Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 15 [Otto Suwen/A Reason to Believe]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

It’s been two episodes and we have yet to hear the opening for the second cour and considering how little the last opening was used, I wonder if they will forgo even making an anime opening and just use the song in scenes. Now looking at common consensus the reception to this episode was quite positive and being a Re:Zero fan myself I don’t really like to be the wet blanket to that response. However I will say that I only really liked half of this episode, that half being the second part. Bits of the reason pertain to something I believe I mentioned in one of my posts on the first cour, namely that Re:Zero is not really an action series so when it focuses on action it can be to its detriment. The first season did have some notable action scenes but I would never consider them the highlight of the show and in our current environment I don’t believe that they can deliver on action when the first cour of the second season showed a noticeable hit to production. I only spotted it recently myself but you may notice that the ears of characters are considerably less detailed than the first season. I know that is a weird thing to comment on which would likely solicit a well deserved “Who cares?” but I feel it’s the easy way to distinguish the quality drop when you see they stopped shading the ears and they are mostly now just a squiggly line on skin tone. It’s one of those things you wish you could no longer notice once you do see it so my apologies in advance. Maybe they might fix it up when the blu-rays come out as they have done quite a lot of rework on the blu-ray releases before.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 14 [Straight Bet]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

Why do I keep getting dragged out of retirement? Well we have the return of the better alternative to cocaine but there’s another season of LOGH coming and I already resigned myself to covering all that as well. Regardless I wasn’t pulled away from anything important as while I made the resolution to start writing, I have been procrastinating in part due to our current worldwide situation and also from one of the writers of this site kicking me down a certain rabbit hole. You think it will never be you until you find yourself watching an adorable dog girl play Doom with homicidal glee but I at least have not simped on these 2D time succubi. No, in that case gacha has my wallet…is this the anime fan version of becoming the worthless drunk getting sloshed in a bar? Ah screw it, let’s get this post up so I can go back to losing myself in my new VR headset.
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Great Pretender Anime Review – 78/100

by SuperWooper, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Great Pretender, Reviews by SuperWooper

From an aesthetic point of view, Great Pretender is my favorite TV anime of 2020. I’ve spoken plenty about art director Yuusuke Takeda in previous posts, but since this is the last time I’ll be writing about this show for the blog, allow me to recap: he’s one of the best and most prolific visual designers in the industry today, and Great Pretender is one of his most striking works. His brash juxtaposition of color was a great fit for such a sharp, fast-moving series – as were the angular designs of legendary character artist Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Tasked with creating an entirely adult cast, he opted to give them prominent noses and messy hairdos, incorporating plenty of detail while still allowing the animation team room to breathe. They did their nimblest and most acrobatic work in the show’s first arc, but even as Great Pretender settled in for the long haul, it maintained a sense of liveliness sufficient to absorb you in its story.

So why the caveat that it’s my favorite only in aesthetic terms? What disqualifies it from being the runaway AOTY that I initially hoped it would be? And on the flip side, what does Great Pretender do right that most other series wouldn’t dare to attempt? Read on for one man’s thoughts on one of the year’s most original anime.

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Great Pretender – 18-20 [Wizard of Far East]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Great Pretender

There were, by my count, seven false deaths in these three episodes. Shootings, stabbings, car explosions, you name it – Great Pretender is down to fake it. Watching a show that treats human life as a tool to trick its audience can be fun, but the obvious consequence is ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’ syndrome. There’s a legitimate, climactic death in episode 20 here, but I could only respond by rolling my eyes, given the show’s penchant for handing out death scenes like candy on Halloween. As a matter of fact, I’m not convinced that the murder in question ended in the character’s death (I’m omitting their name for now to keep spoilers beyond the ‘Continue Reading’ link). And even if it did, that doesn’t redeem the half dozen false fatalities that preceded it, some of which were direct transplants from the show’s first arc.

And yet, these episodes flew by in what seemed like a matter of minutes to me. Sure, the story may have gone to some outlandish places while following its passion for twists, but the extended flashback it delivered this week was just what the blogger ordered. At last we understand Laurent’s origin story, his reason for living as a confidence man, his connection to Edamura, and so much more (BBW Shi Won, anyone?). Yuusuke Takeda’s art direction continues to be one of 2020 anime’s most noteworthy accomplishments, too, as he and his team construct picturesque locales from stripes and splotches of contradictory colors. Wrap these positive elements in Great Pretender’s typically fun and fast-moving style, and you’ve got a series that somehow makes up for its regular lapses in judgment. Now if only I could access the timeline where the show didn’t play so fast and loose with its characters’ well-being…

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 13 [The Sounds That Make You Want To Cry]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

Well we are here and I now have the outlook of a drug addict whose supply has been cut to now face a Winter of cold turkey. Or I suppose Autumn. I do think that this episode continues the streak of great episodes and I can’t really criticise it for not bookending the cour as from hearsay I don’t believe it was ever intended to. Word on the street is that this wasn’t originally a split cour but due to intervention from that virus that everyone loves, they couldn’t finish the episodes in time and decided to split it. I of course have no problem with this as if we are gonna animate this story it’s better to have it done right than to have the quality suffer by them trucking forward. But god even if I understand and agree with the reasons the wait for the continuation of this story is going to be murder. The title of this episode may be apt as once I heard the ending theme song I certainly wanted to cry. Oh on that it’s crazy that they only played the opening and ending 3 times throughout the entire run. The extra content is always great but it just makes me think that there is no point whatsoever in making a new opening for the second cour. Matter of fact might as well not bother making both for all future seasons. On that note, please more seasons I need it all.
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Great Pretender – 15-17 [Wizard of Far East]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Great Pretender

Good news, all you Great Pretenders out there: Netflix JP included English subs when they uploaded episodes 15-23, which means the entire series is now available for the reading. I plan to view the supersized fourth arc, Wizard of Far East, in three-piece chunks (this being the first). After three episodes, my initial impression is mixed – we’ve got the same excellent dialogue and background art as ever, but the plot seems to be progressing at 1.2x speed, and Laurent has reached omniscience levels that shouldn’t be possible. We’re still waiting on Dorothy (the woman whose name he uttered in the final moments of Case 3) to appear, so until she does, I’ll refrain from criticizing this arc too thoroughly. In the meantime, though, there are plenty of minor props and slops to award these episodes, so hit the jump if you’re ready.

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Fugou Keiji Anime Review – 72/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED, Reviews by Lenlo

Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. There are a number of rather famous characters that fit this description, from Bruce Wayne to Tony Stark. And it was only a matter of time before anime came back with one of its own in Daisuke Kambe, of Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED. Adapted by Studio Cloverworks from a novel series of the same name, originally written by Yasutaka Tsutsui and directed by Tomohiko Itou of Silver Spoon and ERASED fame, Fugou Keiji is a lot of things. It is both a comedy and a mystery. A tale of murder and revenge, of heroics and villainy, and perhaps most importantly: of family. And while there is no shortage of missteps along the way I can say one thing with certainty: Fugou Keiji is a fun show oozing in style and I cannot wait to talk about it with you. So lets jump right in!

(Disclaimer: I am working to make 50 the new “average”. 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Carry on.) Continue reading “Fugou Keiji Anime Review – 72/100” →

Fugou Keiji – 11 [All that glitters is not gold]

by Lenlo, posted in Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED

Holy crap, Fugou Keiji. You managed to stick the landing and somehow brought the entire show together in a single 20 minute episode. There are twists, there are turns and there are even a few jokes so lets dive right into this finale!

Right off the bat, lets talk about this ending, because I loved it. So much happened and the twist was both fitting yet surprising. Somehow throughout the entire season I never suspected what happened, which we will talk about after the break for spoilers, yet in hindsight it makes a lot of sense. So because the next few paragraphs are going to be spent with me gushing about the ending, lets talk about how the episode went right here at the top huh? All in all I think it did a great job of picking the ball up and running with it after the last few somewhat dropped it narratively. We got a 2nd round of character arc finales, a satisfying narrative finale and even nice callback all the way to episode one. I really enjoyed it and I think Fugou Keiji deserves props for that. Now for the details!

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 12 [The Witches Tea Party]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

There is only one more episode left and boy do I both eagerly await it and dread it. The dry spell is upon us and this time it’s going to be a bad one. Well at least this time we at least know more Re:Zero is coming and don’t have a four year wait but oh god it’s still going to be torture. Speaking of torture though Subaru this week has gone through a new batch of suffering and one truly has to either be impressed or scared of the various degrees that Tappei can come up with to torture our boy. I have seen my fair share of torture porn and even manga darker than darkest black edge with a straight razor on the side but I still marvel at how much he can make Subaru suffer while not having it become excessive or ludicrous. You only need to look at shows like Mahou Shoujo Site or any grimdark anime you can think of to see the way such excessive dark themes can be royally messed up to become comical. Yet here it is anything but and makes for a show you just can’t take your eyes away from.
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