Classroom of the Elite – 06 [There are Two Kinds of Lies; One concerns an Accomplished Fact, the Other concerns a Future Duty]

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

Youkoso embraces its true nature this week, pulling off some resolves that are pulpy, but clean up nicely the conflicts they present this episode. With episode 6, not only class-D settles the accusation from class-C; they set up, and quickly resolve, Sakura’s stalking issues and gives a much-needed concern regarding Ayanokouji’s own agenda behind his actions: lurking in the shadow, (possibly) manipulating people around for the benefits of the class. Or does it? It’s about goddamn time we need to know more from him. Youkoso makes it quite clear that the guy doesn’t really care about the class, so why does he agree to help Horikita moving up to Class-A in a first place? The flashback hints that he was in some sort of lab experiment in his young age, that might attribute to how he’s exceptional, or rather, overpowered, but passive; doesn’t want to stand out (although people do notice) and most importantly, prefers to.be left alone. I don’t mind this direction to be honest, Youkoso is at its best when it’s stay true to its ridiculous elements, so if the show pulls off another orphanage that is a secret lab experiment to create the new Hitler, I’m all in.

My real complain for the first segment of this episode simply lies in the fact that I never believe those guys from Class-C would be that stupid to go meet Kushida, at that crucial time of the investigation. All three of them. Do they forget that Kushida is in class-D as well? Or do they forget about the case altogether? Other than that though, it’s nice to see Horikita and Ayanokouji pull off such plan: set up the camera where the incident happened, make them think that the camera caught on their actions, and then persuade them to drop the case. Well, it’s more of a mind game than an actual plan but it works like a charm because the thugs from class-C are assigned for fighting, not for thinking by themselves. It’s a bit manipulative but isn’t Youkoso all about manipulation?

Sakura has a much darker story to tell. Stalking isn’t funny, after all, so although Youkoso just hints about her issue in the beginning of this episode, we feel the stakes are there. But… who’s in the right mind would go to dark alley while being stalked? Geez Sakura… you should’ve known better. While the conflict itself is nicely done, we get to see how Ayanokouji would save the day and thus, how Sakura starts to trust the guy and believes more in herself and what not; I have a hard time dealing with the whole implication behind this conflict. Not only Sakura is framed as a worst image of feminism ever: get into trouble and then whoops, the Prince comes and saves the day (not to mention her bouncy boobs that have no place in the story); the way Youkoso treats that clerk’s character is just so unpleasant. You can’t show us how awesome a character is by an expense of another character, ever. Well-written characters, even the evilest ones, we still have some level of sympathy towards them because they’re layered with their personalities. For all their actions, there are always a solid reason behind. That clerk man here, do you feel anything else about him other than disgusting and repulsing? Youkoso tries too hard to make this clerk creepy, that I am creeped out by the way they frame him instead.  Imagine each character as a “soul”, and I feel pity for that “soul” for being born as a deformed, one-note character whose the sole purpose is to be booed by everyone.

Half way in, can’t say myself that I enjoy Youkoso that much. It’s not a terrible product but I feel totally… indifferent to it. This episode, for example, while I could say that overall this is one Youkoso’s better episode, I personally have so many issues regarding its treatments to the plot and the characters.  I’m trying my best not to sound overly negative in my review, as I still see some solid qualities behind the show and I know constant ranting don’t do either you or me any good. I will stick with it till the end so maybe it’s better that I need to just enjoy the ride and don’t think too hard about it.

Re:Creators – 17 [The Rain’s Rhythm Shoots Down on the World’s Roof]

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

If you are still remaining faithful to Re:Creators over the course of months on end, then this is the episode where all the buildups and exposition pays off in dividends with the grand opening of the ‘Elimination Chamber Festival’. Characters with long standing grudges square off, insert songs being played back-to-back, and Studio TROYCA really went all out with the visuals in serie’s longest sustaining and best fight so far. In spite of all the explosions, pretty lights and new powerful abilities, nothing, outside having Altair embracing Selecia from inside her cockpit, is surprising. None of the fights have resolved themselves although there are signs that there are much bigger twists to come like Alicetaria’s eventually betrayal and Magane’s continuous intrusion into Sota’s life.

While the first half satisfied that craving of action that has been sorely missing for the last two months, the second half had the best conversation between a creator and her creation. Within the initial nine creations introduced in the first half, Blitz is the final character to met up with his creator for a chat and this was probably the best out of them all as it provides some of the best insights into why a creator would subject their creation to terrible scenarios. Simply enough, the answer is for the sole enjoyment of the audience. Think of some of the most popular franchises out there like Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Berserk, Attack on Titan and Tokyo Ghoul and the insurmountable challenges and hardships within them. It is in these extremes where the audience finds their greatest enjoyment as characters we know and love go through their journey of suffering and ultimately triumph. In comparison, Altair’s motivations of revenge, as Suruga describes it to be a shallow fanfic bore out of resentment and anger, ,are actually quite basic once you get passed her dressed-up fancy speeches. Blitz isn’t cut from the same cloth as her, in spite of following Altair around for most of the series and being hellbent on following through with his destructive plan. There is something far deeper that a dedicated creator like Suruga has invested into Blitz and this is the exact method, with the stunning reveal of his daughter, in which to turn Blitz against his current master. The best part is that the crazy ride to Re:Creators finale is only beginning with plenty of surprises to come.

Made in Abyss – 06[Seeker Camp]

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

I feel like Riko has been naked quite a lot in this series and I thank god that it’s not treated in a fanservice manner. That may be something that should be par for the course but with my experience in anime it often takes every opportunity to throw in some fanservice. At this point I have become rather immune to it but I can appreciate that Riko has been topless on screen a number of times and it doesn’t make me feel like I am watching something that could potentially get me arrested. Something that I cannot say so easily about certain other shows which shall not be named. The episode recaps at the start of episodes feel like they are getting longer but animation still is at a high level which I hope continues till the end of the season. I am surprised at Ozen whom I originally had pegged to be significantly more villainous by the end of the last episode. This episode instead shows her as a much more playful character than her intimating design would suggest. She reminds me a bit of a Katanamonogatari character with her eyes and general listlessness. So far she is acting the role of the cynic, and raining on Riko’s earlier misplaced optimism. One by confirming that her mother is indeed dead and also verifying that the message inspiring this whole journey was not written by her.

I find this rather…cathartic. Riko has so far attributed that everything that has happened so far is related to her. Much like the main character in a story she thinks that the world revolves around her only to have Ozen confirm that she doesn’t really have anything to do with this at all. Of course we don’t quite know if Ozen is telling the truth or not but based on the character she has shown in this episode I don’t quite think she’s the type to lie. In fact this journey appears to be more about Regu than anything else and Riko is more just the tagalong. Sadly this episode ends right before what looks to be the biggest and most shocking reveal but we did get some interesting things. We have a strange corpse like creature that Riko saw in the middle of the night as well as some new info on the Abyss.

My guess is that this corpse being happened to be the Whistles that tried to ascend from the lower levels and got hit with the curse at it’s worst. But as to why it happened to be in Ozen’s house at that moment does make me wonder whether Ozen is experimenting on them. For other exposition we have Marulk who lets us know that the further down you get in the abyss, the more complex the artifacts become. As well as how a tree this giant can grow in the abyss by taking nutrients from the sea floor of the land above. Also Marulk may be a boy instead of a girl seeing how he reacted to Riko walking in naked and Regu inquiring about his gender. So we have reached the halfway point of this series and I do wonder just what twists await with this white cube and how it will effect the story going forward.

Fate/Apocrypha – 07[Where Freedom Lies]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Apocrypha

As a Fate fan I can state for certainty that this series does have a problem of having a bit too much anticlimax. Which is a problem that may affect all Chuuni style stories come to think of it. I love the series but I can say that I don’t think any of them truly capitalised on the holy grail war concept. Often at the start of the series there’s a build up and promises that the series more often than not doesn’t deliver on. This is also why I am conflicted when asked to decide whether Fate/Zero is better than Fate/Stay Night. For while in many aspects Fate/Zero comes across as the superior story, I still believe that Fate/Stay Night had better climaxes and did things that Fate/Zero didn’t do. But how is that relevant to this episode you may ask and well it’s just that a conflict was resolved with everyone just deciding to duke it out later which happens to be the third time this has happened. This is followed by a buildup to what could be the biggest fight of the series yet and I find myself with a wariness over whether it will be truly satisfying. At this point characters and general plot haven’t engaged me as much as I would have liked them to so the final vanguard is whether I can see some cool fights. A prospect which is looking less and less likely when the animation per episode is getting rougher.

Still it really is nice to see interpretations of historical figures and their history does enrich their position in this war. It’s logical that Shakespeare wouldn’t take a combat role considering his vocation and he staying by the sidelines just so he can chronicle the whole war as a new work is a great take. Though to make up for his lack of real combat power the Assassin of Red is playing a dual role. There has been some rewriting of the rules a bit and Semiramis possesses double summon which means shes effectively a Assassin and Caster rolled into one. Contrived indeed but hardly the first contrived exception to the rules. This episode marks the rise of her noble phantasm which is a giant floating fortress by the name of the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon”. Exposition time: Semiramis did not in fact make the Hanging Gardens of Babylon but their creation is often mistakenly associated with her. As a result she needs to jump through some hoops to actually summon it but it is an example of a servant gaining a power based on popular association, something which should come into play later. Servants powers are in general amplified based on popular belief. In reality Excalibur wasn’t really able to shoot laser beams nor was Alexander able to summon an army at will.

Once again Seig proves that any moment he’s on screen is a moment this series becomes boring. His talk with his caretaker reminded me a lot of the talk that Waver and his fake grandfather had in Fate/Zero and I get the feeling it was trying to emulate it. However it was missing the real heart of that conversation as well as Gen’s masterful hand at writing exposition. Seig’s dilemma and ultimate choice just come as expected. Even within the narrative it was already decided that he would be jumping back into the fray. So really this isn’t some much a character development moment for him but rather a reaffirmation of him being pushed into a stereotypical role. My hope is that his role isn’t too big in this story as when he’s off screen this does become a better show.

Kakegurui- 06[Tempting Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

Here’s where these betting games get really out of control as we have an elaborate setup which likely cost quite a lot of money to make and only serves to make this bet possible. Before I made the choice of ignoring the general nonsensical rules of the school however now I think that I should consider it that the entire world outside this school doesn’t actually exist. I mean we now introduce a member of the student council whom has her own torture complex under the school complete with a dangerous betting game in which people can get actually shot with a real gun. I just have to wonder what hospital takes in these students with mysterious gunshot wounds and how parents don’t hear of their children getting sent to hospital. Likely the explanation is that when money talks, everyone shuts up. But there really is so far before something this ludicrous is revealed to the world. This place is one reporter away from becoming headline world news so my only real option is just to assume that the world doesn’t exist and this school is center of the universe.

We have the introduction to our new opponent, Leader of the beautification committee, Midari Ikishima. Midari is somewhat unhinged which would be an understatement because she’s completely goddamn insane. In honesty I wonder how these kinds of characters function in mundane scenarios because I can’t imagine this girl sitting in a classroom for a full day without pulling a gun on the teacher. It’s also puzzling how someone so spontaneously prone to mood swings can somehow collect loyal followers.In a show that is already over the top, this girl is chewing the scenery to the absolute extremes. One thing about her that I find myself pondering over is the nature of the absurd level of raw sexuality from her. Normally I would sigh at such things as a girl straddling the male protagonist while begging to let her play a game but in the case of Midari I don’t find these actions titillating. I am sure someone is getting off on this but to me it feels the story is portraying her in a manner that these lustful mood swings are more disturbing than erotic. Her bloodshot eyes, practically drooling thirst and desperation show her off as more revolting in her naked unrefined desire. In the spectrum of Seduction and ravenous lust then Midari would be a full on rapist who would likely kill you afterwards. Strange that all this lust is directed at having a bet with Yumeko and while the story does draw parallels between their desire for risky bets, Midari’s seem more rooted in physical satisfaction.

Fanservice that I can’t quite reason away however is how the Student council president attempts to recruit Mary into their ranks and then the conversation gets as bit odd. Now the context of the scene is clearly that the president is trying to threaten her into the position but how the anime frames the scene is more like a seduction. Remove the sound and you could very well assume that she was coming on to her and I wonder if this is the director’s influence. I wonder just how much is intentional catering to this demographic and what is simply the result of him amping story developments up to eleven. Moving on the game is afoot and someone is obviously cheating because they always are. It’s difficult to see what plan Yumeko has at this point and knowing her, it’s bound to have her taking a big leap of faith. However it is a rather weak cliffhanger to end on a gunshot and have the after credits sequence ruin the surprise. Not that Yumeko was going to die but we could have been in suspense over her getting injured.

The Reflection – 4 [New Orleans]

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

The Reflection shows its strengths this week with strong character arcs, a deepening overall plot and some subtleties with its setting. Only thing left to fix is the frame count, but i’ve beat that horse to death, so let’s just jump right in.

Reflection opens up the episode right after the end of last weeks. X-On, Lisa and Elen sit in Elen’s pickup truck in the middle of nowhere. Not sure where she’s getting wifi from, but that’s a small matter. After some banter, where X-On once again shows himself to be a lovable jerk, we get to see what happened after they flew away. Turns out Lisa has a limit to her power, as they power down in mid air and plummet to earth! It’s a fun scene and makes Lisa seem a lot less powerful than she did before. Cutting back to the truck, Elen has found that the women of the Allen family are going missing across the country. Furthermore, each was hit by the Reflection. Apparently Wraith and our band of villains have a plan, kidnapping Reflected one by one. Their next stop? New Orleans. Let the race begin.

While they travel to the South, we jump over to best-man I-Guy who having a crisis of confidence in the West. Turns out he’s not some boy-scout, but a thrill seeker who only wants a stage. Saving people is not his priority, but rather getting seen saving people. While talking all this out with his crew, I-Guy learns of a gang gathering in a warehouse. Not one to leave such a meeting alone, he flies out and crashes the weapons deal. Rather than waiting the gang immediately shoot at I-Guy, which I appreciated, before being taken down. The real threat however is the sociopath businessman selling them the guns. Every blow explodes, marking him as a Reflected. Looks like we are in for a fight!

Or so I though. The fight ended as quickly as it began, as I-Guy grabs him and flies away! Dumping both of them in the ocean. Always one for flare I-Guy makes it another show, ending in a pose for the camera. From that pose we transition to a newspaper, which Ian Izette the man behind the mask of I-Guy, is reading. Ian is not a fan of how popular I-Guy has gotten, upset that people aren’t focusing on him and his song. Its interesting to see a man try to compete with himself. Im curious if Ian will give up on this and become I-Guy in full, of if the persona of I-Guy will start to take some hits. Either way its intriguing to see a man hate himself, while loving himself as much as Ian does.

To deal with this attitude, Ian decides to go out and write a new song! Only for his producer to shut him down, instead wanting to work with I-Guy. Upset and in a downward spiral from this, Ian visits a club and jacks the mic from the current band. He soon gets hit with stage fright and backs down however. Its an awkward and very vulnerable moment for the character, as he slowly falls apart. After running away however he reappears as I-Guy, blaring the song and being a true sky show. Even through his helmet he seems sad. We can see from this that Ian gains confidence from the armor, that he is afraid of being judged as Ian Izette the One Hit Wonder. I really hope this arc continues into future episodes and isn’t just a one-off event, as Ian is currently the most interesting character in The Reflection. Sadly that is all we get of Ian this episode as we jump back to X-On, Lisa and Elen, but I look forward to seeing him again.

Now in New Orleans, our group sets out in search of the Allens. Lisa is loving the trip, exclaiming how beautiful the ocean is only to have it pointed out as a lake. That was such an unexpected comedic moment for me, I actually laughed. Soon after arriving in New Orleans though the comedy dies down and we learn something is very wrong. Reflected, or refs as people here call them, are being kidnapped by a duo known as ‘Merchant’ and ‘Trader’. They kidnap and ‘scrap’ the Reflected, feeding into the racism of the city. Turns out when racism based on color is outlawed, the south will just find something else. We see this throughout the town even, as a group of children pick on another child who hung out with the kidnapped Reflected. Being the beautiful idiot she is, Elen can’t let this stand. She pops in, saves him, and pops out only to be quickly snatched up by ‘Merchant’ and ‘Trader’. Boy these guys are fast with interesting designs to boot!

X-On and Lisa later learn about Elen’s kidnapping, Lisa being determined to save her. X-On seems to not care, only to be guilted into it. Once again we see that our heroes are not perfect. Ian is arrogant, X-On is uncaring, Lisa is naive and Elen acts on a whim. Its good character moments as we head into what appears to be our first running arc. Elen wakes up in a fancy house out in the swamp, filled with what I can only assume are all of the kidnapped Reflected! ‘Merchant’ and ‘Trader’ are bad guys, posing as good guys! Kidnapping people to keep them safe in this swamp. I am legitimately interested to hear from these guys, their plans and ideals, to see where they go. They could side with our heroes or, since they want to defend Reflected, side with Wraith. They really are 3rd party right now.

All in all, a plot packed episode. Characters got fleshed out, the story progressed and everyone has their own goals and are actively heading towards them. The only complaint I have continues to be the animation quality/frames. Its a shame that so many people will write this series off because of this issue.

At least we who watch it to the end will have something they wont. Japanese pop-idol magical girls, which got hinted at through the entire episode. My body is ready Stan Lee, don’t disappoint.

Princess Principal – 06 [Case 18 Rouge Morgue]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

We have a very tender Princess Principal episode this week. Instead of exciting spy action like previous weeks, we get to the place that is largely ignored by the rest of the world: a morgue. A place where they’re near the dead than the living, where time just passes by slowly but endlessly. A place that feel like an endless cycle of corpses stacking up. I’m in awe with this setting. Normally anime shows don’t depict a morgue right; they tend to play up its creepy atmosphere for cheap horror effect; but here, they nail that grim atmosphere perfectly. Certainly didn’t expect this from a stylish spy show with cute girls like Princess Principal. The pacing, when you compare with their previous episodes, is much slower and this case is the least relevant to the main plot. That said, this episode is dedicated to give a spotlight to Dorothy and in that regards, this episode excels. Not only Dorothy becomes the most genuine character in this spy team (something that they remark as being weak), the solid execution towards the ending part successfully make us root for this poor girl without being overly manipulated. We have another solid Princess Principal in our hands.

The case this week, case18 (which is the most recent chronologically) – Dorothy is given a mission by Control to work in London’s morgue and recover a code cipher hidden inside the tooth of a deceased Kingdom agent. She takes Beatrice with her to the morgue and meet the person who is tasked by the Duke of Normandy to find the agent’s body – her father, Danny. Danny is a sore sight though, bursting out all the times, blaming the others for his own misfortune and has debt all over the place. The father-daughter reunion is uncomfortable because Dorothy (her real name: Daisy) has a mixed feeling about him. He’s aggressive and vulnerable at the same time, caring at one time, out of control at others. If I have a say myself, this was a very abusive relationship and she did the right thing of running away from that madman. The episode keeps teasing us on whether behind his loud mouth, does he indeed care for his daughter. Dorothy, on the other hand, has gotten soft. Too soft for a spy really, as when she finds the code cipher, she still intends to hand it to Danny for him to pay off his debts. It is telling that she uses her mother’s name as her alias, as a way that she regards her family as dear and important to her.

And it does seem like most of our girls have daddy issues. Beatrice has her throat sliced altered by insane papa. Chise had to go all the way to foreign land to kill off her insane dad, and now Dorothy was beaten by her insane otousan. I also like the coupling of Dorothy and Beatrice this time. They have a nice chemistry and like Dorothy remarks, only Beatrice can be able to understand why despite all the hardships, Dorothy still comes to trust and love her father and for once, the girls’ relationship feels genuine and base on mutual understanding, instead of lies. This episode gives a necessary development for the last girl of the team, Dorothy, make her the most grounded character out of the spy team. Well, I still prefer they give more time to show how these girls bounce of each other, as Ange, Chise and Princess are all relegated to some minor scenes in this episode. Plot-wise, not much to gain either as this case adds little to the main conflict. I can see Princess Principal divide the audience sharply this week: those who look for non-stop action will end up disappointed; those who look for more character’s development (like me) will have a lot to boast about. Whatever side you’re on.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu – 7 [The First Unit]

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

Welcome back to another week of Ranbu. This week we have mystery, intrigue and a stupid amount of new characters. Lets jump into it.

Ranbu opens up the episode on a burning castle under siege, troops inside and a battle raging. We see a figure cut down in the smoke, only for his spirit to flow into an Oni mask on the wall. Cut to the OP. A good start, with the mask becoming our villain for the week and giving us some hints as to how the Retrograde army comes to be. Sadly this air of mystery quickly gives way to another action focused episode as the OP ends and we see our new group of heroes in action.

The first squad, who I will not name simply because I can only keep track of so many characters, are fighting the Retrograde army as they zap in. Already we see they are a step up from our old unit. They quickly tracked down the Retrograde Army to their point of entrance and are cutting them down with ease. Even an Ootachi goes down with one swing, even though our old unit had trouble with one. Its a good display of the power difference between the units. Next up we have some expository scenes, setting up the conflict and giving us some backstory to our characters.

As it turns out, most of them are from the same clan, Ashikaga. The first unit is, in some form or another, made up of great weapons from a renowned clan. Interspersed among the backstory and exposition, Ranbu shows us some scenes around town. Even though a war just ended, people are hiding in the town. We quickly learn a street slasher is going around, murdering people at night, and that many think it to be the deceased Shogun. The mystery element comes back in here for a bit, more so when we learn Mikazuki was wielded by the Shogun.

After our group eats their fill, they head out once more to the town. Scouting around town they find little, until Honebami is confronted by the Slasher. Turns out, the Oni mask turned into a spear wielding Retrograde Soldier. The Oni is made immediately threatening by being able to summon more Retrograde. We already know that a single Retrograde is no threat to the first unit, but what about a horde? After summoning more soldiers, the Oni quickly flees, motioning for Honebami to follow it. The Oni leads Honebami to a ruined site, the castle from Ranbu‘s opening scene.

Smarter than previous Retrograde, the Oni was leading our group into a trap! It summons a horde of Ootachis to deal with the first unit, oh what shall they do? Sadly, this isn’t even a challenge. Our new leads cut through this horde like butter, setting up the strength of the first unit. This fight goes on for a bit, with lots of individual flashes of style but little extended choreography. In particular I enjoyed Mikazuki’s attack displaying his crest. Its disappointing however, as the air of mystery has been completely dropped by this point. Ranbu has made it clear that flash is all it has at this point. Its pretty but the characters are shallow. It has lots of effects and paint, but no substance.

We never find out why the Shogun became a Retrograde soldier. There is no setup for a future arc. Every character aside from Mikazuki and Mitsunokami seem to have a single note. I want there to be more to Ranbu than just a pretty face, but the harder I look the more disappointed I am when I find nothing.

See you next folks, and lets be thankful we at least got the future fox food club.

Ballroom e Youkoso – 06 [Line of Dance]

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

Several weeks ago, I wrote about my desire for the show to continually check in with Shizuku’s character – not just to put her on screen, but to show us how she’s thinking and feeling, now that her previous partner is sidelined and her new one clearly wants to be partners in more than one sense. In the fourteen days since the last episode, I developed the expectation that I wouldn’t be wild about this new installment unless Shizuku was a major part of it. And while she did make an appearance, both in the present day and in a flashback, she didn’t have a single line of dialogue, plus she was subjected to some heavy objectification on Gaju’s end. Why, then, was I so happy with Ballroom this week? I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this review, you’ve already seen the episode, so we’re skipping any sort of plot summary and moving straight to my favorite scene, which came near the end of our 22 minutes.

When Tatara comes home from a grueling practice session with Mako, he’s greeted by two things: popped blisters on his feet, and the sound of his father’s drunken phone conversation. The lights are off, and as he passes by his dad, Tatara hears him say, “He’s such a hopeless kid.” Let’s stop right there for a second and consider how dark this scene is. The blisters are, to Tatara, a symbol of his inadequacy, since he thinks to himself that experienced dancers would never have such a problem. So, he’s entering his home with the thought in his head that he’s not good enough, and on the way to his room he hears the only parent in his life confirm his self-diagnosis – talk about mental damage. Until this episode, Tatara’s home life had been portrayed as a happy one, featuring bright mealtime scenes and his dad functioning as a concerned, but understanding, parent. Here we see the exact opposite, and to make things even worse (or so it seems), the person on the other end of the call is Mako.

It turns out she’s been dealing with blisters, too, and her first instinct is to apologize for her lousy dancing. Like Tatara, she lacks confidence, and they take turns apologizing and deflecting until he decides to share that his parents are divorced. The show uses this fact to explain his commitment to restoring the Hyodo/Shizuku and Gaju/Mako dance partnerships, but Mako sees that resolve as a part of his character, and starts to gush about how thoughtful he is. This was the make-or-break moment for the scene, because anime often falls into the trap of praising their heroes for being sooo thoughtful and sooo nice, as opposed to creating stories that allow them to demonstrate those qualities in an authentic way. But Ballroom leapt over this pitfall by contrasting Mako’s opinion of her new partner with his own self-perception. As she assures him that everyone at Ogasawara is watching and admiring his progress, Tatara wonders to himself whether he’s worthy of their gaze. He feels thankful that anyone notices him at all, and considers it a miracle that any girl would want to dance with him.

This is real shit. These are the naked thoughts of a kid from a divorced family, who doesn’t like school, considers himself to be untalented, and comes home to a father who self-medicates with alcohol. As Mako expresses her wish that he’ll keep dancing, we get a shot of Tatara’s feet – they’re the only place he can bear to look, given how foreign and inappropriate her praise must seem. But although his voice is small when he manages to find it again, he says thank you. He’s accepted guidance from coaches and challenges from rivals in the past, but now he accepts the kindness of someone who really respects him, and maybe likes him a little bit. Both kids are blushing by the end of the conversation, and it’s worth noting that Mako must have asked somebody at the dance studio for his phone number in order to make the call, so rumors about the pair may already be buzzing. I’m not totally on board the Tatara/Mako ship just yet, but I couldn’t be happier about the way they serve as anchors for each other in the harsh world of competitive dance.

There was more to the new episode than just this scene, but I’ve written enough as it is. Next week’s Ballroom will feature the Tenpei Cup, with our main couples going head-to-head, so I’ll try to integrate some of the stuff I didn’t cover this time into that post. Feels good to be back on the Ballroom bandwagon (at least for now).

Owarimonogatari – 03 [Ougi Dark]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Monogatari Series

Well done Monogatari for building up a final showdown that is tense, not by the climatic battle but by the amount of information release, how the pieces of the puzzle finally get into place. An ending that tied up everything the show has paintakingly constructed from previous dozen arcs; an ending that emotional satisfied and an ending that unlike any other ending. Usually for the climax this crucial, all the important players will be in place to play their roles; here in Monogatari, it’s an one-on-one confrontation, mostly through talking, and concluding with a single line of acknowledgement on top of it. Monogatari series has always been a show about growth, about characters who learn about themselves and embrace their dark side. Thus, isn’t it fitting that after saving all the girls, it’s time for Araragi to face his darkness and save himself? Growth, after all, is about acknowledgement. It’s until Araragi acknowledges his dark side that he’s truly become more mature. How NisiOisin make an ending that perfect and conclusive really prove me again how I fall for his style in the first place. The following paragraphs will content huge spoilers of the whole Monogatari series, so if you don’t want to spoil yourself, I guess I will see you out there in the chatbox.

Gaen makes herself very clear to Araragi by her two “minimum requirements” in order to reach everyone’s objectives: assign a new Deity for the North Shirahebi Shrine; and exterminate Ougi Oshino (one of them ultimately failed by the way). Since Araragi unexpectedly bring Mayoi up from hell, she becomes a perfect candidate as a new God for the shrine. And to think that the catch phrase that I always overlooked “Kami Kashita” is a forshadowing all along – from back to episode 3 in 2009. My hat off to you NisiOisin. If you really notice, despite having a large cast, Monogatari never had more than 4 characters in the same sequence (something I’d love to write more about, another time), up until this episode. Here, basically Gaen’s monologuing and info-dumping us much needed expositions about the history of the Shrine, and how everything came to the way it is now. The exposition is long and demanding, so Shaft again uses their old tricks to engage our attention: having Mayoi and Ononogi playing around, and then emphasis on irrelevant topics like playing baseball and cricket (something I’d love to write more in deep some time, again. I regard this technique as “the art of distraction” to keep our attention). Originally Gaen intended to put Shinobu as a Deity, but it’s rather fitting, and surprisingly make so much sense to enshrine Mayoi as a new Deity. The snail that defeat the snake part is a bit of a stretch to be frank, but all those info had been planted well before in previous arcs (notably, Shinobu Time and Hitagi End) that it just comes all together in a neat package.

The second minimum requirement is to exterminate Ougi. But what makes Ougi dangerous is that her true identity is a total mystery. In fact, she has only two purposes: to eject those broken the rules, and to point out how imperfect Araragi’s approach is. The one thing left she knows she has to do is to exterminate the biggest “fake” of all: Tsuhiki the Phoenix. Tsuhiki, stays true of being one of my favorite (but under-developed) characters, and stay true to herself, doesn’t care about the future and just simply enjoys the present. That what her character always is: embracing the present, having fun while supporting what other people do, especially Karen and her brother. “I’m pretty good at living.” That is indeed a marvelous thing that she can say confidently. In that moments alone, Ougi feels compassionate towards Tsuhiki’s “fake” nature. Coming to face Araragi, I sense something about Ougi I had never felt before. A hint of sadness. She comes to the fight knowing that she’d get suck by the Darkness, but it’s the fight she has to fight. Kudos to the seiyuu of Ougi who give such a demanding performance that make her sound emotional towards this final climax, a feat that isn’t easy to pull consider her spooky emotionless role.

And here, all the concepts the show has built throughout its near-decade long all surface: The act of selfless sacrifice for the sake of others. The concept of rightness. Justice. We know before that Araragi keeps pushing himself over his limit results in him slowly losing his humanity. But he also forms a guilt towards those girls that he had helped: regrets that he could do it better, feelings that he cheated because of his vampiric immortal ability, blame himself for the unfortunates of others. All those negative feelings, plus the strange occurrences of the town (most notably during the First Minion’s period) that create Ougi – or Koyomi Darkness. Ougi is an appariation that has all the special abilities of those girls he helped, specifically assigned to attack Araragi, form a justice that oppose to his very ideal and has a dark intent to crush all the girls and his ideal down. Araragi just does what he thinks is right, and Ougi does what “right” by eliminating the “wrong”. In the end, no one is truly right and wrong. And Araragi just doesn’t give a damn about what is right anymore and come saving her instead, if it means that he would be exterminated too. That act, that Araragi finally saves himself, is the biggest personal grown for him. Bye bye adolescent. Araragi now becomes a full-fledge adult and Ougi the Koyomi Darkness now becomes Ougi the niece of Meme Oshino.

All the girls all make an appearance in this last episode. It’s rather heartwarming to see how much Nadeko has grown since her last arc, and she’s cute now because she doesn’t try to be cute. Hanekawa’s still kicking ass, getting Meme back all the way from Anartica goddamnit (the only place where there is no oddity, thanks to the Lost Cow effect by Ougi) and Shinobu shines just by little things that she said. Brilliant. I would love to see more from Kanbaru but this ending just hit all the sweet spots in my body, so I’m done complaining. This is a conclusion that easily justify the insane amount of time I have been following this series. I’m not at all joking when I say I’ve grown along with Monogatari and at a specific time of my life few years back, this show, along with their characters who struggled for their own issues, connected deeply with me in a personal level. As for what my opinion is about the possibility of further adaptation of the Monogataries series. As much as I love the whole cast and its universe, I believe that the story (pun obviously intended) has run its course. Monogatari series had been blessed with too much efforts from Shaft and I would love to see the same kind of attention for some other materials out there that needed adapting. Not sure if I can be able to grade this Owarimonogatari, or the whole Monogatari objectively so I guess I will spare you guys on the full review. Monogatari is one of a kind series, there’s nothing like it, just like there’s no place like home.