Twelve Kingdoms – 1/2/3 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Throwback Thursday, Twelve Kingdoms

Welcome all to our 8th season of Throwback Thursday, this time watching Twelve Kingdoms! A classic of the Isekai genre adapted in 2002 with the original Light Novel dating all the way back to 1992. It’s a 45 episode episode, so we will be doing 3 a week so we can maybe finish this by next season. Without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, how does this series from 2002 actually look? Well it’s a bit soon for anything definitive, but I am noticing some early inconsistencies. The first episode was a clear step up from the 2nd and 3rd, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone. The whole introductory segment at the school, the giant bird, the port, all of that looked pretty good. I particularly liked the shot of the water spirit, Jouyuu I believe it was called, processing our lead Nakajima. It was some surprisingly solid effects for 20 years ago. Sadly nothing the other two episodes had really stacked up to this. They weren’t bad, each had at least one well animated shot in them such as flying through the clouds at the start of episode 2 or some fights in 3. But they definitely had some compositing and detail issues, especially on the wide shots

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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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The God of High School – 12-13 + Final Thoughts

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Action, Reviews by SuperWooper, The God of High School

I know it’s only been three months since The God of High School premiered, but given the density of the show’s second half, it feels like it’s been airing since April. I’m glad it’s over, if for no other reason than not having to blog it anymore. There are only so many ways to praise its visuals while criticizing [everything else] without falling into a repetitive rut. I won’t be writing a standalone final review for GOH, as that would be just another drop in the echo chamber of the series’ negative reception. Instead, I’ll attach some concluding thoughts about the show to the bottom of this post. Skip to the end for the wrap-up, or read the whole thing to relive the insanity of episodes 12 and 13 – the choice is yours.

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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” →

Deca-Dence – 10+11+12 [Brake System|Engine|Decadence]

by Armitage, posted in Currently Watching:, Deca-Dence

Here’s the thing. At this point, I know that I have slacked off in posting these weekly episodic reviews, you know, weekly. And it has happened so often that it’s basically become normalized. But I PROMISE that I’ll be better next season! So, let’s just pretend that everything’s fine and all is forgiven and bygones are bygones.

Can we do that? Yeah, we can do that.

So, with that public apology and acceptance of guilt out of the way, let’s jump into the review! Continue reading “Deca-Dence – 10+11+12 [Brake System|Engine|Decadence]” →

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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Gunslinger Girl Anime Review – 57/100 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Gunslinger Girl, Reviews by Lenlo, Throwback Thursday

I really wanted to like Gunslinger Girl. Made by MADHOUSE, Directed by Morio Asaka of Chihayafuru and Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card fame, Gunslinger Girl has a simple but compelling premise: child soldiers. Little girls trained and conditioned to become assassins for the Italian government, forced to do their nations dirty work. Whether that be protection, espionage or outright murder, Gunslinger Girl takes something reprehensible and shoves it right into your face so you can’t ignore. And then it dives into how the girls themselves feel about their position, whether or not its so different from things we do right here in the real world. So with such a premise, and such a strong production team, what’s not to like? Well strap in my friend, because I have a few thousand words prepared just for you. And be warned, this review will contain minor spoilers for Gunslinger Girl.

(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 “Gunslinger Girl Anime Review – 57/100 – Throwback Thursday” →

Great Pretender – 13-14 [Snow of London]

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

We survived the wait, everybody. Great Pretender episodes 15-23 are live on Japanese Netflix, and the raws are already floating around online. Now we just have to wait for the fansubs to start rolling in like last time, and… What’s that? The guy who made all the previous episodes available hid his torrents and went underground?

Well, damn. This might be the last Great Pretender post on the blog for the foreseeable future. I’d say “better make it a good one,” but that sort of hinges on whether these two installments closed out the Snow of London arc in respectable fashion. Not to spoil the final verdict or anything, but “serviceable” is the word that comes to mind, rather than “respectable.” Hit the jump for my thoughts on why that is.

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