Fate/Extra Last Encore – 04[No Faith may King]

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

Well is it just going to be a thing from now on to have Nero take a bath in between floors? The large amount of Nero fanservice seems a bit of the excessive side and I feel like shaft is to blame for that. As a matter of fact now might be a good time to bring up cons with this series seeing as we have made it past the three episode guideline. So far I still remain somewhat invested in the story but I admit that we may be moving to a formula with how to approach the remaining masters. Seems that Hakuno and Nero will move to the floor, have an encounter with the master and his servent, meet some serventless master on the floor who clues them in with exposition before moving to take down the floor master. Then wash, rinse and repeat. Likely there is some changes to this coming but if this is to be the formula going forward this could get rather stale.

It wouldn’t be such a problem if the action was good but I find that Shinbo’s style doesn’t quite work well with the normally kinetic nature of Fate’s servant battles. It works when the characters are standing round having a chat so when it comes to exposition that this series is shoveling out heavily, Shinbo’s style works. But with it comes to action scenes, the quick cuts and odd determination to not show attacks actually hitting proves to be rather frustrating to watch. It might be rather unreasonable to expect Shaft to bring the level of fights Ufotable has trained fans to expect but even the likes of Prisma Illya and Apocrypha attempted to meet that expectation. For this however the style is clearly getting in the way of making the action work which is a same as the opening does show that Shaft can make some rather excellent fight choreography.

On that note I am disappointed to see that Drake wasn’t added to the opening and instead it remains being just Nero fighting off shadows. The song is growing on me but it does feel like a song that lacks an explosive chorus. Instead building throughout the song to just cut off suddenly. The endings are updated at least to show the master/servant duo of the week and the illustrations are quite excellent. For another previously mentioned con, the Nero fanservice is getting on the excessive side though I am surprised that they didn’t take the opportunity to show off Rin in the bath if that was the agenda. Look, Nero is such a narcissist that she thinks nothing about showing her naked body to people but having her walk out of the bath wearing nothing but a ribbon is just going far too far. In the first place, did I miss the bonding session where Nero became so comfortable with Hakuno in the first place?

Nero seems awfully attached for a servant that only knew her master for a day or two. Though yes this brings me on to my next con, Hakuno desperately needs some goddamn personality. All we got from him is that he has this vague hatred and a need to win the holy grail war. He still is the player character of the game and this is truly a missed opportunity to give him some characterization. At least we could have taken the route done with Persona 4’s protagonist which turned a normal mute player character into a deadpan snarker. Or even Gudako from Fate/Grand Order who has basically been characterised as a massive troll by supplementary content. (God I wish she was the protagonist of Grand Orders anime, could have gotten some amusement out of it then.)

Moving on to another con, we have Rin disappear and a new girl pop up called Rani. I am really quite surprised to see Nasu actually bring Rani into this as while she was a character in the Fate/Extra game, she wasn’t a fan favorite despite being a potential main heroine. Personality I always saw her being destined to join the backalley alliance in Carnival Phantasm featuring the unloved Sacchin, Sion and Riesbyfe.(Though maybe Sacchin wouldn’t be so unloved if she got her damn route in that Tsukihime remake that you should have been done writing about now Nasu!) Ultimately Rani’s purpose her is to shovel exposition which has gotten rather excessive with this series but we at least learn that this anime is set far into the future and that the digital humans within this virtual world may be the last remnants of mankind. Not sure what to make of that as I am still trying to piece together just what is going on too much to actually find the reveal all too shocking. I spent the majority to this post talking flaws but overall this episode was rather straightforward, new servant, new exposition dump and more questions.

A noteworthy aspect though is that this particular master and servant have done a completely 180 in how they were in the game. Before the old man was the one who wanted to fight fair and square which often worked against his servants style who is more accustomed to playing dirty. It’s a pity as i rather liked that dynamic in the games story but lets see just where this is going. As a last note it appears this series has two arcs, the first of which is this one named “Oblitus Copernican Theory” and a second arc named “Illustrious Ptolemaic Theory” which will be broadcast at a later unconfirmed date. It has not been clarified whether the second arc is a second cour of sorts though I am placing my bets on it being another 12 episodes. Some seem to believe that this is doing some sort of Danganronpa 3 Future/past arc broadcast with the future arc being broadcast first with the past arc answering questions. Though considering how unpredictable this series has been as of late, we really cannot guess as to what we are truly going to get.

Darling in the Franxx – 06[Darling in the FranXX]

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

Today on Darling and the Franxx, Hiro pierces the heavens. Darling in the Franxx manages to carry itself on the action of this episode as it was quite the engaging spectacle. Nearly a constant episode of action which is bad news for me as these are often the hardest to blog. Animation remained pretty consistent throughout and things managed to get the viewer pumped alongside the visuals. I compare the execution of this to How to train your dragon, not storywise of course but rather that the story beats here were quite predictable but nonetheless it was enjoyable to watch due to the presentation. Much like predicted, Hiro managed to fight off his blue tumor with the power of friendship, lust or maybe general motivational speaking. Judging by the tone it appears that Hiro has managed to kick off this weakness for good and from now on will be able to ride with Zero Two however much her wants. Which sort of cheapens the drama and conflict of the previous episode even if Hiro did almost die in the process. Thus unless there is some transformation or development for this whole sickness business this plot point is going to feel rather contrived when looking over the series as a whole.

But well, why be a killjoy about it. I did quite enjoy this episode and while I don’t quite care about the revelations behind this whole organisation, I am somewhat caring for the characters. The team’s general feeling of inadequacy when seeing the teamwork of the more experienced Franxx pilots and how disorganised they are when working together. Got to say I was surprised to see the obvious cannon fodder actually survive the ordeal when things got tough and seeing Ichigo start to get them all to work together to take down the bigger threat was quite satisfying. But boy, poor Ichigo. I knew from the start that her feelings for Hiro were completely in vain but even I felt for the girl when she claimed that she only cared for Hiro as a friend and to have Hiro confirm likewise. You got to have respect for her in how she put the mission above her own feelings and her display her is much like a girl giving up on the person she loves to cheer him on as he goes with another girl.

She did lose her composure upon thinking Hiro was dead but Goro was there to get her together. There’s actual potential for Goro to be a rebound for her though from her reaction at episodes end it seems she still hasn’t quite given up on Hiro. Coming from me, her ship is doomed to sink and I just wish she would move on so I don’t have to see this series try to pretend that she has a even the slightest chance of winning Hiro’s heart. They already established that Zero Two and Hiro need each other so anything butting in on that is just going to be an annoying diversion. Still I wonder just where this series is heading now that the most pressing issue has been dealt with. Now that Hiro is Zero Twos official partner and has survived three runs its up in the air on just where they might take it. I see two paths, one where the series focuses on fleshing out the other members of the squad with individual character episodes or a path of delving into the mystery of the whole organization they work for. The second option is more endgame material though so I think the cast is going to get more development…provided they don’t dwell on Ichigo’s feelings and attempt another Kiznaiver situation of just love troubles. Relationship metaphors using mecha symbolism I can get behind. Teenagers getting all bent out of shape over love and yet still refusing to communicate is something I have come to loath.

Junji Ito Collection – 07[Used Record/Town of No Roads]

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

This has to be the weirdest episode of this show yet. The first story was rather standard, namely about a record that causes people to become obsessed with it upon listening and seems to lead to the owner’s death. Not much to say about this one as what you see is what you get. I would say the escalation was lopsided as the girl killed her friend over it within minutes of the start of the episode. Which does make it seem like a chunk of the story was missing. And yet again the story just cuts off abruptly without much of a conclusion. The only thing we learn is that the record was somehow made by a singer after she died and the story suggests that it has been passing from hand to hand, killing those it comes into contact with.

Then we have the second story and in this case a large chunk of the story is actually missing. I previously didn’t focus on the adaption of this series much as I have come to believe that even with top tier production values, i don’t think Junji Ito’s stories can really work outside of their medium, at least not without significant adaptation decay. But this is one time were I really think the adaption of this story was mishandled. For some remarkably odd reason they decided to cut out the entire beginning of this story and have it start right in the middle of the story. Watching this was a bizarre experience as I as somewhat reminded of Mirai Nikki with the girls trip to her aunt’s house becoming more and more surreal. The story itself starts off on a confusing not by citing Socrates and some method of appearing in people’s dreams by whispering in their ear as they slept. Let me fill in the blanks here. Basically a boy was sneaking into this girls room at night through her window and things grow dire when this boy is mysteriously killed. Her family suddenly grows concerned about her and mention that they saw the boy in her room that night. What follows is her family growing increasingly paranoid and concerned over her. So much that when she returns home she is integrated over where she has been. The anime starts at the height of this escalation where he parents just have disregarded any sense of her privacy at all.

The idea is actually rather fascinating with the center of the town becoming a mad place where people’s privacy is nonexistent. Strangers walk through other people’s houses and even the act of locking ones door is enough to incite a mob to attack your house. It has become the social norm to have no privacy whatsoever brought to light by the girls aunt who walks around her own peephole filled house topless(If you watched the crunchyroll broadcast this was censored and she was given a sports bra. Odd that, violence is ok but boobs are not?) I do find having my privacy just abandoned and being constantly watched to be a terrifying prospect but this story takes it a step too far with weird eye monsters and of all things, jack the ripper? Much like many of Junji Ito’s other works we have a foundation for a good story but it really hasn’t been brought out to its full potential and that does seem to be a very recurring theme with this series.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 19 [Any port in a storm]

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

Hello and welcome to a very… contentious episode of Mahoutsukai, at least for me. This week we have two halves of the same episode, with wildly different tones and quality. The first half being inconsistent and dull, while the second is interesting and successfully, but slowly, ramps up its tension. Overall concerning, but lets jump in.

First up, I want to talk about Mahoutsukai’s tone this week. Specifically how ridiculously all over the place it is. I had no idea how to feel about this episode as we go from brutal surgery, to jokey side characters, to dream sequence and back to silly scientists. During the first half at least, nothing was consistent. There was no slow progression, just fast cuts up and down the spectrum. Add to that the general flop of the comedy in the first half, pretty much any scene with the scientists, and it just feels lacking. Easily the worst opening/12 minutes of Mahoutsukai across all episodes. Even the time with Cartaphilus in the dream felt lacking. Like it was condescend, that information was cut for the sake of time. It happens in every adaptation, but this particularly bad timing.

Continue reading “Mahoutsukai no Yome – 19 [Any port in a storm]” →

After the Rain – 06 [Fine Rain]

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

This week is another light week in terms of central romance development between our leads, as the first half spends its time to Haruka, Tachibana’s childhood friend. Thank God, even with this segment that feels more like a side story, Ameagari still continues to hold up very well. Haruka always feels that she is left behind Tachibana, both in the field and in their relationship. It’s not just a figure of speech, as in one flashback we can clearly see Tachibana running ahead while poor Haruka following behind. Their relationship has been stalled since Tachibana left the track team duo to her injury. For Tachibana, she temporary shuts everything that reminds of track team, of the life she once felt belong to. Haruka feels the distance growing between them, and while there is argument on whether or not Haruka has a “romantic feeling” to Tachibana, it’s clear that she’s hurt that Tachibana seems to only regards her as “running friend”, and nothing more. From those flashbacks from Haruka (which are lovely, by the way, given we are treated to see Tachibana the middle-scholler and Tachibana the primary schooler), she has been admiring Tachibana from a long time, and their relationship had been tested once, briefly after she had to move to another school. And now she feels like it’s being tested again.

In defence for Tachibana though, I think she doesn’t think that much. She’s just too occupied to win the heart of Kondou. She again moves on to the new direction, leaves Haruka behind, and she’s afraid of Tachibana’s slipping out of her hands again. I guess both of them now are dealing with their own pains, Tachibana from not be able to run again and see everyone enjoys the things she once loved. In order to keep their friendship together, they just need to be honest together and the letter in the end (with the lucky but ugly charm Mukihiko to boost) is the right step into the right direction of being honest to each other. On other notes, I greatly appreciate the visual-storytelling of Ameagari, showing us the normal day of Tachibana missing her bus and walking all the way to the station, and later her sharing an umbrella with a stranger in a silent, quiet manner. The show is confident enough to just let the visual do the talking, assisted greatly by the wonderful violin score that I swear I could listen to all day. Even in the slow episode like this, there’s so much to love in this beautiful and tasteful show. Rain in Yokohama has never been this attractive.

In the latter half, we’re back to our duo Tachibana and the manager as she spots him in her local library. Her attempt to know more about Kondou’s taste proves to be in vain as he refuses to recommend books to Tachibana, prompt her to pick Botchan (arguably one of the most popular novels in Japan), and photobook about running (love it!). But his attitude changes when he sees the book written by Chihiro Kujo, which my guess for now is his ex-wife, or the person who had the same writing dream some twenty years ago. The latter especially could prove to be interesting, as this episode once again forces our main leads to look back on their past relationships, about their own shattered ambitions, in order to make sense of who they are now and what they really want to do. I am pretty much on board with that.

Violet Evergarden – 06 [Somewhere, Under a Starry Sky]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Violet Evergarden

This episode of Violet Evergarden, Violet learns the feeling of loneliness, AND I find myself largely indifferent to it. Not a bad episode by all mean but when the show makes same old beats and adds little thing to the table, it doesn’t leave much lasting impact. Let’s get to the positives first, I really enjoy this new setting Justilia Province, a mountainous place with cable cars, dome and star observatory. This episode also marks the first time that Violet doesn’t ghost-write other people’s feeling, in fact she transcripts whatever materials the guy she assigned with recites. No doubt that Violet is the perfect person to pull this job off, as writing at the speed of sound is always her speciality. This week is in fact, the story of her partner, Leon, as he able to move forward with the help of Violet. I’m not that keen of his story to be honest. While his backstory about his Mom abandoned him has its merits, the way Violet Evergarden brute-forces those details to our ears in the form of these boys in the library is just…bad storytelling. It was obvious and dull to the point of dragging his backstory down. Remember Violet Evergarden, viewers don’t like to be spoonfed because it’s just an indication that you don’t trust us enough. Jeez

As for the story, Leon has always felt awkward towards girls in general and the Dolls in particular, mostly because of his issues with his own Mother and his current status within the Manuscript Department. His way of view changes the moment he meets Violet though, since Violet is neither your regular Doll, nor your regular girl. Despite his low-esteemed, she sees him as an equal, and remarks that they are similar in many ways. Our young Leon opens his heart for once and invites her to watch the Ally Comet, which appears only one every 200 years. And from the moments they watch the comet together he decides to travel the world to learn new things and hopes to see Violet again, if ever. The development is frankly, conventional and predictable but I have to note that this is the first time someone has a bit of romantic feeling towards our Violet.

As for Violet, her range of emotion has varied gradually from when we first met her and this episode is the first time she blends in well with the rest of group. Her expression becomes more natural and she can clearly express many things that she’d have troubled addressing before, mostly when it comes to her feeling with Gilbert. She claims that she only knows loneliness on the conceptual level, but by Leon’s observation she indeed feels lonely. Despite my lukewarm feeling overt his episode, I still think Violet Evergarden goes in the right direction: episodic nature about people who affects by Violet’s letters with the steady development of Violet as its cornerstone. Step by step, Violet grows right before our eyes.

A Place Further than the Universe – 07 [The Ship That Sees the Universe]

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

“I boarded this ship to do catchy, witty, sensational reporting! I want to open the treasure chest of Antarctica that my mother wrote about with my own hands! Everyone, let’s go to Antarctica together!”

Although Universe is a show about the girls heading off to freaking Antarctica, the last couple episodes make it clear that this is more about the journey than the destination. At such, I don’t really mind the lack of “what will happen in Antarctica” plot thread, if anything beside being the place that “further than the universe”, the show need to tell us why it attracts people in the first place. Everyone has their own motivation to go to the South Pole, as we’ve already seen in the girls; and this episode again shines in how they bring the adults’ goals to the table. As a result, while this episode takes place in Australia, unlike Singapore last week we just have a little glimpse here and there about the place, given the central setting of this episode is the ship itself and the people who board on that ship. This expedition just barely makes it there: they lack the supply, the people, the funding. What keeps this ship staying afloat is the determination of the past members – broken people. The people who give up part of their lives, the people who have lost hair, have gotten divorce, have lost the jobs and might have nothing when they return, yet they’re here in pursuit for this trip.

The first half runs much lighter in tone as we see the girls snooping around spying, led by our formidable Yuzuki that lead to some hilarious situations (I love how Hinata couldn’t care less about all this, just look at her in the screenshot), and how Shirase just keeps getting worse doing her sensational report (she’s as stiff as the wood, man). In addition, at this point I enjoy the girls’ interactions greatly, all their stupid hijinks together have such natural chemistry (like how Mari and Hinata always in synch when it comes to prank, or just look at Shirase’s multiple expressions while she was holding a stuffed bear).

There’s a solid reason behind their spying though, up until this point the expedition has been received negatively by the media. They are lacking in everything, and even some of the crew doubt about their chance of accomplish anything. The more they investigate, the more they realize that it was Shirase’s mother determination that started it all and Gin and Kanae, and the group at large want to fulfill what she started but couldn’t finish. Universe makes us realize that sometimes, these ambitious quests come from a very personal dream. Shirase’s mother is the heart that keeps these people moving on, or to be more precise, keeps them from moving on, given parts of their soul remain in Antarctica forever. And if Shirase’s moving speech at the end is any indication, that spirits will continue to live on for generations.

Darling in the Franxx – 05[Your Thorn, My Badge]

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

Today on Darling in the Franxx, Hiro gets a STD. This was a surprisingly good episode as I found myself pretty engaged with the goings on of the plot. Now previous episodes of Franxx haven’t been all that bad besides the excessive sex symbolism but up until this point I would have deemed this show passable. Decently watchable while not being particularly outstanding. This episode however may push Franxx out of the shadows of its inspirations and help it form its own identity.(Well I suppose it was differanting itself with the sex symbolism but that wasn’t exactly a positive distinction.) So we learn that despite Hiro’s posturing and excitement over finally becoming a pilot of a Franxx that him riding with Zero two has indeed been having a negative effect on his body. However until others who have rode with Zero Two and ended up hospitalised, Hiro seems to be undergoing different effects as a blue tumor has appeared on his chest that causes him agony. Despite this Hiro is determined to ride with Zero Two again despite the fact that this would quite likely kill him. I might be wondering whether Hiro would actually die if we didn’t have 19 more episodes to go and while I would applaud the writers if they were gutsy enough to actually kill off the main character, I sincerely doubt they will do so.

Which brings me to a certain theory I read about while browsing the seas of Reddit. It seems that there is a theory going that Hiro is going to end up becoming a creature much like Zero Two and that these two will end up becoming a red and blue Oni. If you watched My love Story or Re:Zero you may be familiar with this Japanese children’s story but the general jest is about a blue Oni pretending to attack a village so the Red Oni could drive him off and become friends with the humans. Afterward only to find a letter from the Blue Oni wishing him well and revealing that they will never seen each other again. There’s a whole TV tropes page on the topic but it does seem to appear quite a bit in anime and manga with having two characters, one passionate and aggressive while the other is more silent and serene. It’s an interesting idea though we can’t quite be sure that’s what this series in gunning for as I don’t see Hiro growing any blue horns. The easy way out of Hiro’s mysterious disease is to turn him into some sort of hybrid like Zero Two but I feel the series would lose a lot of the appeal it gained with this episode if it did that. For after that Hiro would get a power up and it would render the concern and tension of this episode rather meaningless.

We now know what “kissing” means for plantations for it is when two plantations link to transfer liquid hot magma with…each…other…in case you didn’t realise this is symbolism for sexual relations. Boy how subtle the writer’s hand is. There are bits of little info here which hint at darker events to come as our crew meet another robot team who have more experience and it shows that they are the exception to the norm as normal pilots don’t give themselves nicknames nor have specialized Franxx. More importantly when Zorome asked if any of them have “Become adults”, one of the members of the experienced crew whispers to the other “They don’t know.” Suggesting that these kids may have a shorter life span than they might think or that they never mature into adults and instead stay in teenage bodies. Mitsuru also is popping pills for some reason, maybe to fight of the infection that Hiro has.

Zero Two’s more callous and ruthless side appears as well for it’s clear that she cares about nothing other than Hiro and when it comes to other people dying in the battlefield, they were just too weak. So as far as Zero Two is concerned, everyone in the squad can die and she won’t give a damn. Even she knows that riding with Hiro will likely kill him but rather takes delight in knowing that he wants to ride with her despite the risk. As when pushed by Ichigo, she admits that if Hiro dies then he was just too weak to be her darling. But Zero Two also hinted as something else when called inhuman by ichigo, namely suggesting that the kids themselves are not human either which would make sense considering they have already confirmed they were genetically engineered. Well next episode Hiro likely isn’t going to die but that new nameless expendable robot crew might want to abstain from joining in this new operation, or else we will need to start digging some graves.

Junji Ito Collection – 06[Window Next Door/Gentle Goodbye]

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

My friends, I lament to say my interest in this series has fallen to a degree that I really can’t seem to care all that much about it. It’s a shame that it should turn out this way but not entirely unexpected. Our first story has to do with a boy being tormented by his weird neighbor who calls out to him at night and if there is a story that was killed by this anime not capturing Ito’s style, it’s this one. Let me give a visual example, this is the woman from the anime and this is the woman from the manga. One of these women would have me raise an eyebrow and wonder what the hell I was looking at. The other would have me shut the window, close the curtains and nope the hell out of there. You can go right here to get classy and architectural window films. It’s painful how still the animation is with not even the womans mouth moving as she speaks and the final twist just leaves the story hanging. Was the house trying to eat the boy? Or trap him? Why was the woman so interested in him? What even was that woman? I can get behind the idea of being tormented by a woman keen to get personal with you that you really want nothing to do with. Though if that woman was supposed to be bait to get the boy to enter the house then this house should have looked up some playboy magazines to create up a woman that the boy would be more keen to interact with. Though maybe that is the point, the house wanted to attract the kids attention but didn’t know how to appeal to humans. Regardless without ito’s detail this story just falls flat without a conclusion. We don’t know it the boy was finally gotten or if the house just stretched over and didn’t manage to get him. I think the bigger question is however…why didn’t he just sleep in a different room?

The second story was actually rather interesting and may have worked simply because it’s appeal wasn’t on finding the situation scary but instead on the idea of the story itself. In this story we have a family who bring back relatives as ghostly projections to help get over the grief of a family death. A newly wed girl is brought into this family only to find herself treated coldly and is rather keen to use this power to bring back her father when he dies as she has had constant nightmares of seeing him die and leaving her alone. I don’t think anyone was shocked to find this story pull a sixth sense and reveal the protagonist to be one of the apparitions brought back to life after an unfortunate death. The end of the story is the most conclusive i have seen from this series so far having the girl come to terms with her death and take comfort in the knowledge that both she and her father are not long for this world and at least will spend their last days together. It’s a good story but I feel it could have been fleshed out more with better characters and a longer duration as it’s developments were rather forced. Namely the husband’s sudden relationship with another woman and laying down the truth on his current wife happened within seconds of each other and could have been built into something better. Again its an interesting idea not really fleshed out to its full potential.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 18 [Forgive and Forget]

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

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Mahoutsukai. This week we some follow up story time, a return of older characters and what is hopefully the start of an actual story arc. Lets jump in!

Overall, this week was adequate, or maybe slightly above.  They story was quaint, with some nice follow up, and with the reintroduction of our supposed main antagonist the ball might be rolling again. In terms of animation and such, not much really happened. There was a lot of very pretty stills, really showing off the background art and detail Mahoutsukai has when it wants. But there wasn’t much movement, aside from terrible chibi as usual. For sound design, I think everyone knows what the best part of was for this. Chise’s lullaby was great, for more than just its music which I will get into later. Say what you will about the new OP’s art, but from Lindel to Chise and the OP’s Mahoutsukai has a knack for music. With general critique out of the way though, lets get into the meat of the episode.

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