Classroom of the Elite – 05 [Hell is other People]

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

We have a slightly better Youkoso this week, although I have a feeling that they drag this case for far too long. Throughout this episode, we have two new developments: Sakura begins to trust Ayanokouji and as a result agrees to be a witness, even at a cost to expose herself (quite literally); and the courtroom happens later on in which no compromise being reached (11 ANGRY MEN). Though, to be fair, how Ayanokouji and Horikita eventually find a way to prove Sudo’s innocence could be interesting. With no concrete evidence regarding who began the fight; I guess the angle they could delve on is making the Class-C spill the beans about the set-ups. Just make sure don’t pull any out-of-nowhere evidence because it’s just a cheap, cop-out way to resolve the conflicts. And to think that Class-C pulled this dirty scheme to sweep all the points from Class-D, but they might face an expulsion (or even class-regelation, I prefer that) instead if the truth ever comes out. Overall, this is a stronger week for Youkoso, and I hope they stick with the tactical how-will-Class-D-gain-points-and-move-rank plot because it’s the only thing that makes Youkoso remotely interesting now.

I said that because as of now the characters in the show are pretty much unconvincing. Ayanokouji still holds his ground so far but the girls Horikita and Kushida don’t fare very well. I mean, after Ayanokouji (and us) see another dark personality from Kushida, it remains quite baffling for me as to why she still keeps that mask even when she’s alone with him. If the evil, angry Kushida is supposed to be her real personality, I can stand it; but if it’s there as a split-personality from her, then it’s just poor execution. The new girl Sakura, likewise, has a weak entrance this week as she never makes clear what she wanna do, or say. It leaves up to the audience on the rather “unsettling” sequence of her trying to repair her camera in a store as to whether the clerk is a real creepy guy or it’s just all in her head as she suffers from social anxiety. I’m leaning on the latter (but the store camera IS ON, damnit) as I believe it’s an effective way to know more about her through her lens. Apparently, she comes to trust Ayanokouji for his dead-eyes (“your eyes weren’t scary” huh?), but his advice is really on point. She does that not for the sake of others, but for her sake because she won’t feel guity for not helping Sudo out anymore. On a grander scale, it might as well be Yousoko’s own philosophy: everyone need to work together for the sake of the class as awhole, but ultimately, it’s for their own sakes that they help out each other – and there is nothing wrong with that.

The latter half when the courtroom happens is much more exciting. Class-C claims that Sudo asked them out so they need another guy – an experienced fighter – as a bodyguard, but then they contradict themselves with the statement that they tried best to avoid the fight hence all of them were heavily injured. When Sakura comes in and proves that she was in the scene when the fight broke out, class-C tries to make a compromise. Which sounds like a great deal, except it’s not. The bottom line is that Sudo is framed for the conflict, and Horikita and Ayanokouji will find a way to prove him not guilty. The hip-grabbing moment is quite hilarious as it snaps Horikita out of her brother-complex mood (seriously? Why do anime girls have to be so reliant to the male character who treats them like shit? Worst image of feminism ever). The President takes this as a good opportunity to see the real potential of Ayanokouji, although the guy himself remarks that he has no plan whatsoever. And DODGE. How can they prove it? Will Youkoso get better from now on? Does Sakura have more lewd selfies in her gallery? As Ayanokouji remarks at the end: “That’s a good question.”

Fate/Apocrypha – 06[Knight of Rebellion]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:

This is one of the stronger episodes of this series but looking at it has made me resign myself that this is really going to be as good as it gets. It’s a pity but I am in this for the long run so I might as well cover this to the end. Not to say this episode wasn’t enjoyable but it is below my expectations. The start of this episode deals with Mordred’s past and I think there may be those among you that are rather confused about it. So how’s about I fill you in on one of the weirdest things in Fate Canon? Now as established here, Mordred is Arturia’s son(Well Daughter really.) so with Arturia being a woman does that mean she gave birth at some point? No, the truth is much stranger than that. Now believe me, this is legitimate canon no matter how ridiculous it sounds but for a period of time Arturia was turned into a Pseudo-male by Merlin to produce an heir. And yes, that does mean for a period of time that the poster girl of the fate franchise was a futanari. During this time, Morgan le Fay used a spell to capture her seed and used it to impregnate herself with a homunculus clone of Arturia.

Thus was was born Mordred who grew to adulthood fast and was sent to Camelot disguised in her armour. There she was made a Knight of the Round table and worked as a loyal knight who idolised her king. Though when she found out about her origin she attempted to get Arturia to recognise her as a rightful heir to the throne only to have Arturia outright reject her. Mordred believes that having been born from Morgan that she would never be recognised by Arturia, no matter how much she excelled above others. Thus causing her to hate Arturia and eventually lead a rebellion against her. That at least is the canon of Mordred in the fate universe and you really can tell there was some shoehorned contrived circumstances to accommodate King Arthur being female. However I still at least like where it leaves the character now, as her accelerated grown does explain her childish nature and her love hate relationship with her father makes for an interesting character dynamic.

I do find the animation lacking somewhat in the fights. There are rare moments of brilliance but the fights lack any real weight behind them and more often feel over far too fast. What i don’t have complaints about is the music. I have a bit of a bias for celtic sounding tunes but these songs really do give Apocrypha a difference sense of identity. However they may not be used very well, this episode had a point where Jack used poison gas(Actually concentrated smog from Jack’s noble phantasm representing the terrible population of London at the time.) and a highly dramatic and face paced song played as…Mordred and Sisigou ran out of the mist. The song ended the moment they exited it so I found myself questioning why they would play such a battle themed piece for just Mordred and Sisigou running through streets. I did really like when Assassin actually appeared suddenly and made the right move of aiming to kill the master. Too many Assassins forget their class and try fighting other servants which is by far the dumbest thing you could do with them. Assassins are the class specifically designed to take out masters, not servants. That’s the whole reason they have presence concealment, but so many masters just use them like they would use a Saber or a Lancer.

With all the fights going on this really should be the point where I gush my heart out but I watched this with a layer of apathy as this series really didn’t take the time to truly flesh out two of the people in this fight. Assassin has had barely any screentime at all and just comes across as weak and unthreatening. While Chiron and his master have had only the bare minimum in interaction. To contrast that, Mordred and Sisigou have had plenty of time for us to get a feel of their character. Still it feels like they were prioritised not because of story significance but rather because they can make Mordred more Moe. That cat chasing that Mordred did during the phone call scene was a step too far for me. I get that due to her accelerated grown that her mentality can be childish but just what was that?

Oh right and Waver is now Lord El-Melloi the second, not sure how he obtained it in this timeline but in the original Waver eventually married into that Mage family and ended up taking the title of the man who previously mocked him in Fate/Zero. Man, that is some truly sweet revenge and it’s likely the reason he’s insisting on being called “The second”. So at the moment i am rather confused over the use of technology with these mages. The Yggdmillennia’s I get in that they are rebelling against the mages association. So it would make sense to a degree that they would make use of technology despite mages having an aversion to it. Sisigou is strange in that regard in that he seems to be using a combination of his Necromancy and weapons while still using magic devices for communication for the most part. Though this could be because of his status as more of a mercenary than a mage. So he’s managed to corner the master of the Archer of Black, does this mean that we are getting another servant taken out of the running? Not a chance if the blatant foreshadowing is correct. What a weak cliffhanger.

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.