Steins;Gate 0 Anime Review – 40/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by Lenlo, Steins;Gate 0

Before I begin this review in earnest, I have to ask, who doesn’t know about Steins;Gate? The amazing, beloved original series that Steins;Gate 0 is an offshoot of. Well if you don’t, if you haven’t seen the original, then stop now. Steins;Gate 0 is not worth it. It is not for you. Without having seen the original, Steins;Gate 0 will make even less sense and fall apart even faster than you than it did me. Because, long story short, Steins;Gate 0 tries to do everything and in doing so fails to do most anything.

Lets jump in!

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Steins;Gate 0 – 23 [Arclight of the Point at Infinity -Arc-light of the Sky-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

And so Steins;Gate 0 ends, not with a bang but a melodramatic whisper. Welcome to the finale of Steins;Gate 0. Whatever it was trying to do, it mostly failed, so lets jump in!

So with this finale I can definitively say, Steins;Gate 0 failed to live up to the hype. It’s not a bad series by any means, but every time it came to a crossroads, Steins;Gate 0 chose the wrong path. This finale is an excellent example of that. It chose to follow Mayurii going back in time to convince her old self to slap Okabe. But that wasn’t the interesting part of the story. To me, the story I wanted to see was the video getting made. I wanted to see Okabe and co surviving to the year 2025, using the Time Leap machine or D-Mail to always stay one step ahead. That, to me, is a far more interesting and unique story than what Steins;Gate 0 has given us. And considering how much was just… left to rot, it would have been a leaner story to.

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Planet With – 12[Behold, The Universe is Filled With Blessings]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Planet With

The madman actually did it. Satoshi managed to take a massive story and crush it into 12 episodes without anything feeling too rushed. To be perfectly fair this episode did need a bit more of a epilogue and if we had a OVA episode to just go over what the character did after this then I feel like this show would be prefect. As far as Satoshi’s work goes it’s certainly my favorite anime from him but that’s mainly be virtue of being the only anime he’s ever made. In terms of his other work I would say that it ranks third below Biscuit hammer and Spirit Circle. Though I have yet to read Sengoku Youko which also seems to be fairly highly lauded. For his first outing in anime i would consider this a great success, Satoshi has shown himself to be a strong anime scriptwriter. In fact he may very well be better at anime script writing than manga as he know how to make use of the time he is given. Satoshi was given 12 episodes to write this story and he made full use of them.

Truly I cannot sing praises enough and it’s a damn shame that Planet With is a underwatched as it is. For the fact of the matter is that Satoshi has made a better Trigger anime than Studio Trigger ever has.(And trigger certainly did try and fail with Darling.) Well on to the episode itself, it acted as a great conclusion to the story. While I wish the battle was more action packed it still was an exhilarating fight with the heroes pushing the dragon into subspace. The dragons mental attack on Souya was certainly a surprise until I recall that Souya is the one of the only ones who never got a sealing device flashback. The dragons motive was certainly interesting, compelling Souya to hate him and act as device to carry on the dragons sense of justice. The contradiction is certainly interesting as the dragon looks to know that his actions are wrong but still feels that his line of thinking is right and wants someone to carry on his will.

This and the dragons final dream of his human family goes to show that his time as a human truly did change him but not enough to truly change his line of thinking. I will admit that the music in this episode could get a bit overbearing cheesy, in particular when the people of paradise pulled Souya out of the dream. Nonetheless there were some truly great moments like Ginko’s conflicted gratitude towards the dragon for inadvertently saving her home by attacking Sirius and breaking down over finally being able to express it after all this time. I loved the design of the dragons inner self and the final dream of his that finally allowed him to join his race being of his life as a human, showing that the silly old man we all love could very well have had a massive impact on this story. Lets not forgot Souya pushing the dragon into the subspace hole with a clog punch and everything returning to where it all started, at the dead planet of Sirius.

The last thing that the people of paradise say to Souya has a strange impact, namely that we can view this story from whatever view you like. What is right and wrong here is highly dependant on the one looking and if you look at it there is a far amount of moral ambiguity in what happened here. But all accounts the thinking of the sealing faction and the dragon isn’t necessarily wrong, though there actions are questionable. Well this has been a hell of a ride, it had a slow start but once it got going Planet With never let up. Again i think it could have used one more episode, though not to tie up loose ends as they most certainly did tie up everything with the last episode but rather just for viewer satisfaction. I at least would have liked confirmation on Nozo and Souya’s relationship through heavily hinted and I think some cooldown time was needed after the climax as it really did feel like it cut off too suddenly. But regardless this was a show that remained constantly unpredictable and fun throughout its run with it being my favorite of the season.

Hanebado! – 12 [Step Forward Already!]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Hanebado!

The angriest show of this season has come to the continuation of the final match between Nagisa and Ayano and overall it does a decent job. It has something to do with this episode is amongst Hanebado’s most traditional sport narrative, so it focuses more on the action, and tones down the excessive melodrama. On the narrative side Hanebado also does a lot of lifting, first they shed light to Ayano’s Mom point of view. Second, Hanebado uses this match as the way for Ayano to understand the importance of teammates. Moreover, Nagisa does a lot of lifting as well. If I have any complaint regarding this episode, that is Ayano’s eyes are different again. It’s not the “shifting from innocent-Ayano to youkai-Ayano” I mentioned last few weeks (which I pretty much take it as it is), it’s that she has her Mom’s eyes this week. As it stands, Hanebado seems struggle to visualize Ayano’s emotional conflict, hence this inconsistency in character’s design. As a result I never feel related or connected to Ayano as a character.

This final match spreads out pretty confidently. As this episode is much more action-packed than normal, I’m pleased to say that the production value maintains its quality throughout. We can sense very well every sweat, every footsteps from these two. Yeah, the over-analysing can become bothersome after awhile. Nagisa decides to throw Ayano off by covering the court instead of trying for winner shots. It sounds like a plausible plan considering that Ayano is much less efficient in attacking than defending, and Nagisa’s overall stamina is much better than Ayano’s. It’s not that Nagisa is only aimed at defense either, when Ayano’s shot become weaker, Nagisa uses her biggest weapon: her smash to win the point. Long story short, Nagisa has her leg up in this match.

It’s there that Ayano’s confidence starts to crumble. She had been, and now still playing with the affection of her Mom. Losing means that she becomes nothing, everyone will eventually turn away from her. That’s why the encouragement of her teammates, and the audience at large, makes her realize another joy of playing badminton: to play it with friends. On Nagisa’s part, I like the moment where coach Tachibana warms her not to overtax herself. It comes from a person who gone through the same thing and he definitely doesn’t want Nagisa to repeat the same mistakes he did. Everything comes quite nicely together for Hanebado in this episode (even the ex-members start cheering for Nagisa, it’s one of those small touches that are more effective that the contrived drama)

Finally, we get to learn Ayano’s mom point of view regarding leaving her behind, and it’s just cruel and loudsy, as expected. Well, she doesn’t deny that fact, and I find that “leaving her so that she can play badminton for herself” a huge pile of crap. She’s obviously displeased when she hears Ayano denying that she’s lost (it’s something she will have to work with, next episode probably), but for godsake she’s a preteen kid and you don’t just walk away and adopt someone else’s daughter like that evil mama. And the fact that she knows it’s wrong but she doesn’t regret that? It’s the same as the argument of someone who having affair and still assert that they don’t regret it. IT’S BECAUSE THEY AREN’T VICTIM GODDAMNIT. Well, it could’ve been worse so I still give credits for Hanebado for addressing that moment of truth as best as their humanly possible. Even though it has been a bumpy ride, I still hope that Hanebado ends on a good note next week.

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight – 11 [We Are]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

It makes sense that after 10 episodes of dueling and auditioning, this week takes time to focus on the central pair Karen and Hikari. As soon as she “betrays” Karen in the cliffhanger last week, it soon reveals that the reason she does it is to not steal anyone’s else brilliance (especially Karen’s), even at the cost of herself. Admittedly, while I myself was expecting a bit more, this episode does have some emotional impact with some powerful scenes. By taking Hikari out of the equation (I swear if I ever come across with any document that has giraffe logo on it, I would dump it to the rubbish bin immediately), it takes a toll to Karen and effectively kills her joy to perform. Or as my sub says it, she loses her brillance. Which makes it all the more tragic because Hikari sacrifices herself in order to save Karen and the rest from it. As far as the narrative goes, I don’t think anyone of us is surprised at all these developments. Revue Starlight has been foreshadowing about this star-crossed love for quite some time and how Karen-Hikari relationship parallels with the Starlight story.

So it’s inevitable that we learn there is some more chapters in the Starlight book and it’s Karen the one who is willing to translate the whole book, with the help of every other member of the cast (poor Mahiru, always plays the housewife role). It’s the way for Karen to get back to the root, not only finding her own inspiration again after Hikari gone, but also finds Hikari through there. I also feel it’s more than appropriate that Karen’s walk to Hikari’s castle is accompanied by the whole case with their decor settings. We’re reaching the end of the stage production now, it’s perfect that these scenes play out like a play. Characters sing, characters function within their role (and their allocated spot) and leave Karen so that she can face her own issues by herself.

These stage-like quality, unfortunately, reduces our supporting characters into “roles”, so this episode we don’t feel them like real characters. There was one little moment that breaks that trend, however, which hit me harder than it should. It’s the moment when Tendou Maya implies, through her flashback, that when she sees Hikari’s eyes in one of their practices, she can sense that her eyes are empty. Hikari had been fighting and dueling even though her “brilliance” is forever gone, just barely make it back by the promise of Karen, and decides to win so that she can be an ultimate sacrifice. I already love the surrealist background of her palace, which vast desert and here she is, bare naked and all alone. That single image speaks more strongly than thousand words and I hope that, really hope that Revue Starlight can sweep me away again with its final episode.

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro – 12 [Just One Masterful Method/ Yuki-chan Bares It All]

by SuperMario, posted in Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro, Currently Watching:

As appropriate with Chio’s below-average personality, Chio-chan ends not with a bang but with two entertaining-but-unremarkable sketches. Many if the side-cast don’t make the cut in this finale (I kinda miss Andou and Momo), but we have Yuki at her most brilliant and Chio at her own worst enemy. Also, the way Chio-chan handles its fan-service moments is overall quite good. We still have panty shots here and there but most of the time they have ‘purpose’ (which I will get to that later). This show ends on the brief preview on future contents, and because we know all the characters by now, we can somewhat have a hood idea the details behind it. Also heads up for the “takes” that don’t make the final cut. It’s just another confirmation that Chio-chan doesn’t take itself very seriously, and in this context it’s for the show’s benefit.

The first half deals with the new pair Chio and Chiharu. As the “mad dog” tries to figure if Chio is indeed Andou’s love interest, Chio sees this as the perfect opportunity to raise her status to her kouhan. Of course things don’t turn out the way she expected, with all her “big talks” backfire on her at every turn. Chio, so in-character, throws off all her dignity and cries like a baby. Manana’s involvement during the skit’s final moment further makes it clear how lame Chio’s plan is and how “lowly” her personality goes. It’s overall a good segment, but then again it feels like Chio-chan is more comfortable staying within its zone than going all-out for this final episode.

The second half (which is effectively its last skit), thankfully ends the show on a high note. It’s Yuki who takes the spotlight with her urge to go nude. Her totally lack of reservation when it comes to showing her skin has been suggested before, and this time Chio-chan does just about enough to sell us her desire “to be with nature” without turning her into a pervert. It helps that Yuki shows her more serious, even intimating side when it comes to the issue, which is a nice contrast to her usual cheerful personality. What more, what she makes herself and Manana to do: going commando is a nice stretch of escalation. Then Chio’s involvement to this, with a nice addition from Madoka make this segment amusing from start to finish.

Overall, Chio-chan is an enjoyable little comedy show. It has rock-solid amusing interactions to the cast, and it always understands the mindset of Chio and Manana.At the same time, it’s a bit too modest for its own good. It could’ve been a better show if they can manage to escalate Chio’s commute to school into something totally crazy, but instead what we have is more a slice-of-life Chio’s road to school where sniffing at each other’s armpit or dressing up to school can take up half of the episode. Full review will come in a few days.

Banana Fish – 12 [To Have and Have Not]

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

Welcome to the halfway point for Banana Fish. This week Ash prepares for his final showdown with Arthur, he has some moral quandaries, and gets terrified by pumpkin pie. Lets dive in!

So, general stuff first, Banana Fish’s pacing this week felt a bit fast to me. Banana Fish covered a lot of ground, from introducing new gang members, to explaining Dino’s grand plan and conveying Ash’s moral position. I have said it before, but the fast pacing only really works in the actiony parts. When bullets are flying and lives are at stake. In times like that, the fast pacing helps emphasize how hectic things are. In the slower moments like this however, the fast pacing just feels like Banana Fish is rushing everything. For example, I would have liked more time with the new gang leader Cain, assuming he is going to be a semi-important character later on. It doesn’t hurt Banana Fish much, because the actual content being rushed through is still good. I just think it could have been better.

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Steins;Gate 0 – 22 [Rinascimento of Projection -Project Amadeus-]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Steins;Gate 0

This week Steins;Gate 0, once again, brutally reminded me of the potential it started with ~5 months ago and subsequently wasted. We have lab-member shenanigans, emotional heart-to-hearts and overdramatic time travel sequences. Let’s dive in!

So in general, Steins;Gate 0 worked this episode. It really did. The emotions were on point and there was a good balance of tone throughout the episode. The lab scenes, the jokes, the voices, the planning, all rang true to the original. There was heart in these scenes that up until now has been lacking. Most likely because, finally, Okabe has a set goal to work towards. Up until now Okabe has most just… existed in Steins;Gate 0. Drifting from plot point to plot point, with relevant things only really happening when interacting with Amadeus. With a set goal and his Kyouma personality back, the series finally feels like it’s going somewhere. Problem is, this is just to late in the series. We have one episode left to resolve everything, yet sat through multiple episodes of meandering nothing. It is, as I said, a waste of potential.

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Hanebado! – 11 [Because I Love Badminton]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Hanebado!

After the break last week (due to the Hokkaido earthquake), we are back with this final match between Ayano and Nagisa. While I can’t say I care too much about this match, Hanebado begins in a solid note. Having our two main characters flashback to their previous match, each questions the exact same concern: “what do they play badminton for?”. Although Nagisa and Ayano have different issues regarding their struggles, they all come down to that very question and I believe Hanebado nails it right there. Ayano plays badminton to win her mom’s attention again, while that match crushes Nagisa’s confidence to pieces. They all have good reasons to play this final match, except that… Ayano doesn’t take it very seriously at all. It’s just a bit of a shame that Hanebado portrays her as a one-sided boss who apparently need to learn her own lesson during this match.

Hanebado seems pretty comfortable now at showing Ayano’s multiple personalities. While previous episodes I have issues with her inconsistent character, this episode I feel that they did an alright job for Ayano, probably due to how they downplay it (still, watching Ayano turns from absent-minded mode to creepy mode in a span of an eye-blink is still… a feat to the eyes. Ayano’s mom, the person who is behind all this, is still… how do I put it… passive at best. It’s good that finally someone close to her (Elena) decided that she can’t stand this current Ayano so she confronts the bad-mom about it. Whatever they payoff gonna be, we will have to wait and see next week.

It’s Nagisa who do most of the lifting this week. Make no mistake, she regards this final match more as a match to overcome herself rather than to win Ayano. She carefully watches the video where Ayano played (which is implausible when you think about it. This is regional, amateur tournament after all) and she decides to throw Ayano off by not playing her smash. The match pans out alright so far, buy which I mean the first two points. Animation-wise it’s stellar, but they can’t escape two factors. First, the annoying analysis that tries to over-explain the situation. Why don’t you let us understand by the visual alone, Hanebado? Second, I’ve noticed for a while but Hanebado tends to place its focus way too much on the beginning points of the match. As someone who already been through this, I’d tell you that the starter points don’t always mean anything. Badminton is after all about the endurance, about momentum and about how you outlast the opponent so I just don’t feel the weight of these two points at all. The night is still young, girls.

Planet With – 10/11[Karellen and Rashaverak/Azrabarakura]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Planet With

Forgive me for not covering this last week but believe me when I say it wasn’t due to lack of interest. Planet With still remains a show that just tops itself with every episode. Though I don’t have much to say about episode ten other than it being another episode which could have acted as a finale to the entire series. It’s interesting that the names of Generalissimo and Sensei turned out to be Karellen and Rashaverak which are the names of the alien overlords in Author C Clarkes “Childhoods End”, a reference which truthfully I can’t quite discern the meaning of. I mean there is a certain similarity in themes of humanity evolving and aliens interfering with humanity in order to guide them towards a certain path but admittedly it could just as well be a small reference. The fight between the pacifist faction and the sealing faction was some good old mecha showdown action the likes I have not seen since Gurren Lagann. It could have very well have tied this series up with a satisfying bow but we have a time sip where we face off against the final boss of the series, the dragon on the dark side of the moon. Episode eleven really felt like a set up episode as it primarily focused on where everyone was after five years. Most ended up working for Nebula and even Nozomi is becoming a very powerful telepath. So now Ginko is a christmas cake, Takazou died choking on mochi,(Honestly thought it would be the steak to do him in) Benika, Hideo and Yousuke are working with Nebula with it not being established if any romance happened, Miu and Harumi spent college forcing Souya into the judo club so they could kick the crap out of him and bully him regularly(Might be a bit of spite involved there but there does seem to be a flirtatious vibe to it too.) and Nezuya has an alien girlfriend, because of course he does….man, I love this show.

It’s pretty heavily implied that Souya and Nozomi got together but I would like confirmation. normally shipping would annoy me but I like these characters too much and all hell will break loose if they don’t kiss at least once. I really must applaud just how well this show is concluding as this episode pretty much answers every lingering question one could have. What is the dragon? A member of the people of paradise who refused to give up his body and built psychokinetic armour around himself till he lost his human form. Why are the people of paradise helping? The person helping Souya is the older brother of the dragon and wishes to save him. Was Takashi related to the dragon? Yes, he was a part of his psychokinetic armour that fell from the moon and formed into a human being which the dragon ”dreamed” of.(Was it that a dragon dreamed of being a human or that a human dreamed of being a dragon?) How is humanity dealing with the weird incidents from five years ago? Still debated but most have moved on with their lives. Even as far as where everyone is currently at in their lives and how they developed has been answered and the only unfinished business is dealing with the dragon himself.

Standout of the episode was Ginko and Souya’s talk on the roof as it really does highlight how they have developed a brother sister relationship against all odds considering they are from two previously waring races. It’s nice to see Souya move past vengeance and seek out retribution for the things his race did highlighting that no one in this show is truly evil, but rather has their own perspectives which can clash badly. Even the Dragon seems confused and lost as he lost his place when his rare evolved past bodies, leaving him without anywhere to go back to. In fact the Dragon feels like he is in the same place that Souya was at the start of the series, having lost everything he ever cared about and lashing out. His actions in destroying Sirius were mainly motivated in his sense of justice and believing Siriuains were beyond hope. Now he himself is in the position of being beyond forgiveness, yet still being forgiven by the same race whom he deemed beyond hope. I admit that these things are rather cheesy, especially when talking about evolution of love but is feels like the right kind of cheesy for this kind of show. That is the thing, for a show featuring mass genocide, this show is remarkably positive throughout. Everyone is trying to go there own way in life even if that way leads them to make some awful decisions. But not everyone is beyond hope provided they are willing to reflect. Of course not everyone will reflect and that’s when you need to punch them in the face with a steel clog. That will put things in perspective…probably. Well on that last note I will say that if the final episode does not end in a clog punch that I will be greatly disappointed.