For the second episode in a row, Fire Force has quietly impressed me. Obviously the episode of the week would have to go to Yaiba (see Lenlo’s excellent post on it!), but Fire Force turned in an admirable performance. With the mess of Episode 3 still looming, I was quite happy to see an episode without much to complain about (and a lot to praise).
We’ve reached the midpoint of the summer season, and while plenty of new shows have started spinning their wheels already, Mix has managed to stay steady. Think of all the sports series that enter tournament mode, and suddenly it’s nonstop matches until the starring team either makes an early exit or wins the whole thing. Now consider Mix’s approach in these two episodes. One of them abbreviates a spectacular no-hitter by focusing on the series’ ensemble cast; the other divorces itself from the summer tournament entirely by dialing in on a middle school romance. This will be uncharted territory for some baseball anime enthusiasts, but even those of us who watch for the character drama could be thrown by these decisions. Mix doesn’t care one whit about expectations, though, having been written by a man with a time-tested formula. Though Adachi’s characters often seem to be mirror images of those from his past works, he clearly cares about all of them, since he’s willing to sacrifice tournament time to shine a light on even minor players in the overall story.
With this episode, Kimetsu no Yaiba has cemented this as the best arc of its run. For those that don’t want to read 1,000 words: It was great. I loved it. I’m going to gush about animation for the next 10 minutes. Let’s freakin go.
Right off the bat, be prepared for 3 paragraph or so of this, Yaiba looked phenomenal. Eat your heart out Fire Force, because you no longer have the best animated fire of the season. Now for the sake of coherency, let’s break this up into 3 sections. Pre-dance, mid dance and money shot. Pre-dance, Rui’s threads were fantastic. I loved the impact of these tiny little flashes of light, really selling the power. The best shot pre-dance for me is no doubt Rui just obliterating his “sister” and the effects behind it. This isn’t to say the rest were bad, it just had the most “weight” to it. Also managing to sell Rui’s mental issues with the scenes before and after it. His emotional distress and such. Enough about all this though, you want to talk about that. Head below the break, and we will do just that.
Welcome one and all to my favorite episode of Dr.STONE yet. This week we finally meet our main character Science, the natives, and Taiju takes a hike. Let’s dive in!
Starting off let’s talk production, specifically I want to talk about the music. You see, I think it safe to say that Dr.STONE has one of the more unique OST’s this season. With a strong focus on rap/hip-hop and mixing in some more “ancient” instruments like woodwinds and drums. It’s not something I normally expect to see in anime, but it’s clearly worked before. Just look at Samurai Champloo for proof of that. I think it’s a good mix to combine the modern day with the “Stone World” of the series. OP and ED aside, both of which I enjoy the actual songs of, this episode had some great pieces. One the stands out to me played during Senku’s scene with Kohaku. It’s short, but something about Japanese Rap makes it a nice change of pace from American rap. But enough of that, onto the meat.
Continue reading “Dr.STONE – 6 [Two Nations of the Stone World]”
Welcome one and all to another season of Throwback Thursday, this time covering the 2007 Horror series Mononoke! There is a lot going on here, so fair warning, this series is going to get weird and probably a bit creepy. But if your ready to come a long for a 12 episode wild ride, then let’s get into it. And remember! This is based off the last arc of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales, so check that out as well!
Starting off, I think it necessary to explain my mindset going into this series. You see, recently I have been burning my way through the entire Monogatari series. So expect to see a lot of comparisons between the two, with how similar the subject matter is. So much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if this inspired it. You see, Ayakashi came out in early 2006, with the first Monogatari novel releasing later that same year. Then a year later you have the offshoot of Ayakashi’s last arc, Mononoke releasing. With a style very similar to what we would later see in Shaft’s Bakemonogatari adaptation. That series finally starting in 2009. There is plenty of time between each of these for them to inspire each other in a myriad of ways. Which considering their subject matter is very interesting to me. But enough with the history lesson, onto the series.
Continue reading “Mononoke – 1 [Zahikiwarashi Part 1] – Throwback Thursday”
As the first multi-episode mystery, Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo does all right in setting up its case while having all sorts of Fate crossover from every series in its main timeline. From Fate/zero to Fate/hollow ataraxia, there is plenty of connections to make if you are an avid follower of Fate with the discussion of the two mages that the clock tower is sending over to fifth Holy Grail War and Kairi Shishigou becoming involved in the case. If you liked Sisigou in Fate/Apocrypha, then he’s pretty much the same person you know and love in this iteration, albeit without Mordred. Other characters like Reines shows why she is the equal counterbalance in the partnership between her and Waver. In her first case, she is shown to be witty and playful by enticing Waver to come into her bed for the sake of advancing her magus bloodline while heaping insults on his third-rate magical circuits. It’s not just her personality that she brings to the table as the mystic eyes that she processes is a necessary part in how the case moves forward. Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 04-05”
Um, okay. deep breath So, this show introduced a character who’s a walking red flag; a loud, wailing warning sign with the capability of turning any and every potential viewer away. And it somehow tries to humanize him in a way? The show tries to do the near impossible task of explaining his psychology to help us at least understand who he is as a person even if we cannot relate. Even though he is an out-and-out pedophile!! Does it succeed or should you stop watching now? Read on to find out!
Continue reading “O Maidens in Your Savage Season – 05 [Things That Changed Before We Knew It]”
I guess we can’t truly escape the beach/pool episode curse, doesn’t matter what anime we see featuring high school kids these days. As such, we have a beach episode with girls in bikinis and boys (briefly) having a hot for each other in a show that clearly doesn’t need ones. I must say that the sheer commitment for Kanata no Astra to embrace its anime tropes is something worth… pointing out for. I was expecting that the journey gets grimmer the more they go, so this Paradise planet/ island really caughts me by surprise, not in a good way. The drama in these two episodes, as a result, isn’t about men vs nature but more about the dynamic between team members themselves and their relatives back in their home planet. In a way, episode 5 is the first time we get a perspective outside of these kids and head towards their parents during the search for their lost kids. They are in a real bind as well as they are considering to go through the process of declaring them legally deceased. Except from Aries’s Mom who opposes the idea, the others are composed, too composed, in fact. There’s certainly something beneath the surface regarding (some of) the parents here, and with many of them have high social status (Ulgar’s dad is a vice-president, Luca’s dad is an infamous senator, Yun-hua’s mom a famous singer, and so on), they certainly can pull something as big as sending their kids for experiments, but for what goals?
Continue reading “Kanata no Astra – 05/06 [Paradise/ Secret]”
Even though the production values took a nosedive ever since episode 3 (and still isn’t recovering), and even though Cop Craft still has issues with its overall pacing, I have come to enjoy what the last two episodes have to offer. If you want to peep at the series’s quality in one single episode, all its strengths and weaknesses, there is no better place to look than episode 4, as it wraps up the first arc and quickly opens the door for the next one. My opinion on the first arc remains baffled to say the least. There’s undeniably many strong elements here and there, but when it’s told in that breaknecking-fast manner it fails to leave any impact. For instance, the prior chemistry between Tilarna and the kidnapped fairy, as well as her drive to save the fairy at all costs are all solid character developments. If only Cop Craft would spend more time to properly build-up that thread, the ending where the fairy sacrifices herself for Kei would make a much more powerful punch. Likewise, Zelada is an interesting antagonist, but through this rushed len he comes off more like an one-dimensional evil lord. Kei finds himself on the verge of death is interesting if not for the fact that it only takes mere minutes for him to get saved by Tilarna.
Continue reading “Cop Craft – 04/05 [In The Air Tonight/ Lonesome Vampire]”
Welcome to a surprising week of Vinland Saga! This was completely unexpected, but it looks like we have a week of anime original content to look over. We get a look into Askeladd, Thorfinn’s first few weeks with them and the life of a viking. Lets jump in!
Starting off, like I said, yes this week and seemingly next week is all anime original content. This was a big, but not unwelcome, surprise to me. If anything, this was the best place for Wit to put it. With how they reordered the manga chapters, this is the perfect place to add original content to fill out series a bit, ensuring they don’t have to stretch other content farther than it needs to be. Most of all though, these two episodes will stand as the first true test of Wit’s understanding of the source material. Normally, anime original content is not… the best. As nothing is allowed to change, so as to not change the main story. In this case though, Wit doesn’t have that issue. As their content is just expanding upon a period of time left a mystery in the original story. So, how does Wit do?