Katsugeki Touken Ranbu – 4 [What I Wanted to Protect]

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

This is a good week for Ranbu, as it starts to hit its stride. A new mission begins, some quiet character moments occur and finally a whole new cast member is introduced!

We open in a rather unexpected manner, our party fleeing from a group of police. I was expecting a relaxing, beach like episode, with how we left off last time. However it appears we are jumping right into the next mission, as they arrive in Edo. This time our cast is tasked with protecting a 2-day meeting between Katsu Kaishu and Saigou Takamori. This meeting, if left alone, will end in a bloodless surrender of Edo. Should this meeting be attacked, no doubt war will break out, and history will take a massive swing. It wouldn’t take much to set that off, so our casts job is a difficult one it seems.

During this opening segment in Edo, the music does a good job of building suspense. Everything is very calm in the beginning, but the music gives even daylight scenes a sense of foreboding. That this mission wont go our heroes way, at least not easily. This is broken up by moments of comedy, with our cast trying to do their job while dodging the Shogunate Police. This is good, it shows that our heroes are a part of this world. Their clothing actually gets them into trouble and people see them and know they exist. They are a part of this world.

As night comes, the light hearted comedy gives way to some one-on-one character moments for some of our cast. Specifically Kane and Yagen, as they discuss their duty and their previous masters. Yagen gives a short speech which is made better by the fact that he hasn’t talked much up till now. We see through Kane’s imitation of Hijikata, his old wielder, that he still holds onto his time as a weapon. Its a nice, short scene. It fleshes out these characters during their downtime while we wait for the Retrograde army to make their move.

This time, they have managed to place a samurai in Katsu Kaishu’s party who was not originally there in history, who has slipped away between days of the meeting. As this realization hits our party, we transition to night and another fog rolls in. Soon after a new type of opponent is introduced, the Ootachi, a large sword wielder, who raises a question in my mind. Our main cast are weapons given personalities, and these Retrograde samurai are named after their type of weapon. Are they weapons history has forgotten? Why are they mindless, yet our main cast are not, even though both are weapons? These our questions I hope get answered as we progress, but for now lets head back to the fight with the Ootachi.

The Ootachi is very clearly overpowering and out fighting our cast, as we can see small, subtle movements as he reacts to our main characters attacks. Yes, with its raw strength and endurance it simply takes some blows, but for many others it seems to be acting with thought. Because of this, the Ootachi is putting up quite the fight. This combat also takes place on a bridge, which gives us a rather pretty combat scene. I have criticized Ranbu’s combat choreography before, but this episode does it well.

While all this is going on, Yagen is off trailing the Samurai who snuck off from the meeting, who apparently plans to fire on the meeting from the sea. Yagen gets some quick scenes to shine, to show what he can do, and handily defeats the ship crew. Once the Retrograde army appears though, it becomes clear that front line combat isn’t his specialty as he is pushed into a corner. Disappointingly he is saved by a new character teleporting in at the last moment, but it does make for an amazing entrance. Art has always been Ranbu’s strong point, but these scenes looked good even when compared to the previous episodes. The white against the blues and blacks of the ship at night, the red on the sword and the petals, all frame a beautiful shot to end the episode on.

Overall, this episode is a step in the right direction for Ranbu. It has improved its comedy, and the character moments are focused and the combat is stylish. The story can still improve, but it has become clear that Ranbu is more concerned with Rule of Cool scenarios. So for this season sit back, relax, and enjoy the eye candy.

See you next week!

 

Ballroom e Youkoso – 03 [Dance the Waltz]

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

Well, there’s no going back now. Ballroom just went full sports anime, and it cut the brake lines for good measure. After the relative nuance of last week’s character introduction, the newest episode treated us to more fanservice, more contrivance, and more shounen formula than the last two combined. Sports series have really stepped up their game over the last few years, with Yuri on Ice and especially Ping Pong busting genre conventions every time they hit the airwaves, but I wasn’t expecting Ballroom to reach those heights – just equaling its sister series Haikyuu would be a fine achievement. The going is still early, but since I’m reviewing the show episodically, I don’t have a lot of praise to dole out this time.

Before we get too negative, though, let’s talk about Fujita’s family life for a bit. There’s a sweet mealtime scene between our young hero, his father, and his grandmother, who we met for the first time this week. Fujita does his best impression of a color commentator as a sumo match plays on TV, allowing his nearsighted grandma to follow along. This heartwarming scene further establishes him as a good kid, but he’s still not disclosing his new hobby to his dad, so I have to wonder when Fujita’s sneaking around will come back to bite him in the butt. Ballroom isn’t one of those series that makes its paternal figures into antagonists, but we already know that he’s concerned about his son’s upcoming high school entrance exams. When he inevitably learns that ballroom dancing is coming before Fujita’s studies, we can expect a B-plot’s worth of material from the resulting conflict.

Notably absent from the dinner table is Fujita’s mother. I’ve been on the lookout for a shrine somewhere in their home, but it appears she’s just living apart from her family. I have to wonder whether Fujita would be more comfortable revealing his passion for dance to a mother figure, but it’s hard to speculate, since all the women in this cast are already part of that world. Tamaki-san is the encouraging type, at least, which is a wonderful trait for a young novice to have in an instructor. Speaking of female characters, I took issue with the way that half of the cast was treated in this episode. This is a shounen property, so I was prepared for a certain level of sexual objectification, but at this point Banba’s role in the story is 80% boob jiggle. The more offensive instance by far, though, came when Sengoku grabbed a handful of Shizuku’s dress during a pep talk and inadvertently bared her breasts. Then they threw in a gushing nosebleed and a camera flash for good measure… I was able to get past the changing scene from last week without much trouble, but if this shit becomes a staple in Ballroom’s playbook, it’s going to put a sizeable damper on my enjoyment of the series.

Excessive fanservice isn’t the only bone I had to pick with this episode, either. The “overheard from a bathroom stall” trope was executed with about as much grace as Fujita after just one dance lesson, and it didn’t teach us anything that we couldn’t infer from the studio above his home and his rigorous practice routine. The show’s attempt to frame another competitor for Hyodo’s fall didn’t even qualify as half-hearted, plus we’ve already seen him fall down a flight of stairs at Ogasawara. And the fall itself was a complete contrivance, not only because it allowed Fujita to hit the floor way ahead of schedule, but also because it will prevent Hyodo from claiming his title. This kind of plotting reminds me of sports anime from the mid-90’s: clumsy and lacking any kind of dramatic tension. Sengoku refers to dance competitions as “battlefields” midway through the episode, but the show handled this one as though it were a mere reenactment.

Thankfully, Hyodo’s character remains fascinating, even when the events unfolding around him are not. After seeing Fujita’s excited expression on the dance floor, Hyodo angrily demands that he “give it back,” a clear reference to the passion that he himself has lost. It’s tempting to think that the two trash-talkers from the bathroom got under his skin, but it seems to me that he’s been approaching this breaking point for a while. His enthusiasm for the sport is at a low point, given his lack of challengers and disinterest in training overseas; he may not even want to compete at all, feeling only the need to live up to his reputation or please his parents. Hyodo’s expressions on the floor are often intense, but never are they happy, and that’s where Fujita has him beat. The continued strength of their rivalry will be one of the biggest measures of Ballroom’s success as it goes on – hopefully the rest of the show catches up soon.

Shoukoku no Altair – 03 [The Council of Generals]

by SuperWooper, posted in Series which were Dropped, Shoukoku no Altair

With this episode, Altair’s first arc comes to a close. Mahmut Pasha, teenage prodigy and commander of eagles, is now simply Tughril Mahmut, a disgraced former general set to leave Turkiye on a journey of discovery. Though its main character didn’t fare so well this week, I thought the show wrapped everything up nicely in its third effort, considering the amount of material it needed to cover. It put a bow on the conflict in Hisar, lovingly kicked our hero from grace while confirming his suspicions of an impending war, and introduced an important plot device that will drive the story going forward (more on that in a bit). Though Altair hasn’t become the polished production I’d originally hoped for, the stage is set for a new, hopefully more fruitful chapter in the show’s history.

Last time, after hearing that his friend Ibrahim was in trouble, Mahmut left for Hisar without saying a word to anyone. Though he was successful this week in rescuing Ibrahim and the hostages that had tied his hands, his reward upon returning to Turkiye was a demotion. The council’s justification: in addition to acting rashly at first, Mahmut later made the decision to free all the Araban people (subtlety isn’t one of Altair’s strong suits) who had been lured into Hisar by the evil Minister Louis, in the hopes that they could persuade their countrymen not to carry out a larger invasion. Mahmut’s fellow generals would have preferred that he let only a fraction of them carry the message, but they also want war with the Empire, and it’s this second motive that seems to be the real reason for the dismissal. This sudden reversal of fortune doesn’t carry a lot of emotional weight, since it comes so close to the beginning of our story, but it’s the best and boldest decision the show has made so far. Stripped of his rank and without a means of aiding his country, Mahmut is now free to hit the road and meet the two young men who appear at his side during the opening theme.

My previous suspicions about Zaganos were off the mark, though it turns out I was right not to trust him completely – he’s the type of guy who controls a spy network that spans the entire continent, which explains why his troops were located so conveniently in the last episode. Though the Poison General gives his court rival no credit for the happy ending in Hisar, he’s kind enough to give him a necklace that functions as the key to contacting these spies. Why Zaganos would give such a valuable trinket to a man intent on leaving the country is a mystery to me, but maybe a more observant viewer or helpful manga reader can ease my confusion in the comments below. Perhaps Altair is just the type of series to create more questions every time it answers one, à la LOST (though hopefully not as opaque). In any case, this handy plot device ought to provide the thrust for the rest of the narrative, so how it fell into Mahmut’s lap is less important than where it takes us next. After this week, I’m looking forward to seeing where that will be.

Classroom of the Elite – 02 [It Takes a Great Deal and Skill to Conceal One’s Talent and Skill.]

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

Something about Youkoso, after the end of both first two episodes, that left me there hanging. Something that I feel “off”, but I can’t quite put my fingers on. I guess a big part of it was caused by the pacing, which it takes way too long to get into the intrigued part. I mean, a huge part of this episode for example, is about group study, which excites no one, both to the characters and to us. So, I went ahead and read the chapters where this episode adapted from, and to my utmost surprise, it was different from the Light Novel. They cut down important parts that both reveal new sides from the cast, and leave out the details about the rules. I’m sure they’d save these events for later development so it’s fine for now but even more head-scratching, they include the pool sequence that has no right to be in there in a first place. And I still don’t get the obsessions over gazing at Kushida’s big boobs because as far as I see, Ayanokoji doesn’t get excited by her boobs. It’s just blatant fanservice that don’t go together with the tone of Youkoso. Or maybe that’s just a normal treatment every girl with big boobs will be received in anime, doesn’t matter if it’s relevant to the plot?

In terms of settings, Youkoso introduces one of the more intriguing school-settings that we haven’t encountered for awhile, the academy displays the social structure, the social functioning that we can relate from the real world. In this, class members work together so that they can gain points and raise up their social’s status. We already have the “underdog” here so it’s easy to root for class D, the lowest of the low and I can see heaps of interesting angles Youkoso could explore. First, this is clearly more of a team-work effort than any single individual’s performance so it could provide the real test for both Ayanokoji, the loner and Horikita, the superior complex one to reach out with the rest of the class for their own sakes. Second, the criteria for allocate students to their respective classes and “gaining points” system aren’t strictly academic achievement, meaning that even if the class passes the midterm exam (means that no one got expelled), it is not guaranteed that they can earn more point. Figuring out the best method to raise their rank and beat out the other classes would prove to be interesting and I’m eager to see how the plot develops from here.

At this moment, I like the main cast of Ayanokoji – Horikita and Kushida although they still remind me greatly to the cast of Oregairu. This episode, unfortunately, doesn’t convince us clearly the motive of Horikita when she decides to help out the Bad Three. Such a shame because in the novel, they made it quite clear: Horikita is shocked about being put into class D, while her score is always near the top; thus aiming for the top has always been her objective and she will work out every solution to reach that goal. In the anime I just don’t see it. Youkoso however does shed a new light on her characters with her even more high horse and abusive brother (who happened to be a council student president huh?) and that’s the only time where we can see the real reason behind her superior/inferior complex.

The male lead Ayanokoji is also an amusing lead. He knows much more than he lets out and people around him start to pick up on this. I quite like his cynical point of view so far but damn, after reading the Novel I feel like they haven’t use the characters to full potential. Like I said earlier, the way this episode adapts from its source gives me some concerns: if Youkoso want to focus on the characters I honestly don’t see the reason they cut down the important parts, whereas if they want to concentrate on the process of the class working together to raise above the zero ground, then they fail when rushing abruptly to the final test results. I still see Youkoso has a lot of potential, hopefully they know what to do with the intriguing setup.

Re:Creators – 15 [Waves Approach the End of Wandering]

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

This week’s episode didn’t have any action once again but there is a lot more movement on the main plot as each faction solidify their alliances and plan out their new moves.

As speculated last week, the latest creation has a snowball’s chance in hell in be competitive against every other creation as her only power is flashing her panties to seduce men. That doesn’t comes as a surprise since her source material is an X-Rated eroge ported over as an all-age version and with Mamika out of the picture, it’s up to Hikayu fill in her shoes with her  future magical powers via fan side release. I’m skeptical that there is enough time or compelling development to do that since it will just be a repeat of a naive kind-hearted girl coming to terms with the harsh reality of this world. Her creator doesn’t fare any better as his buck-tooth appearance and behavior towards creations leans heavily into the more unsavory end of the anime fandom. Out of all of the creators, he is truly a terrible human being.

As her creator speculates, Alice does something very out of character this episode and that is to seek out the help of Magane. For a creation that is pretty meat-headed and relies on brute to win the day, this is a radical departure from her ideology of honor and absolutes. Seeing the batshit insanity that is the money-bathing Magane trouncing around half-naked in a towel go along with her polar opposite is the sort of risk that Re:Creators needs to take if it wants a strong finish. With some incoming power-ups courtesy of her own creators and having Magane take part in  her ambiguous plans, this bores enough potential for a payoff that will definitely shake things ups as the series goes closer to its conclusion.

Blitz has always been an enigma with his backstory and reasons for staying on Altair’s side. His story has been now revealed to be a tragic and dark history with him killing his own daughter in order to prevent a catastrophe in a cyberpunk universe. It’s just that when the show try to link his backstory to Altair is when it gets a little creepy. As with Rui’s sudden transition from being a twat to a stewart defender of the real world, we miss all the nuisances and buildup to his confession to Altair and makes it seems rushed while coming out of the left field. It could have been a cool parallel story like something along the lines of Joel and Ellie’s twisted relationship in The Last of Us but Re:Creators really dropped the ball when it comes to those two.

Dies Irae ~Amantes Amentes~ Video Game Review – 80/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Game Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47

In the Visual novel fandom there are certain titles referred to Kamige.(God(ly) games) I previously thought the term referred to the best the medium has to offer but in recent times come to realise that a game can be referred to as a Kamige while not necessarily being the best. So Kamige as I understand it are Visual novels which stand out from the rabble and sadly many of these cannot be experienced by those of us who don’t speak Japanese. Fortunately due to the efforts of localization companies we now have several Kamige on the way. Baldr Sky, Subahibi and more are coming. Thus the first to grace our shores is Dies Irae and believe me that it wasn’t easy. As a backer of the kickstarter I watched this thing go through hell to reach our shores, from horrible mismanagement of the kickstarter to the embarrassing moment where Dies Irae had yet to reach it’s goal when a Nekopara anime kickstarter running at the same time raised one million in funds. It was dark days, truly dark days, but now we have it. A title once called untranslatable and forever out of gasp is in my hands. Now having played it, what do I think of Dies irae?

Dies Irae has four main routes and five side stories and while this version has the option to lock you into a girl’s route before starting a new game, I highly recommend that you don’t make use of it. I used these buttons to lock me into each girl’s route and encountered a glitch where I couldn’t unlock the final side story due to having missed dialogue in choices. So I recommend you use the common route button and get to the girls routes using a walkthrough. On that note as a very important rule of this visual novel is that while you can chose any girls route from the start, you should complete the girl’s routes in the following order: Kasumi, Kei, Marie, Rea. The reason for this is that later routes expect you to know knowledge from previous routes and playing them out of order can leave you confused as to just what is even going on. More importantly is that Rea’s route is clearly the finale of the entire story so playing it first would lose it’s impact. The strict route structure is a bit of pain, in particular as the quality of the story goes from worst to best. However it is interesting to see events of earlier routes subconsciously affect events of later routes. Things which previously didn’t make much sense or felt out of nowhere take on new meaning when you take into account the matter of eternal recurrence. But alas, what is the story of Dies Irae? It’s difficult to go into detail without spoilers but lets say it starts with a matter regarding a serial killer which evolves into a full blown battle which pits our main protagonist Ren against a group of superpowered nazi’s from the remnants of World War II known as the Obsidian Round Table.
Continue reading “Dies Irae ~Amantes Amentes~ Video Game Review – 80/100” →

Princess Principal – 02 [Case 1 Dancy Conspiracy]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

Man, plot twists. Through many twists and turns within the episode, we have a big switcheroo Sixth Sense-size at the end that completely change the context of what come before. I mean, Princess Principal walks on a really thin wire here. On the one hand, deceive and betrayal are the backbone of spies, guessing the motives of each character and how they double-cross each other make this show intriguing to watch. On the other hand, major plot twist like this is always tricky, you can’t make viewers invest on something and then pull the rug from under their feet. It has to deepen the narrative. This revealing works because it deepens the narrative, but I feel more worried than happy to be completely frank. It seems to me that Princess Principal relies too much on such twists and if that is the case, they will fall quickly because the plot won’t hold up anymore. If what I was ranting above doesn’t make it clear enough, there are spoilers down below so you might give this episode a watch before continue reading. Now, for those who remain, let’s head down to the episode.

We’re heading back to case1, the start of it all – when the spy and the princess agree to make a pact deal together. Let first begins with the Control, the headquarter that consist of 4 important figures from the Commonwealth- Military General, head of Spy, a Governor and the other that I assumed is a Duke – to plan out all the spy affairs. They come up with the bold (and ill-fated) Operation: Challenging, intend to replace Ange for the Princess. This episode not only deals with the outcomes of that Mission, they also cram in “retrieving some important key” mission somewhere in the middle and then flip them all over again with the reveal that the Princess already knows everything and then Ange single-handed controls everyone to get the results her way. Pacing-wise, it’s too much to take in that the key-subplot don’t have time to sink in. When you really think about it, the plot’s development starts to reveal some inconsistencies. For example, the guards serve more as a bunch of mannequins than actual guards because they should’ve figured out Dorothy as a spy the moment she came close to the guy and picked her immediately after finding out the key was disappeared. The Operation: Challenging sounds pretty implausible at best, and I’m already taken into account Ange’s impressive ability; but, how they gonna deal with the real princess when the plan succeeds? Lock her away? Kill her? What about Ange’s cover as a student then? Moreover, the moment when the bell chimes and everyone was distracted (as plan? I guess) was too much of “luck” factor involved to be taken seriously. I honestly don’t buy any of these.

Now, let address the elephant in the room. Ange and the Princess (Charlotte) have a history together and it’s heavily implied that they swapped roles as a young age due to some accidents. So, Ange WAS the real princess – Charlotte, and Charlotte’s real name is Ange. I swear it’s a goddamn effective twist because all the hints have been planted well before. Now that all the vague conversations from last week, like “some lies become truth in the telling” or “Because we’re complete opposites” from their introduction have a new deeper meaning. But then, who else know about this? For me, it’s no coincidence that the Control advises Ange to replace Charlotte in a first place. From what I gather in the first episode, the remaining girls don’t aware about it either. It’s interesting to see how the show goes from there as if anything, Ange’s chain of actions heavily shows that she has a more personal objective than following higher-up’s orders and I would say that the main chemistry between Ange and Charlotte is the show’s central emotional development.

The show’s aesthetic remains distinctive and overall stylish. I dig many shot compositions and I even like the high shot angle when Ange and Charlotte introduced to each other; but whenever the CG panning appears it does distract me from the show a bit so I hope they tone it down. Character-wise, Ange and Charlotte steal the spotlight and at least Dorothy is watchable (her smoking scene is hilarious), but Beatrice is under-developed thus far and others function more as a plot device than actual characters. I’m fine with that though, as long as they develop the five girls I won’t have any complaint, and I suspect the Japanese samurai girl Chise will have a proper introduction next week (while at it, did anyone else notice that we have A, B, (double) C, and D for our lead? Interesting). So, with all the rambling, did Princess Principal deliver a great episode? Well, again, yes and no. I’m not fond with too many twists and turns, especially with this series since those twists could potentially destroy the emotional investment you have for the characters and the spy case of the week is frankly, weak but this particular plot twist is a game-changer, and makes me really excited for the next episode. Love it or hate it, let’s all see how the mystery will unfold.

Made in Abyss – 02[Resurrection Festival]

by AidanAK47, posted in Made in Abyss

Made in abyss continues strong as the animation remains beautiful, the music perfect and the story progressing with revelations at a good rate. I particularly lie that they provided necessary details about the different ranks of miners based on whistle colour  through a puppet show. It’s a good way of providing the audience information without having to sit the cast in a room and have someone drone on endlessly. Take pointers Re:Creators, get the audience the info it needs without dragging down the pacing. This episode mainly acted to setup the main plot of this series as we have Regu get integrated into the orphanage and the discovery of Riko’s mother’s white whistle. Along with the notes that seem to suggest that Riko’s mother is waiting in the depths of the abyss for her.

I really like the pacing of the anime so far as I found the manga wasn’t really moving fast enough for me while the anime seems to be quickly getting to the point. It does mean we have a montage over events but it doesn’t really felt like anything of worth was truly lost. The biggest piece of info here is that we may have the first hint as to what the title of this show actually means. I originally thought that it referred to Regu who was a robot Made in Abyss. However here we find out that Riko was born in the depths of the abyss because her mother was ordered to dive despite being pregnant. Due to the curse of the abyss which appears to affect people in different ways depending on how deep they dive into the abyss, Riko’s mother had to carry a heavy relic in order to protect Riko from the effects. As a result she had to abandon the relic she came down to find in exchange for saving her daughter. Actually a really badass back story that shows how legendary Riko’s mother truly was. Though one thing that is most certainly going to come into play here is that Riko wasn’t completely unaffected by the abyss’s curse and had to wear glasses due to the abyss curse affecting her eyesight. Riko seems to think this gives her some immunity to it though her trainer is quick to correct her on that. I however think that her eyes are bound to play a role in this story somehow.

I really do adore the animation in this show that even small events like Regu using his extending arm to grab a pot just looks great. This show certainly captures the feeling of a Ghibli movie though from tidings I hear it’s going to be more serious than that. Though the question is just how serious? I personally like the current lighthearted nature so if it decides to go full dark it could potentially lose that. So with the tidings this episode that brings me to the strange third character appears in the ending of this show. Looks to be so sort of funny bunny creature of sorts and I can make a good guess that it could be a child affected by the curse of the abyss. It was briefly mentioned that traveling too far down can turn you into something other than human. Theres also the question of just how Riko is going to get permission to travel down so far but considering her personality displayed to this point I don’t think she will let a little something called inexperience get in her way.

Kakegurui- 2/3[A Boring Woman/Slit-Eyed Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Kakegurui

Two episodes of high stakes gambles and I do feel that I am going to run out of things to say about this one fast. I suppose I will start with the elephant in the room and address what could be Kakegurui’s most detrimental feature. The fact that it’s set in a school setting and the story goes out of it’s way to try and ignore that. Personally it’s a detail I find makes it hard to get invested in the setting as the more ridiculous the bets get then the harder it becomes to refuse to acknowledge the schools actual management. It’s a common trope of anime to elevate the status of the student council to some major governing party when the reality as I surmise it is that they are little more than a makeshift union leader with no real power. So when I hear of the student council president arranging for construction on the school and changing rules I just have to ask are the principal and teachers alright with this? I mean it’s rather ridiculous to give this level of power over the school to a teenager but this story does seem to be going out of it’s way to refuse to consider the existence of those in a higher position. Really as you consider it more and more than the setting of this series makes no sense at all. After all why would the government clearly overlook what is most definitely illegal gambling on school premises? As well as what idiot of a parent would allow their teenager child to attend a school where they can potentially take up a debt in the millions?

Perhaps there are explanations  for these things in the future but right now it feels like Kakegurui has chained itself down with it’s setting. I honestly think it would be better to abandon the school setting entirely and just set it in a gambling city like las Vegas. It might be harder to keep the cast teenagers but hey, we could a more diversely aged group, not have character designs chained to the school uniform and with a city setting you could really get insane with the gambling setups. Let me put it this way, Imagine if No Game, No Life set itself in a school. It wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining as part of what made it good was the level of insanity and stakes behind each game. In Kakegurui’s case though no matter how much it builds up the antagonists, they are still just high school students. Not the best of the best but a bunch of brats playing Casino Royale. Nonetheless the safety net of having such a setting is that Yumeko can lose a bet. If she won every time it would be rather dull and even if she loses the that just means she needs to take a higher stakes bet to crawl out of the gutter. Which means that the bets can truly stay unpredictable.

What this series really does well is in portraying the mindset of someone truly willing to put everything on the line for a game of chance. The antagonists Yumeko faces are indeed insane but Yumeko is far more insane than any of them. A big part of the bet’s so far is Yumeko noticing that the enemy is cheating in some fashion and then working to remove the safety net they have set up for themselves. Yumeko is a girl that truly only wants a fair gamble where both participants are putting everything on the line which truly makes her insanity and ecstasy over the gamble a intimidating madness. She makes it a fair game and then pushes them into gamble with their lives on the line. In truth she isn’t really a hero of sorts but rather a devil outsmarting lesser devils. Though they do tend to go a bit overboard with the expressions sometimes, even the most normal individuals seem to transform into massive caricatures at the drop of a hat.

Fate/Apocrypha – 2/3[The Appearance of the Saints/First Step of Fate]

by AidanAK47, posted in Fate/Apocrypha

So where do I begin? I am brain dead at the moment so forgive me if this gets a bit too much like rambling but I have to catch up with all this so here’s my best shot at being somewhat competent. WIth these two episodes we have the setup of this grail war established as well as the general master and servant pairings. There may be those wondering about the masters of the Red side but much like the opening suggests the only ones we really need to concern ourselves with is Kairi Sisigou who summoned Mordred and Shirou Kotomine. Now what is likely the question at the forefront of anyone’s mind if they are somewhat familiar with the Fateverse is likely “Is Shirou Kotomine and alternative version of Shirou Emiya?” and the answer to that question is no. These two have nothing connecting them and Shirou Kotomine is very much his own character. I admit that the idea of an alternative universe Shirou raised by Kirei Kotomine does sound really interesting but sadly this is not the case. So far Sisigou is proving to be the more likably of the two as Shirou is far too enigmatic to get a clear read on him. In fact Sisigou and his servant Mordred so far are proving themselves to be the most endearing characters of the cast so far though members of the Black faction are quite charming as well.

Mordred is indeed another Blue Saber clone but one of the things I find rather amusing is that Sabers clones often have far more interesting characterisation than Saber herself. I say the only exception to this would be Joan of Arc who is equally boring. I really like Mordred. Her brute force fighting style and brash attitude make for more interesting interactions between her and others. I also really like the correlation between her desire to attempt the selection of the king when Blue Sabers wish was to redo the selection of the King. Overall she just has far more depth to her rather than some self righteous purity. On the black side of things I feel A-1 pictures is starting to let me down. There definitely feels like favoritism going on here as interactions between the likes of Chiron and his master feel rushed whereas Moeserker and her master as well as Astolfo get far more attention. I really didn’t need to see two scenes of Astolfo’s master indulging herself with him as i am pretty sure there was only one in the novels and I think this is A-1 throwing in more fanservice. Though I do hear the writer of the novels is involved with the production. I do still laugh at how nonchalant Astolfo takes this molestation by his master though I should mention that his master is a real piece of work. Here’s the thing, she’s got a massive interest in torture and the only reason she isn’t torturing Astolfo is because none of her tools are effective enough to make a dent in him.

Gordes is getting the short end of the stick as well. I don’t like Gordes as a character though he’s not really supposed to be liked. However I don’t really like the anime skimping out on his characterisation. For you see Gordes was actually really looking forward to this whole Holy Grail War thing and sees it as a place to satisfy his ego. He treated the war seriously but ultimately he’s just a really petty. The fight between Siegfried and Karna is supposed to be a wake up call for him as it really hits home the point that a master has no place in a servants battle. He can play support but actually assisting is generally impossible. Well aside for special individuals. He tries to get some glory by baiting the master of Karna to show himself but as we know that master simply isn’t here. In this battle there’s no glory for Gordes and he is designated a support role, something which might come to urk him in later events.

As for animation I find A-1 is so far passable but I wish they would slow down and have some actual choreography. I find in fights that things often progress too fast or is obscured by explosions which doesn’t help as the sound design is rather weak with these explosions sounding too similar. What little choreography in the Karna and Siegfried fight was rough and choppy so it’s my hope that seeing as this series is rather battle heavy that A-1 is saving the budget for the bigger fights.