Category: Zetsuen no Tempest

This was a very quiet episode, but it showed much more the strengths of this series: its characters. The action of last week was nice and all, but this time this show was all about the characters and their back-stories, and I just find that much more interesting.

The story between the two leads is quite creative, and it also really shows some of their edges. Mahiro as the kid who grew up always feeling special and violent, Yoshiro as the kid who was quite intelligent and came with smart ideas. While people can change a lot in their transition from kids to teenagers, it still is good to keep establishing their characters like this early on in the series. And I have to admit that especially Yoshiro coming up with the story of Mahiro saving that puppy made me laugh.

What also surprised me about this episode was that the two of them just barged into a house and made use of their supplies. That’s quite… different and unusual for protagonists to do. I mean, Yoshino objected at first, but he happily plundered a fridge there. But then again, by the time people will wake up, everything would probably have spoiled.

Also, commenting on how to cook celery. These are small details, but also bring a ton of character.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

This was the weakest episode of Zetsuen no Tempest so far, mostly because it was nearly entirely about a big action scene with little else happening, other than getting the two lead characters to stay permanently together and solidifying their goal with the revelation that the killer of the girlfriend/sister is somewhere in the Kusaribe clan.

The reason why the action scenes in the first episodes rocked so much was that there was a lot of stuff happening at the same time. When nearly an entire episode is dedicated to one, there just seems to be something missing. The action itself was pretty nice, albeit a bit dragged out. The one flaw of it was that it tried to be smart, while using coincidences. Yoshino coming up with the idea of tracking someone using blood and healing magic is smart, but afterwards he comes with this crazy plan of hoping for helicopters to attack at the exact right moment. Or take the scenes where they’re running away: they don’t use magic there. It’s all a bit too scripted, unlike the dynamic first two episodes.

But still, the concept of magic in this series has some definite potential. The restrictions this series puts on its characters are great because they put limits on the powers of the characters. This may seem weak at first, but it puts much more complexity at their actions, rather than just having people spam beams over and over until one side goes down.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

As for the shows I’m not going to blog:
– Tonari no Kaibatsu-kun has way too much competition. Beyond the other shoujo series this season, it also has Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo to worry about (I mean: we have a relatively normal lead who falls in love with a character with a huge personality problem, surrounded by a cast of colourful characters, and it’s directed and series composed by two members of the gender opposite of the target audience – it’s pretty much the same premise only shounen!) And with that, it just doesn’t stand out as the most interesting. There is just too little charm for me to keep watching.
– Chuuninbyou demo Koi Shitai is even worse though. With that series, the characters are all trying way too hard to be funny. I know that that’s the premise and all, but that doesn’t make it any more bearable.

Zetsuen no Tempest however is my top pick for this season. Fantastic soundtrack, great plot, great characters, interesting ideas, excellent acting, excellent action, very good animation and the pacing is also pretty damn good. There are more shows this season that have that though. What really sets this show apart is how it manages to bring all of that together. It all just fits, and out of all series this season, it is the best at combining its animation, soundtrack, characters, plot and acting together at the same time for its storytelling.

I really like the characters as well. They are teenagers, but the male lead is quite un-typical in his level-headedness, even quoting macbeth at one point. He’s the center of this story, but beyond that there is much more going on. The action also can be quite smart when it wants to, with the male lead using his cell phone in order to check up on the outside. Okay, it didn’t work, but it was much better than just sticking out his face without knowing what’s going on.

There was one strange moment of illogical decisions though: the point where that woman used gas to smoke out the male lead and drive him to the top of the school building. Her plan succeeds, and he ends up right where she planned him to be… and she just walks right into his trap. Not sure what happened there, but this episode did emphasize human weaknesses a few scenes later. It seems that magic can make anyone superhuman, though anyone without magic still has to obey laws that are more human, as shown from the shock that woman fell in when she nearly crashed to her death, probably also with the help of some G-forces.

Oh, and I still need to gush about the soundtrack of this show. It is just amazing, and this episode showed many tracks that didn’t appear in the first episode, showing that it’s far from a one trick pony.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)