Lupin III The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – 3 [The Lady and the Samurai]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

Welcome to episode 3 of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine! Apologies for the wait on this one. This is the only series I dont have a schedule for so I want to wait to write until I know what to write, if that makes sense. This week, just as I predicted this week we meet Ishikawa Goemon, get a fun train heist and just a liiiiitle bit of romance. Just a tad, I promise. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, lets talk Goemon, because this man is a complete and total Chuunibyou. The way he acts and over-dramatizes everything, taking it far stricter than the situation calls for, is fun. The way he cuts into the mountain, or does a dramatic flourish as he cuts a hole in the top of the train. He just amps everything up to 11, almost as if just to look cool. But what makes it work is that Goemon himself seems unaware of this. He takes it all incredibly seriously with a great degree of sincerity. And the best part is that unlike a vast majority of the Chuuni archetype, he actually has the skills to back it up. One could argue this disqualifies him from being a Chuuni at all, but for the sake of quick descriptions I think it still fits. Overall, he’s a fun character in this wacky series.

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Fire Force S2 5-6 [Corna/Secret Plan, Time to Choose]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Fire Force

Ensembles.  Everyone loves Ensembles!  When your main characters are feeling stale, bring back some likable side characters, amp up the enemy difficulty, make some convenient plan using all your powers combined – profit.  Oh, and did I mention, change up the scenery with a trip?  This is basically Fire Force’s plan for the rest of the season.

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Fugou Keiji – 4 [Nothing makes a man so adventurous as an empty pocket]

by Lenlo, posted in Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED

Fugou Keiji is a ridiculous show, there is no getting around that. Yet this week surprised me by stripping away all of its crazy, ok most of its crazy, and giving us something… wholesome. So lets dive in and talk about what is Fugou Keiji’s most sincere episode yet.

As I said, this was a very calm and wholesome episode of Fugou Keiji. There was nothing overt or over the top about it. No money-based gags or super serious story lines, though it tease one at the end. It was just a focused character drama, a day in the life of our leads, and you know what? I think it worked. I think Fugou Keiji did some good stuff with Daisuke here. The growth isn’t huge, no sweeping changes were made, but it is the start of something. With this episode Fugou Keiji made the promise that Daisuke would grow as a character. That he wouldn’t sit statically just to be a gag for the show. And if the series can live up to that promise, can give us tangible growth for his character, I think it could be great.

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Gunslinger Girl – 7 [Protezione (Protection)] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Gunslinger Girl, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all to the halfway point of Gunslinger Girls! This week we go to Florence, appreciate some art and shoot some bad guys. All in a days work for a child soldier really. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Start off I want to talk about Gunslinger Girls production a bit, because I think it looked pretty good. For instance just like last week Gunslinger Girls opened dramatically, with a beautiful shot of Florence. Having been there myself, the opening on the Duomo made it immediately obvious where we were. The Fountain of Neptune only adding to that, setting the scene/location really well. On top of the setting though Gunslinger Girls also nailed the gunfights this episode. Every shot felt crispy and clean, managing to really bring you into the scene. The only real complaint I have about the episode production wise would have to be the cars. I understand that cars can be hard, what with the rapidly moving backgrounds and portraying momentum. At times however they felt like still 2D images sliding into one another and it really took me out of the moment.

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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 – 05 [A Step Forward]

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

The great episodes keep coming and hope this continues as we hit the beginning of the death loop. With the start of the episode we have the conclusion to the first tomb trial and as a particular thing I find of note is that Echidna didn’t declare that Subaru had passed the trial until after she planted the idea that his resolution with his parents was merely self wish fulfillment. It’s a particularly devilish aspect of Echidna to point out that the world is fake and suggest that the actions of Subaru’s parents were just how Subaru wished for them to react. In other words that the emotional gut punches of last episode was just Subaru receiving the responses he desired from his parents to remove his guilt. A tactic that looked to be working until Subaru to denied it completely as he could never imagine such responses from his parents. When we see the banter between these two characters it can be easy to forget Echidna’s nature as a witch and it’s great that she displays such shows of manipulation and ill intent. She never even confirms whether what she said is true or that Subaru was correct so we have no real idea if what we saw last episode of Subaru’s parents is indeed their true character. All we know is that Echidna declared the trial completed once Subaru brushed her accusations aside.
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The God of High School – 05 [ronde/hound]

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

Now that the Bride of High School arc has ended, we’re back to business with the GOH finals between Mori and Daewi. Their fight is flashy, fun, and brings the three main characters back together after a phase of bitter enmity – but it’s only a success if you willfully ignore episode 4’s nonsensical detours of plot and character. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do! No talk of Mira’s nanomachine-enhanced recovery, or the baffling encouragement she gave to Daewi just days after he beat her to a pulp. No dwelling on the disappointingly brief fight between Mori and Jaehee, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu user whose name we’d all forgotten before reading this sentence. No thinking about the fruit that Mori ate two weeks ago, which really should have taken effect by now, given how critical its framing was to that episode. It’s time to “get hype,” as the kids say, for some noncritical combat animation appreciation.

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Summer 2020 Summary: Weeks 2-4

by SuperMario, posted in Weekly Summary

Mario: As Wooper noted, our last 9 posts are about 9 different shows, which is something worth cheering for. The rest of the seasonal shows look quite slim, sadly. These shows below either fall apart after the first episode, or not even that interesting to begin with. At this moment I consider following only Appare-Ranman, and in a normal season I wouldn’t give it another chance. If that’s the case, next week I’ll look into some older forgotten anime and give them another try. We will see.

Houkago Teibou Nisshi 2-4

Wooper: After being delayed three months due to the COVID pandemic, Fishing Girls has returned to supply us with half an hour of feel-good angling action each week. “Action” might be a strong word, actually; these episodes have been fairly serene affairs, despite the characters’ colorful personalities. This show is the latest in a recent string of hobby-related anime that have nicely developed their central female relationships. It follows most closely in Yuru Camp’s footsteps, with the same emphasis on pretty backgrounds, rustic soundtrack, and educational content. Several moments thus far have managed to put a smile on my face, from Hina’s promise to catch lots of fish for her dad to eat, to the simple pleasure of eating orange slices on a shopping trip with her clubmates. It’s the diverse instrumentation that gives all these scenes their individual flavors; from ukuleles to marimbas to tin whistles, Houkago Teibou Nisshi plays host to a plethora of playful and soothing sounds. With every episode, the show deepens both Hina’s fishing knowledge and her new friendships in rewarding ways – I’m glad to be watching it this summer.

Kanojo Okarishimasu – 02

Mario: WHAT A PATHETIC MALE LEAD! Are we really supposed to root for this sad sack? He’s so pitiful it’s not even funny anymore.

DROPPED.

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Lupin III The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – 2 [.357 Magnum]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

Its time for another episode of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine! I have to say, its nice to not be on a rigid schedule for once. No weekly showings or anything, just watching and writing when I have the time. Enough about me though, you came here for some Lupin, so lets dive right into it!

Getting into the actual episode, this week we meet Jigen Daisuke, the gunman! I was a bit surprised it wasn’t a follow up involving Lupin in some way. However it looks like rather than following Lupin and Fujiko as a pair, Fujiko Mine is more geared towards Fujiko herself. So she is going to be running the show as we run around meeting all of the core characters of the Lupin III franchise. I am curious then if next week we are going to meet Goemon, or if it will stick to this core trio. We still have plenty of show left to meet the rest of the cast, we are only 2 episodes in. So I think it would be best if Fujiko Mine focused on fleshing out the ones we have now. Either way though I am looking forward to it.

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OreGairu 3 – 03/04 [Iroha Isshiki is the Strongest Junior, as Expected/ By Chance, Yui Yuigahama Thinks of the Future]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, OreGairu

Although the episode’s title is about Iroha, the entirety of episode 3 doesn’t really focus on our favorite girl. Instead, week 3 we get to see two more old faces: Hiratsuka-sensei and Saika, in much less significant roles they have in previous seasons. Especially for Saika as we see his usual “antics” with Hachiman and nothing else. Hiratsuka-sensei fares much better, especially in episode 4 as we eventually learn that she’s about to leave school. In OreGairu, along with its sharp dialogues, there is a big focus on characters’ glares and gestures. It’s all about the silence, the brief moment of hesitance which speaks just as powerful those spoken lines and monologues. We see lots of it here, even to side characters like Hiratsuka-sensei. Her gaze and her gentle smile to her Yukinon’s sister inform you a whole lot about their relationship. Or Iroha’s little-but-effective screen time, when we see a deeper and more vulnerable side of her: her fear (or shame?) of using people to get her way, especially towards the ones dear to her.

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