Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Classroom of the Elite – 05 [Hell is other People]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

We have a slightly better Youkoso this week, although I have a feeling that they drag this case for far too long. Throughout this episode, we have two new developments: Sakura begins to trust Ayanokouji and as a result agrees to be a witness, even at a cost to expose herself (quite literally); and the courtroom happens later on in which no compromise being reached (11 ANGRY MEN). Though, to be fair, how Ayanokouji and Horikita eventually find a way to prove Sudo’s innocence could be interesting. With no concrete evidence regarding who began the fight; I guess the angle they could delve on is making the Class-C spill the beans about the set-ups. Just make sure don’t pull any out-of-nowhere evidence because it’s just a cheap, cop-out way to resolve the conflicts. And to think that Class-C pulled this dirty scheme to sweep all the points from Class-D, but they might face an expulsion (or even class-regelation, I prefer that) instead if the truth ever comes out. Overall, this is a stronger week for Youkoso, and I hope they stick with the tactical how-will-Class-D-gain-points-and-move-rank plot because it’s the only thing that makes Youkoso remotely interesting now.

I said that because as of now the characters in the show are pretty much unconvincing. Ayanokouji still holds his ground so far but the girls Horikita and Kushida don’t fare very well. I mean, after Ayanokouji (and us) see another dark personality from Kushida, it remains quite baffling for me as to why she still keeps that mask even when she’s alone with him. If the evil, angry Kushida is supposed to be her real personality, I can stand it; but if it’s there as a split-personality from her, then it’s just poor execution. The new girl Sakura, likewise, has a weak entrance this week as she never makes clear what she wanna do, or say. It leaves up to the audience on the rather “unsettling” sequence of her trying to repair her camera in a store as to whether the clerk is a real creepy guy or it’s just all in her head as she suffers from social anxiety. I’m leaning on the latter (but the store camera IS ON, damnit) as I believe it’s an effective way to know more about her through her lens. Apparently, she comes to trust Ayanokouji for his dead-eyes (“your eyes weren’t scary” huh?), but his advice is really on point. She does that not for the sake of others, but for her sake because she won’t feel guity for not helping Sudo out anymore. On a grander scale, it might as well be Yousoko’s own philosophy: everyone need to work together for the sake of the class as awhole, but ultimately, it’s for their own sakes that they help out each other – and there is nothing wrong with that.

The latter half when the courtroom happens is much more exciting. Class-C claims that Sudo asked them out so they need another guy – an experienced fighter – as a bodyguard, but then they contradict themselves with the statement that they tried best to avoid the fight hence all of them were heavily injured. When Sakura comes in and proves that she was in the scene when the fight broke out, class-C tries to make a compromise. Which sounds like a great deal, except it’s not. The bottom line is that Sudo is framed for the conflict, and Horikita and Ayanokouji will find a way to prove him not guilty. The hip-grabbing moment is quite hilarious as it snaps Horikita out of her brother-complex mood (seriously? Why do anime girls have to be so reliant to the male character who treats them like shit? Worst image of feminism ever). The President takes this as a good opportunity to see the real potential of Ayanokouji, although the guy himself remarks that he has no plan whatsoever. And DODGE. How can they prove it? Will Youkoso get better from now on? Does Sakura have more lewd selfies in her gallery? As Ayanokouji remarks at the end: “That’s a good question.”

Classroom of the Elite – 04 [We Should Not be Upset that Others Hide the Truth from Us, When We Hide it from Ourselves.]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

Haizz, Youkoso. My feeling about this show could be summed up by its very first few seconds. Youkoso opens with a thought-provoking, philosophical quote, and they follow straight up with a boob shot. Kinda defeat the purpose; unless what they want from us is to look underneath the clothes surface. Oh well, I give in. After four episodes, my impression for this show is just like that: interesting in theory but terribly plain in its execution. You can see bad sign when you start watching an episode and feel like you had skipped some episodes in between, and that exactly how I felt when watching this one. Like, since when Ayanokoji and the blonde girl from class B Ichinose become such a close friend to the point she asks the guy to be her fake boyfriend? The last time I saw them together they didn’t even introduce themselves and now this? For this bleak world, I come to suspect any character’s real motive, even the lead ones but this show makes me wary of Ichinose for all the wrong reasons. I heard the anime version cut most of the parts between those two building up to this point, and that come to my first real complain about this anime. They don’t spend enough time for the supporting cast, as a result they appear more as a plot-function device than any real character. That new red hair girl Sakura has this same problem. We hardly know her at all and then she receives a mention when the plot calls for it.

We have the updated scores this time around and by the look of it Class C has gained the most points after the exam and now rivals with class B for the second spot. Surprisingly that Class B doesn’t feel it as any threat because instead of getting furious, all of them praise how well and noble Ichinose is. We have our first glance at the homeroom teacher of Class B and boy, she rubs me the wrong way. Doesn’t fare any better is that Ryuken AKA Nerriot Sparkling Water dude; who I feel more belong to Kakegurui series than scheming his abusive plans here (Yumeko Jabami please beats the hell out of him). His current evil plan, to frame Sudou (again!) for attacking fellow Class C members, which will demerit all the points Class D has gained during the mid-exam results. Class D knows it’s all a scheme from Ryuken, but how they prove it? The way Horikita finds out about Sakura just by the way she acts bother on incredibility here, and I suppose the girl with an interest in photography “happen” to be in a right place at the right time with her camera on huh?

Ichinose seems nice enough to help the class D out, but if I learn anything about how the world in Youkoso works, it might be just a façade for some real nasty intention. If class D should learn any lesson, don’t trust other classes because they’re basically their opponents. Class B has a very well-connected network system here and Ichinose has a whooping insanely 2,5 million points, which really is suspicious. My guess for now is either Ichinose uses her “help” as a mean to make people around her to pay her back; or it’s the class’s points where class members pooling their points to one source – her source; but then for what purpose? As much as I have too many complaints about this episode, I think the conversation between Ayanokoji and Yoshida was well done. The visual cue of that conversation with the dead butterfly being picked apart by ants is really, really effective and it’s easily the highlight of this episode for me. All in all, Youkoso stumbles hard this episode, providing conflict that is rather dull and unexciting and asks us to care for a relationship that was never developed properly beforehand. I can still bear with it but I don’t deny that my interest on knowing how all this turn out have shrunk rapidly.

Kakegurui- 05[The Woman Who Became Human]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

When gambling in this show:
Rule number one: Always cheat.
Rule number two: If using another person for your cheating then don’t use someone with a clear grudge against you or treat them like dirt.
Rule number three: Never ever bet against Yumeko Jabami.
There is a certain satisfaction in seeing someone like this thug get so brutally destroyed by our main duo even though he’s a relatively one dimensional nobody. I tend to favor villains with a bit more moral nuance and more well written but nonetheless cannot deny a certain level of glee in seeing someone so utterly morally bankrupt get his life ruined. Sure you could argue that his crimes were no huge enough to have the remainder of his life detected by a notebook and be treated as trash for the rest of his days but considering the arrogant mentality of this guy there is no better medicine than a good reality check and a ass kicking. But again this does not mean that he’s well written as it’s not a difficult task to make someone hateable, All you really need to do is have them in a position of power and have them do clearly evil deeds while convinced that it’s totally alright for them to do these things because they are special in some way. If you want a well written villain then work on making a character with a unique worldview, sympathetic or logical motivations, a personality and a backstory to accommodate these aspects.

If you want to make a hateable villain them just have them do something clearly morally repugnant and then refuse they did anything wrong. “Oh it’s perfectly ok for me to bully this kid because I am better than him and he should just go die.” “Oh I killed that bitch but she was clearly in the wrong when she tried to pretend she wasn’t my woman.” “Oh I burned down that orphanage but it was full of gutter trash that wouldn’t be of any use anyway, society should thank me honestly.” It’s funny in that it’s not so much the act itself that makes it so despicable but rather the contradiction and flawed reasoning these characters use to justify their actions as not wrong. Indeed there is no better way to rile up the internet into a fury than to have someone do something wrong and them do everything in their power to refuse to admit it. So to see a character get a shift kick in the nuts is a rather cathartic experience and I fully admit that I fully read the source of the upcoming “Rising of the Shield Hero” anime adaption purely for the satisfaction of seeing the villain get taken down a peg.

I couldn’t quite follow how exactly Mary and Yumeko managed to trick the delinquent but I believe it had something to do with Mary and Yumeko lying about the amount they owed before the game and then switching her board with Yumeko to confuse the delinquent into miscalculating the end game totals. So these two had the game in the bag right from the start as the delinquent didn’t have the scoreboard right from the beginning. Though the thing this episode is named after is Yumeko’s last little gambit to encourage the pet girl to go against the delinquents orders. Throughout the game she had been helping the delinquent cheat out of fear and her own institutionalisation to her status of pet. I rather like the metaphor that Yumeko puts to it, being a pig in a open cage. This girl could fight back, could rebel but instead settles for small freedoms granted to her within the cage. In truth the very name of pet is apt for that is what these people are conditioned to become.

Thus Yumeko managed to break her out of that mentality through her provocation. Though um…why was it…so suggestive? I generally don’t tend to look too far into these kinds of things but when you have two girls with faces intimately close to kissing distance while reserved girl has a heavy blush that really does seem to be fuel for hime-danshi(This appears to be the opposite of the Fujoshi term being for males(Hime-joshi for females) who ship lesbian couples though doesn’t quite hold the same level of infamy as the fujoshi term) Yuri baiting did come up in the manga but it really is much more pandering when seen in animated format. Look if you are going to start insinuating lesbinism or bisexualism then go all in, don’t just shove it in halfheartedly for Blu-ray sales. Still while i have neglected to mention her before but next episode appears to feature a girl who is going to really amp up these Yuri undertones so I at least hope we keep things somewhat classy.

Classroom of the Elite – 03 [Man is an Animal that Makes Bargains: No Other Animal Does This – No Dog Exchanges Bones with Another.]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

Just like what the long title suggests, this episode’s all about “bargaining” and establishing the hidden rules behind this academy. If you originally think Class D got the high scores due to their own efforts, well you’re in the wrong show then. You see, the bottom line here is that you can use the points to buy off everything within the school: old test’s questions and even buy off the exam’s score. Not only they get away with all that, it is heavily implied the teacher and the school expect them to work that way. That’s the world they live in huh? It’s just a matter of knowing and exploiting the system (what they call as a S-System). So, using points as a trade for something they need, that’s one part of this system. The next past would be how to gain points for the class then. From what I understand, all the points class D received from the midterm test are 87 points – not that much by any means but when you compare how many points class C improved after the test (from 490 to 492 – 2 points), it does indeed feel the gap has narrowed. But in order to aim for the top they need to have a bigger plan to gain points and slowly move up their rank – which I believe will be the main plot of Youkoso going forward.

But the way Youkoso executes its theme and its plot still leaves a lot to be desired. The story did jump back from few days before the exams and Sudo gets a fair amount of screen time this week but never at once we see him make any real effort for the test, so why go your way to save someone like him then? I feel like Youkoso just creates a situation so Ayanokoji has to step in and uses his negotiation skills to save the day. The show also introduces many characters from other class, most notably the bullying Ryuen from class C (who got praised from the “elites” of class A for gaining 2 POINTS), and the blonde Ichinose from class B – for my money they will become their respective class representatives when the time comes. I know this school setting isn’t supposed to be realistic, but they really stretch the idea too thin: Teachers who never explain the rules but berate the students for not figuring out themselves; tests that don’t change for at least 2 years, down to the exact words; the scores are already announced but somehow can be altered. I guess for the sake of enjoyment, we just need to look away those foolish details but even then, the story so far doesn’t have any lasting power.

How Youkoso handles the main leads though, is far more successfully. Ayanokoji proves to be the right main behind the job who would do anything necessary for the sake of the class and Horikita shows another soft side of her of wanting to help her classmates out – something that she would never consider doing before (on that note: it completely lost me why she had to lower her English score for the sake of helping Sudo? Could anyone give me an explanation?). But the powerstar of this week, of course is Kushida as she reveals her other ugly bitchy side of her. It’s interesting to note that in the novel, Kushida gets pissed at Horikita in a part where Horikita just shrugged of the “3 Fools of D-Class” from her tutorial and she still gained Ayanokoji’s trust nevertheless. But in the anime, Kushida revealing her true colors come from her jealousness towards all the attention Horikita “gets”. In other words, more bitchy and cruel. Again, same content, different meaning. If you ask me which version I prefer, in this particular case I’d go for the anime version; since what better way to show another dark side of a character than showing of their selfish bitchy side? I like the way she handles Ayanokoji by intentionally let him grab her boob. Give boob-grabbing the whole new meaning.  As much as I like the new personality-twist, this week unfortunately isn’t Youkoso’s best moments.

Kakegurui- 04[The Woman Who Became Livestock]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

I could make it point to go on about how ridiculous it is for a school to allow a student to carry a firearm or putting forward a life plan which I am fairly certain is a clear violation of human rights but honestly that dead horse has been beaten enough. In Kakegurui this is just how things work and that’s that. So with the major loss last episode Yumeko has now been reduced to pet status and it’s shown that being a female pet is significantly more dangerous than a male pet. All things considered it would be pretty obvious for male students to take advantage of such a position so we have the usual rapists come on scene to try and assault Yumeko. This is a common trope in anime, these random dudes who jump at the opportunity to grab a woman the minute she’s left alone. It appears in anime so often than I am genuinely curious as to how true to life it is. Are there really random guys who wander around Japan just trying to rape every girl alone on the street? Considering Japan has a declining birth rate and some reputation of men being Herbivores I find it rather dubious. Either way when it comes to these kinds of scenes at least this was the more tasteful of the sort. I got worried when Yumeko started taking off her underwear but the show at least knew when to stop. Truthfully though what did Yumeko expect from this situation as oddly she seemed disappointed when these guys said they were not going to violate her. Taking her personality into account however this does make a degree of sense.. Yumeko is someone who gets a thrill of gambling her life so this to her could have just been another gamble. Can she escape them unscathed or would she be caught and violated? That certainly sounds like a bet she would take on.

We have the return of Mary from the first episode and it looks like were are getting the old shounen trope of first time villains turning into allies. Based on the first episode alone you would think that there would be no way to redeem her but these past episodes have shown Mary to be the lesser evil in this school. Mary more or less aimed to embarrass her where as our other villains here are aiming to rip off her fingernails or ruin her. With a taste of Humble pie Mary has actually become one of the most reasonable people in the cast with her selfish intentions being less malevolent and more petty. Even in context it felt that she only targeted Yumeko in the first episode out of Jealousy over the male lead if I am reading this right. She has show a level of attachment to him and she’s has blond twin tailed hairstyle which is often chosen hairstyle for your typical tsundere. Yumeko doesn’t seem to hold hard feelings towards her either and they two do make a good duo of easygoing madness and level headed crook. Seeing the two work together is fun and I can tell the voice actor had a whole lot of fun with the last line of the episode.

So to get Yumeko back on top we have entered a high stakes game of two card Blind man’s Bluff, aka Indian Poker. Rules of the game is that you can see one card from everyone’s hand but your own and know one of your cards. A win is decided by getting a pair of matching numbers(Pair) or a pair of matching suits(Mark) with no match being a Pig. Upon two people getting a mark or a pair the winner is decided by who has the highest number. So if you are going to cheat at this game the best bet is to have a partner who can signal what card you had to show the group. Yumeko and Mary are clearly working together somehow as Mary talked to her before the match but it does seem to be something less obvious. As the villain of this gamble saw such a play and was bluffed instead. It’s pretty clear the villain is cheating somehow as well as in this show the villain is always cheating. Thus it becomes a game of who can out cheat the cheater and knowing Yumeko I doubt this delinquent is getting off easy.

Classroom of the Elite – 02 [It Takes a Great Deal and Skill to Conceal One’s Talent and Skill.]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

Something about Youkoso, after the end of both first two episodes, that left me there hanging. Something that I feel “off”, but I can’t quite put my fingers on. I guess a big part of it was caused by the pacing, which it takes way too long to get into the intrigued part. I mean, a huge part of this episode for example, is about group study, which excites no one, both to the characters and to us. So, I went ahead and read the chapters where this episode adapted from, and to my utmost surprise, it was different from the Light Novel. They cut down important parts that both reveal new sides from the cast, and leave out the details about the rules. I’m sure they’d save these events for later development so it’s fine for now but even more head-scratching, they include the pool sequence that has no right to be in there in a first place. And I still don’t get the obsessions over gazing at Kushida’s big boobs because as far as I see, Ayanokoji doesn’t get excited by her boobs. It’s just blatant fanservice that don’t go together with the tone of Youkoso. Or maybe that’s just a normal treatment every girl with big boobs will be received in anime, doesn’t matter if it’s relevant to the plot?

In terms of settings, Youkoso introduces one of the more intriguing school-settings that we haven’t encountered for awhile, the academy displays the social structure, the social functioning that we can relate from the real world. In this, class members work together so that they can gain points and raise up their social’s status. We already have the “underdog” here so it’s easy to root for class D, the lowest of the low and I can see heaps of interesting angles Youkoso could explore. First, this is clearly more of a team-work effort than any single individual’s performance so it could provide the real test for both Ayanokoji, the loner and Horikita, the superior complex one to reach out with the rest of the class for their own sakes. Second, the criteria for allocate students to their respective classes and “gaining points” system aren’t strictly academic achievement, meaning that even if the class passes the midterm exam (means that no one got expelled), it is not guaranteed that they can earn more point. Figuring out the best method to raise their rank and beat out the other classes would prove to be interesting and I’m eager to see how the plot develops from here.

At this moment, I like the main cast of Ayanokoji – Horikita and Kushida although they still remind me greatly to the cast of Oregairu. This episode, unfortunately, doesn’t convince us clearly the motive of Horikita when she decides to help out the Bad Three. Such a shame because in the novel, they made it quite clear: Horikita is shocked about being put into class D, while her score is always near the top; thus aiming for the top has always been her objective and she will work out every solution to reach that goal. In the anime I just don’t see it. Youkoso however does shed a new light on her characters with her even more high horse and abusive brother (who happened to be a council student president huh?) and that’s the only time where we can see the real reason behind her superior/inferior complex.

The male lead Ayanokoji is also an amusing lead. He knows much more than he lets out and people around him start to pick up on this. I quite like his cynical point of view so far but damn, after reading the Novel I feel like they haven’t use the characters to full potential. Like I said earlier, the way this episode adapts from its source gives me some concerns: if Youkoso want to focus on the characters I honestly don’t see the reason they cut down the important parts, whereas if they want to concentrate on the process of the class working together to raise above the zero ground, then they fail when rushing abruptly to the final test results. I still see Youkoso has a lot of potential, hopefully they know what to do with the intriguing setup.

Kakegurui- 2/3[A Boring Woman/Slit-Eyed Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Kakegurui

Two episodes of high stakes gambles and I do feel that I am going to run out of things to say about this one fast. I suppose I will start with the elephant in the room and address what could be Kakegurui’s most detrimental feature. The fact that it’s set in a school setting and the story goes out of it’s way to try and ignore that. Personally it’s a detail I find makes it hard to get invested in the setting as the more ridiculous the bets get then the harder it becomes to refuse to acknowledge the schools actual management. It’s a common trope of anime to elevate the status of the student council to some major governing party when the reality as I surmise it is that they are little more than a makeshift union leader with no real power. So when I hear of the student council president arranging for construction on the school and changing rules I just have to ask are the principal and teachers alright with this? I mean it’s rather ridiculous to give this level of power over the school to a teenager but this story does seem to be going out of it’s way to refuse to consider the existence of those in a higher position. Really as you consider it more and more than the setting of this series makes no sense at all. After all why would the government clearly overlook what is most definitely illegal gambling on school premises? As well as what idiot of a parent would allow their teenager child to attend a school where they can potentially take up a debt in the millions?

Perhaps there are explanations  for these things in the future but right now it feels like Kakegurui has chained itself down with it’s setting. I honestly think it would be better to abandon the school setting entirely and just set it in a gambling city like las Vegas. It might be harder to keep the cast teenagers but hey, we could a more diversely aged group, not have character designs chained to the school uniform and with a city setting you could really get insane with the gambling setups. Let me put it this way, Imagine if No Game, No Life set itself in a school. It wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining as part of what made it good was the level of insanity and stakes behind each game. In Kakegurui’s case though no matter how much it builds up the antagonists, they are still just high school students. Not the best of the best but a bunch of brats playing Casino Royale. Nonetheless the safety net of having such a setting is that Yumeko can lose a bet. If she won every time it would be rather dull and even if she loses the that just means she needs to take a higher stakes bet to crawl out of the gutter. Which means that the bets can truly stay unpredictable.

What this series really does well is in portraying the mindset of someone truly willing to put everything on the line for a game of chance. The antagonists Yumeko faces are indeed insane but Yumeko is far more insane than any of them. A big part of the bet’s so far is Yumeko noticing that the enemy is cheating in some fashion and then working to remove the safety net they have set up for themselves. Yumeko is a girl that truly only wants a fair gamble where both participants are putting everything on the line which truly makes her insanity and ecstasy over the gamble a intimidating madness. She makes it a fair game and then pushes them into gamble with their lives on the line. In truth she isn’t really a hero of sorts but rather a devil outsmarting lesser devils. Though they do tend to go a bit overboard with the expressions sometimes, even the most normal individuals seem to transform into massive caricatures at the drop of a hat.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. (Winter 2017) Review – 83/100

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario

Imagine my utmost amazement when a show that I wasn’t that confident on taking in the beginning turned out to be one of the most solid offering this season had to offer. ACCA is the most recent anime adaptation from mangaka Natsume Omo, which despite isn’t a household name, many of her works (6 titles of them) have been translated to English, a privilege that rarely seen among this industry. Watching ACCA though, it’s easy to see her appeals: attractive and recognizable character designs, detailed world settings, complex yet laid-back themes and featuring characters that always in the move. ACCA embodies all those traits with slow but confident pacing that have an ending that perfectly tied up all the plot threads- for me one of the best ending I have seen in years. ACCA isn’t perfect by any mean, after all, adapting full 6 volumes into one cour of 12 episodes mean that they have to cut LOTS of extra details. Although I would’ve preferred more if the show has more time to focus on these 13 Districts and their ACCA’s representatives, the mere fact that they manage to make the plot points flows seamlessly, while still engage (or rather, enhance) viewers’ interest by each passing episode isn’t an easy feat at all; so a special shout out for Madhouse for this wonderful adaptation.

At first, what really makes ACCA compelling to watch is its rich world setting; as the show’s diverse settings is one of its identity itself. The 13 districts all have their own distinctive traits and are vastly different in wealth and their sub-cultures; which remind me a bit of the worlds in Kino’s Journeys. In fact, it’s too different from each other that the only thing that they all SHARE is its autonomy. I should remind you, the demand for putting background details for this show is insane, as they have to show the characteristics of all 13 districts in the little time they had without obstruct the pacing, but Studio Pablo (you might need to remember that name- They are an anime background company, the team who also handled the gorgeous visual backgrounds in Flip Flappers) did a marvelous job in putting as much details as possible from those districts. The two poorest districts were given more development than the rest with their own stories and struggles and as a whole, Dowa Kingdom is a place that I’m more than happy to spend more time to. The ACCA’s representative member in each district, likewise, all given just about enough personality to both inform us their own characters, and how the uniqueness in the district they work in starts to influent them. Regrettably, I still feel the show doesn’t have much screen time to flesh out those ACCA members but that is the sacrifice I’m willing to take…

… Because ACCA is masterclass at its storytelling and pacing. Even now when I’m looking back at the series, I don’t see any wasted segments, any meaningless conversations or any useless developments. Everything the show puts in, they are there for a reason, either to advance the plot, or to flesh out the characters, or give the show more identity. All the plot developments were hinted subtly way ahead, so when the BIG ANOUNCEMENTS take place, we don’t feel like them pulling the rug under our feet, but instead we’re well prepared to take such twists in. Secondly, all the character’s usual habits like Jean’s constantly smoking, Nino taking pictures, or Lotta eating cakes all the times not only tell us their personality, but also those details suggest a deeper plot meaning (see the relevance of cigarettes here? Or the reason why Nino taking pictures all the time?). Moreover, for a show that mainly about the scheming, plan within a plan within a plan about the coup, there are surprising overloaded with breads, cakes and deserts. Characters in this show fall in love with breads, buying cakes when scheming about a plan, making friends through the love of toasts (which ultimately saved Lotta’s life), and to be fair, the love of bread is what give birth to Jean and Lotta to begin with (guess where their Mom met their father? A bakery of course), but strangely, those moments of cake-porn never feel out of place in this ACCA world. For me personally, cakes and toasts will be what I miss the most about this show. And then the pacing. While many would argue the ACCA is snail-moving slow, and they’re mostly right, this is one of the most confident pacing that I’ve seen this season. It’s slow, but it never drags. It’s slow, but it keeps getting more intense as it goes on; steadily to its final showdown.

Another attribute; however, that really sets ACCA well apart from other political thrillers, or any thrillers in that extend; lies in its almost non-existence of violence and dark intentions. ACCA is an idealistic show; characters in ACCA think and behave for the benefit of the kingdom, where sacrifice of individuals can be necessary to keep peace for the nation (That make the backstory of princess Schnee even more tragic). Even the show’s main villain’s thrust to destroy the throne wouldn’t necessary qualified as evil either; after all, all he wanted is the “rightful” power and control for his own district, one of the richest and most influential district. If shows like Berserk or Death Parade keeps addressing the dark and ugliness of human’s nature, show like ACCA is the opposite. It’s almost too bright, too optimistic about human, which is be no mean these characters aren’t complex. The characters are plotting plans within plans, and sometimes their actions are already manipulated by other’s, but more or less their objectives always aim for the better of the people, with little to no gain for themselves. While personally I don’t have much of an issue with it, I do feel portraying the world that devoid of violence or ill-will might split the audience on being unrealistic, and that ending where too much of good things happened (look, Pranetta hits gold) could turn some viewers off for being over-cheerfulness.

Madhouse’s execution to this series is overall top-notch. The use of strong color pallete, for example, gives the show so much texture and more impressively, they fit in with the tones so well that those color palletes don’t stick out like sore thumb. Episode 8, for example, detailing the one big flashback of princess Schnee through Nino and his father’s eyes is textbook example on how to use those colors the most effective. The music, likewise, is really on point most of the time and the shot compositions have great flairs, cinematic, and sometimes they convey the mood and tension just by showing one character’s position to another (like when Mauve informed Jean about his royal heritage) or putting the characters in the soft, blurred background (most prominently through the climax of the last episode). In one word, exceptional. But there is one minor issue, though. For a show that have high caliber of crafting like ACCA, the animation, the actual motions, is lacking. Characters stay at static positions most of the time, and even their expressions don’t change much. Which for me is fair, because ACCA has always been about the calm, about what beneath the surface so it’s only appropriate that we don’t get to see much actions on the surface, both in term of actual movement, or the plot itself.

ACCA also is extremely well-grounded in terms of underlining characters’ chemistry. Although I would argue that those characters don’t change/grow much in terms of character’s development (see, in the end, Jean is still the same guy we saw at the beginning, so is Lotta, or… gasp, Owl), but the show delivers such natural chemistry between the cast, especially the trio Jean – Nino – Lotta that it’s such a nice time to see them hanging around together. Each of the pair give off a different chemistry to boost, and they always feel so effortlessly to each other that when Jean and Lotta find out the truth about Nino, it’s bitter and sweet at the same time. For a show that is more about the detachment (everything flows underneath the surface), they understand that the underlying emotions of the show is the buddy relationship between Nino and Jean (and well, Schnee’s tragic past) so rightfully ACCA gives their final moments on those two as a sweet farewell to us.

But like I mentioned earlier, ACCA is not without its issues. One of it is that the show has to compress its source material to only 12 episodes, as a result in the last third of the show the sweet cakes and deserts just evaporated (but I can understand, we wouldn’t take the coup seriously with all those cakes and breads so they have to go), and like I said, more time to flesh out the uniqueness of each districts and their ACCA representatives would benefit the show greater. Secondly, by giving much attentions to the royal and the members in power, we don’t get to see the Dowa Kingdom in ordinary citizen’s point of view. I mean, we hardly know anything about Jean and Lotta’s father, a commoner, for example. Moreover, being slow and static and diplomatic-centric also means that when the show has to raise up its tempo; most notably during the Lotta assassination; they are clumsy in both storytelling and execution to the point of near-ridiculousness. And lastly, show with this deliberate pacing won’t attract much of the mainstream audience, in which if that is the case, the only think I can say is that they have missed out one of the best well written gem this year had to provide and trust me, this show will hold up well with time. I will definitely check out more of Natsume Omo’s works.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 12 [Where the Bird Flies]

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Currently Watching:

Boy, what an impressing ending to this great show. In a way, I should’ve thought about that, keeping in tradition which what ACCA has been established so far: a coup d’état without any chaos, or violence; an actual coup d’etat but not aiming to exclude the Prince and the royal, but to Furawau district. The coup that was just… too polite, like it was the calm during the storm itself, but it swept all my concerns for a conclusion that tied up ALL the loose ends. First, it’s none other than Qualms who leaked about the royal blood rumors (this guy’s impressive!), but the main players in this game are none other than Jean and Mauve. Jean apparently learned about Lilium’s plan from Mauve back when she informed him about his royal heritage (don’t underestimate the power of the opening sequence, when she literally whispered to his ear), then it was Jean who proposed a counterplan that run right beneath Lilium’s evil plan. All the districts want the continuation of ACCA, Lilium wants the power into his Furawau’s district. Mauve takes up the stage and delivers a kick-ass speech, in which not only “forced” the Prince to accept the continued existence of ACCA, but also negated Lilium’s own plan. He left the game, as did his district from the Dowa kingdom. Jean settled the game without having to step in for the throne and his identity is kept secret from the public. I can’t possibly think of any better way to resolve it as satisfying as we have here.

After that, everything else falls on positive notes (if a bit overly so), the Prince turns out to be much nicer than everyone thought. The 5-heads dragon, now with Lilium gone, decides to disband, each of them (save Grossular) returns back to their district to become a chief district and seem to be much happier with it. Mauve becomes the leader of ACCA (so deserving), and while it’s a bit sad that Mauve and Jean don’t become a couple, I believe they’re better off that way. The two poorest districts are now growing to be much better (I can see that the author really care about those two districts), with Pranetta hits gold and become a new “American Dream” – or should I say, “new Furawau Dream”; Suitsu opens its borders and now citizens can vote freely. Lotta has a whole lotta more opportunity to meet her new cousin and beloved grandpa and eat cakes and breads. Abend is indeed, Owl, and this guy was the one who pulled the strings from behind so that everything can fall according to this outcome. Like Nino said, an impressive feat.

Finally, Nino seems to be so relaxed and peaceful. I think all of his load was taken off from his talk with Jean last episode, now he’s truly free to do what he wants. I was actually smiling when he stands behind Lotta in that crucial moments to protect her. He can’t change, huh? Kudos for the show to focus squarely on Jean and Nino’s relationship in ACCA’s final moments. In the end, no matter what happen, they will always stay beside and trust each other. I’m in particular impressed again with the use of jazzy music during the coup scene and the use of strong color pallete everywhere in this episode. This episode indeed ends the show in a high note, and I’m sure this show will hold up very well, and rewatching it to pick up all the subtle details would be very rewarding. In retrospect, people might complain about its slow and deliberate pacing, but for me this is one of the most confident and well-balance pacing that I’ve seen in recent years. Every detail they put in counts and I don’t really see any unnecessary fat so far. I really have a blast blogging this one, and believe it or not ACCA becomes one of my favorite titles this season (not a slight judgement with a season that has Rakugo, Little Witch Academia, and Hand Shakers… I kid, I kid). Well, full review will be up soon, all I can say is I am satisfied with the whole experience. Well done ACCA.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 11 [Furawau’s Flowers Smell of Malice]

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Currently Watching:

Really ACCA? Only one episode left and you’re still in set-up stage, with the coup is lingering in the air, but never comes in real form. In fact, ACCA is a series about setting up. Its deliberate pacing can really test the viewer’s’ patience, and I totally understand if most of you have fallen out with it; but really, ACCA’s getting better by each passing episode. Many plot threads start to come together, and this week we have a major plot development: Jean decided to go along with the Lilium’s plan, which is the worst decision ever. Lilium, in a very definition of true villain archetype, already behaves in a victory-mode for a successful coup, although there isn’t any coup yet (sorry honey, I have to see it first to know if it exists) and starts mapping out his evil plan OUT LOUD for the one person who is capable of changing the situation. I guess this is more of overconfident issue but boy, when you do that I know immediately that the plan is going to fail, hard. And does he really think he can control and manipulate Jean, of all people? Bull. I don’t even think Jean will take the reign. Heck, I don’t even think the coup is going to happen at all. But I do think he plans to put certain someone to the spot instead of himself. He raises that argument when he meets up with Lilium, saying that as long as the next throne isn’t the Prince, he doesn’t really interested to take control the kingdom. So logically, who is the person that Jean would place his bet on knowing that the person can take good care for both ACCA, the people and the kingdom? Of course, it’s Grossular.

But Grossular still has some issues with Lilium. I still wonder why Lilium holds much control over Grossular. I still think Lilium holds a certain secret that Grossular doesn’t want to spread out, but what secret would that be? How is this centenary going to play out next week? I originally thought Qualms the Privy Council President is involved, but based on how limited time he had (if at all), I think the main players for this centenary is going to be Jean, Lilium and the Prince. But then, how’s about Abend? Will he has any role at all in the end? Damn ACCA, you better tie up all loose ends next week.

Nino is finally back and is immediately got shot down, literally. But this is where I find the plot pretty much implausible, for you see it would be much easier (and less dramatic) to just follow those assassins and knock them down before they were going to shoot. Why following them and then run all the way to Jean to shield the bullets? And really, the way the show handles the thriller part is very uneven. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the chemistry between Jean and Nino and I could feel Jean’s emotion stirring up when he talks about Nino’s objective in life. He deeply cares for his friend Nino. Another interesting fact is that Nino’s supervisor doesn’t allow Nino to come to Furawau, and for now my guess is that the supervisor doesn’t want Nino to pry into Lilium’s family, maybe for the sake of Jean and Lotte’s safety. (or just simply because he doesn’t want Nino to catch hay fever. A nasty sickness).

It’s otherwise great to see all the ACC representatives from each district come all over in one place. We saw all of them but many of them don’t have much screentime or that memorable before, but you can sense a very natural easy-going chemistry between them (they obviously know each other well before) and how they can still carry the characteristics of the district they’re currently in. I don’t get why the show spend so much time for Eider’s romance but it’s certainly fun to watch. One thing I find the most interesting was the two ACCA representatives from 2 poorest districts, Warbler and Rocksterra (from Suitsu and Pranetta, respectively) are the ones who actually sense something wrong about following up the coup. They come from the poorest and hardest districts, meaning that they, of all people, should be happy for a wind of change. But quite the contrary, they know that each district has their own voices, and they see far greater benefits under the Dowa Kingdom; even the Prince will be unlikely to break much rules, and those are all valid arguments but they must be very dissatisfied with the Prince (or current Royal system) to the extent that all the 13 districts vote for Jean. Jean did mention that everything need a final push now, what would that be? With only a finale of 20 minutes left and plenty of possibilities next week, I really hope the show can wrap things up in a most satisfying way. You won’t disappoint me, will you, ACCA?