Mahoutsukai no Yome – 22 [As you sow, so shall you reap]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Mahoutsukai no Yome

These past few episodes I have been rather critical of Mahoutsukai, and rightfully so I would say. The new characters are lackluster, the plot/stories dull. A 7/10 series at best. It is with this mindset, this frame of reference, that I can see “As you sow, so shall you reap” is the best episode of Mahoutsukai across the board. Lets jump in.

Overall, Mahoutsukai did a lot right this week. The story of this episode, Chise’s family, was concentrated while still fitting in/progressing the meta-plot. In terms of animation, there wasn’t anything mind blowing, but there were plenty of beautiful or compelling shots. My personal favorite however was the restraint Mahoutsukai showed with the audio. As if finally realizing that sometimes less is more. The complete lack of music during the Chise’s mother’s fall into depression made the swell during the penultimate scene really hit. The flower motif as well, while already used once in the season, still worked as the colors set it apart enough. The only real issue I saw was in some characterization of her family, specifically her father. But I see no way to fix it without ruining the already good pacing of the episode. General goodwill out of the way, time for some specifics.

Continue reading “Mahoutsukai no Yome – 22 [As you sow, so shall you reap]” →

2011 Anime Retrospective: Steins;Gate & Mirai Nikki

by SuperMario, posted in 2011 Anime Retrospective, Mirai Nikki, Steins;Gate

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As per usual, you can check out psgels’ original reviews right below:

Steins;Gate

Mirai Nikki

Steins;Gate (White Fox)

It’s hard to discuss about Steins;Gate without mentioning its current legacy. Both tremendously popular among anime fans, as well as being a critical acclaimed hit, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to see its name among the list of modern classics. In a way, it’s part of the point of this retrospective: to form an opinion of a show in today’s lenses, and Steins;Gate, as I put it simply, stands the test of time. Having said all that, with this re-watch I can clearly see the strengths, and the shortcomings of this behemoth and while my grade remains the same as the first watch, my admiration of it has lessened somewhat. The main issue this show has lies in the way Steins:Gate can’t escape the convention of Visual Novel. The first half, in particular, paces significantly slow BECAUSE it tries to pair Okabe up with various different girls. Many of them, especially Nyan-Nyan and Feminine Boy (and just right after Wandering Son, this depiction of trans person leaves a bitter taste here) don’t feel like they belong to the main story at all and as a result they were discarded quickly after their arc is over. Moreover, the “mission” mechanic is so apparent later on when Okabe has to solve these challenges in order to advance the plot. It would’ve been fine but when he asks a girl to give up his father (yeah, really!) or goes to a date in the middle of high-stake drama (what the heck!), it just feels more silly than appropriate.

The second issue I have with Steins;Gate this time around is the comedy. Considering the drama to come, I have a sense that some of the comedy feel just off and don’t blend well with the whole picture. Okabe’s eighth grade syndrome is lousy and makes little sense in this second viewing to the point I had to wonder why any character needs to take him seriously. All the ecchi jokes just fall flat and like I mentioned a paragraph above, the recurring gag involving Luka’s gender is worrisome. There are some plot conveniences regarding Okabe’s ability as well (he happens to both create a time travel machine AND remembers all the time lines. Well?), but I’m not going to fault the show for that. On a positive note, I like the wash-out visual palette of this show and as a whole White Fox does a decent job production-wise.

What Steins;Gate compensate for those issues, however, is the brilliant and certainly inspiring execution of time-travel subject. Time travel has always pique my interest so naturally I have seen a fair bunch of them, and even then Steins;Gate still makes it right at the top. Those time-travel theories are well-researched and all the decisions they made make sense to me. Steins:Gate also explores the possibilities of time-lines and how small change from the past could lead to completely different outcomes to the future. Add those several times and the mystery, as well as the implication just keep tangle up like a giant spider web, but never at once the show loses its direction or confidence. The alternate time-lines have some well-thought-out outcomes, and all the plot progression is believable and relatable. My hat off for one of the best writing in recent years.

But I wouldn’t rank this show so high if all it does is well-research implication of time-travel, it’s the drama that makes this show so gripping, thrilling and ultimately rewarding. Okabe gets himself pulled into some serious conflicts, and the more challenging the conflict, the harder he pushes himself. The harder he pushes himself, the more we relate to his problems. He and Kurisu also have to go through some tough but believable development and I don’t kid myself when I feel I would behave just like him if I was in his situations. The stakes keep getting higher and the price paid just keeps piling up, but in the end I can safely say that Okabe has one of the best character development I’ve seen in a while and the cast has a varied personalities but each one of them reveals their deeper side throughout the course of the anime, and every pair have some sort of distinct chemistry that make them feel like a part of this lab club. The sequel will be out next season so finger-crossed that it can deliver the same magic as its predecessor.

El Psy Congroo

Rating: 93/100

Geek’s Corner: As I mentioned that time-travel is one of my favorite topic, allow me to throw some recommendations on the subject. Normally, the impact from time-travel can splits into 2 theories: 1) the consequences will happen in the same timeline, hence what you change in the past will directly result in what happening in the future (simple example would be: someone broke the vase, you time-travel to find out just to realize it was you who break it) and 2) the consequences will create a parallel timelines, and with the butterfly effect will result in complete different outcomes. Steins;Gate falls into latter category and I’d suggest checking out Primer and The Butterfly Effect if you want more of this theory. (Primer is your definition of mind-fuck indie film but it is hailed as one of the most realistic depiction of time travel. The director himself is a physics so he knows what he was talking about). For the first category, you can watch 12 Monkeys or the Spanish movie Timecrimes. They’re all rewarding, I assure you.

Mirai Nikki (Asread)

Here comes a show that *nearly* blows up on my face. I always have mixed feeling on shows about survival game from a bunch of psychopaths trying to outsmart the others. They provide some great entertainment, mind you, but with the plot-ridden development containing many quick twists and turns, the story can go off the rail very easily. Mirai Nikki has some good premises, about a group of 12 participants using their own future diary to kill each other. Seeing the show as a pure thriller, it was a bumpy ride with a small dose of ups and a big bag of meh. In the bright side, most of the cast fulfils their role. They’re nothing stellar, mind you, but at least they aren’t thrown-away characters. I like the fact that some characters, especially Ninth, are not one-off character but change her own role rapidly throughout the story; others like Seventh pair or Fourth use their time on-screen sufficiently. In the negative side, the story does get dull as it speeds on with plot holes, an intolerable plain male lead, some stupid decisions AND WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ENDING? I mean, the show really falls apart in the last few episodes with the world-blending subplot.

In fact, what keeps me engaged to Mirai Nikki is Yuno and her obsession with Yukko. She’s the star of the show and basically delving into her insanity is the one pleasure of watching this show. She’s the glaring example of yandere at its most fully formed and normally yandere traits can be really off-putting, but here in Mirai Nikki, she fits in with the theme like a glove. Mirai Nikki works as a construction to how an unhealthy relationship is form and developed, the way Yukko agrees to be Yuno’s boyfriend just so that she can protect him, to her over-reliant to him because she needs someone to obsess over. I also appreciate that while other shows display yandere character as normal at first and then imply something wrong within her, this show makes it clear from day 1 that Yuno is one insane bastard, yet Yukko still feels safe enough to get drawn to her. It’s the reason why the plot twist near the end works for me, but the same can’t be said with the redemption part in the last episode. You telling me she can go soft and learn happiness? LIKE HELL SHE CAN. It’s better she’s insane and stays insane.

I also feel like Mirai Nikki has a love/hate relationship (mostly hate) towards its female characters. In the show, female characters are often repressed by the power of men (Sixth and Ai from Seventh are rape victim for example, or how Ninth is chained up by Twelfth), and Yuno is an female empowerment symbol of a girl who takes matter into her own hands, a girl who would go extra length to be together with the one she loves. The issue with that view is that, there are hundred better ways to present women in repressed situation without relying on rape (I ask myself why rape? WHY), or occasionally show them in nude for no apparent reasons. Even with Yuno, as empowered as she is, still functions for the sake of one boy so for me it’s just the bad representation of female characters as a whole. As a sum up, Mirai Nikki has some thrilling premise and it’s still fun to watch crazy characters blow up other characters, moreover Yuno is the poster girl of Mirai Nikki (Boy. She deserves to be remembered fondly), but with the terrible whiny useless male lead, plot inconsistency that comes to pieces like a shattered glass and a closure that is just downright terrible, it just barely crosses the passable line.

Rating: 63-/100

Welp, what do you think about those two shows. I bet you have lots to talk about Steins;Gate and Yuno, right? Shoot them down in the comment. Next post, I will have a light watch with Working!! 2 and Yumekui Merry. Ideally, I’ll have the post ready before the start of next season. Till then, guys.

Violet Evergarden – 08/09 [Violet Evergarden]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Violet Evergarden

If I haven’t known beforehand that Violet Evergarden has 14 episodes, I would easily assume that this is the conclusion of Violet Evergarden. And in some ways, there is a strong sense of closure in this latest episode. This last two episodes have their full attention to the core development of Violet, that includes an extended flashback that makes it way too clear about Violet’s time with Gilbert, and Violet moping around in the present. I’ll be franxx that I’m not a fan at all with this extended flashback, in fact I consider it amongst the worst episode we’ve seen so far in Violet Evergarden. Its faults aren’t in the details. These sequences are carefully constructed, and the visual presentation is always at the better side, but these flashbacks add extremely little new things to the table that we haven’t known before. We already knew that Violet is a war tool, a killing machine many times before and the army beside Gilbert treat her like a tool, so is it necessary to have a random captain repeat that same point to Gilbert? We already knew Violet received the brooch as a present from Gilbert and it was the only object that remind her of him, so why repeating this whole festival night again? We already knew the event led to Gilbert’s death so I feel rather repetitive and dull to see the night unfold again. “Dull” because I don’t know how I should feel when the bullet gone through his eye in that Hollywood-tearjerking-inspired moments (It’s a lie. I laughed). The only new detail I learn is Violet indeed lives in Gilbert’s house, but then again it adds so little to what we already know. It pains me to say this but I consider the whole flashback a huge waste of time.

Episode 9, appropriately titled “Violet Evergarden”, fares better because we see Violet in a present day. At first, she’s in the state of denial, refusing to believe that Gilbert is gone for good (well, there is 10% probability that he still makes it alive, in which case I swear I’ll drop this show for good). And then she realizes she’s metaphorically burning. It’s important because she was merely a robot in human form before, and like robots she had no guilty conscience towards the people she kills. Becoming a full-fledge human is to feel remorse towards her sins. But like Hodgins puts it, Violet needs to learn about her dark past not because she needs to know what is wrong or right, but to embrace her scars as part of herself and keeps on living.

Apart from realizing the deeds of her dark past, her other issue has always been Gilbert himself. She’s over-reliant to her boss to the point of totally dependable to him, emotionally. Imagine what would Violet do if she learns Gilbert’s death right after she wakes up? I bet she’d lose it. She’d kill herself for good since her life before had only one purpose: to follow Gilbert’s orders. She does try to strangle herself in a state of desperation and does lock herself up for few days even after becoming a Doll. While I was rather cranky with the flashback, the sequence where she learns to get over it, for me, redeems the show greatly with many nice, warm moments that rely more on visual-storytelling than saying it out loud.

And Violet Evergarden knows how to pull an effective resolution to Violet’s conflict. Let’s take first, the letter from Erica and Iris to Violet. The first letter she has ever received. Suitable to the spirits of the show, that letter transfers those feelings that cannot express by words to Violet. In addition, Violet learns about the importance of letter – the meaning behind deliver those letters to its destinations, not unlike bringing pigeons back to their homes. And moreover, she receives a request from her friends, the people she has influenced for the better, and the people still care about her and think fond of her. Violet’s presence is there, she learns about the love for writing letters that bring people together, and the people that through her assistance, becomes more willing to embrace life. It’s now her turn to take that step.

After the Rain – 08/09 [Quiet Rain/ Rain of Sorrow]

by SuperMario, posted in After the Rain, Currently Watching:

We take a side road from our main romance between Tachibana and Kondou in this last two episodes, instead focus on each own friendship, short story Rashomon and pimple. Not that I consider Ameagari anything less than stellar, the show moves with confident pace with so much lovely subtle details. After the unforgettable event where Tachibana “somehow” caught a flu from her manager (or should I put it, an unforgettable night where the two umbrellas fall on top of each other), Kondou tries his best to keep their relationship in the safe “just friends!” zone, and throughout the course of these two episodes we come to learn what true friendship really entails. As much as I consider Ameagari a lean product, as there isn’t much fat in the storytelling and everything onscreen is there for a reason, I do find focusing on Haruka and the ex-captain football ace Yamamoto a bit off-focus. Haruka is a tertiary character so I don’t necessary care much about her inner emotions beside her chemistry with Tachibana. Granted she comes to learn about Tachibana’s mindset through Yamamoto, but consider the drama unfolds afterward, I have a feeling that both her, and Tachibana’s understanding of each other have taken a step aback.

And then we have Tachibana doing her literature homework. With Kondou’s fondness for writing, it’s a good opportunity for more quality time between those two. And indeed, we have. There are cute awkward reactions from both Tachibana and Kondou during that time, but moreover, the way the Rashomon short story weaves together to the main plot, ala their romance is rather impressive. The story is a moral tale about the young servant, while witnessing an old woman stealing hair from dead body, decides to steal rather than stay righteousness in order to survive. The lenses of focus here is the young servant’s attitude, and both Kondou and Tachibana say their own thoughts on how they feel about the servant’s action. Kondou asserts that if he were the servant, he’d stay out of the rain, out of all the trouble – signifies that when he has to deal with sensitive issues (like certain age-gap relationship), he would not do anything risky.  Tachibana, on the other hand, just contents with whatever decision the servant is about to make – signifies that she’s okay with whatever Kondou chooses for their relationship, that she puts his well-being over her own wish. The pimple, in addition, represents the youthfulness. The youthfulness that Kondou thinks he had lost a long the way, the gap between him and Tachibana; as a result; I bet everyone found it whimsical to see the manager got a pimple himself. He can always feel young again, it seems.

Coming to the festival, Haruka and Tachibana seems to be perfectly fine with each other until Tachibana spots Kondou, and things get out of control pretty quickly. Haruka feels hurt not because that all Tachibana’s attention is squarely to the old guy, she feels hurt because Tachibana won’t talk about her issues to Haruka like they used to, a clear sign of a broken friendship. I can see where Haruka comes from, when their friendship used to be that intimate, it’s tough for her to know there is something going on with her best friend, but that friend refuses to open up. Tachibana puts more salt to that open wound with “we can’t go back to how we used to be” speech. Insensitive maybe, but it’s the truth nonetheless.

Still back on the topic of friendship, Kondou meets his old friend, turns out to be the author Chihiro we learned for the past few weeks. And things were nice. The night was warm, the food was oishii and they picked up where they left off after 10 plus years like nothing ever happened. Kondou has a chance to open up about writing books, in which he still manages to not entirely giving up, and a further reminder of his long-lost passions. They get along well, and Chihiro’s declaration that got to me the most. “We’re not adults, but classmates”. Like the fight between Tachibana and Haruka, we learn later that there was a rift between them: Kondou ditched his friend on the trip to India in order to marriage his now ex-wife. The decision that singlehanded separates them into two different lives, and make them unable to talk to each other. But like how Kondou said later to Tachibana in a glorious super-Moon fashion, the friendship may grow apart, but what happened before still exist. Those precious moments they did share to each other never going to disappear, and friendship might come back around when they grow apart, and sometimes relationship needs time and space to grow apart to make it stronger. Maybe that could apply to this rather special relationship, as well.

3-gatsu no Lion – 37/38 [White Storm/Restart]

by SuperWooper, posted in 3-gatsu no Lion, Currently Watching:

If you had to take a wild guess at the atmosphere of these two episodes based on the above screencaps, you’d probably settle on, “Somber, with some levity near the end,” and you’d be exactly right. Given the typhoon that dominated this doubleheader, and the snowy theme associated with Meijin Souya’s character, it fell to Nikaidou and the Kawamotos to inject a bit of color into the proceedings here. That’s not to say that there wasn’t good material in the Rei/Souya match, or their ensuing adventure through storm-stricken Japan, but I got the most joy from watching Nikaidou celebrate after his post-hospitalization victory. While it’s true that 3-gatsu adapts its source manga in a straightforward manner, its careful arrangement of the Souya and Nikaidou matches creates a big contrast not just in style, but in their impact on the series’ protagonist. Rei typically alternates between viewing shogi as a curse and a beacon of salvation, but with these episodes, a new dichotomy emerges. In his match against Souya, shogi is a safe, quiet world unto itself; in observing Nikaidou’s game, it’s a raucous, jubilant affair that reflects the best parts of the real world. As he is right now, I think Rei would describe his ideal game as closer to the first of these options, but I hope that, given time, he’ll pick the latter.

The match against Souya has an odd structure to it, with little time spent over the board, and the game’s conclusion being told to us, rather than shown. I can’t say that I prefer this method, as if Souya is a “final boss” of sorts, we ought to see Rei’s defeat in full, so his eventual victory (hypothetically speaking) would be that much sweeter. But 3-gatsu isn’t a typical sports anime, since it treats the game’s post-mortem as more significant than the match itself. When Souya nods and flashes the slightest of smiles after Rei realizes how he might have moved differently, the show establishes a connection between the two characters, which is both promising and frightening. It’s nice to witness a bit of kinship between the current Meijin and the boy who has been following in his footsteps since childhood, but Souya’s life is a lonely one, and not just because of his position atop the shogi world. We learn in the first of these two episodes that he suffers from intermittent deafness, which forces Rei to act as the adult when they have to find lodging during the typhoon. The Meijin’s silent gazes point Rei in the right direction as they aim to leave the train station, so he’s clearly competent, but when you combine his hearing loss with a detached personality and possible social disorder, he’s also a tragic figure. That Rei is so drawn to him and his solitary existence is just a little troubling, given Rei’s own history of isolation and depression.

Of course, it was good of Kiriyama to care for Souya the way he did, and their cooperation during the storm was fun to watch. Episode 38 even puts a spin on things by reusing footage from the previous episode, but removing all the dialogue, demonstrating again that the two competitors have a certain wordless connection. After the typhoon has passed, Rei continues to think about their match, and even begins to study Souya’s old game records, which this show often uses as a clue that a character has discovered more fun or motivation within shogi. When Shimada delivers the news that Nikaidou is out of the hospital, Rei goes to the hall to await the result of his friend’s match, but continues to study those game records, still absorbed in Souya’s quiet mastery of the game. But as time passes, he sets his papers aside and looks in on Nikaidou’s match for a while, which I was quite happy about, especially since it meant that he caught the moment his opponent conceded. What followed was two minutes of pure exhilaration, as Nikaidou bragged about the new move he’d been working on for ages, and wondered at the top of his lungs whether the tactic would be named after him. Nikaidou wasn’t always a favorite of mine, but it’s tough not to like him when even Rei (who usually brushes off his rival’s weird behavior) bursts into laughter at his antics. Seriously, that scene may have contained his longest and most genuine laugh of the series thus far, and I hope he remembers it for a long time to come. Watching Rei chase the Meijin dream is great, but knowing he’s in for this sort of happy, colorful future is how I hope everything ends someday.

A Place Further than the Universe – 09/10 [Antarctic Love Story (Blizzard Arc)/ Partial Friendship]

by SuperMario, posted in A Place Further than the Universe, Currently Watching:

First, for those of you who awaited for my posts last week, my apology for the one-week hiatus where I just wanted nothing to do with writing or blogging. The fact that all the 3 shows I’m currently blogging were meh last week was a final nail in the coffin. For Universe in particular, can’t say I’m fond with all the forced drama these two episodes have been building up. Episode 9 explored the dynamic between Shirase and the captain Gin. There is some neat chemistry between the two of them, namely they all share the love of Antarctica and the mutual pain from the loss of Shirase’s mother. They also have an awkward relationship to each other, and I suspect it has more to do with them having the same personality. But instead of creating a conflict that naturally bring them together, Universe develops this plot thread by having the cast forcefully push them to confront each other. For me, the inconsistency lies in the way the show keeps selling that they can’t find a right way to communicate with each other, yet we’re given flashbacks dedicated to them spending time alone, flashback where the captain taught Shirase about the sky, and moments where they share their mutual interest over penguins and jumping rope.

The rest of episode 9 further underlines the length this Antarctica team could go to achieve their dreams. Last few episodes they highlighted the price those expedition members have to pay to come back to this trip again – all the broken dreams. This last week Universe stressed on the ship’s efforts to break the iceberg and move forward, quite literally against all odds. For Shirase, it’s a testament against friends who mocked her over her Antarctica dream. For the crew members, it’s a testament from Japan to the rest of the world for all the challenges they received – yet they do it and achieve it anyways. “In your face” thus sounds kinda mean-spirited to me, but yeah, the spirit is apparent there.

The forced emotional conflict continues with Yuzuki this week, who herself wonders if they somehow become friends over the course of their journey together; and forces the rest of the team members to sign a friendship contract as a proof of their friendship. If anything, it feels like Yuzuki just throwing an unnecessary tantrum here. She’s afraid that after this journey’s over, they will grow apart with new life and their closeness will be drifted away. You see, friendship is something intangible that it’s hard to put your finger on when and how much is enough. And it isn’t about those things either, since it means different things from different people. It’s more about knowing that your friends will have your back and stay behind you whenever you need them; about comfortably rely in each other whenever one’s needed.

We also get to see a day in a life in Antarctica throughout this episode 10. The team members get themselves acquainted with the new place and begin their routine of cleaning up and settling down to the place. I enjoyed the bits about finding the spot to defrost the chicken in the middle of this iceberg land and Hina’s note is priceless. The birthday cake at the end is a nice way to wrap up this little friendship’s drama on a good note, and with only 3 episodes left, let’s all see how life in a place further than the universe turns out to be.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 21 [Necessity has no Law]

by Lenlo, posted in Mahoutsukai no Yome

Hello and welcome to Mahoutsukai’s newest attempt for the title of “Greatest quality disparity in a single episode”. This week we have the start, and end, of the Witches sub plot, a silent scene with to much dialogue and my favorite Elias scenes yet. Lets jump in!

To start off, I have to write once again about Mahoutsukai’s new tendency towards disappointing first halves. The first 10-12 or so minutes of this episode was either pointless, in the Witches case, or just plain bad. Why even bother with the Witches when they don’t affect the plot at all and are resolved in 5 minutes? They don’t need to be in the plot, all they do is take away from everything else. They steal time that could have been better used elsewhere in the series, for no payoff. It’s not just the Witches Mahoutsukai does this with either. The two scientists, Adolf and Torrey, have no place in this story and with only 3 episodes left I don’t see them doing much to earn their place. I only harp on this so much because its such a waste and I truly think Mahoutsukai would be better without these side-plots/characters.

Continue reading “Mahoutsukai no Yome – 21 [Necessity has no Law]” →

Fate/Extra Last Encore – 06[Perpetual Engine・Maiden Empire -Queens’s・Glass Game-]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Extra Last Encore

In case you didn’t know this series was made by Shaft, this episode has left no doubt. As our heroes walk through a forgotten Madoka set piece to find the latest master. I admit that this may be a change of formula that I was hoping for last episode, though the two episode Master of the week setup remains. Visually it’s a busy episode with Shaft flexing all it’s muscles in providing odd locales but storywise it’s rather barren. It honestly seems that when I approaching a point where I can make sense of what is happening the story just suddenly veers back into what the hell territory. Something which has become quite annoying now as we are halfway through the series and I am so disjointed from the plot to bring myself to care about it much. The majority of this episode consisted of Nero,Rin and Hakuno just walking through the area while Rin throws down some exposition only to lead to Hakuno meeting Alice who proceeds to lay down more exposition. Today’s topic is cyber ghosts which is basically means that people can died in SE.RA.PH and still survive in digital space with just their mind and soul.

A convenient topic as the master this week is a dead girl who happened to become a floor master. Alice gave some background on herself this episode but allow me to elaborate because somebody’s got to set thing straight here and this show certainly isn’t going to do it. Alice was a English girl who was gravely injured in a WWII air raid and left in a vegetative state, however it was discovered that he body had magic circuits and she was kept alive for research purposes. She spend a few years in continual pain and suffering before he body finally gave out and died. Seems her mind was connected to the net when she died(Trying to make sense of the net existing around WWII) and she was left a cyber ghost wandering around till she found the Moon Cell(Big old supercomputer that runs Virtual world SE.RA.PH) SO she strolled in and made a contract with the Servant Nursery Rhyme which took on her appearance and became her only friend.

I told you the servants in this one get weird and Nursery Rhyme is a weird one indeed being a heroic spirit that represents childrens rhymes. Her real form is a book and she only takes the human form of her current master and it seems she can even have a different class or stats based on who contracts with her. In this case it seems they have made some weird floor reality marble with is like an Alice in Wonderland like paradox where up is down, left is right and time is all over the place. A neat idea and made all the more troublesome in that the world can essentially reset itself if the servant doesn’t like where it is going. What’s more it seems this place causes masters to have flashbacks to previous memories though here we mainly get cryptic nonsense from a girl called Amamia. Once again we get evidence that this has all happened before as Hakuno recalls memories where he oddly has a different command spell and of people he has yet to meet.

It would be quite interesting if Hakuno didn’t respond to that like a lethargic doll and I think that really is a problem with this series, the character simply not reacting much or responding to clearly bizarre events. Point is that if Hakuno, the one whose in the middle of all this, can’t bring himself to care about his own situation, then why should I? Once again the setup here is excellent as we have a world that writes its own rules, with a master whom you lose all memory of if you leave her and can have past and present merge together. Maybe if the cast was more interesting this could be an exciting prospect but so far our current enemy master has proven herself to be more interesting than the main cast. I do at least wonder how they will win when the rules are so turned against them and I hope the solution doesn’t come from Rins convenient access to the script.(How did Rin know that the Floor masters servant was Nursery Rhyme? There is no way in hell anyone could conveniently guess that)

Darling in the Franxx – 08[Boys × Girls]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Darling in the Franxx

Today on Darling in the Franxx…puberty? Well our cast learns an important lesson about respecting each others roles and working together to triumph over the death their predecessors met. And all it took was a monster spraying goo on the female pilots which dissolves clothing and the boys seeing them naked. I…sigh…really? Look Franxx we got to do something about this tone problem you got here. It’s like we have two very different shows smashed together into one with one side being a zany fanservice mecha show and the other being a serious exploration of adolescent with dark undertones. These two are like oil and water, they don’t mesh. Well unless you are Houseki no Kuni which somehow managed to mix serious and comedy without them butting heads. I guess in this matter it’s a problem of extremes, for when Darling in the Franxx is ridiculous, it’s ridiculously ridiculous and when it is serious, it’s deathly serious.

We have a chase where Zero two steals the clothes of the boys and girls in the bath causing hijinks to ensue which pushes one of the girls into the forbidden rooms to discover the objects left behind by previous squad members who are most certainly dead. Miki’s reaction to that photo of the old squad sure is odd overreaction though as she didn’t really know them so I don’t see what could provoke such a shock in her. It’s odd as to why these items were left lying around for the pilots to find as well but there is hints that this squad was given much more freedom over others and this very much seems like these items were intentionally put there to be found. To get back on topic, I feel Franxx should settle its mind on what it’s going to be as it works on the fanservice action “turn off your brain” side but that side undermines the show when it attempts a more serious tone. After all, those former squad members died in mechs with ass controls, tragic though it may be I just can’t quite take seriously the image of a dead pilot holding a girl to his crotch doggy style.

The story does have tonal problem but to give credit where it is due the character really are a saving grace. They aren’t all that deep nor that interesting as they are for the most part archetypes. But they do have great character interactions that really sell the commoradie that the kids have with each other. Each person has their own opinion on the situation and don’t react in the ways you would expect. The situation in this episode being the girls bright idea of placing a line of tape separating the house into a girl and boy half which is rather ridiculous and not thought out. Though they make the point that it was primarily Miku’s idea and the other girls stick with it out of stubbornness. So it was refreshing to see the voice of reason, Goro, be the one to pull sly pranks to try and show the girls how silly the whole idea is and how they could just go back to how things were. Zero Two of course doesn’t give a damn about the line at all and spends her time with Hiro regardless which does put her at odds with the other girls. Again it is great to see each person individual reaction isn’t the same, Zero Two doesn’t care that Hiro saw her naked, Miku is furious, Kokoro wants to forgive the boys but doesn’t have the courage to speak up, Ikuno honestly prefers the situation of having the boys separated(But that doesn’t make her a lesbian, come on internet.) and Ichigo just seems to want to teach the boys a lesson. These mindsets even parallel their partners mindsets who respond similarly. There are two things selling this show as enjoyable for me at the moment and that is the animation of the action scenes and the general character interaction. Even if the plot is confused on tone I at least care enough about these characters to see where it takes them. Something I wish I could say about Fate/Extra airing this season.

Junji Ito Collection – 09[Painter/Blood-bubble Bushes]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Junji Ito Collection

That is a surprise to see Tomie appear in this series as i originally thought her stories where to be covered in a separate OVA that is to come out. Now out of all of Junji Ito’s creations, Tomie is without a doubt his most Iconic. There are eight Tomie live action movies though their quality seems to be of questionable worth and Tomie has a whole manga omnibus with stories dedicated to her. Her general gimmick is simple, Tomie is a girl that cannot die and men tend to become obsessed with her to a unhealthy degree. Eventually those who encounter Tomie are driven to kill her, by obsession or just Tomie being a bit of a bitch. Then the monstrous nature of her is revealed as her version of immortality is a rather unnerving one. Chop her into two and you will have two Tomies, ingest a part of her and you become Tomie, and even her regeneration can take on nightmarish aberrations of mashed together Tomies. This story of the painter does a good job of showing what she’s all about and her character, namely a desire to immortalize herself despite being actually immortal and how people become obsessed with her. As well as her general manipulative nature and massive vanity. But as far as Tomie stories go this isn’t the strongest as she has better tales. In simple terms Tomie is like a Succubus, it that she leads all that come to love her to hell as they all clamor for her love but she can only love herself.

The second story is the most straightforward story to date with this series as it has a predictable setup. A couple crash in the middle of nowhere, encounter some strange vampire children and take refuge in a castle with a mysterious stranger. The only real inventive part is that there is a strange disease that is turning people into trees that bare fruit that contain blood. The disease ultimately gives an ultimatum, either die and become a blood fruit tree or drink the blood fruit from yourself and become a monster with an unending thirst for blood. And yet again the story ends on a non ending of the most predictable fashion. It isn’t helped that the anime cut out quite a bit from the story, likely to make room for the Tomie story, as there were more scenes involving the vampire children. Even one scene with the vampire children breaking into the mans garden of blood trees only for one of the tree villagers to reveal to a boy that he was his father, just right before the boy disregards him and rips the fruit from his branches. Personally I don’t really see this worth adapting as I would prefer something more haunting like the Hanging Balloons story though I guess this was chosen for timeframe reasons. Not that I expect that story would be given any justice but well…it would give me more to talk about.