Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 – 04 [Close Foes]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Thunderbolt Fantasy

I’m glad to say that Thunderbolt Fantasy slowly goes back to its own charms, namely the witty banters between all the cast where they bounce off each other to reach a sort of agreement. This episode has two such cases. First, the villain side decides to team up together since they have the same goals: destroy Shang Bu Huan. Second, the allied side decides to cooperate because they also have the same objectives: to save Shang Bu Huan’s ass. The injured Shang Bu Huan is in the middle of all this and lurking behind the scene is the monk Di Kong and whatever his goal is. My suspect last week is proved wrong as Di Kong and the Princess of Cruelty don’t know each other, but there are two other takeaways from their meeting. First, Di Kong is far superior in terms of combating than the female assassin. He just decides not to. Second, what the hell happen to the Seven Blasphemous Deaths? I mean, is it still there? What if Di Kong is in possession of it? It’d be cool to see a guy who is adept of channeling toxic handles the ultimate toxicity sword. The more I think about it the more I feel he’s the only person who can control that evil sword.

My biggest enjoyment from this episode comes from the interaction between Xiao Kuang Juan and Cruelty-Hime. It’s the moment where their true personality is clearly presented. And in this case you can see how corrupted and how much of a bastard Xiao Kuang Juan is. Basically, his idea is that he wants to Sword Index returns to his hometown so that he can enjoy the luxury life he has. So teaming up with Cruelty-hime, they could potentially kill Shang Bu Huan and have a full control of the Sword Index. Regarding this ally, I’d say thay the assassin girl gets the shorter straw here. This guy is wise and I’m sure the moment Xie Yingluo has her hand on the Index, he’d double cross her to have it all by himself.

The not-as-bad side (Note: there’s no such thing as good side in thunderbolt Fantasy), on the other hand, is formed through the ever-curious Gui Niao and the reluctant Lang Wu Yao. I pretty enjoy the bits where he test the toxic (such refreshing method, mind you) and the way he comes up with the solution feels as effortless for him as walking on water (I love his train of logic here). So in order to get the antidote back to Shang Bu Huan, they need to retrieve the horn of the dragon, whom they happen to cross in the Wasteland of Spirits. It’s also hilarious to learn that the said dragon’s wing was chopped by Shang Bu Huan in a manner of us catching a fly. Gui Niao, being surprisingly honest in his intent, says that the reason he’s in is because he’s curious about Shang Bu Huan. He also tries to test the Lang Wu Yao, which the latter in turns test him back. Such bombastic energy and the newly formed allyship that you aren’t quite sure if you can trust the others are what essentially make Thunderbolt Fantasy such a fantastic show to watch. Thunderbolt Fantasy is officially back, in full force!!

SSSS.GRIDMAN – 03 [Defeat]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, SSSS.GRIDMAN

3 episodes in, GRIDMAN certainly surprises me in more ways than one. On one level, I really appreciate the show for its visual framing. There are many shots that are pure stunning, in a way it conveys the chemistry of certain characters that even without dialogues (the dialogues in this show aren’t very useful), we can have a real sense of the characters relationship and their roles in the whole narrative. This episode opens with such framing, with Akane standing in front of Anti – her human-form pet kaiju. The distance between them, the lack of emotional attachment tell you all about their relationship. Akane sure is fearsome, in a sense she can kill her friends for the lamest excuse and the way she treats her pets. There’s just something uncanny about a person with a gifted power who doesn’t take lives very seriously. But so far I like the way GRIDMAN downplays her stubbornness. She’d be unbearable if the show makes her over the top, which is most of the case for other shows. In any case, she brings Anti to kill Gridman, and because Gridman thinks that he’s a human (that remains to be seen), he can’t fight back and gets beaten down by Anti.

On second level, the way GRIDMAN explores its characters is unconventional, but fascinating. It’s not much about the depth of the characters, but more about their own space towards the world around them. That loss, and a potential death of both Yuuta and Gridman, shake Rikka and Shou to their core. In another brilliant visual shot (above in the screencaps), these two are framed through the reflection of different mirrors facing outward. Each of them feels guilty in different ways and succumbs into their own space. Shou feels guilty for telling Rikka about the possibility of kaiju being human, Rikka does for not picking up his phone. Notes that it’s a matter of them picking the phone and call him, but Rikka is to afraid to face the result. Even the way these two sits in Rikka’s base, waiting for Yuuta all night gives the same effect. GRIDMAN has a strong grasp of using their visual direction to transfer across what it lacks in narrative.

On yet another level, there’s a strong admiration for its inspirations: the tokusatsu shows, Gridman or Transformers franchise that at times I feel that I’m the target audience and a stranger at the same time. Granted we don’t need to know about any of those to enjoy the show. I have no clue about any of those and often the times I feel like I’d embrace it more if I know better about the original sources. Such details like the arrival of the Shinseiki Junior High Squad take a wink at the original but it’s fascinating nonetheless. These guys serve as a boost-up items for Gridman, which in turns balance out the fighting field between Gridman and Akane’s kaijus. While the second episode was a revelation with the true role of Akane, the third one keeps expanding from that universe and now it seems all the pieces of the board are in place now. Surprisingly, this one turns out to be the one I’m looking forward the most this season.

Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San – 3 [A Battle Without Honor or Humanity / Lost in Manga]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Comedy, Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San

Hello and welcome to week 3 of Honda-San! This time around we have real people, more customers and an official best girl! Lets jump in!

This week Honda-San dived a bit farther into the business side of things, showing us both the sales-people and the horror of pushy Japanese businessmen. Despite how bland business can often be in anime, Honda-San did a good job with it here. There was a good balance between actual educational content and humor I found. For instance I had no idea that the little pamphlets and additional cards and such were made by the salespeople. Yet Honda-San still found time for humor in all of this with Pest-Mask being this cute manager girl and then a terrifying section chief. I have no idea how Honda-San managed to make a mask representing death for a couple centuries a cute girl, but it did.

Continue reading “Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-San – 3 [A Battle Without Honor or Humanity / Lost in Manga]” →

Goblin Slayer – 03[Unexpected Visitors]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Goblin Slayer

It’s a bit of a slower episode, being more about setting up whats to be the main cast for the remainder of the series if the opening is anything to go by. So I might as well take this time to address the recent controversy this series has spawned. In most cases I wouldn’t really bother as it’s dumb and as far as I am concerned current real world matters should not be a factor when judging fiction even when said real world matters involve the author. But I might as well throw my two cents into the matter as it’s tangentially related despite my opinion potentially riling people up.(Provided said people even read this but I digress) So the low down is this, it seems the first episode of Goblin Slayer got a lot of flak for the rape scene in episode one. It’s shock factor, it’s propagating rape culture, blah blah blah, all that nonsense. I am actually pretty surprised as the reaction to this as this is far from the only rape scene in anime with there being much worse examples to cite, I didn’t see people getting riled up about the first episode of Psycho Pass for one. Now before people start painting me as some rape hentai enthusiast I will point you to my preview on the header bar as well as my first impression when I very much express my distaste for the trashy aspect of rape in Goblin Slayer and I still stand by that.

For if someone was to point at the manga and say that it sexualises rape then I would honestly agree cause boy there are panels in the manga where you can’t tell if the artist is trying to shock you or turn you on. So I find it surprising that people are reacting to the anime with so much volatility when it’s handled the matter much much better by implying instead of showing. When it comes to fiction, nothing is off the table provided it is treated with the delicate care required to make it work for the story. So I honestly just laugh at those turning up their noses at what is essentially a PG level scene of a horrific but tamely shown act. One anime youtuber even stated that it would give Emergence a run for its money to which I say “WHAT? Are you serious?”…honestly it’s absurd. Alright I know the futility of asking you to not read Emergence but for your own sake, don’t. For the curious, imagine if the author of Mahou Shoujo SIte decided to write a hentai doujin. For those who do not know that anime, imagine watching a slow moving trainwreck where the end result is obvious but you must watch every painfully contrived stupid event that leads to that outcome. So when the expected ending happens all you are left with is time you will never get back and feeling like crap for the rest of the day. Save yourself the trouble. My point is this, there is a time for picking up the pitchforks and a time to grow thicker skin. The Goblin Slayer anime is clearly in the second category so that’s all I will say on this.

If it’s one thing I like about Goblin Slayer despite his lack of dimensions is that he’s got his gimmick and damn if he runs with it to hell and back. It was delightful seeing High Elf girl try to lay down some exposition about an incoming threat to the world while Goblin Slayer proceeds to not care in the slightest up until they mention that they need to kill Goblins. His obsession with Goblins is a great source of comedy both inside and outside the show that despite how literally faceless he is, he actually becomes rather loveable for his stoic dementor. Which makes this new party that has formed a good dynamic as they play off his seriousness with banter. I must say the banter was quite good between all of them despite their characters not being all that unique, most playing to the trope of their race. I could have down with the flat chest joke though cause wow, how many times have I heard that one and it wasn’t even funny the first time.

I also love the small additions to the series like the bit of exposition at the beginning about the gods of the world fighting through dice and the extra focus on the different reasons people have for the origin of Goblins with Goblin Slayers remark about them coming from the green moon sounds rather poignant. Another tidbit in this episode was the Witch woman who talked to Priestess and her odd but sadly annoying speech impediment. I do like what is considered an explanation for her odd way of speaking in that being a high level spellcaster, she can cast spells with a single word so she must constantly mind what she is speaking out loud for fear of accidentally blowing the place to hell. That said her voice tick wasn;t the only annoying thing about her as I could ahve done without the camera foxusing on her tits and those boob bounces. They even put in the “Boing” sound effect, bloody hell. I said it before but CGI Goblin Slayer Model aside, I say White Fox is doing a fine job with the adaption. May next episode feature many goblin deaths.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara – 03 [No Rain, No Rainbow]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara

Three episodes in, Hitomi finally joins the Photography/ Art club, talking about deliberate pacing here. Irozuku remains a show that still hasn’t totally impressed me. The main issues aren’t in the slow tempo, however. It’s more that Irozuku has a fair amount of cliche plot and predictable storytelling that it fails to grab me as much as it could. Take the Photography members and their love interests, for example. In a P.A.Works fashion there are hints of some potential pairings within this group, although whether or not the president Shou will get interested in Hitomi remains to be seen. The clue we had at the end of episode 2 when he looks at her doesn’t get any development at all this week, which I prefer it that way. Since coming to this world, Hitomi’s mind has always been occupied by the colorful drawings of Yuito, thus some distraction like a third wheel’s romance won’t bode well, narratively speaking.

The main plot of this episode 3 involving Hitomi looking for a suitable club and then assists the Photography club for their events. Due to her colorblind, she takes a wrong star sand, but she still manages to walk on water by her own magic power before her friend Kurumi reminds her so. That moment where she walks in the fog sure is breathtakingly, really, on a production level I have little to no complain. Her friend Kurumi in this episode also walks (this time figuratively) a thin line between ‘tolerable’ and ‘too much’. The big question mark will be the first appearance of her grandma Kohaku – a character whose presence always felt despite she’s currently studying abroad. If I have to guess right now I’d expect her to be airhead and pushy like Haruhi Suzumiya and it’s her who will drives the plot forward from here to the finish line. The question remains whether she’d become too dominant that she’d sweep everyone away, including Hitomi. Hitomi, this is your show, puts more effort to claim it!

After that dreadful fall (which eventually leads to the club’s cleaning pool as penalty), she reveals to Yuito about her colorblindness. He figures it out anyway since he remarks on how different she uses her color. Thus comes an understated but rewarding suggestion from him, join the photography club for monochrome projects. Based on the last event, it’s clear that Hitomi doesn’t lack magic power, it’s her inconfidence and her detachment that mainly cause it so hopefully, little by little, with the help of her friends (and grandma), she’ll come to learn to love herself and love the world around her.

Zombieland Saga – 03[DEAD OR LIVE SAGA]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Zombieland Saga

In some regard my last comment of calling this zombie love live in my last post could be considered prophetic as this episode definitely went the Love Live route. Unfortunately this is also the weakest episode of the show to date. Antics before the halfway point were still fun as that manager still cracks me up with the best moment being him trying to spell Guerilla in english, screwing up on the second letter and giving up by writing it in japanese. There were other good moments as well like Sakura being about to give a speech to inspire the others only to get slapped and for someone else to say what she was about to say. Along with regular legendary Yamada Tae antics.

But when compared to the previous episodes this one fell very short which is done to two things in my opinion. One was that this episode just took itself far too seriously when it came to the idol stuff which some have deemed parody but to me it was just played too straight to distinguish itself as such.The episode title may be a parody on love Live and even the waay the episode played out was rather like a Love live episode complete with training montage and full crappy CGI dance sequence. But the only thing that could consider it a parody was that this was their worst performance out of three with only a little girl caring to pay attention to them and the joke about the inspirational speech getting cut off by a slap and another inspiration speech.

It could be my particular hatred for Idol J-Pop driving this opinion but I prefered the freestyle performances of the last two episodes. It was a lot more spontaneous and hilarious then this rather routine idol episode. In fact this episode to me could mark a transition point which could kill this series for if they truly wish to push the idol aspect then this series could tank hard and lose all my goodwill. So next week we have a hot spring episode which isn’t what I would consider a good way to win back the audience but considering that the girls are undead and they made a joke about wow they are likely beginning to stink seeing as they are undead corpses I see the logic of having a hot spring episode. But hopefully it’s more than just a hot spring episode and we push this series away for the pitfall of becoming another idol show.

Banana Fish – 15 [The Garden of Eden]

by Lenlo, posted in Banana Fish, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Welcome one and all to perhaps the weirdest episode of Banana Fish yet. This week we have Eiji stepping up to the plate, Dino returns and Ash… puts on a show? Lets jump in!

So startin off, this current arc of Banana Fish is in my opinion starting to drag. With Arthur dealt with and Ash basically shut down, yet very little focus on Eiji, it feels slow compared to the pacing of the first half. I am just not as interested in what is going on with this current arc, because the only character in true danger is Ash, who has plot armor. Shorter’s capture worked because he didn’t have the title of main character. Another problem with this episode is the comedy, and how it just didn’t work this week. With the story starting to drag a bit, the comedy stops being a tension breaker and becomes filler. There is a specific instance of that this week, involving a song and candy bars, which I will get to later. For now, just know that I loathed it.

Continue reading “Banana Fish – 15 [The Garden of Eden]” →

Asobi Asobase (Summer 2018) Review – 83/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario

In a year where comedy shows gain an unexpected strong showing, somehow a show about 3 cute girls and their pass-timer club emerges as one of the best comedy around. Yep, forget Hinamatsuri, forget Grand Blue, forget Chio-chan, Asobi Asobase delivers some hilarious absurdist laugh-out-loud moments for the ages. It helps that we were in for some trolling even before the series starts. Asobi Asobase is a prime example of a huge disparity between “what the shows is selling us” and “what it is actually about”, and for all the better of it. In all promo arts before its airing, and watching the deceptive OP that introduces the show, one would have assumed they’re about to watch for a comfy CGDCT. The truth is, where are those cute girls in the OP? It consistently displays how nonsensical, degraded our trio are and their situations they find themselves in.

Asobi Asobase’s main source of humor comes from how it introduces the mundane situation, then escalate it and flips the situation over to the most absurd level, usually with the expense of our trio. The jokes often land due to how unpredictable and crass it can get, and it benefits from a bombastic chemistry between the trio, along with the rest of the cast. In fact, in term of “stealing the scene” the supporting cast does a damn fine job with their personality is even bolder than our main girls. We have a shogi captain who goes at great length to teach the trio about “going all out for pass-time games”, we have a senpai who might or might not be a trap (my favorite recurrence gag), we have a girl who is designed like a Japanese classic painting, but she’s a total foil for our Olivia with her great mix of Japanese and English sentences; we have a live-in butler (or whatever role he is) of Hanako whose “special ability” is so bizzare we can’t help but tip our hats for its sheer creativity (it involves shogi as well), and guess what? The best part is that Asobi Asobase is crazy enough to build a proper backstory for his condition that involves alien and touching ass. Yes, Asobi Asobase is that kind of show.

While all the jokes are built in an absurdist manner, Asobi Asobase makes it ten times better with all the crazy reaction shots from the girls. The degraded reactions consistently betray their first cute appearance, making it hilarious in the delivery. Now, to our main three girls. We have Olivia, the non-foreign foreign girl who has a tendency to bend the rules (she’s my favorite character but I ‘d love to see her awfulness more), then we have Kasumi who is the least stand-out, but she possesses many hidden hobbies (chief among them: BL-fanfic story and her afraid towards men – see how contradiction she is) that it becomes a great source of laughter whenever Asobi Asobase delves into it. Finally, the star of the show Hanako (the simplest way to describe her is that she has a few loose screws. Like, seriously) who is basically responsible for all these stupid hijinks, and her rapid mood swing somehow just becomes funnier and funnier as time passes. In addition, not only the voice actress clearly kills it with their performances, I consider the VA of Hanako – Hina Kino a true breakout with her fearless performance that keeps raising the bar to the absurd level. Just listen to the “don’t give a fuck” metal ED to hear her voice screaming. She brings so much energy to this show.

Admittedly, some gags are weaker the others and sometimes it can cross the line between crassly enjoyable and mean-spiritedness (the portrayal of Olivia’s brother nerdiness for example) but that’s the thing because Asobi Asobase is excel at taking us outside of the comfort zone, or to be more precise, the comfort zone that CGDCT genre often doesn’t dare to go. Moreover, while other viewers see this show as “cute girls who is mean to each other”, I don’t really see any mean intent from the girls. While it’s true that most of the times the consequences go out of their hands, it’s also true that they have a blast of a time. And so did we watching and laughing at all the nonsensical hijinks from a show that simply doesn’t give a crap.

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 – 03 [Princess of Cruelty]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Thunderbolt Fantasy

Now that’s more like it. Until you see the puppets’ blood-squirting and head-rolling you know that Thunderbolt Fantasy is back in full force. On a narrative side, this season has been more straightforward than the first. The hero’s and villain’s sides are pretty clear-cut so far, and with this episode the last member of the promotion art claims his first appearance. This dude Di Kong is a saint. Well, nearly since he’s a travelling monk who help cure the toxic for no gain, even putting himself in danger. He makes one hell of an impression, but my gut tells me that he’s the guy not to be taken lightly. There’s still one missing piece in the grand scheme so far, and that is Cruelty-hime boss, Kasei Meikou. He’s the guy who is so fearsome that Shang Bu Huan had to cross the Wasteland of Spirits in order to protect the swords index (okay, official term Sorcerous Scoll Index) from him (guess crossing the Wasteland of Spirits becomes trendy lately, huh?). Really, I believe this yin yang monk fits all the bill as the final boss for this whole affair.

At first, I took it that Princess Cruelty (I might stick to that name to avoid confusion) and the sneaky Xiao Kuang Juan are on the same team. This episode makes it clear that they are on different agenda and don’t necessary see each other as an ally. Well, they do have a same goal for now (kill our poor Shang Bu Huan) but their super-ego prevents them from seeing eye to eye to the matter. Thunderbolt Fantasy also makes damn sure to let us know how cruel this General is. He blames all his killing to the innocent villagers to Shang Bu Huan, the cruel thing is how he sees his actions as “justified”. That action even ticks our “always cool” Gui Niao off. But so far, it’s interesting to see how much of a wild card Gui Niao is. Unlike the people in this side who already acquainted to the legendary Lin Xue Ya, these villains from Xi You know next to nothing about him and thus, the more arrogant they act the more they become Gui Niao’s plaything. One thing to remember, always keep this guy amused. Who knows what on earth we would do if he gets bored.

Thankfully, when it comes to Shang Bu Huan, Gui Niao’s definitely interested. As for our main hero, he barely makes it with the toxic from Princess Cruelty. The other running thread involves her and her temptation to use the sword Seven Blasphemous Deaths. It has such a strong aura that it tempts her to use it several time. Apart from “it has mind-control effect” and “it’s one of the most badass sword) we still know next to nothing about it. Which is good since now I am hyped. Now that our two leads Gui Niao and Shang Bu Huan finally meet (to the dismay of the latter), things would get more snappy soon. In truth, I kinda miss the characters bouncing-off each other that made the first season a gem to watch, but I hope that now that Thunderbolt Fantasy finishes setting up the new characters and the main conflict, it’ll delve more for characters’ interaction and killer one-liners.

Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai – 02-03[On first dates, Trouble is essential/A world without you]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai

This show has certainly been like a Monogatari lite with it’s banter between its two leads and so far it has proven to be a watchable affair. Episode 3 honestly felt like an ending to the entire series when it was just the ending of the first novel. I mean the main couple has gotten together, the supernatural problem is resolved and essentially any plot point brought up has been tied up. But it looks like this story is more of a episodic arc nature wherein each novel has its own self contained story instead of a overarching narrative. So I honestly fear that Mai may get left in the dust by later arcs and new girls only for the title of this anime to become as irrelevant as Index is to the very show that’s named after a Certain Magical Index. What makes for an interesting aspect though is that it appears these arcs are named and based on a Scientific theory. I am certain I am not the only one who groaned at seeing yet another explanation of Schrodinger’s cat. It’s a pity because the first episode just threw it out there without explaining it and that was fine because every anime fan has gotten a Schrodinger’s cat infodump at some point. But I guess we can’t leave anyone who can’t google behind as the second episode goes into it with more detail. However I will give credit in that at least here the theory is actually quite relevant and even necessary to understanding how to solve Mai’s problem as the solution dealt with the nature of observation. Meanwhile other anime just use the theory to make characters appear smart or weakly justify the existence of supernatural elements.

The theme seems to be continuing as well with the next arc looking to be based on Laplace’s Demon theory which in shorthand is a thought experiment stating that if a demon knew the location and velocity of every atom in the universe then they would be able to calculate what would happen in the past and future. So our next girl is likely going to be able to see into the past or future but this might be treated differently as these powers are normally connected to trauma of some kind. In Mai’s case this was connected to her feeling exploited and used by her mother and superstar status. Then when she went on hiatus from show business and went to an ordinary school, people unconsciously avoided her due to her superstar status. But because the atmosphere of the school had decided to pretend that Mai didn’t exist, she in turn literally became unobserved by everyone thus causing her existence to become invisible. The logic behind why she became invisible to people outside of school is a bit shaky what with Mai somehow taking the atmosphere of the school outside with her which caused it to effect the entire world it seems but well it’s supernatural so perhaps logic can be bent to accommodate it for drama’s sake. The solution to all this appears to be having Sakuto force the school to acknowledge Mai’s existence with his public confession which was an event so striking and memorable that people couldn’t possibly ignore her existence anymore. You could argue that the problem wasn’t really the school but rather Mai’s own mental state which could have been the entire cause of her issue in the first place. It’s possible that Mai wanted to subconsciously disappear from public eye and once she began to literally disappear, seen her fate as inevitable. Thus Sakuto’s confession blew away those feelings and gave her reason to want to be seen again.

So Lapace’s Demon, considering the context I would think it would involve a degree of inevitably with it likely being about the girl in question knowing that she would die soon but sees no real escape from it. Though that is rather cliche so perhaps it could be something like a girl so lost in past and future that she no longer can distinguish the present? Admittedly I am curious just what route this show could go with the concept but again I must stress that this girl should not overtake Mai as main heroine. There are far too many light novels which go the route of having a protagonist win the heart of a girl in a volume only for the girl to get thrown to the sidelines while a new one enters the spotlight causing the series to be a quest for the protagonist to collect a harem. I would like to think that Sakuto is better than those guys as he doesn’t seem to be as flimsy or oblivious as they are when it comes to relationships. Either way, so far this show is good and my only real complaints would be that while I enjoy the banter between the two leads, I feel they could be a bit more expressive as sometimes it can feel like a snarky back and forth between two kuuderes. Also it seems that for times sake quite a lot was cut out from the story from the manga and light novel which made certain scenes less impactful. I would say this show needs to develop it’s cast as well for these first few episodes focused on Sakuto and Mai exclusively while everyone else is just kinda there. The only exception being the science girl who is likely going to be our exposition device for various scientific theories. Besides that this show is a decent watch but it needs something a little more to let it excel.