles in particular as his special in invulnerability would not stop him from being turned into a vampire.

Seeing the threat that Dracula poses to not only them but the entire world, everyone agrees to take him down together. Much like the bees in Fate/Zero, just having one vampire make it out of the garden could end up creating a apocalypse so it makes sense that heroes would put the protection of the world above the Holy Grail War. A part which always confused me a bit in the novel was Dranic somehow using a command seal to take over his servant. Command seals can indeed grant special boosts, hence why Ruler ordered everyone with a command seal despite everyone agreeing to fight Dracula. However I find the particulars of this command rather questionable in regards to the rules. Command spells can’t necessarily do the impossible and this command is similar enough to Rin’s command in the fifth holy grail war for Archer to have absolute obedience. When the command is rather vague it generally weakens its effects so I find this questionable. Though to preface it I believe Darnic has kept his young appearance by taking over other bodies so he may be using his own magecraft to take over Vlads.

I at least understand why Darnic did this despite it seeming a desperate and risky gamble for when you look at it, the Black faction where practically finished. Berserker and Saber are dead, Rider is injured, Assassin is rogue and the only servants left are a relatively weak caster, Archer and Lancer. Vlad was well on his way to being defeated after losing his territory bonus and there is no way the other two could beat the five servants on board the Gardens of Babylon along with the Saber on the ground. So this desperate move makes sense but it sadly it backfired on him. All the servants turned against him and he was killed by Shirou Kotomine, now officially revealed to be Amakusa Shirou Tokisada who was the Ruler servant from the third Holy Grail War. I swear, the more I hear about the third Holy Grail War, the more I want to see it. Sounds like one hell of a party. You likely don’t know who he is and the simple answer to that is that he is a Japanese Catholic claimed to have holy powers who lead a rebellion against the Shogunate in 1638.

Considering this Dracula was up against a catholic servant trained by an organisation packing black Keys made for the specific purpose of hunting down Dead Apostles.(Aka, Magically made Vampires) This is why in the Nasuverse matchups are decided not by those with the greatest stats but rather the one with the best compatibility. You can have the best servant in the world and still be outmatched by someone with the right abilities. Hence why you can argue till the end of the earth about who would win in a fight with Nasuverse characters. This fight went a bit differently in the novel as their Shirou smashed Dracula’s head into a wall while performing an exorcism but I think this restrained manner was more suitable. Next episode will be a recap episode so there will not be a post but with the Black Faction well on their way to defeat just how will the story go?

18if – 11 [The Thorn Cross Association]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

Hum, never know that Eve is a ginger and has wings like an angel and wears that cool dress. Find a unique prom dress for 2024 too at Peaches Boutique.

Finally, 18if provides an overarching double length plot to wrap everything up. We have an episode that splits half of the time as a recap of what previously happened in their first ten episodes (which run a bit too long for my taste) and another half serves as the Matrix-inspired progression where they attempt to twist everything by saying that the dream world is real and the real world is all Eve’s dream (I hear someone whispers “a lie about a lie. It turns inside-out on itself” snap) and we do learn a bit more about Haruto’s role in all this. As a whole, I’m in favor with this new direction for a conclusive ending since the previous Witch of the Week format had been too inconsistent for its own good and only occasionally added up to the big picture. However, I am somewhat mixed at the actual presentation. I can get behind the admittedly pretentious theory from the cult leader. It’s silly but it doesn’t feel out of place with what 18if established so far. Introducing new characters this late of a game, in contrast, doesn’t sit right with me; especially the guy who is voiced by my favorite voice actor Hiroshi Kamiya where I don’t see any real role for him.

Basically, what the cult leader and Lily explain is the same story told by two contrasted perspectives. What they have the same in their story is the awaken of Eve (yes, our Adam and Eve). She is the Mother Goodness of Sleeping Beauty, fall hopelessly into sleep after eating the Fruit of Knowledge. She dreams of this world, the world we live in now, as a place where human receive punishment for their sins, blah blah all the things that basically written in the Bible. Those 10 Witches served as maidens/linchpins (again, depend on whose perspective) to guard the Sleeping Eve and now all of them have awaken by a certain someone. On one hand, the Thorn Cross Association believes that the Sleeping Beauties are the ones who “waking up” from this dream world, so it’s extremely worrisome for them now that all the Witches have been returned to this cursed world. They found Haruto guilty and thus, try to kill him and wake up Eve. Lily, on the other hand, reveals to Haruto that she’s the one responsible for not waking him up, so that now he would go on to kill Eve to save the world from destruction. (Of course, all roads lead to Rome. Every plot points in Anime has to lead to the “saving the world from destruction” scenario so we know they’re SERIOUS.)

We have a first glimpse at Yurina’s appearance (The Professor’s sister) and at this point I can assume she’s either Haruto or Eve. It makes more sense if she’s Haruto since I discussed in detail last week (and she has the same hair color as Haruto). It’s nice to see all the former Witches again, even only with the slideshow (although I swear I can’t take those flashbacks seriously with Haruto having a boner) and in the end they appear to form group in order to save Haruto. It’s a shame only 9 of them are able to make it back to the real world (the Witch of First Love in episode 3 passed away) but I am very excited to see all the girls in real life interacting with each other and I do wonder how 18if manages to put all of those different character designs altogether in one setting. I have to note that towards the end, 18if uses new scores – the first one is very impressive with its moody classical tone, the second one though… sounds exactly like Hand Shakers score for some reasons which leave a sour taste to the mouth. With only one episode left, and with the Final Boss finally in sight, I wholly expect a massive fight between Eve and all the former Witches + our team (the title is named “The Witch Wars” after all). Let’s hope 18if can pull off a satisfying ending.

Fate/Apocrypha – 11[Eternal Radiance]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Apocrypha

We have a hat-trick as Apocrypha pulls out it’s third good episode but admittedly the reason for that is because we are still in the middle of a pretty massive action scene. Perhaps this is why earlier fights were so lacking as they needed to save the effort for an action set piece as big as this. Animation has most certainly improved as the fights are more dynamic than ever. But for the love of god can someone fire the sound director. I watched this episode with headphones and while the music is great, the sound effects are an abomination. I don’t know why but fight scenes are bombarded with reverb, compressed sound effects and far too loud explosions. These are servant battles so it’s natural that the clashes would be loud but here whenever a fight starts up it’s just a constant barrage of unpleasant noise. It’s just never lets up as when explosions stop you have uncomfortable reverb in between the sword clangs and thuds. It really goes to show how one small element can really ruin a scene.

This episode we had fight after fight after fight but I will admit to being disappointing when the Karna and Vlad fight was interrupted over some silly reason that Karna was ordered to retreat. I thought this was rather idiotic as literally a few minutes later Karna and Vlad resume the fight in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. However upon seeing what was happening to Vlad I have to admit that it was a very smart move. Out of the black faction it is clear that Vlad is their strongest servant and that is mainly due to the stat boost he gets because Romania is his home ground. The Hanging Gardens however are not Romania so that means that within them Vlad’s power decreases immensely. By attempting to abduct the grail they gave reason for the black servants to infiltrate the Hanging Gardens and now their strongest servant has been put at a disadvantage. We also have another berserker taken out of the lineup as Spartacus explodes in a beam of energy after taking too much damage. Seeing Joan use her Noble Phantasm put a big smile on my face as I have been playing Grand Order quite a bit and during the hundred years war chapter I used that Noble Phantasm more than once.

The episode ends with Darnic about to force Vlad to use a Noble Phantasm that he despised with all his heart. I really dislike that A-1 decided to cover this information now with a flashback instead of bringing it up near the beginning of the series like it was supposed to be. Having it be mentioned mere seconds before it’s relevant just makes it feel like lazy writing. The episode keeps quiet about what exactly it is however with the clues in this episode I think people could figure it out considering the context given here. If not, let me ask you this. What fictional figure is constantly associated with Vlad the Impaler? Yes, you likely caught on now and honestly I think this is genius. Vlad Tepes joined the holy grail war in order to use his wish to erase the story of Dracula from existence. Marvelous, I adore that motivation because of course Vlad would be furious that his legacy is forever intwined with a bloodsucking monster. Even if his methods were questionable, he still defended his country from foreign invasion. He was a hero to his countrymen. Yet in the modern day people only tend to know his name because Dracula was based on him. Thus because of that association he has even gained a Noble Phantasm directly linked to Dracula. It really is a pity that Fran died as we could have very well have a Dracula vs Frankenstein’s monster matchup. Well regardless of reasoning I doubt Vlad will be very happy with being pushed to use that Noble Phantasm.

Made in Abyss – 10[Poison and the Curse]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

I was well on my way to saying that Made in Abyss may have dark elements but is isn’t an inherently dark show. Then this episode came along and hit like a jackhammer. For as cheery as the episode started, it most certainly took a dark turn. The darkest turn this series has taken to date. Riko and Regu encounter a porcupine like creature that seems above what they can handle and Riko is injured and poisoned by the creature. Regu manages to escape barely by ascending to another platform which of course means that Riko is hit with the Abysses curse. At first it looks like the curse actually worked in her favor as the bleeding looks to push the poison out of her system. That is of course until she starts bleeding from her eyes and ears and basically everywhere. The abysses curse has never been pretty but this is it at it’s most gruesome as seeing Regu panicking as Riko slowly bleeds out is an unnerving sight.

So with Riko gravely injured and poisoned, it’s up to Regu to do whatever he can to save her life. With happens to be some extreme measures as Riko instructs him to perform a makeshift amputation to remove her poisoned arm. What follows may be the hardest anime episode of the season to watch as Regu desperately attempts to cut off Riko’s arm while keeping his emotions in check. I winced as I saw Regu pick up the rock in order to break her arm in order to make it easier to cut and when it came to the cutting itself…christ…how did we get from whimsical adventure to this? Despite it being well over half the series we finally see the rabbit girl featured in the opening and ending.

I expected her to be more of a comedic addition to the group but from the looks of things she’s likely going to act as the experience mentor to the two. She already knows quite a good bit more about the abyss than they do and seems to be experienced in medical treatment. With this we can say the kid gloves are off. Riko almost died and these abyss creatures are not playing around. There are no Hazu’s, no Ozen’s, no Dorm leaders and even their books aren’t going to help them now. Funtime is over and the real game starts now. Though speaking of which, Made in Abyss could make for a fantastic game if handled correctly.

18if – 10 [Dream Dimension α]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

I can understand a lot of viewers will get turn off by this episode, but allow me to say that the low frame rates and the off-model characters are all intentional and I can argue that despite its low-budget looking and jerky movements, this episode has very strong production values and inventive visual aesthetic. The person who direct this lovely episode, not surprisingly was Koji Morimoto; who directed episode 2 of 18if as well. I don’t think you can tell the two episodes were handled by the same person, since the visuals and the overall tones are vastly different, but one thing these two episodes shared lies in its total creative control. In fact, leering to the differences in styles between episode 2 and episode 10 make me more appreciate the broad range skills Koij Morimoto has. This is one of the best episode, along with episode 7, in terms how18if can use its dream premise to produce something audio-visually compelling.

Now, I want to dissect about this episode’s infamous artistic choices. You can see the character movements animate at the pace of the snail, and sometimes even the lines coming from the characters’ mouth seems off. The character designs, likewise, especially with Haruto and the Professor, are totally off – the ugliest designs we have encountered so far. Worst, the story doesn’t make much sense because everything is vague just like you experience a bad dream. But despite all of that, all those choices have its purposes. Low frame-per-second rate and off-model designs allow the movements, and the characters’ expressions, respectively, to be much more expressive than stricter, more traditional style. It’s important because this episode goes for expressionist style, most notably with its gorgeous background arts that stand impressively on its own (normally a bad sign but it’s precisely what expressionist art is about. If you look closely, those backgrounds arts are Hanako’s pictures hang in her room) and the top-notch musical score that not only strengthen the moody, dreamy atmosphere but also the way it handles the different types of music: a classical musical performance, tap-along-the-dancefloor beat and the rock guitar riff solo – all of them are magnificent. The background arts are seriously visually stunning, look at one of the screenshots above for the visual symmetry and I admit that I took like 40 screenshots for this episode alone. I will take a deeper look on those background arts later time to see if I can draw anything related to Hanako’s psychology or not.

Episode 10 also takes full advantage of its dream world, in terms of it follows its own brand of logic; doing whatever they feel like: swimming like a shark, flying like a bird, taking photoshoot in cute weird animal costume, having a sword fight, smoking and dancing. All these activities that Hanako wanted to try in real life but couldn’t. This week is one of the long time since the main cast is back as the main focus, which I’m glad to see; and I enjoy the interactions between them, especially now that the Professor can be able to see and talk to Lily, for some reasons yet explained. I also enjoy the company of the Witch this week – Hanako (or Jane Doe in English name – the most common name significant everyday man theme). Apparently, she still making blogs in the real world (and eat yummy strawberry while blogging), which further indicates that the dream world can have some connections and can have an influence on the real world (something that addressed explicitly in episode 2). Finally, it’s now more or less confirmed that Haruto experiencing Sleeping Beauty as well (hah!), and my guess is that the Professor needs all the previous Witches power to bring him back to life, and might as well to his sleeping sister. Wait, isn’t it make more sense that Haruto IS the Professor’s younger sleeping sister in real life? That would explain why the Professor give that much attention to Haruto and only him is the real-life connection to Haruto as of now. Only 2 episodes left, I believe it’s time we get to the gist of who or what Haruto really is.

Fate/Apocrypha – 10 [Scattered Flower]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Apocrypha

This was an action focused episode as Mordred takes on pretty much everyone. It is rather nice to see a Saber than actually lives up to the claim of Sabers are the best class. Upon examining the main Fate series poster girls record as a servant I find her to be disappointing due to her low win record and a Noble Phantasm that just is too risky to make use of. Though she isn’t overpowering as it makes sense as to why she can put up a good fight in this scenario. Her opponents in the beginning are Astolfo who is weak from taking on the hanging Gardens and Fran who is just a bad matchup to begin with. In Fate combat the combat is usually a matter of suitability as what may be an unbeatable foe for one servant is a easy win for another. Berserker is sort of a wild card of the system as while you get an advantage by boosting their parameters with madness enchantment there is a disadvantage in that you cannot control them. All you can really do is set them on an enemy and hope they can overpower them with mindless attacks. So against an enemy that cannot be overpowered and can fight tactically, a Berserker is dead on arrival.

Thus it isn’t a surprise that Fran couldn’t defeat Mordred but she certainly went out with style putting everything into taking her down. Backed up by a master properly using their command seals for once. Those things are more than a single use unbreakable order, with them you can give your servant a significant power boost when the need calls for it. Be it to power up an attack or boost your servants defense. I have to say I adored the scene of Berserker powering up her noble Phantasm, this show nailed that scene perfectly. Mordred did indeed almost die and if it wasn’t for Sisgou using a command spell she would have clocked out then and there. Sadly the second drop out of this holy Grail war is Fran. As for Rider, he’s at a disadvantage already seeing as he doesn’t have his mount. Thus enters Sieg with the powers of main character plot Armour to turn into Siegfried and put up a fight with Mordred. It’s a pity the kid couldn’t stay dead when Mordred stabbed him but on the other hand it’s nice to see Siegfried in more fights, even if he’s a possess homunculus or whatever nonsense they used to justify this. Well to be fair there is some logic behind it as this isn’t the first time a body transplant from a servant managed to grant someone power in the Fate mythos. However there are certain circumstances needs for that to be remotely feasible, ones that i am sure are getting hand waved away with the Homunculus argument.

We have pretty much reached the point foretold in the opening scene of the first episode with the exception of Joan of Arc fighting what is most likely Spartacus. Fight scenes went down rather well this episode and this makes it the second time this show has managed to pull off another genuinely good episode. That might be because we are getting what we signed up for, a battle to death between heroes of legend. Though I dislike that we had a recap on Siegfried’s past when it was already covered. We have plenty of underdeveloped servants and masters in the roster that could due with some fleshing out so devoting time to go over what we already know is a rather wasteful decision. One last thing I would like to note is that this series soundtrack remains fantastic. It was scored by a Masaru Yokoyama which is a name I need to look out for in the future as he did the music for Scums wish and Gundam Orphans. This man has some real talent. It is such a pity it’s covered up by the rather lacking sound effects, which sometimes can work but other times be far too overbearing, repeated and loud.