Owarimonogatari 2 – 02 [Hitagi Rendezvous]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Monogatari Series

This arc certainly is a calm before the big storm, in which instead of the final showdown promised at the end of Mayoi Hell, we have a date between Araragi and Hitagi, a day after his college exam and a day before the actual graduation. Their last date as a high schooler. Normally I would be in tears because seriously, a date when we’re nearly reaching the climax? But I’m totally at peace since it offers more Hitagi’s precious time. As much as most people regard her as the main heroine in Monogatari series, in truth she barely has any screentime at all. Her first own arc was right at the start of the whole franchise, and her second arc was a disguise of Kaiki’s arc. As such, her presence is always there but she has mostly relegated to scene-stealing moments from other arcs (most notably, in Sodaichi Riddle).

Well, as far as a date goes, Hitagi and Araragi spend some sweet times together, and I’m honestly quite surprised that their date is really a normal date. No battle between appapriation. No other characters interfere (actually, yes, but this girl Ougi hardly counts) and they enjoy their date like any normal couple would do: driving a car, going to the planetarium, playing bowling, drinking some tea and singing karaoke. It kinda funny to know that she intentionally put up a penalty: the promise of absolute obedience for loser but then keep losing the challenge to Araragi. Especially, in a karaoke turn when she sings her own song “Futakotome” and somehow still lost to Araragi when he sings Hanekawa’s song (guess what the karaoke’s comment was? “You have very high singing skills, but emotional expression seems slightly week” Great touch there Shaft. A true tsundere huh?). At first, I thought she goes easy on him in bowling but after learning about her request, this isn’t the case. For all her manipulatiion and emotional demanding, the request is as sweet and simple as ever: Hitagi wants Araragi calls her by her first name for the rest of their lives, meaning their relationship is taking more intimate step this time.

Ougi again appears like a shadow and she’s as spooky as ever. Well, her true nature is still a question mark (and finally we going to have a glimpse at it in final arc) but her intention is getting clearer this time. Her main role is to eject those that have broken the rules. In addition, she clearly states that she isn’t the Darkness, an entity that almost swept away Mayoi’s existence before. The long-winded presentation about the constellations from Dream Ougi might not make much sense, but I’m digging how she compares the Hydra with Shinobu. Now that the show mentions it, it was the same method they kill the Hydra that almost killed Kiss-Shot: cutting their heads/limbs apart and destroy those before they can regenerate. Apart from the nightmarish air she always manages to bring, this time around I can also sense the desperation from her. She knows that she’s in inferior position right now, she knows damn well that she’s about to step into the enemy’s trap, she knows that not only she has to face Gaen, she will face off invincible Kiss-Shot as well. But as a “principle of the universe” she won’t back down, knowing that her chance to get defeated is coming right near. She asks Araragi for his assistance and Araragi has a tendency to take on such request from any girl. The big battle is coming near and I’m sure heads will roll this time.

Owarimonogatari 2 – 01 [Mayoi Hell]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Monogatari Series

The Monogatari-fest is reaching near its end. For those of you who are slightly off about the current events; here’s a brief break down. Araragi wakes up in Hell and learns from Mayoi that he had been killed – chopped off by the kokorowatari – by Gaen, just so that he will be resurrected back again. Sound like a meaningless roundabout course of actions, but in truth, there are some subtractions and additions involved. The “subtractions” part: his vampiric ability is fully gone and thus, restore Shinobu into a full-fledge sparkling eye-winked vampire lord Heart-under-Blade (such heartwarming to realize that even now when their bond is broken and Araragi is no longer her “master”, she’d go such length – threatening to rip Gaen apart – to bring him back). The “additions” part: Araragi also grabs Mayoi back up, the decision that wasn’t initially planned by Gaen, but something she did expect from him; and a neccesary time to reassert his actions and learn more about his role in this masterplan.

I must say that the cast of Monogatari is one of the rare cases that I have personal attachment to almost all of the characters; and I like Mayoi well enough (her matter-of-factness regarding her staying in hell to pile stones up everyday like it’s a part of mundane daily life totally won me over). But the chatter banner between Araragi and Mayoi has always been one of its weaker, more questionable part that does more harm than good in my opinion. Even at large, the introduction part when characters get together has never been Monogatari’s strong forte as they usually rely too much on established gags and wordplays that really hard for us, foreigners to comprehend. Here, Araragi apparently is all over the moon and can’t keep his desire to “touch” her. Bleh. Apart from that though, even with her role this time as an assistant for Araragi to lead him back to surface, Mayoi more than hold her own. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that his help meant the most to Mayoi more than any other harem character. Others still have their lives beyond their apparition nature, her life was an endless cycle of wandering alone – the lost snail. Thus, more than anyone, she understands about how all his efforts really worth, as a result she won’t accept the low-esteem, woe-is-me Araragi. That’s why when she’s furious and hits Araragi for his insecure rubbish, it holds so much weight. For all of its “heavy-dialogue nonsense” and “irrelevant visual style” and “weird characters’ poses”, the series’s heart is always in the right place because the show understands the characters’ struggles and sympathy with them.

As Mayoi leads him to meet Teoru, they pass through all the girls he had “saved” with a “what-if” scenario. What if he didn’t save Hitagi back then? What about Hanekawa? Interestingly, he always regrets about saving KissShot because obviously his life would take a very different turn had he walked away from her. Even in Nadeko’s case it’s a sense of regret that he failed to help her, or to be more exact, he failed by helping her. But make no mistake, although he’s at his lowest confidence, if he had a second chance to redo everything, he’d still help those girls out. This episode also raises another interesting theme: the difference between doing the right thing and correcting mistakes. I believe this will tie up to Ougi’s arc as she always believes that she does the right thing by erasing the part that don’t function like it’s supposed to. I highly believe that she was the person behind the darkness entity that threaten to erase Mayoi in “Mayoi Jiangshi” for example and I think the reason she said she’d come into the trap that Guen prepared is to exterminate Kiss-Shot for good.

I didn’t expect to see this guy Teoru back, and he has one or two intesting expositions to spare. First, all his kipnapping, his supposed “death” in Yotsugi Doll was all scams to deceive Ougi. In reality, since he failed in his own experiment, he became an entity himself: half human – half monster, wandering the boundaries of material world and the afterlife. Meme got him into the plan and he was put in hell to prepare for this moment: bringing Araragi back to life. Second, he also reveals the person who ordered him to exterminate Araragi and Shinobu: none other than Ougi. Really love the fact that this episode set in Hell (that made it the third Hell episode I’ve seen this year, all of them were fantastic), so that Shaft even has more opportunity to go wild on the visual; and the visuals were spot on for most part. The OP is good though a fair bit forgettable. Now that all the pieces are fit into place, we’ll head to the next equally important part: Araragi and his college entrance exams plus his full date with Hitagi the next day. Unbelievable, right? That’s Monogatari series for you.

18if – 06 [Curses Return Upon the Casters]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

This episode… certainly is random as hell. While the first half is a decent treatment of a bullied girl case who escapes the world by becoming the anime character that she loves – a priest; the second half… suddenly they’re in a mecha robot to save the world from aliens. Wild imagination there. Feel like the producers just demanded that “We want mecha robot. Make it happen” and here is what they came up with. At least 18if is being weird, that in itself is rewarding enough. The director of this episode was Yukio Takahashi, whom mostly done episode directing, most notably in Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam, Seirei no Moribito, Shangri-La and B gata H kei. Not that impressive resume but the episode is nicely done as she handles the various tones: the drama, the various action scenes, and the goofy Scooby Doo’s actions quite alright. It’s the writing this time that takes the fall.

The witch this time, Natsuki has a relatable – if a bit too obvious – circumstances. Bully in school happens more frequent than you think and in her case, receiving constant bully and being completely isolated from the class is a serious matter. For a show that each episode is handled by different director, 18if is surprisingly very consistent in how they emphasize each witch’s circumstance as a victim in her own society. A feeling of sympathy perhaps, and as a result, a disapproval, somewhat angry attitude towards those who cause the misfortune. In episode 2, Haruto assisted the Witch to kill one of the killer, FOR REAL; episode 6 also has the same message: Curses Return Upon the Casters. They reap what they sow.

Natsuki is also has a nerdy side of her, as she’s a secret fan of On-Bara, an anime about a priest who protect the town by killing dark spirits. Thus, when Natsuki commits suicide, she tranfers to that world and becomes the said priest. She has fun fight off dark spirits; until she realizes that there are just so many of them so she… curses her friends instead. This is the point where the show just lost its rhythm and do its own Freeform. First, Haruto just speaks like, 3 lines and he already convinces Natsuki to change her mind. Wow,just wow. And then, the alien invasion is just on a whole new level of goofiness that it’s rather refreshing to see. Ya know, just throw all the build up we have so far through the window and let’s play some robot. Save the world. Keep bullying the bullies. Then returns back to life because life is precious (or rather, because living a shounen life is too taxing and cursing alone is lonely).

I have nothing much to say unfortunately; since this is an episode where you have to see it to know for yourself. Personally, I have a good time watching 18if this week. The sum of its part is terrible, the transition from a touching, serious subject to full campy B-movies is too jarring and too much to take in, yes but the first sequence and last sequence are so vastly contradict each other that seeing how they move from A to B is rather entertaining to watch. Next week in 18if we have an Agatha Christine’s inspired title” “And Now There Are None” so I expect great dark mystery in the vein of episode 2. Let’s wait and see.

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?