Made in Abyss – 05[Incinerator]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

This was one of those anime episodes where I am shocked to see the end credits show up as the time flew by when watching it. I often consider that a mark of a truly great series while a bad series can make you feel like an episode never ends. Though I will say that this post may be shorter than my usual ones as there isn’t really much to say story wise other than Riko and Regu continuing their travel down. I will rescind my previous mark about Riko carrying her own weight as while Regu is handling most of the grunt work, Riko is doing a good job directing the expedition while making use of her knowledge of the abyss. Allowing her to warn Regu of some the creatures such as the one introduced with this episode. I think by now the kids gloves are off and we are starting to get a bit dark with the story with these corpse weavers.

Birdlike creatures that eat explorers and then imitate their voice in order to lure others into a trap. This seems much more open a dark turn and afterwards we even have Regu comment on them eating a corpse weaver being indirect cannibalism. Still despite this the general tone of the show seems carefree which could be attributed to how easily Riko is taking all these events, though Regu is not quite handling it with as much cheery disposition. I wonder if it’s supposed to be symbolic that a big source of human morality in this series comes from the character who is at this moment known to be a robot? Perhaps showing that the humans in this world have been distorted from traditional common sense into something more darwinist?

When a group of corpse weavers attempt to eat Riko this triggers a change in Regu causing him to unveil an ability he displayed in the first episode. That he is able to fire a beam of light from his arm and boy do I appreciate that this series has managed to keep up a high level of quality animation to really show it off. Well there was a moment during the monkey chase that had the rather outdated use of speed lines but other than that the production of this series has been truly top notch. Riko is delighted over this new ability and names it incinerator while Regu is mortified at the fact that if his aim was only slightly off then he would have blasted away Riko along with the corpse weavers. It’s interesting in how these two approach this journey in completely different mindsets. Riko sees this whole thing as some big field trip, a chance to have an adventure and live up to the legacy of her mother.

Whereas Regu is really beginning to acknowledge just how dangerous this journey really is and question the very purpose of his existence. There is definitely a turning point in their characters coming up and I feel this series is building up a wake up call for Riko. She has lost two of the main guides which her tossing the star compass and now her notebook has been burned to cinders. The corpse weavers where the first genuine threat these two have faced, I don’t really count the monkeys as they didn’t really pose that much of a threat, so it only stands to reason that monsters will get worse the further these two get. The safety nets are falling away and I think she’s about to encounter something that won’t be solved with a happy go lucky attitude. That something likely being her mother’s former partner whom looks to be the focus of the next episode.

The Reflection – 3 [Lisa]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, The Reflection

Another week and The Reflection continue to improve. This week we get introduced to another character, more information on the Reflection and more stylish action. Lets dive in!

We open up right where we left off last episode, with Elen investigating the mysterious individual known as ‘Wraith’. During her search, she finds something and X-On appears over her shoulder! Curious how he got there. Has it been a day? Same night? Didnt he leave last episode or did she call him there? Confusing to say the least, and the silence as Elen clicks on the computer makes the scene rather akward in places. We soon hop into the OP on the image of a cloaked figure on a security camera. No doubt this is the enigmatic Wraith, the villain of our series?

Once the OP wraps up, we head back into Elen’s apartment. Presumably this is after X-On has left, after a few days have passed so she could research. Being oblivious to her environment, Elen fails to notice her entire apartment is on fire until she touches a hot soda can. I’m no expert, but I don’t believe fires work like that. Oddly, X-On is outside when this occurs. Either this is the same night as episodes 1 and 2, or he’s psychic. Considering they talk about Dayton, I believe this is all the same day and The Reflection is simply failing at conveying what is actually going on. After a brief argument, X-On agrees to take young Elen with him to Dayton in search of Wraith, if only because she has a car.

Before heading to Dayton, there is a brief interlude as our Japanese Idol group is getting interviewed. For some reason, these scenes are actually some of the most interesting. The still speaking scenes work well with The Reflections art and the voice acting sounds very natural. With them being a thousand miles away, I am legitimately curious how this idol group will become relevant to the story. They arn’t the only ones getting interviewed though.

We next cut to Lisa, the character the episode is named for, being interviewed just like the idol group. Makes me believe there is a connection, if only between the purpose of the interviews, but its a nice cut. Lisa says little here before we cut to X-On and Elen in the car, but only a few minutes of exposition laden banter later, our heroes collide! Quite literally in this case, as Elen almost hits the wheel-chair bound Lisa with her car. We learn a lot in these scenes, even if its thrown at us unabashedly.

We learn that the Reflection, the even that dolled out super powers and killed people, came in 2 forms. Green light and black smoke. Green light changed people internally, giving people like X-On and Elen their powers. The black smoke however changed people externally, resulting in people like the Lizard-man and the Water Skeleton. Apparently this smoke also effected their minds, causing them to become violent, making those hit by the smoke the obvious bad guys for our story. Simple but its good to get some more explanation of the even, fleshing it out as the season goes along.

Going back to Lisa, I have to call out Stan Lee. This is pretty lazy. Lisa is almost a carbon copy of Barbara Gordon from the Batman comics. A woman, trapped in a wheel chair, with an obsession on superheroes. Her father is even a cop, just like Commissioner Gordon from Batman! Similarities aside, Lisa is taking her condition better than Barbara Gordon. She competes in sports events and refuses to let her father coddle her. Its good to have a strong disabled character, who get little representation in anime. Lisa and her father wrap up their scene and we jump back over to X-On, who tracked someone to a junkyard. Surprise, its female Magneto! Another surprise, X-On isn’t stupid, has he points out a junkyard isn’t the best place to fight someone who can control metal. A rather dull fight, but an improvement in frame count once again.

What hasn’t improved though is the music, or in this case the lack there of. Aside from ‘Sky Show’, the best song of this season, there has been next to no background music. Nothing exists to augment the scenes. Lisa and her fathers kidnapping hits very weakly because of this, as there is no buildup. It just… happens. At least the kidnapping itself is interesting though, as the villains also bring out a new character. Apparently Lisa is a Reflected! Not surprising, but the villains strategy to use her powers is. They want to force her, through trauma, to awaken her powers and no doubt attempt to recruit her. Not a well thought out plan, but points for trying. As it is, the whole event seems almost comically designed to force Lisa and X-On/Elen into a team.

Once our heroes arrive on the scene, a quick fight breaks out and before I go any further there is one thing I want to talk about. You see the picture above this paragraph? That’s Putrid, a new villain. The man splits in to and turns into a crushing machine. That was the most unexpected thing to occur all season for me, and shockingly enough the art style and CGI make it work. Its still comic book levels of stupid, but visually it works. However he isn’t the only person with a power suited to the art style, as Lisa crawls to her chair and transforms into a giant robot! You read that right folks, The Reflection is actually a mecha anime. Jokes aside, it doesn’t look to bad. In most other styles such obvious CG would look out of place. With this rotoscoped style however, it only looks a little out of place. Some really fluid metal animations and a quick fight later, our heroes peace on out. We close on them flying into the horizon.

All in all a dull, but necessary episode. It setups up the larger story, introduces some more characters and explains some more about the world. The fight at the end had a noticeable up-tick in animation quality as well, which is a good sign. With any luck, our main cast will be introduced and we can leap into our first major arc soon.

Until then, this was Lenlo with Star Crossed anime news. See ya next week!

Princess Principal – 05 [Case 7 Bullet & Blade’s Ballad]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, Chise gets a proper introduction this week. Regarding the non-chronological order, I believe this week being case7 makes total perfect sense. Case in point, in case9 (last week), Chise is still struggling to find a concrete role in the group; signals that she’s still quite new to the group. Beside; I don’t really think they will go back to earlier cases anymore, so they will probably go with the chronological order from now on. What do we have so far? In case13 (episode 1), there was a hint of Cavonite leakage that caused victims suffering from Canonite poisoning, and case9 the team goes after cavorite-related technology; if my guess is right the next episode will be somewhere between case9 and case13 to further elaborate about the Cavorite, which has has been consistently lurking in the background for quite sometimes. A Cavonite explosion perhaps? Here’s the thing that I absolutely love about Princess Principal, you can watch all these 5 episodes in any order and it still makes sense. All the episodes are self-contained, yet there are many subtle hints that become clear when you watch other episodes, like Duke Normandy’s real motive this week that really make me question the real intention of suggesting Princess to marry away to the Russian’s Emperor. Either he suspects the Princess or he just hates her guts.

About this episode, though, God, the animation is a major step-up this week. The fight choreography is excellent and the character’s movements in particular, are distinctive, smoothly and full of life (just look how the Princess moves in the beginning or how Ange and Chise run differently from each other). I looked up at the animator and it turns out the episode was handled by Ryouma Ebata, who was a key animator for Shounen Maid, Noen, the first episode of Madoka, Tsuritama OP… this guy totally rocks. Just look how dynamic Chise fights on top of the train or the big swordfight with Todo Jubei, those sequences are really something to behold. The direction was pretty excellent too. Princess Principal hints us the whole assassination scheme through the sequences of: the janitor drops the mop into the big map right where he wants to blow up the linkage; then cut to the Duke of Normandy to signal us that he’s the mastermind behind the assassination; then to Dorothy catches on to the scheme and then the explosion. I don’t usually notice this much but the technical craft of this week’s Princess Principal is so impressive and top-notch that it elevates the material to the new high level.

On top of that, Chise has an amazing entrance as well. It’s not that surprises to learn that Todo Jubei was her father all along (gezz, look at their contrasted costumes, isn’t it obvious?), but when she repeats that magic spell from her late father; my heart skipped a beat (although the explanation later makes thing pretty obvious). I think it’s a nice contrast to see that although Chise regarded Todo Jubei as a traitor, maybe it’s her who turn her back to her clan and serve the Lord instead (remember one guy who said to her -”You would betray us, Chise?”). For my money however, it might be all just an act to gain trust from the Princess and Ange. But her tears in the end are real. Goddamnit. And did I mention that Chise and Ange make a really great and lethal team together? Those are combat girls at highest level and it’s such a blast to see them fight together, or even against each other.

Can’t believe I would say this, but… now we know another function of that “amour” throat of Beatrice. Thanks for the sciencemadness that Beatrice ultimately saved her head, right? Now all the girls have all formed special connections to Ange, which is a great sign, but I would love more if Princess Principal establishes more chemistry between other members of the group. I’ve kept voicing my concern that Princess Principal will fall off its skate; but it turns out that the show is just getting better and more exciting by each episode. Now with all the introductions are in place, let’s see how Princess Principal will take us from there.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu – 6 [The Citadel]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

Snap, crackle, pop, Ranbu opens this week on a bolt of lightning! We ended last episode on a low point, our heroes defeated and being teleported out at the last second. They reappear on a platform, surrounded by smoldering coals, in what we later learn is the Citadel. The base of operations for our party. Lots going on here, and we will get to it, but lets focus in on our heroes.

The damage from their respective fights appears to have carried over, as both Kane and Tonbokiri are rushed into medical treatment. Its a strange medical treatment, as they magically pad paper on a wound and heal a sword, but its pretty to look at. An explanation would be nice, as we still have no idea as to how our heroes exist as both weapon and time-cop. I understand time is an issue in anime, it has to be used effectively, but I do think it would help flesh out the narrative and characters abit. The rest of the party not in critical condition however, have a much easier and light hearted time.

The comedy this episode really works, as we get some TSA style inspections, witty banter and a time traveling fox food club. It does a good job of filling space between scenes that, even if they don’t succeed, attempt to be dramatic. For example we learn that Tonbokiri is in a comatose state from his wounds, good consequences for their loss. This is undercut when he recovers consciousness later on in the episode. We hear that, as of 2205, the time our characters are based out of, history has not changed. Edo gets a full broadside during an important meeting, goes up in flames, and there are no changes? Didn’t our heroes fail? They completed their mission, history is preserved, so all things considered they won with minimal casualties! Its a disappointing resolution after a well done end of an arc, leaving Ranbu in an akward place.

Speaking of arcs, lets talk about the next one. Much of this episode was focused on Mikazuki, the man in blue and usual captain of the First Squad. Everything this episode, from the music to the lighting and camera angles, leads us to think this is not a good man. Found in the Commanders office alone, ominous music and shadows cast over his face, Mikazuki might be the villain we so desperatly need. Ranbu reinforced this feeling when the Commander states that the Retrograde army usually arnt this subtle, meaning these smart tactics are new. Its laid on so thick, I could almost believe Ranbu is throwing us a red herring. I dont think Ranbu is that clever however as even Mikazuki’s laugh sounds evil.

Continuing on, theres a nice bit of video-game fan service. There is a cafeteria scene with a crazy amount of unique character designs milling about in the background. No doubt they all appear in the game series, so I am sure fans appreciated that. Some of these characters even get names and speaking lines as we are introduced to Yagens brother. A mild mannered white haired boy, he resembles Yagen alot. Curious how a weapon has a brother, but ill roll with it. Numerous scenes occur, some quite frankly pointless scenes that scream “CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT” like an air horn. Its all rather ham fisted, but I suppose its better than nothing. There does have to be consequences for how last episode ended, with defeat and a sweeping orchestra. This week atleast ends on a much less dramatic note.

This week closes out on a flash of the First Squad, which Yagens brother has just been assigned to. Apparently there is a new crisis and they have been sent out! Most likely we will follow the First Squad on this mission for a few episodes as the Second squad recovers. With this squad mostly being comrpised of villainous looking people such as Mikazuki though, I am hoping Ranbu will treat us to some First vs Second squad conflict in the future.

Its not surprising we got a breather episode to setup the next arc, but for the most part Ranbu was empty this week. Scenes could have been shorter with the same content and Tonbokiri could have spent more time out of comission. All in all a little disappointing.

Heres hoping the First Squad makes it interesting again. See you next week!

 

18if – 05 [The Witch of Ordinariness]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

The fun of watching 18if: It’s like a box of chocolates, you never know which one you’re gonna get. After the disastrous episode last week, episode 5 turns out to be sweet, sad and overall solid. Although the conclusion of the dream sequence is a bit of head-scratching, there’s a lot to admire here. This episode was handled by Minoru Oohara, who had Glass no Kantai as a director in his resume and was an episode director of EVA. Not to say I know much about him but he’s certainly a veteran and he approached 18if this week with such confidence. The pacing, in particular; is a step above from everything we’ve seen so far in the series and the witch this week ends up as the most well-written character 18if has to offer (a bit whimsical consider that she doesn’t technically turn into a witch this week). The visual is on the great side too; carrying out the theme very effectively, while never stand out much for its own sake. I am very satisfied.

Mirei, the witch of this week, has a much more relatable personal issue, although you still need to get pass the unsettling (and somewhat absurdist) sequence of her locking herself up and nearly… chop up her injured leg, with an AXE. I’ll come out and say this, apart from that scene, Mirei has a very grounded personalities and issues, probably even more grounded than all the lead characters combined. She’s a superstar figure skating that more or less the golden girl of Japan, busy both in and out of her professional life. But because of all the time dedicated for practices and commercials, she barely has time for herself. Eventually Mirei yearns for a normal highschool life, a life where she can really have fun and you know… have real relationships. Things take turn for the worst as she injures herself in one of her routine and thus losing everything she has. With so much stress, she falls into deep sleep and as a result, becomes a sleeping beauty.

As I mentioned above, her case isn’t exactly original, but it’s well-grounded. The dream world that she eventually escapes to, is just a typical mundane school where she’s just a plain, ordinary girl who enjoying this university life. It also helps that Haruto this week has more personality than previous week, and here I can feel the chemistry between them. All is fine and dandy until the final conflict. 18if (strongly) argues that Mirei eventually can’t escape the “destiny” that she is bornt to be the skate figure, so she must face it and release herself. I wholly understand that escaping isn’t the way to solve the problem, eventually she will have to embrace figure skating aspect because it has always been part of her life. But dear, no way “shines the brightest when she does figure skating” a valid argument to convince her that everything she has done wasn’t right; that happy moments that she had are all lies. From what I see, she was much happier in her dream than her real life so why the need to show her that figure skating is her destiny? It sounds forced no matter how I look at it, but I can let it pass since the great visual direction more than makes up for its shaky conclusion.

While watching the episode, I also entirely expected that there’s going to be a twist at the end. Indeed, the twist surfaces and it does deepen the narrative, just imagine Mirei spend  her entire youth locking away in her own fantasy really make my heart swell. Although like any twist you needn’t question it too much (because when you do, it opens many more questions – for example, if she has been sleeping beautifully for that long – like 30,40 years, how can she aware of the concept of cellphone? Nevermind – I say). This episode also pretty much confirms us about Haruto’s true existence. He has never appeared in the real world and now he questions himself that he feels stuck for some reasons – stuck in the dream world that must be. Lily also goes far this episode, as this is the first time she actively involves in a case, but more with a purpose to signal Haruto than to help the Witches out. When we see it that way I can see why she insists on calling Haruto “brother”. They’re both the products of this dream world and in a sense, she only has him as a companion. I believe 18if reaches the new height with this episode, and to be frank with this “a director handling 1 episode” approach AKA inconsistent quality, this episode is all I could hope for. Be different, 18if. That’s what we all here for.

ps: They indeed pronounce 18if as… eighteen-if. I’ll be damned. Might try buying a lotto ticket now. Now that I mention it I have no idea what the title even means. Someone here has any idea?

Classroom of the Elite – 04 [We Should Not be Upset that Others Hide the Truth from Us, When We Hide it from Ourselves.]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

Haizz, Youkoso. My feeling about this show could be summed up by its very first few seconds. Youkoso opens with a thought-provoking, philosophical quote, and they follow straight up with a boob shot. Kinda defeat the purpose; unless what they want from us is to look underneath the clothes surface. Oh well, I give in. After four episodes, my impression for this show is just like that: interesting in theory but terribly plain in its execution. You can see bad sign when you start watching an episode and feel like you had skipped some episodes in between, and that exactly how I felt when watching this one. Like, since when Ayanokoji and the blonde girl from class B Ichinose become such a close friend to the point she asks the guy to be her fake boyfriend? The last time I saw them together they didn’t even introduce themselves and now this? For this bleak world, I come to suspect any character’s real motive, even the lead ones but this show makes me wary of Ichinose for all the wrong reasons. I heard the anime version cut most of the parts between those two building up to this point, and that come to my first real complain about this anime. They don’t spend enough time for the supporting cast, as a result they appear more as a plot-function device than any real character. That new red hair girl Sakura has this same problem. We hardly know her at all and then she receives a mention when the plot calls for it.

We have the updated scores this time around and by the look of it Class C has gained the most points after the exam and now rivals with class B for the second spot. Surprisingly that Class B doesn’t feel it as any threat because instead of getting furious, all of them praise how well and noble Ichinose is. We have our first glance at the homeroom teacher of Class B and boy, she rubs me the wrong way. Doesn’t fare any better is that Ryuken AKA Nerriot Sparkling Water dude; who I feel more belong to Kakegurui series than scheming his abusive plans here (Yumeko Jabami please beats the hell out of him). His current evil plan, to frame Sudou (again!) for attacking fellow Class C members, which will demerit all the points Class D has gained during the mid-exam results. Class D knows it’s all a scheme from Ryuken, but how they prove it? The way Horikita finds out about Sakura just by the way she acts bother on incredibility here, and I suppose the girl with an interest in photography “happen” to be in a right place at the right time with her camera on huh?

Ichinose seems nice enough to help the class D out, but if I learn anything about how the world in Youkoso works, it might be just a façade for some real nasty intention. If class D should learn any lesson, don’t trust other classes because they’re basically their opponents. Class B has a very well-connected network system here and Ichinose has a whooping insanely 2,5 million points, which really is suspicious. My guess for now is either Ichinose uses her “help” as a mean to make people around her to pay her back; or it’s the class’s points where class members pooling their points to one source – her source; but then for what purpose? As much as I have too many complaints about this episode, I think the conversation between Ayanokoji and Yoshida was well done. The visual cue of that conversation with the dead butterfly being picked apart by ants is really, really effective and it’s easily the highlight of this episode for me. All in all, Youkoso stumbles hard this episode, providing conflict that is rather dull and unexciting and asks us to care for a relationship that was never developed properly beforehand. I can still bear with it but I don’t deny that my interest on knowing how all this turn out have shrunk rapidly.

Re:Creators 16 – [This is the actual beginning, isn’t it?]

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

After over a month and a half of talking heads, recaps, scheming and theorization, Re:Creators is finally on the cusp of having every creation throwing themselves into a massive team deathmatch complete with live performances, streaming and a raving fandom packed into a stadium.

Thus far, Re:Creators has largely managed to avoid their creations be subjected to the pitfalls of fanservice within the anime but this episode goes all out on the nudity with everyone going to the hotsprings. If you ever wanted to see what the creators and creations looks like underneath all those costumes, then this is the episode for you where all the tired tropes of hot springs episodes comes to its full realizations. The rest of the episode was forgettable as it only has the government’s representative drunken dominatrix crazy rant as its punchline.

The real meat comes in last half of the episode as everyone gets into their positions that is six months in the making for the big battle. Vogelchevalier finally comes back to Seleica and it going to be a giant brawl with two mecha on the side of the government against Alrair’s forces. The question becomes on whether on the various upgrades that the creators have augmented into their own creations are enough to defeat the God-like powers of Altair and the unpredictableness batshit craziness of Magane. I’m surprised that Alice is still sticking with Altair, given her maneuvering with Magane and the release of her own creator. Given that Altair already has these God-like powers of predicting the future through her tarot cards, it wouldn’t be a stretch to already have Alice’s plans already unraveled.

With six episodes left to go, the events of the Elimination Chamber will certainly not be the climax of the series but it looks like the agonizing slow pace of the last couple of episodes will finally pay off in a grand arena where everything comes together in a delightful merger of light, explosions and meta anime goodness.

Note: Episode 17 is very likely delayed this week due to scheduling issues like its awkward 22 episode format.

Ballroom e Youkoso – 05 [Partner]

by SuperWooper, posted in Ballroom e Youkoso, Finished Series: Sports

Ballroom aired a double feature last week, so this review is either a few days late or a few days early, depending on how you look at it. Either way, there won’t be a new episode this coming Saturday, with the next one scheduled to appear on August 12th. Personally, I welcome the break as an opportunity to reset my expectations for the show, which seem to have been too high. This series isn’t a mold-breaker of any kind, but rather a traditional shounen anime with non-traditional subject material. “Partner” was likewise a straightforward episode, but it did manage to properly introduce two very different characters, and adjust the motivations driving several of our main players. Not a bad way to wrap things up before a two-week break, all things considered.

With Hyodo occupying the role of brooding genius, the show was missing a more hot-blooded rival character – that is, until now. Enter Gaju Akagi, whose brash personality and loud mouth are perfectly complimented by his ginger mullet. It’s a bit ironic that he insults Tatara’s bedhead just minutes after barreling into the episode, given his own disastrous hairdo. Maybe he lets it grow so long in the back because he’s ashamed of his giraffe neck? Jokes aside, though, Gaju’s dancing is nothing to laugh at, and he supports his claim to become Shizuku’s new partner with some fancy Latin footwork. The last of those three cuts looked rotoscoped to my eyes, but it was also super smooth and a little sexy, which is a tone that has eluded the series until now. I wouldn’t mind if I.G. fell back on this method from time to time in the future.

Gaju’s younger sister Mako can only watch from the sidelines as her partner tries to leave her behind, which is more than a little sad. She’s the meek, sensitive type, which is also a template that Ballroom hadn’t busted out until this week. Tatara is charmed by her shyness the same way he was by Shizuku’s strength, but is unable to sync with her during their first dance (if you could even call it that). Mako’s willingness to be led pays off later in the episode, though, when Tatara activates Prodigy Mode and instinctively guides her where she wants to go, providing some confidence in their future teamwork. Mako will have to exhibit much more improvement if she wants to reach her new goal, though: surpassing Shizuku and convincing Gaju to rejoin her as one of Japan’s best amateur Latin duos.

Also on board with this plan are Tatara and Sengoku, the latter of whom sets up the second meeting between the two shy kids. This might be the first time that Sengoku is actually cooperating with his new student, rather than manipulating or making fun of him, and it’s only made possible by their mutual dislike of Gaju. At the root of that dislike is the shared belief that Gaju is “stealing” Shizuku from Hyodo, but the reality is that Shizuku chose to switch partners of her own will. She claims not to care about Hyodo anymore, but regardless of whether that declaration holds any water, he’s banned from JDSF competitions for six months, so why not let the girl find a new lead? Even if her decision is meant to anger Sengoku, who she rightly calls out for being untrusting, she ought to be allowed to compete for the next half year, rather than being punished for other people’s mistakes. The episode closes on a shot of Shizuku looking pensively into the wall-length mirror at Ogasawara, perhaps wondering whether she’s made the right decision, so the show had better follow up with her character soon – the further she gets from being considered a prize to be won, the better.

Made in Abyss – 04[The Edge of the Abyss]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

One level of the Abyss down and so far things are looking good for our two explorers. Though the only thing they really had to worry about was the search crew coming to take them back to the orphanage. The adventuring spirit is in the air and if their is a dump truck full of misery and death ready to drop on our protagonists then I haven’t seen signs of it yet. Not to say there is not foreshadowing as they certainly are making it clear that whatever is waiting down there isn’t going to be pretty. From the start of the episode we can see that Regu is doing the main heavy lifting and while Riko is helping out a little with food and does have useful knowledge but it’s certain that she needs to really start carrying her own weight.

Without Regu, Riko would be dead several times over so it makes me shocked that she actually intended to head down on her own at the start. Riko does provide something though as we can only insinuate to other people’s intentions though her theories. She believes that the message from the letter was her mother’s message to her, that the artifact(That she lost moments later) pointed to the depths of the abyss and that the leader purposefully let them journey off as some sort of test. But as we know, Riko is far from infallible and many of these assertions are being made on a personal whim. We don’t really know what’s really happening here and I have a feeling there is more to it than Riko’s simplistic conclusions.

Though it passed me over while watching, I seen someone put together a series of shots which really show off the cinematography of this series. There are plenty of background and visual motives which present this as these two descending into the belly of the beast. Throughout the episode there was a serious sense of foreboding and this does feel like the last safe haven for the two. After this the training wheels are off and they need to deal with the full wrath of the Abyss and everything that comes with it. So right before the second level our two get a visit from a Black whistle diver Habo who surprisingly doesn’t stop them from continuing their journey but instead brings supplies and news. It is a wonder as to why he doesn’t try to prevent them from doing this but he seems to have a degree of resignation that this would happen eventually. Perhaps it is like Riko said earlier, all things that come from the abyss eventually return to the abyss and as we know, both of these two originally came from the abyss.

At least he did originally offered to guide them down to the third layer but after Riko’s refusal and seeing the letter from Leader decided against it. Habo does mention about a active white whistle in the third level who happened to be the person who helped carry baby Riko out of the abyss when she was born. In a way she may be considered Riko’s godmother and Riko is certainly excited to met her despite Habo’s warnings that she may not be the most trustworthy. Next episode we have the second level of the abyss, the forest of temptation and already I feel sad that this series is only a single cour when we only just get started four episodes in. However the anime has currently covered about ¼ of the source material(This covers up to halfway through chapter ten and there are 42 chapters currently.) so we could very well be up to date with the manga by the time the series ends.

Kakegurui- 05[The Woman Who Became Human]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

When gambling in this show:
Rule number one: Always cheat.
Rule number two: If using another person for your cheating then don’t use someone with a clear grudge against you or treat them like dirt.
Rule number three: Never ever bet against Yumeko Jabami.
There is a certain satisfaction in seeing someone like this thug get so brutally destroyed by our main duo even though he’s a relatively one dimensional nobody. I tend to favor villains with a bit more moral nuance and more well written but nonetheless cannot deny a certain level of glee in seeing someone so utterly morally bankrupt get his life ruined. Sure you could argue that his crimes were no huge enough to have the remainder of his life detected by a notebook and be treated as trash for the rest of his days but considering the arrogant mentality of this guy there is no better medicine than a good reality check and a ass kicking. But again this does not mean that he’s well written as it’s not a difficult task to make someone hateable, All you really need to do is have them in a position of power and have them do clearly evil deeds while convinced that it’s totally alright for them to do these things because they are special in some way. If you want a well written villain then work on making a character with a unique worldview, sympathetic or logical motivations, a personality and a backstory to accommodate these aspects.

If you want to make a hateable villain them just have them do something clearly morally repugnant and then refuse they did anything wrong. “Oh it’s perfectly ok for me to bully this kid because I am better than him and he should just go die.” “Oh I killed that bitch but she was clearly in the wrong when she tried to pretend she wasn’t my woman.” “Oh I burned down that orphanage but it was full of gutter trash that wouldn’t be of any use anyway, society should thank me honestly.” It’s funny in that it’s not so much the act itself that makes it so despicable but rather the contradiction and flawed reasoning these characters use to justify their actions as not wrong. Indeed there is no better way to rile up the internet into a fury than to have someone do something wrong and them do everything in their power to refuse to admit it. So to see a character get a shift kick in the nuts is a rather cathartic experience and I fully admit that I fully read the source of the upcoming “Rising of the Shield Hero” anime adaption purely for the satisfaction of seeing the villain get taken down a peg.

I couldn’t quite follow how exactly Mary and Yumeko managed to trick the delinquent but I believe it had something to do with Mary and Yumeko lying about the amount they owed before the game and then switching her board with Yumeko to confuse the delinquent into miscalculating the end game totals. So these two had the game in the bag right from the start as the delinquent didn’t have the scoreboard right from the beginning. Though the thing this episode is named after is Yumeko’s last little gambit to encourage the pet girl to go against the delinquents orders. Throughout the game she had been helping the delinquent cheat out of fear and her own institutionalisation to her status of pet. I rather like the metaphor that Yumeko puts to it, being a pig in a open cage. This girl could fight back, could rebel but instead settles for small freedoms granted to her within the cage. In truth the very name of pet is apt for that is what these people are conditioned to become.

Thus Yumeko managed to break her out of that mentality through her provocation. Though um…why was it…so suggestive? I generally don’t tend to look too far into these kinds of things but when you have two girls with faces intimately close to kissing distance while reserved girl has a heavy blush that really does seem to be fuel for hime-danshi(This appears to be the opposite of the Fujoshi term being for males(Hime-joshi for females) who ship lesbian couples though doesn’t quite hold the same level of infamy as the fujoshi term) Yuri baiting did come up in the manga but it really is much more pandering when seen in animated format. Look if you are going to start insinuating lesbinism or bisexualism then go all in, don’t just shove it in halfheartedly for Blu-ray sales. Still while i have neglected to mention her before but next episode appears to feature a girl who is going to really amp up these Yuri undertones so I at least hope we keep things somewhat classy.