A couple notes before we get started: I’ve only read the first volume of the Dorohedoro manga, which was covered by the anime’s first two episodes. As such, I won’t be making comparisons between the two versions, so if that’s what you’re looking for specifically, you’ll have to search elsewhere. If you’re a manga reader, the plus side of my TV-only viewership is that you can read someone’s unspoiled thoughts on the series’ nutty developments. Plus, this being an anime review, I can talk about color, animation, music, and voicework – though that sort of discussion might have to be tabled for the first couple posts while I try to wrap my brain around the show’s unique logic.
Also, I’m watching with [anon]’s subs, which read more smoothly to me than either of the currently available alternatives. Just in case anyone was wondering which version to download, there’s my two cents.
Hope springs eternal, and Amun is here with another show that he’s incredibly hyped about (and a little wary of). It’s my turn this week, so how does the second episode stack up to an excellent premiere? Let’s find out! Continue reading “Kyokou Suiri – 02 [Guardian’s Serpent Heard]”→
Welcome to Jeweler Richard, one of the two shows that Amun and me are going to take turn to blog each week. For me, I find it interesting to see the varied opinions between me and him on the same shows. This episode, in particular, divides us. Amun hates it but I find it decent – not on par with the premiere, but still very decent. Granted, I can see some issues this week, most notably the case that has little to do with Richard’s appraisal skills. The jewelry in question this week is the pigeon-blood ruby, known for its namesake color. Mami the client wants to know whether or not the ruby had been heated, but it’s increasingly clear that there’s something else that she wants. In terms of the progression regarding that ruby case, it is all over the place at best. Suddenly out of nowhere, her fiancee appears to info-dump about Mami’s backstory – and the thing was he’a never that important a role to begin with. She uses a fake name whose we soon find out is the name of her past’s flame. On the positive notes, Jeweler Richard the show has this fascinating view about women’s lives – Seigi’s grandma last week and Mami this week show how these women struggling with the roles they were expected to perform and their real desires. For that I’m willing to look aside all its shaky elements for now.
With the end of the decade is drawing near, it’s time for me to revisit one of my favorite franchises of this last decade – and my all times as well – Monogatari series. Monogatari series is one rare show that despite its extreme visual style and convoluted storytelling, it still draws a delicate fan-following and becomes one of the most popular and enduring franchises the last ten years have to offer. With an “Off-season” is around the corner (of which there is no official announcement for anime adaptation as of yet but hey, do you seriously think that Shaft will get pass this golden egg? – and of which I’m mixed about: it’s time to move on), the 10-year era from 2009-2019 follows the completion of Monogatari’s main arc, spawning 15 plus mini-arcs and an entire cast larger than a football field. Monogatari has its ups and downs for sure, and we will get to that in this ranking of all the Monogatari arcs, from worst to best.
Of course, as per any ranked list, there’s some rules that needed to mention here. Some arcs that consists of several mini stories – will be included as one (like the Sodaichi arc). This gets tricky, though, when you scroll back to the Bakemonogatari season, which contains 5 mini-arcs of the same theme, and the Japanese novels and English publishions differ in the way they arranging (split into 2 in the former and into 3 in the latter). I will go with NisiOisin’s original intention – 2 small arcs. ONA’s Koyomi Vamp and trilogy-movie Kizu are included as well, that make it a total of 18 arcs. Without further ado, let’s chase them down:
THE SKIPPABLES
18. Koyomimonogatari
[Koyomi Stone -> Koyomi Dead] / 12 short episodes
If there is one bad tendency of Monogatari series (it has quite a few, which I will run them down later), it’s that the series is too fond of its characters, to the point it doesn’t mind just spending time with them, even without any context whatsoever. This is essentially the existence of Koyomimonogatari, which contains 12 stories about Koyomi encountering with each girl over the course of 12 months. Except from the final chapter which is relevant to the main story (thus the only one you’ll need to watch), the rest is filler. To make it worse, the girls often shine because they have a personal arc. In this case, they just tab on their dominant traits and their usual banters with Koyomi and this results in them being one-dimensional. “This novel was written on a 100% out of whim.”, said NisiOisin, and that pretty much sums up this mobile-app adaptation, although he pretty much says this to all of his novels so take this with a grain of salt.
17. Tsukimonogatri
[Yotsugi Doll] / 4 episodes
Tsuki suffers from carrying the weight of the main arc and functions less as an independent chapter. The arc raises an interesting question about Araragi’s vampirinism, but proceed to do very little with that. The fact that it features Yotsugi as main character, whom is my least favorite girl (she’s grown on me since but she’s still the least favorite) doesn’t really help either. In addition, there is an extended bath scene between Araragi and Tsukihi which functions more as a reply to the infamous Toothbrush scene and one I consider my least favorite sequence of an entire franchise (another bad tendency of Monogatari series: fan-service is dealt up to 11 – sometimes I can get pass it, most of the time I just scratch my head). It’s also a curse for Tsukimonogatari to release right after a string of many great Monogatari arcs, so it’s unavoidable that this chapter feels like a massive letdown.
I can’t help but feel disappointed when the epilogue of Lord El-M skips the entirety of the epic use of Rhongomyniad, and Hecatic Wheel smashing into each other. It doesn’t make for an exciting climax when the antagonist just simply teleports away before those two noble phantasm meet each other in a violent explosion. I understand that the show is simply following the source material and that wiping out the main baddie this early on in the game would be narratively unsatisfactory. It still sucks that after all the effort put into assembling the cast to help out Waver, Kabetro ends up dying and there is no payoff to show.
As I have speculated in the past couple of weeks, the culprit behind all the crime is Dr. Heartless. What did surprise me was him being a Caules impostor the entire time he was on the train. Lord El-Melloi II isn’t a show about the audience solves the mystery for themselves but there was still a lot of missing context especially when the reason that Waver knew from the beginning was that such medical treatment would not be possible from the real Caules. It was nice of the staff to tie in the original content of the first six episodes where Dr. Heartless was financing all the weird experiment into the leylines around England even if was a little janky in execution. I get the how and the who behind the creation of a fake Holy Grail and the summoning of a fake Heroic spirit but I don’t know why Dr. Heartless would go through all that effort to obtain Faker. Maybe he needs her for protection in his future schemes but that remains a mystery for now as noble phantasms are getting casted left, right and center.
Contrary to last episode’s ending scene of Gray and Hephaestion charging into each other, it winds up being something very reminiscent of the that entire banquet of kings episode from Fate/zero. Although fewer in participants, less epic and far shorter than its predecessor, it’s filled with substantial dialogue between these two warriors about their own nature and desire. Gray, raised to having the body of King Arthur, doesn’t have any desires of her own like saving her people or world domination. Being the protector of Waver seems to be the only thing going for her with a hint or two of developing romantic feelings for him. On the other hand, Hephaestion resents Iskander for never letting go of his dream to see Okeanus which wasn’t achievable. In the end, it’s about the possibility of Grey having a part of King Arthur channeling through her, coming to understand what makes Hephaestion tick and the reveal of her mystic eyes. For the lack of action this episode, having a Mystic Code for a Divine Construct like the Rhongomyniad be reduced down to a snowboard for Gray to escape the forest more than makes it up. Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 10-11”→
Until the end of the season, Lord El-Melloi II will be adapting its fourth and fifth volume of Rail Zeppelin storyline. I can see why the director went with an anime original content for the first half as the first three volume would have worked better as movies rather than weekly episodes. It’s all builds up to a magical train where are Mystic Eyes up for auction, murders and Gray not backing down from a servant fight.
It turns out that next week will be the beginning of the adaption of the source material of volume four and five and this episode marks the end of original anime content. I rather like this episode as it breaks away from Waver solving cases and has a fun little shopping adventure with the three main female characters of Grey, Reines and Luvia, The classroom lesson about wealth coming from the underground and Grey’s curiosity about Waver’s past is just a thin cover for Studio Troyca to play dress up. I don’t mind the fun cutety stuff but it turns into a literal slideshow and I would like to see to see a little animation in those scenes. Thankfully, the story goes back to the main points of Waver’s past and a bounded field going up.
As the first multi-episode mystery, Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo does all right in setting up its case while having all sorts of Fate crossover from every series in its main timeline. From Fate/zero to Fate/hollow ataraxia, there is plenty of connections to make if you are an avid follower of Fate with the discussion of the two mages that the clock tower is sending over to fifth Holy Grail War and Kairi Shishigou becoming involved in the case. If you liked Sisigou in Fate/Apocrypha, then he’s pretty much the same person you know and love in this iteration, albeit without Mordred. Other characters like Reines shows why she is the equal counterbalance in the partnership between her and Waver. In her first case, she is shown to be witty and playful by enticing Waver to come into her bed for the sake of advancing her magus bloodline while heaping insults on his third-rate magical circuits. It’s not just her personality that she brings to the table as the mystic eyes that she processes is a necessary part in how the case moves forward. Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 04-05”→
