A Place Further than the Universe – 11 [Bash That Drum Can!]

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

Another episode of Universe that delves into friendship issues. While I can see many hiccups along the way, I can still say the ride is worth it. Not that I think this episode stands out, rather that I don’t know exactly how I feel about this episode’s resolution. This episode features my favorite girl, a bullying/ lousy one of the group, Hinata, the most mature girl in the group, and at the same time, is up there as the most stubborn member. She had an issue with her track friends back in her middle school, an issue that (in her point of view, I must stress) was entirely her upperclassmen’s fault. At the end, you would expect she come to forgive her friends and you would expect a happy ending, right? Except it’s not. The climax is… refreshing to say the least. I respect the show for going another way other than happy route, where every fault can be forgiven and forgotten. This climax may sound mean-spirited, after all Hinata isn’t exactly a hero type and Shirase is always mean as hell; but Shirase can go to that level of meanie because she does care deeply for her friend.

I’m not sure what to feel about Hinata’s personal problem this time. Universe claims that she already moves on to the new adventures and now has many true friends, enjoying life that those girls couldn’t have experienced. The way I see it, however, the only person who is still stuck to that painful past is Hinata herself. She’s the one who refuses to talk to her ex-track team members, she’s the one who doesn’t want to deal with the issue head-on, she’s the one who is still in anger despite how many years had passed and she’s the one who still doesn’t forgive them in the end. That is fine, I guess, since it’s her decision and she make it clear every time that it’s her own issue. But it’s kinda problematic for me that the whole group, even Gin, support this. You don’t truly hear the story in the other girls’ point of view beside the email (and Hinata straight-up refused to talk to them), and they mean good so I don’t think they’re deserved to get dismissed like this. And when the adults not only don’t sort these things out, but also act like things going fine. It’s another kind of bullying, isn’t it?

But the tough case to crack is Shirase. In this episode, I am constantly reminded that Shirase is overstepping her role as a friend. I understand the intention: for someone who is headstrong and always act like nothing happened like Hinata, the stubbornness of Shirase is the only thing that can make Hinata opens up. They had a history back in Singapore; so they know a great deal about the other’s characteristics. I get it but reading others’ personal email is A NOT OKAY in any situation regardless if you are friends, partners, siblings or even married couples. A friend can be a shoulder for you to cry on, a friend is someone who has your back, correct, but Shirase has no right to act for Hinata regarding Hinata issues towards Hinata’s friends. She’s being stubborn, she said what Hinata feels, right, but who she is to judge other people “You can’t live your life in this half way state forever”?

But the point is, despite those issues above, I enjoyed this episode for start to finish. I feel the anger Hinata felt, I feel great when Shirase speaks up and the group members produce some rather unique chemistry together. Universe has spent a great deal of focus to the friendship dynamic. First with the surprising dark and sharp Mari – Megumi childhood friendship, to Hinata – Shirase the battle of stubbornness in Singapore, to Yuzuki friend complex and now the hidden past of Hinata. Each of this adds something more to the group’s chemistry, making them a total delight to watch. The girls, furthermore, have a chance to explore Antarctica so every place presented here is a treat by itself, whether it’s a stream so fresh that you can drink directly, a mountainous landscape that looks like a chocolate cake or the daylight sky that is bright and vast. The background designs are made-only-by Antarctica and it’s magnificent. Only 2 episodes left, while I do feel Universe losing a bit of its steam towards this final run, I still feel its foundation is strong enough to deliver what it promised.

Fate/Grand Order Video Game review – 80/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Game Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47

 

I have been thinking of doing this for a while but now seems like a good time to write a review on the thing I have been obsessing over for the past few months. As I have no doubt made clear on this site, I am a massive fan of the Fate series and one particular part of it that has eluded me for quite a while has been the mobile game, Fate/Grand Order. I saw hope when it was confirmed for a overseas release but got disheartened when it was confirmed to be only for America with no plans of a European release. I originally intended to wait for a European release but as time went on that prospect was looking to never happen and around Halloween I caved and used an API app to download Fate/Grand Order. It has proved to be both a blessing and a curse in a way. A blessing in that it makes for a magnificent time waster and introduced me to a whole batch of new servants and lore never present in other Fate works. And a curse in that I have put a significant amount of money into this game, an amount I would be ashamed to admit. But what is this game like?

One particular thing that makes Fate GO stand out from other mobile offerings is that there is a higher emphasis on story and this is very apparent with the exceedingly long prologue the game makes new players go through before they get to the meat of the game. The story is told in visual novel style though with more limited resources such as each character only having one sprite with changing expressions. As such I am afraid that despite the extra effort put into it, story is not this games strongpoint. The incredibly limited nature of mobile as well as the games mechanics often get in the way of the story reaching the level of its contemporaries. There is a Fate GO OVA which should give you an idea of the stories quality and for a mobile game story it may be above average but as far as Nasuverse works go, it’s passable at best. Even without the limitations of the device, the story suffers from having inconsistent writing quality due to different writers for each story arc. Even then each story scene pretty much ends with “Oh no, monsters showed up and we must fight them!” The protagonist has no real character as they act mainly as a player surrogate and while Mash does grow on you, she is admittedly a rather plain character. Roman has some character but mainly acts as the story’s whipping boy for comic relief. Honestly when it comes to story I find that the games special events often hold the best it has to offer as it’s when they stop taking things so seriously and just have fun with the concept. One can also get valorant aimbot for a special code and gateway into the game.
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Fate/Extra Last Encore – 07[A Story for Someone’s Sake ― Nursery・Rhyme ―]

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

Thus ends the Nursery Rhyme two episode arc and that certainly was more confusing than it needed to be. The fight was once again, anticlimactic and rather lacking strategy wish as well. I mean our protagonists kept talking like they had a plan but it pretty much amounted to just climbing the tower and fighting the monster again. Then on off chance the protagonist managed to pick up a book which convinced the monster to let them win instead of turning back the clock yet again. So it’s back to the game of figuring out just what the hell is even happening again. From what I can gather it appears that the story has been jumping between two different Hakuno’s. The Hakuno of the past who met Alice, sympathised with her and got her to give up so he could ascend to the next level, promising that he would come back. Then god knows how much time has passed and a new Dead Face Hakuno is climbing the floors. But in the time he was gone, Alice has been consuming materials and masters in order to stop herself from fading away, resulting in her turning into a monstrous amalgamation that no longer remembers what she was waiting for.

So our Dead Face Hakuno learned of his previous versions interactions with Alice and climbs the tower in order to put her out of her misery alongside Rin and Nero. WIth RIn providing truckloads of exposition and Nero admitting that she has been through this all before while suggesting that Hakuno was her master back then too. While it has been apparent for quite a while, Fate/Extra Last Encore does have a problem with characters dialogue almost consisting of pure exposition and little else. After all, we meet Nursery Rhyme in this episode and all she does is spout more exposition and when it comes to character motivations that too is told by the individuals themselves. This may be a result of the Nasu being the author as it is important to note that he is a Visual Novel writer, not a anime writer. Nasu doesn’t seem to be taking advantage of the medium to show rather than tell, instead treating it like a visual novel where stretches of exposition can be more forgiven due to limited visuals and the binge nature of the medium. Even Gen Urobuchi has this same kind of exposition heavy storytelling but in his case he writes exposition so well that it hardly becomes an issue. Nasu on the other hand isn’t quite as good at writing engaging exposition and I honestly feel his strengths lie more in his character writing and action setpieces. With this anime it feels like Nasu is focusing far too hard on the mystery of the story rather than the characters going through it with may be the primary reason for it becoming rather dull despite the actual story being told having interesting aspects.

You can write the most interesting story in the world but if you don’t care about the characters in that story then nothing that happens within it is going to engage the viewer. Spice and Wolf proved that with enough character chemistry you can make even the most boring of subjects engaging just by the interactions between them. Nero, Rin and Hakuno just lack that as Rin exposits, Hakuno may as well be a walking plank and Nero seems to be there to fight, make small musings and say umu while being the fanservice. So for this show to get interesting, we need these characters to lighten up, the action to get better and more show with less tell. Cause I got to tell you, as for the mystery of this series, I don’t give a damn anymore. As a last note, Nasu you give Rin the ability to install Cu but not put Cu into the story? Cu could have been the perfect ice breaker for all these serious scenes. I would have loved to see him throwing Rin off balance and teasing her. Also we can install in the extraverse now? How does that even work?

Darling in the Franxx – 09[Triangle Bomb]

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

Today on Darling in the Franxx, death flags averted. I admit that throughout this episode I fully prepared myself to see Goro die. The signs were everywhere with him confirming to Hiro that he was in love with Ichigo, the mission leaving him stranded with a trolosuar, the hair clip as well as the base fully admitting they were ready to leave him for dead. But low and behold Goro gets to live another day and even goes as far as to confess his feelings to Ichigo. The beginning of this episode had me worried that this series was heading in the direction of KIznaiver but Goro essentially did the one thing the Kiznaiver kids couldn’t manage to do even after a full cour. As for my thoughts on it I am in favor of Goro nuking this silly love triangle Ichigo has going on with Hiro. For let us be realistic here, Ichigo is not getting together with Hiro as the boy in question has pretty much fully decided on Zero Two. He’s made his feelings clear about Ichigo and while Goro revealing Ichigo’s feelings to him have made him more conscious of her, I doubt he would feel for her that way. To begin with Ichigo’s feelings seem very much like a first crush kind of deal that is a mixture of admiration for his younger self. If we are to judge purely on relationship compatibility, Hiro and Ichigo just feels awkward while Goro and Ichigo are ridiculously compatible. Goro takes care of Ichigo when she’s overreaching while Ichigo stops Goro from taking on everything himself. As far as I am concerned these two are perfect for one another and I am hoping that Goro’s confession helps get Ichigo off the doomed ship that is Hiro and move on.

The monster of the episode is quite fascinating being what looks to be a similar to that of a human brain with does seem to hint that these monsters may be related to humanity in some way. After all they have never been referred to as aliens which suggests their origin is on earth and with the human experimentation that’s going on here, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say these monsters were inadvertently created by humanity. Not the most shocking plot twist, I know, but this show hasn’t been all that surprising with it’s plot direction. Well discounting the odd unexpected fanservice. EIther way we had some good action and I would consider this a pretty strong episode that helps flesh Goro out, even if the majority of his fleshing out is just confirming his romantic feelings for Ichigo. It’s also fun to see Miku start a catfight with Ichigo, prompting Zorome to take the wise road of sneaking off frame before sparks fly. It is hypocritical of Miku though as the whole reason Goro got trapped in the first place was due to them jumping in to attack.

I have always had this feeling with Darling in the Franxx that it would take a darker turn and that feeling still persists here even if shaken by the current episodes events. It wouldn’t be out of the norm for this show to turn at the halfway point as Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann did take on a more serious storyline as they hit their middleground. It’s isn’t baseless to think this show would go in this direction as there have been several hints to darker aspects and a general idea that these kids are destined to die one way or the other. Either in battle or what is a more likely candidate, shortened lifespan. It does feel like someone is going to die here but it wouldn’t be the first time for a show to hint at dark developments only to take the light road. I would say I will have my answer on where this story stands in a few episodes.

Junji Ito Collection – 10[Greased/Bridge]

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

Ugh, I was lucky I ate before that first story started. Not so much scary but very disgusting with the oily dirty house and that brother with the pimples…ugh. This story is more gross out factor than actual horror as there isn’t really a plot besides this girl living with her horrible family in a house so disgusting that it’s amazing that she has not run away from home yet. The big twist involves the father killing his son and serving him up as meat for his restaurant.(Holy hell, the health inspector would have a heart attack at this place.) The meat prove popular and the father starts trying to fatten up his daughter by forcing her to drink oil while she sleeps.(Um…how can you sleep when someone’s forcing oil down your throat?) Daughter catches on so the father ends up chopping off his own foot to be cooked. End of story. You may think I left out some sort of conclusion their but really, that’s how the story ends. no resolution. I originally thought the father would start hunting people to sell as meat in his restaurant and it exploding into some kind of pandemic with oil polluting the neighborhood like in the girls dreams but nope. Father starts eating himself, end of story.

The second story is equally lackluster as it details about a village with a strange funeral ceremony of floating their dead down a river and the dead calling to a girls grandmother to come join them. There are implications that the dead end up trapped on earth when the corpse falls off the mat it’s placed on and judging from the three funerals shown, this appears to always happen. Again there is no real conclusion to the story besides the grandmother being floated down the river and joining the other spirits. I guess the idea of the dead calling out for you to join them could be a scary prospect when you are close to death but there does seem to be a lack of threat here. The ghosts are not really attacking or being dangerous, more mild annoyance. The final twist appears to be that the girls recently dead grandmother reached out to her through her dreams to try and get her to stop her corpse from being floated down the river.

Fat load of good that did, she watched the whole thing from start to finish without interfering at all, no wonder her grandmother’s corpse looked pissed. These two stories have the common aspect of having main characters who are more just obseversors to the tale rather than participant which does happen often in his tales. There are plenty of his tales where the main character more or less acts as a tool to explain the strange happenings rather than interact with it. There sole purpose being to encounter or explain about the horrific things Junji dreams up. They are not the main driving force of the story, more an avatar to get an outsider’s perspective on it. Hence why his tales don’t really include an arc or some sort of conclusion for the character in question as the goal is more to expose the horrific nature of the situation.

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.

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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.