You know, I didn’t really notice this among underlooked series as Shangri-la, Konnichiwa Anne and Natsu no Arashi, but Guin Saga also is starting to move under the radar this season. I mean, for as far as I know I’m the only one who’s still blogging it, and you hardly see anyone talk about it anymore. It’s a shame, because this series is pretty darn good.
This episode was an intermezzo between two big battles against the mongol army, and the biggest focus is Guin, as he tries to go after his past in a gamble that might give him the key to victory. We finally learn a bit about who the heck he was before his mind-wipe, although it’s still a bunch of vague hints. I especially liked that dream sequence of his. It was totally psychedelic, but it was nice to watch. At the end of the episode, we also encounter someone who looks surprisingly much like Guin himself, or at least in terms of clothing.
In the rest of the episode, the rest of the cast is fleshed out a bit. Remus gets finally a bit of confidence when he succeeds in making an arrow, while Amnelis is shown to be the stuck up princess that she is when she’s wasting precious water in the middle of a desert by washing her hair.
Though I do have some things that I’ve been wondering: why did the ape-men have an armour that perfectly fitted Guin? How did they get him a horse when they don’t use those animals themselves? It remains a bit strange. Also, I’m not really sure why Guin chose this moment to chase after his path. I didn’t exactly pick up what exactly he felt was so important about his past that made him so confident about winning.
Rating: * (Good)
A building-up episode, but it had a very good air of mystery.
Guin saga is indeed one of the best shows this season, actually I’ve spotted a big amount of pretty good shows, this season’s releases seem more entertaining than those of the previous season: “Guin saga”, “shangri-la”,”eden of the east”,”Phantom”,”Pandora hearts”,”Valkyria chronicles”( those are my favorite),”hanasakeru seishonen”,”tears to tiara”, “hatsukoi limited”, “K-On”, Polyphonica crimson s”,”Mecha mote iinchou”,” Konnichiwa Ann” . Those new shows turned out to be surprisingly good somehow, even if some are undeniably better than others, they all deserve to be watched.
Guin Saga is a great example of an incredibly well executed fantasy series. Except for Seirei no Moribito and 12 Kingdoms, I’ve yet to see other good fantasy anime.
It’s anime like Pandora Hearts or 07 Ghost (I watched only 2 episodes of that one), that constantly shout mediocrity to me. They’re painful to watch. I’m giving Pandora Hearts more and more chances for redemption because of the good scenes in the first 3 episodes, but if it continues being as annoying as it is now, it’s going to be dropped.
PS: Trolling Pandora Hearts is too much fun.
“Also I’m not really sure as why Guin chose this moment to chase after his path.”
This is a missunderstanding on your part. Guin left the semu clan to go and find a group of savage giants called the “Ragon”. It’s Guins hope that they will become their allies and a trumph card to defeat the monogol army.
This is explained at 8.40-9.30 in the latest episode. If you want have trouble hearing the dialogue I can transcribe it for you.
eden of the east and guin saga probably the 2 best shows this season
love souten kouro as well, dont understand why so many ppl hate it
I dropped this series after episode 6. It’s too standard fantasy anime. No worth the time because this has been seen thousands of times. There is nothing unique about this series.
> I dropped this series after episode 6. It’s too standard fantasy anime. No worth the time because this has been seen thousands of times. There is nothing unique about this series.
And what were you exactly expecting from an anime adapted from a series of books written thirty years ago?
Just out of curiousity, watashi- what part of Guin Saga is too “standard” for you that you’ve seen in “thousands” of other fantasy anime?
Yes, maybe I was expecting too much.
The world is just so common and we must have a forced war. Like in Utawarerumono (though in the end that series was good). Compared to the 12 Kingdoms that has a unique world. In addition the characters are rather normally seen in fantasy worlds. It’s ok. At least I found Suni interesting one. But not the Guin who has no memory (ok I like Phantom and this doesn’t bother me. Have also read the visual novel by the way). We also have this ultra-evil enemy at the beginning of anime which is typical concept. However, I have liked the animation of characters and water elements.
Another fantasy series I am followin is Erin. The wolrd is more interesting and I like to follow the life of Erin. As it seems to be a growth tale this might be a epic.
Of course in Erin we must have the comic relief characters, but let it be. The story goes a little slowly, but have found the “suffering drama” elements working.
I hear you; Guin Saga is somewhat hampered by being bowderlized (in terms of blood and violence) for the NHK broadcast.
By Erin, you mean the anime “Kemono no Souja Erin”? While I haven’t seen that one, I’ll be sure to keep a lookout for it.
Erin is bit boring, but it is still good,
the part in wish Linda points out that he must have been a king can be like a clue, also that coin that has his face on one half…