Kanata no Astra – 10 [Culprit]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Kanata no Astra

I hope you watched the episode before reading this review because there’s heaps of spoilers below.

Kanata no Astra’s plot sure gets thicken quickly, as this week it drops two Earth-shattering (pun-intended) twists: the first being the disparity between Astra’s history and the Earth’s, and the second being the revelation of the traitor. Again, fair shares of great and not-so-great developments towards the Earth/ Astra plot. On one hand, I just love how the reveal doesn’t betray anything the show has built up so far. In fact, when the kids (and we) realize that the dead planet they tumbled right at the start was indeed the Earth, it all adds up in terms of significance. The journey has always been the journey from Earth to Astra, from one civilization to the next. If we’re talking about the leaf from ancient to new society, our kids walk that very step. Function-wise, this new flush of information makes sense how the kids came across the ship in the first place. On the other hand, Polina’s reaction to all that is just… so self-serious and I’m not sold one bit of that. Yeah, the Earth as she knows it might be destroyed, but if she aware about the comet hitting the Earth, she can figure out that they could’ve come from the new planet, right?

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Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 07-09

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note

Until the end of the season, Lord El-Melloi II will be adapting its fourth and fifth volume of Rail Zeppelin storyline. I can see why the director went with an anime original content for the first half as the first three volume would have worked better as movies rather than weekly episodes. It’s all builds up to a magical train where are Mystic Eyes up for auction, murders and Gray not backing down from a servant fight.

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Cop Craft – 09 [A King Maker]

by SuperMario, posted in Cop Craft, Currently Watching:

While I am all for show that moves at its own pace – thus having the length as they see fit, Cop Craft would benefit better if it fits the whole body-swap affair into one single episode in my opinion. I know it sounds contradicting to my usual complain of Cop Craft (too rush), but looking back to this case I realize that the plot isn’t at all dense to merit that much length. I don’t necessarily think of it as a flaw, either, just to say that the whole decision-making regarding which chapters to adapt and how long for each case have been… weird.  Still, our Tilarna’s desperation to take the crossbow back, and the realization when she wakes up to find a guy seeing her butt-naked (no sexual tension, but still… HAHA), are all hilarious moments. Even more hilarious when you realize that if they have done nothing, the result would be the same anyways (the crossbow being destroyed negates the effect it had). While this case might appear to be slight, imagine what devilish things could have happened if this magical bow falls to the wrong hand. As for me, the body-swap story is still a delight.

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DanMachi 2 – 8 [Killing Stone (Ephemeral Dreams)]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, DanMachi

Hi everyone. Everybody okay after that episode? I think everyone who watched this week’s DanMachi needs to take a moment and have a circle hug. Just some nice pats on the back, some nice happy thoughts.

Alright, if everyone’s feeling a little better, let’s talk about this episode a bit.

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Fire Force – 8 [Infernal Insects]

by Amunchet, posted in Currently Watching:, Fire Force

Well then! Fire Force is moving along at a brisk pace. Most other shows draw out the suspense of “whodunit” for at least a few episodes. Fire Force? Nope, it took like one and a half. Also this episode included the cat girl – and…it was well done. I found myself actually cheering for her character, despite absolutely loathing her for the past 7 episodes.

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Vinland Saga – 9 [The Battle of London Bridge]

by Lenlo, posted in Vinland Saga

Welcome all to another week of Vinland Saga. Sadly while it was filled with spectacle, this week shows that Vinland’s pacing doesn’t always translate well into anime form. But let’s take it slow as we walk through Thorkell’s fight, Canute’s army and Askeladd’s new plan. Let’s dive in!

In general, I think the episode looked fine. The CGI was of course the usual. Very noticable, and while not offensively bad, it still stuck out like a sore thumb. That said, we did get some beautiful cuts from Arifumi Imai, the man behind some of Attack on Titan’s best cuts. I wasn’t expecting him to show up honestly, I assumed most of Wits A-Team would be working on Kabaneri. But I am happy we did, because that log jump was beautiful. From Thorfinn running across the ships mast, to his almost floaty jump. Really, almost the entire Thorkell fight was a treat to look at. It makes me optimistic for some of the more emotional or action oriented scenes in the future. If nothing else, Vinland gave us some sick animation this week, and that makes me happy. Now though, onto the story.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba – 22 [Master of the Mansion]

by Lenlo, posted in Kimetsu no Yaiba

This was a rather slow week for Yaiba. As we meet the rest of the Hashira, the Master of the Slayers and the whole thing takes place in one scene. Still, there are things worth talking about, so let’s dive in!

Right off the bat, this was a very slow episode. Little actually happened this week, and the whole thing took place in effectively a single scene. Yes, a number of important things are/did happen during the scene, but a large chunk of it felt… dull. This isn’t surprising though as a majority of the scene was just introducing new characters. This is of course a historical problem for Yaiba. The series tends to ramp their eccentric personalities up to 11 on first introduction. We need only look back at Inosuke and Zenitsu’s introductions for evidence of this. The exact same issue occurred this week. With each of the Hashira coming off very strongly, pushing a singular character trait forward over anything else. This is decent for establishing the basics of a new character quickly. It’s just not particularly interesting or fun though.

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Carole & Tuesday – 19 [People Get Ready]

by SuperMario, posted in Carole & Tuesday, Currently Watching:

Cydonia Festival is approaching and our girls want to go out with a bang. That’s like, the mentality of every rookie band in their first big gig. The intention fails miserably though, because 1) they’re not the type of flashy band to begin with and 2) before them, Etergun and Angela’s over the top performance completely blows the stadium away. Also happening this week, we have the conclusion of the Angela stalker subplot, Jerry’s attempt to bring Tao to his political side, and Tao acting cool for a change. Overall, this is another typical Carole & Tuesday episode: girls on their episodic quest with a strong performance (in fact, this is my favorite song of theirs), the conflict is raised and resolved a bit too quickly (the stalker’s subplot), and at the end of the day, as I’ve said since the beginning of its run, Carole & Tuesday the series doesn’t necessarily aim for complex narrative or to break any new ground, but it goes for accessibility and can work as an inspiration for those indies who want to break out to the bigger stage.

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Dr.STONE – 9 [Let There Be the Light of Science]

by Lenlo, posted in Dr.STONE

This was a good week for Dr.STONE. A personal favorite character of mine was introduced, science progressed and everything just came together perfectly at the end. So let’s jump in to my favorite episode of Dr.STONE yet.

Starting off, this week introduces Gen, one of if not my favorite character of the series. Unlike Senku he isn’t terribly smart, and unlike Tsukasa or Taiju he isn’t terribly physical. Simply put, the only thing he can really do is talk, but boy does he talk well. However what makes him my favorite isn’t his personality but rather his place in Dr.STONE’s story. Gen is, more than anyone else, an audience stand in for the technology. He doesn’t know how the things Senku makes works, but he does appreciate them. Gen is there to stand in awe of the technology and to be the reference point for us the viewer. Seeing these impossible things brought back in a stone world. You really only need to look at his reactions to see it. The stunned silence and watering eyes. Dr.STONE does a good job showing his sheer joy.

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Mononoke – 4 [Sea Bishop Part 2] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Mononoke, Throwback Thursday

Hello all and welcome to another Throwback Thursday that actually gets posted on a Friday, because my schedule is terrible! This week Mononoke continues it’s terrifying sea story, everyone faces their worst fears, and I get to enjoy being right for once. Let’s dive in!

Starting off I will once again gush about Mononoke’s art. Every week it shows off something a bit different. Trying something just a little new, while keeping the almost papery look. This week however, as much as I enjoyed it visually, I don’t think the horror aspect really worked. Perhaps it’s a consequence of this week being much more upfront with everything. Or maybe the more… not really actiony, but dynamic nature of it? Regardless, Unlike the first 3 episodes, this one seemed far more geared toward answer questions than creating them. Towards establishing things than scaring the viewer. This doesn’t mean there weren’t some scares of course, they were just different. If the first few episodes were jump scares, these were closer to psychological scares. Almost existential ones, taking shots at each characters core. In general though, I think the previous episodes in general worked better than this one.

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