Little Witch Academia – 25[Tree of Leaves]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

I am glad that Trigger managed to pull through and bring a bombastic finale to this series. Admittedly there are some signs of cutting corners with some still frames that lingered for a little too long but otherwise this was a great episode to go out on. That said i do have my problems with the final villain being some random program of Croix’s going out of control and attempting to start a world war. Introducing a rogue element when the entire second half of the season has been building up Croix as the main villain is somewhat cheap. Now that it’s all over it really makes Croix to be a major idiot who had no idea what she was doing and why didn’t Chariot stop her before it escalated to this point again? Well I do like Akko insinuating that they are all the brand new nine witches as it does suggest that the original nine witches were also a ragtag group elevated to legendary status. Having the entire crew play a part in the final episode was also something I really appreciated as it’s nice to have them do something after being brutally ignored by the show for so long.

So our ending does at least leave some room for a sequel though it’s not a bad way to finish the series right here. Personally I would be on board for a sequel despite my discontent with how the series turned out. I still believe that this series has great potential and a second season could really begin to bank on that potential now that this Croix and Chariot business is out of the way. In particular I would really love more scenes like the end of this episode, with all the character interacting with each other. Quite honestly, that’s what this series needed more of. Still I did truly love seeing trigger crank up the insanity to 180 and make the finale explosively fun. Highlights being the combined Akko and Diana Shiny Arc, the return of the shooting star and frankly the entire end sequence. Magic turned out to be in the hearts of the masses after all which really makes me think that Croix is pretty poor Scientist to not try to look for safer magic alternatives. The reveal of a believing heart being magic is rather cliche and a deus ex machina but I am more than willing to give it a pass just on how they managed to run with it.

As a final note I would like to take my hat off to Asenshi subs for succeeding where Netflix’s failed. As anyone who has kept up with this series likely knows, Netflix has licensed the series and in a truly boneheaded move has not simulcast it as it airs. The only legal means of keeping up with the series is to wait till the 30th of June where you will only get 13 out of the 25 not aired episodes at once. Considering the delay on release I would better see these things dubbed. If Netflix is to be a major player in anime simulcasting then they really need to sort out a model that benefits online internet discussion. I do not deny the benefits of binge watching shows but there are those of us that like following the discussions that aside from weekly watching. Having the series at once really kills any mid series theorising and makes it that you can only talk about the show as a whole rather than individual episodes. I believe it really killed the momentum that this series could have had. So I wholeheartedly give my thanks to Asenshi subs to allow me to experience this show as it airs and not to mention their top notch sub work. Truly they went the extra mile to give this show the quality it deserves. So much so that I think official subs will end up inferior to their fantastic work. Honestly guys, you did the anime community one hell of a favor. Thanks for that.

Seikaisuru Kado – 11[Wanoraru]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Seikaisuru Kado

I hold many, many grievances with this turn Kado has taken but all things considered the show hasn’t become a trainwreck as I previously thought it would. The developments are rather forced but they at least work from a narrative standpoint. We have effectively transition to a story about the effects of pushing advancement and it’s consequences to humanity vs evil Aliens. I don’t like the transition at all but I can’t say the show has become terrible. It’s lesser but still watchable as a series. but boy do I lament the loss of what it could have been. In this episode we have the prime minster looking out to the city stating that “The events of these last few months have advanced humanity hundreds of years.” Indeed, imagine how fantastic it would be if we could actually see the effects and consequences of such drastic incorporation of revolutionary technology. We pushed off the consequences of Wam by having it that not everyone can make one. However with the introduction of Sanza that problem has been remedied while bringing in a whole new revolution of people who no longer need sleep. However aside from one news broadcast that was abruptly cut off by one of our main characters, we have no real knowledge of just how these things have affected society. The way the prime minister speaks of it suggested that nothing has happened yet which is such a cheap way of avoiding discussing the issue.

Now we have a universal controller getting introduced to the entire world and what, the UN are fine with this? Surely there must be world leaders heavily concerned over how screwed the economy is after these groundbreaking bombshells? See Za Shunina didn’t need to become a villain. There are plenty affected by his changes that can fill the role just as well. Hell why isn’t anyone attempting to assassinate ZaShunina? Sure we don’t know if it’s possible but that shouldn’t stop them. What even are the world governments doing with ZaShunina already throwing everything out of whack with yet another gift. By all accounts they should be painting him as a villain and trying to turn the populace against him. After all, ZaShunina has declared that he dislikes the nature of government and believes it is a broken system. ZaShunina vs the government, now that’s a conflict that makes for far more interesting storytelling and would really put Shindo’s talents as a negotiator to the test. Certainly a more interesting development that ZaShunina vs Super Saiyan Saraka and bio boosted armour Shindo.

They really are tossing any sense of ambiguity to Za Shunina now. They at least were showing him regretting killing Shindo and holding doubts over this whole thing. But then to nail his villain status full on we have Za Shunina monologuing his evil plan to ominous music while surrounded by dead Shindo clones. People claim this isn’t out of character but it truly is. ZaShunina is practically god and has been studying humanity since he landed. There is no possible way he could misunderstand the value of human life. But now suddenly he cannot understand our puny mortal emotions and it is up to humanity to teach him about wuv. Bloody hell, he’s a godlike being who created the universe, I think he can figure out how emotion works. Still i liked the kiss between Shindo and Saraka even if I find their recent romantic development to be rather forced and trite. But I think the reason i liked it had to do with the natural way it was animated. On that note, one thing I truly must give this series credit for is that it is one of the few CGI animated shows that managed to mostly avoid the janky execution of CGI.

In fact this entire series has been a very impressive effort and shows that fully CGI shows can truly match that of 2D animation. Other shows, like berserk 2017, could certainly take notes on how well this show manages it CGI aspects. In truth at times it does interchange between 2D and 3D animation but the fact that these changes are not as jarring as they would be in previous CGI shows goes to show that finally Japanese animation has found a way to incorporate CGI into anime naturally. Perhaps the engine by Arc System Works could have influenced the level of quality of CGI animation. Seriously check out the Dragonball Fighter Z game by them and be amazed at 3D animation that could very well convince you that it was 2D. If they tinker more that that then we could very well get CGI anime near indistinguishable from 2D anime.

Uchoten Kazoku 2 – 12 [The Red String of Fate]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Uchoten Kazoku

Oh god, this climax. Other shows, take note. This is how you SHOUD NOT do on your final battle. How this show can jump from Yasaburou, Yaichirou fighting the Fellow Friday for their lives last week, to the conflict of Soun and Tenyama (that they eventually ended up in Hell again), to end with Benten and Nidaime’s face-off in a span of 5 minutes is way beyond me. It’s all over the place, and just like some oldschool screwball comedy where crazy events just keep stacking up by the minutes. But somehow this climax freaking WORKS. After all, that Kyoto world is fantastical crazy, so isn’t it the most fitting idea to have the craziest showdown ever for that fateful night? At the end of the day you won’t learn much how Soun faked his death or the reason why Nidaime come back to Kyoto, but whatever the case, the emotional development is clear. Soun pathetically uses all means possible to attain the Nise-emon title; and doesn’t matter the reason Nidaime comes back, he’s clearly unhappy and frustrated. With that Eccentric Family tied up all of the core casts’ character arc magnificently. I won’t lie when I say that this is the climax only Eccentric Family can pull off, with satisfying conclusions and feature almost everything you love about this series: warm, whimsical with heart. This show ends in a very high note.

Benten and Nidaime finally have a long-awaited battle. Well, all the previous events all build up to this battle and for a while I thought that Benten would have her first win since Nidaime is clearly angry, thus vulnerable. From before that fight there was interesting opposite visual metaphor for these two: Benten appears with ice cold atmosphere, while when Nidaime gets out of control, he burst out of flame. The battle between Ice Queen and Flame Boy has some great set-pieces, but that powerful fight slowly descends into the fight between kids as they desperately try to grab each other’s hair, and mouth and dirty trick are in play too. That fight feels sad. The two comes out of it both feel like losers. This is the first time we see both of them cry, in a way that they feel frustrated with themselves. Akadama sensei, a mentor for them both, faces his son eye-to-eye for probably the first time in decades, concludes nicely “If you feel frustrated, grow stronger”.

After that crazy night, the rest of the episode feels like a welcome epilogue where Yasaburou meets all the casts for the last time. Congrats to Yaichirou and Gyokuran for their tying the knot (imagine Yaichirou’s most nervous moment isn’t when he ends up in a hot pot but when he looks at his bride in gown. Puff!!). Kureichirou (the real one) makes amend with the Shimogamo again, and Yasaburou finally asks Kaisei for her hand paw, with some wry wisdoms from Yasaburou’s grandma, despite that means he can’t transform freely in front of her. The sweet last sequence where the three of them exchange to each other is probably the fitting ending to this fluffy tale. Here they are, as she grasps on the edge of his jacket, and they walk on for new adventure. That, my friend, is the red string of fate. I die a happy man now.

This second season certainly is a great season on its own. As to the question whether or not it surpasses the original season, let me just say that sequels most of the time are inferior to the originals (well, unless you’re The Godfather or Mad Max, but even with the former, the original still holds more cultural landmark than the second, and I am talking about complete story here – Light Novels where they will expand the world in 20 plus volumes are out of question), so the real angle would be if this second season is a WORTHY follow-up to the first? The answer is obvious, Yes. The Eccentric Family 2 not only improves the settings and the themes of the original, the new additions have been phenomenal and they are even more WOW set-ups than the first, most notably the Painting of Hell and the Moon parts. One thing that I feel this season improves on the first is the romantic part as all the romances feel grounded here. The Eccentric Family is considered as a signature work for P.A Works, mostly because how the staffs clearly love this world and I can totally see the love breathes through in every scene here. You say anime is looking doom in the future? As long as there are works like this, created by the passion of the staffs because they just fall in love the project like this; I don’t see anime dying anytime soon. The full review is coming soon but take note that since psgels originally covered the first season without a final impression, my review will be about the two seasons of The Eccentric Family.

Tsuki ga Kirei – 11 [An Encouragement of Learning]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Tsuki ga Kirei

Tsuki ga Kirei again manages something I thought was difficult to achieve: it surpasses itself once more time. I was afraid that after the Kawagoe festival, there isn’t much left drama for the lovebirds now that Takumi and Chinatsu are all out of the picture; turn out that not only this episode enhances their relationship through their cute Christmas date, they showcase attentively Kotarou’s efforts for the exam and address beautifully on how much parents can sacrifice to support their child, even most of the time those kids don’t care about it. There’s only one episode left but at this point I can safely say that Tsuki ga Kirei has been a consistent ride, and I come to genuinely care about Kotarou and Akane more than I need to. Tsuki ga Kirei scratches the itch I don’t know I have.

This whole episode details Katarou’s utmost efforts to study for the upcoming exam. His grades are low, thanks mostly to his writing and the Hayashi practice, so he must study hard, night after night, to get a good enough standard score to apply for Koumei school. The results are not that rewarding though, for getting better grades is a long process, not a quick shortcut. He also feels that he needs to try harder to prove his parents that he made up his mind. I admit that I feel a bit irritated of the way Kotarou communicate with his parents about his school’s choice because I did the exact same things when I was his age. It hits a bit too close to home for comfort. Now that I’m more than double his age, I can clearly see how stupid and miscommunicated his actions just to show his little rebellion: hunger strike (when he clearly needs food to survive), avoid talking to the parents and didn’t inform them the school he picked. I totally understand his points of view, but that’s why I wanted him to be more open. Talk to them what you really want instead of this silent treatment, kid, your parents deserve better than this. At long last, upon knowing how his parents support him for his decision, he finally says something that he should’ve done to his mother long ago: Arigatou.

One of this episode’s best moments, however, come from Kotarou’s Mom as we witness how much she, like most of our parents, really, care for their own child. We have the impression before that she’s the type who want her son focusing on a good career path, and every step to that goal needed to be well-planed and perfect. Imagine her shock then that not only her son decided to pick school against her knowledge, it’s 2 hours away because of some girl he likes attending to that school. Must be a blow for her but one thing I really appreciate about her, it’s that she’s not a control freak. She gives Kotarou a necessary space for his own, and upon seeing how hard Kotarou is currently trying; she asks his homeroom teacher to give him a chance. The whole sequence when she talks to the homeroom teacher gives me a great impact from its show-don’t-tell approach, as we are only allowed to witness them exchanging gestures through the window. Subtle has always been a definitive style of Tsuki ga Kirei, but here it adds extra context: her action is supposed to be restraint, quiet, out of spotlight; just like how she makes him rice balls in the middle of the night for him to study, just like how she’s despite against the idea, still supports him because it is what he wanted; just like all the things that parents do for their kids and they just take them for granted.

And Kotarou and Akane’s love still progresses solidly. As they don’t have much time for each other during this study period, they LINE-ing each other and go out during Christmas. Akane makes him a handmade scarf and I swear her messy scarf is worth ten thousand times better than she was to buy one. Her sister makes a really good point of the burden the two gonna face if that love dies down (and from previous experience, I’m talking about her accurate thoughts on Chinatsu, I say you should listen to your sister, Akane, and listen well). Their time spending together, doing various activities alone just like a normal date would be, feel so warm and intimate. Whatever future (and the final episode) comes, I come to feel certain that the kids going to be happy together for a long time. This Tsuki ga Kirei’s ride has been a real treat, I swear. I will be sad to see it finally concludes.

ID-0 – 11 [Innocent Orbit]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Id-0

I must say, despite my current worry from the direction ID-0 is heading towards the climax, we have another solid episode in our hands. Here’s one of the thing ID-0 continues to prove itself to be quite adept of: their pacing never drags. All the events progress gradually, and there aren’t many unnecessary scenes, if at all. Adam’s masterplan still rubs me in a wrong way (which I will detail below), but I guess that is an issue I have to live with for now. The concept of Rajeev planets, when we really get into it, is rather an intriguing one. Nothing is free. For every gold mine that human get their hands into, there will be some sorts of toxic, something nasty that is born as the result of excessively abused the source because we human break the harmony provided by Mother nature. In this case, the wandering planets are born to absorb the Onichalt. They’re dangerous because they have evolved to the point of achieving new intelligence, adapting freely to the new environment. They’re dangerous also because the human race has become too dependable to the Orichalt. Hey cannot live without it. This might sound like the usual conflict of most of sci-fi fictions out there but here ID-0 succeed because we learn about the irreplaceable roles of Onichalt in first few episodes before this Rajeev bastards start to run wild and threaten to destroy the humanity. As far as solid settings go this is as solid as an Orichalt rock.

In the first half, we back to the dynamic of the group, and serve as a necessary breather before the all-out attack in the second half. Almost everyone (including Fa-Losers) has some solid moments, except for Captain Grayman as he acts out of character. I’m not sure if his reactions are meant to show us how he deeply cares for Ido like his own family, but the switch between “who is that Alice again, why we care” and “I know you need our support Ido, let’s save Alice” moments later is just too jarring for me. Ido and Maya together have an excellent moment, as Ido, in his badly injured body, still insists to mind-trance back to his I-Machine form (at a cost of his body) because for him now that form is the true him.

Thanks god that Adam’s plan of using Alice is just to gather information from her to create his own Orillian. Well, when he kidnapped that poor girl last week I expected much worse. Though imagine he shoots his own “sperms” to the “ovaries” of the planet to save the humanity give a big smile to my face, as silly as it sounds. Like Ido said, Adam’s over-confident, drunken with power that he doesn’t realize the plan has backfired on him. Now to my qualms, I’m gladly to overlook how he conveniently learn all the necessary information and creates his own Orillian versions OFF-SCREEN in that little time, but why he sees the need to shoot himself in the head? I know, he’s MAD but that doesn’t justify how he can mind-trance back to his I-Machine body. He’d need the mask, right? One of the more interesting villain is an old man Hakubi, the one who often talked to Masked Man about various conspiracy plans. This episode reveals his real purpose is to achieve immortal. He has been in some sort of secret organization that tranced back to their clone young bodies to live forever, and they wish to achieve true immortality by becoming Orillians. These guys are much more sinister and dangerous than little Adams who just want some attention, but whether or not these guys die or whatever they plan after the explosion is still up in the air. I would love to see them come back though I find them rather interesting.

Finally, Alice starts talking. What is it that trigger her then? One thing I know for sure is that when that little girl starts talking, the humanity is at its stake.

Sakura Quest – 12 [The Dawn Guild]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sakura Quest

Sakura Quest offers a pretty much Sakura Quest-esque this week, and I come to believe that this is a strong mini-arc to close-up the first half of its run. For the Tourism Board, the Manoyama Founding Festival will become their most ambitious project in term of scope they have encountered so far. Moreover, documenting the girls and their efforts for the festival sound like a pretty good idea too, as it’s more a less a time for our girls to look back and see how they have grown, and do a bit of meta for their own show. After spending the first half completing character arcs for everyone, it’s only natural that the Manoyama town has a central focus in this arc. Then Sakura Quest adds little twist at the end with the inclusion of super popular band Plotemaios (who had a hit song in a soda commercial no less) and a character focus on the Queen Yoshino. My primary complain about Sakura Quest has been lifted as well in this arc, as there’s clearly a continuity to the main story. We see almost all the supporting characters from different arcs (the woodcarvers, the chef, the producer, the Community Club, even Nao appearing in the commercial), we see our girls have passed their own crisis as well. Seriously, the strong continuity like this event, with some winks to previous arcs and side characters, is all I could ask for.

For this arc, Sakura Quest really goes all out for their biggest tourism impact. The Founding Festival is already their biggest event of the year, and then we have a popular Moving Mountains reality show that of course will bring good publicity for the town, and then the Festival itself turns into the music night of sort when that rising unpronounceable band decides to show up. For a brief moment there, I was sure the band would bail out in the end, since this could be a real disaster because the whole plan somehow turns itself to rely heavily on the presence of band. But the preview next week makes it clear that they come, so I guess the main conflict would be the band overwhelming the Tourism’s Board efforts. When you think about it, it kinda sounds like a disaster too. Yoshino and the girls personally go such great length to ask for the town’s support for their trivia questions, to their point of begging for more fund and volunteer (by the way, I really love Chitose’s decision to use a reserve fund to help out. She’s always reasonable). This concert will overwhelm their efforts and all their efforts plus fund will come to naught. The tourists will come and go without much impression to the town, because they come to the town for music. I am intrigued to see how Yoshino address and resolve this issue.

At the same time, there is a documentation about our girls and their efforts to market the town. All of the girls, save Mari, are too self-conscious on the whole filming and I have a good laugh or two when they act so out of characters: Shiori wearing that fashionable glass, old man Kadota keeps saying “chupa” all the times and uses every opportunity to jump on the screen with exclaim, Sanae using big, technical words and my Ririko wearing mask at the meeting and Sandal-san, well he just being himself- Costner style. When the girls ease up in front of camera though, it’s time for the director Amamiya – himself a Manoyama native – to ask them about their motivations and what they think about the Queen. The answers are too varied that Amamiya has a hard time on how to frame Yoshino and he flat out declares that Yoshino’s bland. Well, she’s anything but bland, I assure you. Her heart is devoted for reviving this small town and if you can’t see it, it’s your loss dear Mister Director. He seems to fire up at the idea of raising more attention to this town as well and so far he’s taking a good lead. I also feel they better don’t use the information bit that Yoshino was a little Princess (the 100,000th visitor no less – exactly how could they count that?) for to impress the Director. It’s like a miracle story, yes, but she still hasn’t earned her Queen title yet, as far as the public’s eyes concern. Here’s hoping Yoshino will wipe out the band and get people acknowledged her efforts for this little town.

Seikaisuru Kado – 10[Towanosakiwa]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Seikaisuru Kado

So despite my aggravation with how the last episode ended, this episode starts of strong with how the universe was created and the anisotropic beings watching over it. The whole sequence was great and beautifully alien. That half of the episode explaining how Saraka ended up on end was actually very strong and despite the fact that what is being done with it is downright stupid, I find it to be a good backstory. But the second half of this episode was terrible. It just felt like the writer was replaced with a bottom barrel light novel author and the anime tropes shot up. i don’t like how Saraka is pulling this romantic trope crap with Shindo now and it’s almost as if we have become a shounen battle manga with those fight scenes.

Yes, I am still mad that they are turning Za Shunina evil. It takes what was originally a nice morally complex subject and cheapens it down to a black or white answer. Plus they are going to forced levels to turn Za Shunina evil as now his motivation has changed from increasing the amount of information humans produce so the anisotropic has more  to process, into transferring humans to the anisotropic. Guess what? Turns out humans will most likely not survive the trip and Za Shunina doesn’t care about that fact as long as at least one makes it through. Look…Za Shunina has always been rather vague about his intentions but when first interacting with humanity he didn’t show this level of tactlessness. I went through the hoops, he showed respect for humanity and he even showed respect for life in how he returned the passengers sucked into Kado. So what in the hell has happened to cause him to change so drastically. Why is he suddenly forcing his decisions on people and pretty much killing anyone that gets in his way? Even on that matter he’s half assed about it. Why is he going to the trouble of engaging in beam straggles when he could make a hand appear within their bodies and crush their hearts. He’s a being on par with god, if he wanted to kill them then they should be dead. I like that they are at least showing that he is somewhat regretting his actions but I just can’t buy that Za Shunina couldn’t pick up on the importance of human life from all the media he consumes.

Something powerful was lost when Kado pulled that twist and quite frankly it’s not going to recover from that. I don’t really like how much they are pushing for the Shindo/Saraka pairing when the two were having decent adult chemistry without the usual love comedy nonsense. I am not saying I don’t approve of the pairing but I just find it cringe worthy in how it’s handled at the moment. I am thankful that Saraka didn’t pull a usual “Baka! Hentai” routine upon waking up naked beside Shindo but I really have to question whether this whole thing was necessary. This was mentioned in the comments on a previous post but I do find that Shindo has been doing very little actual negotiating in this series. Mostly he has just been acting as ambassador for Za Shunina. Episode 0 gave the impression that he would be implementing plans to integrate Za Shunina’s gifts but really he hasn’t done anything like that. If anything, all he really did was relegate all the work to his co-worker. And now it looks like he’s going againest Za Shunina all shounen hero style. That’s rather disappointing.

Uchoten Kazoku 2 – 11 [The Blood of the Tengu, the Blood of the Fool]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Uchoten Kazoku

The Eccentric Family again takes some solid steps to its final showdown. But let me address this first because I’m sure no one really see it coming. Soun comes back to life. A fake-out death? Seriously? Using fake-out death ALWAYS comes with a price, which is all the emotional investment we had for the death is now gone, moreover we feel utmost betrayal; thus I hope The Eccentric Family better has something up their sleeves for using Soun again. Now I remember back it was Kaisei who stayed with Soun in his final moments, so saving his life and taking him back are entirely possible. Or was it a scheme staged by both Soun and Tenmaya? But then Tenmaya seems to be mistaken Soun for Kureichirou like everyone else too. This was a very smart plan I must say; only there are two downsides in that plan: that gun is a fake (easily recognized by Nidanme) and the real Kureichirou shows up and makes it clear one and for all. Hmm, no matter HOW he came back to life, the fact that he tricked everyone for so long and nearly pulled of a complicated plan like that just to show us how mad, desperate and wise Soun has become.

Despite doesn’t appear much in this episode, I would safely say Benten’s tears is my favorite moments this week. We have been told many times before, and we know, that Benten has her vulnerable side and she clearly feels empty, always aiming for what she doesn’t have. Doesn’t matter if it via flashback when Yaichirou the frog told his brother that she cries many times alone in a well, or via the dream of Yasaburou when she looks melancholic, this is the FIRST TIME we actually see Benten sheds her tears on screen, in front of Yasaburou no less; when she realizes that she will have to eat him. You could say Benten is a cruel, egotistical, and heartless monster, but I see the fact that she eats tanuki despite knowing all of them well and keeps bragging about that very fact are just the natural hierarchy of that world. Human is at higher rank on the food chain than tanuki so it’s just a natural way of life that tanuki gets eaten by the human. Heck, the tanukis here eat meat and chicken wings from time to time too. Anyway, Yasaburou has always been a source of amusement for Benten (remember how happily she was in the Painting of Hell), and it’s nice to see how much affection she has for Yasaburou, even for a fleeting moment.

Yaichirou once again is incapacitated of his Nise-emon title, as the Shimogamo falls into the scheme made by the Ebisugawa family, this time it’s even grander and more organized than the first season. Yaishirou is framed for exploding his lab, with the gun that shot Soun in it. Yasaburou thus is declared as the person who shot Soun down, and Yaichirou is framed as the mastermind behind it. Losing the reputation he has been so careful building up all this time, Yaichirou breaks out, gives hell with the tradition, and runs forward to help his brother. It’s great to see such a fearless determination from Yaichirou, the one who usually loses his calmness when conflicts arise. But the cream of crop here is Gyokuran, who will support him till the end of the world. She has no second-thought here, just jumps straight to his side to rescue Yasaburou. The director, Masayuki Yoshihara, when talked about this new season, especially mentioned that one of the highlights of this second run lies in its attractive new characters. Well, I wholeheartedly agreed with that, it has been such a joy to see those new characters, most notably Nidainme, Tenmaya, Gyokuran, and my new favorite, Seiran; not only fits the original cast so well, but also shines as their own unique person.

Of course, I can’t end this post without mention one of the key sequences in this series, when Yasaburou finally has a heartily conversation with his father, in a half-dream half-nirvana dinner hall. It’s the moment of life and death for Yasaburou, and here when he finally meets Souichirou, he makes a solid counterpoint to his father’s sudden death. Souichirou might be ready to depart the world with his head held high. The rest of the family members, however, were unequipped for that lost and throughout the first season they were all struggling to both live up to his father’s legacy, and try to protect each other. When his father asks him if he still wants to do more with his life, the answer is clear. He doesn’t want to drag anyone else into this mess (Kaisei) – responsibility – and he still wants to live to do heaps of things – freedom – Yasaburou now has reached the balance between those two forces, with the help of Pompoko Mask hero of course. I know the climax just heating up now, but with just 1 last episode to go (they confirmed that this season will only have 12 episodes), how the hell are they going to tie everything up neatly? We still have that final match between Benten and Nidaime, right? We still need to solve Soun’s fake death, and Yasaburou and Kaisei finally together, right? In order to achieve the last goal, at least Benten will have to go…

Re:Creators – 11 [The Monster Under the Eaves]

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

Not surprising that this was a more subdued episode since the events of last week landed two and a half creations in the hospital. Given their bed-ridden state, Re:Creators takes it time in developing some new deep and profound ideas about creating works and resolves the quagmire that Sōta finds himself in the last few weeks.

Selesia is really moving forth from her light novel template with her “thank you” line and I can really see that father/daughter relationship shine in their quiet moment together. This is what Re:Creators does so well in that it always has something important to say even in its slower episodes and that continues on into the Gigas Machina ride with Kyokua speech about creators being Gods is found in their free will despite not being super powerful beings who can fling out beam attacks or manipulate causality. What is perplexing is that we didn’t see the development of Kyokua change from being a Shinji-lite character to someone who is able to accept his role as a creation in his own stories. It was very much the same problem in episode six when he goes from being a whiny children to being adamantly supportive of fighting for the survival of this world. I’m not asking for a repeat of Evangelion but a few scenes here and there would have been more than enough.

For all of Sota’s moping around in his connection to Setsuna’s death, I find it a stretch to say that he himself “killed” his best friend. I would said It’s more akin to the biblical story of Saul where a mob decided to stone the shit out of a man name Stephan for his beliefs. While Saul never directly partake in the violence, he held the coats of the those who hurled stones and had a faint satisfaction at seeing Stephan being killed. Still, it’s a rather sad story about two lonely weeaboos sharing their passion for anime with each other before fame and jealousy tore that relationship apart.

Hiroe Rei said that this show is about ordinary human creators as much as the super powerful creations that spawn from them and Setsuna’s case is what happened when that artistic vision goes off the deep end in the ruthless and anonymous world of the internet. Just like how Takashi said to Selesia that “For me, writing your story is proof that I lived”, the creation of Altair was the final farewell to a cruel and malicious community. Something that was the complete opposite of her career-defining art of scenical backgrounds and cheery bright tones. Something that was cute, destructive and filled with her painful emotions of her final days. Whereas Setsuna’s last act was the conclusion to the  “I wish I could just disappear” attitude, Altair’s mantra is “I wish the world could just disappear”.

With Souta’s dirty little secret out in the open now and knowing the who and the circumstances leading up to Altair’s creation, there is a firm foundation for a plan to be dreamed up by Meteora to try and stop her from imploding the entire world. On the other hand, Alice still needs to stop going on wild goose chases to avenge her magical friend and realize the one who is going to betray them all in end is standing behind her all this time.

Little Witch Academia – 24[The Road to Arcturus]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

Hmmm….mixed feelings. There are parts I like about this episode but then there is this underwhelming feeling over how things have turned out. In general I like that the epicly named world reconstruction magic turned out to be just a stick that performs party tricks. Thinking about it it’s likely the decline of magic is due to people just not having much faith in it anymore. So the real means of bringing magic back to the world is just what Chariot was doing, showing the world just how great it is. I like that sentiment, there are no quick fixes in the world. Instead worldwide problems are solved with effort and perseverance. Plus seeing Croix utterly devastated about how she pretty much started a war to get a hold of a stick that blows bubbles is delicious karmic retribution. But what was with that battle at the start of the this episode. I was honestly confused to see Chariot pull out a lightsaber of all things and start doing shadow clone jutsu. I was under the impression that magic in this universe required some kind of activation word.

Honestly, the moment Chariot pulled out a lightsaber, I couldn’t help but think of how deeply intertwined pop culture has made that iconic weapon. I mean, it’s not just Star Wars at this point—lightsabers have become a staple of anime too. Think about it: from Bleach to Naruto, there’s always some hero with a glowing sword cutting through enemies, and it’s hard not to draw parallels to the Star Wars universe. These anime versions often come with a twist—usually more flashy, more over-the-top—because of course, they do. But that doesn’t make the appeal any less potent. And speaking of potent, if you’ve ever wanted a piece of that magic, Theory Sabers has perfected the art of crafting custom lightsabers that feel like they belong in both an anime and Star Wars universe. The attention to detail is like something out of a high-budget animated series.

Now, let’s be real. The true OG lightsabers come from the Star Wars franchise, where their legacy was built over decades of films, comics, and merch. What’s great about Star Wars merch, especially the lightsabers, is that you can find ones that fit your personal Jedi or Sith style. The feeling of holding a high-quality, illuminated hilt gives you the same chills as when you first saw Luke swing his lightsaber in A New Hope. And whether you’re dueling with friends or just displaying them as the crown jewels of your collection, Star Wars lightsabers have become a gateway to owning a piece of cinematic history. From the very first Star Wars to the Clone Wars animated series, the iconic weapon continues to resonate, and that’s why they’re not just toys—they’re part of the legend itself.

However we have spent half a season building up Croix and the grand triskelion for this moment. Thus with one episode the main concerns of the plot that sacrificed the rest of the casts screentime has more or less been resolved in about five minutes. Akko forgives chariot, gains the last word, Croix is defeated and all is sunny in LWA land. Well besides the demonic nuke going somewhere but we will get to that. The conclusion to this whole affair is just to neat and clean. In particular I find Croix’s change of heart to be too little too late for the story has already gone to lengths to convince us that she’s a irredeemable bitch. She had a moment or two of showing compassion for Chariot but it really isn’t enough to cancel out her evil power trip at the beginning of the episode. I mean she’s surprised that the giant evil as all hell robot started going berserk? You even called the thing the Noir rod so it’s just really stupid that you didn’t realise that you might be on the wrong track. Perhaps she was working with the ends justify the means logic and hoping the grand reconstruction magic would erase all her own wrongdoings. But she’s not the only one at fault here, after all Chariot could have tried to stop this at any time. Yet never did. Are we sure she’s not somewhat evil here?

I can’t be the only annoyed that the entire cast of characters made it to the grand Triskelion and did absolutely nothing. I mean they did so much more when getting the scorers stone from Fafner and speaking of which, what happened to that Dragon? I thought he was going to play a big role but he ended up a one episode deal. Come on Trigger, we could have had the gang fend off the dark dragon while Akko charges up an attack! Sure they don’t have magic at the moment but they could just as easily explain that away by having Croix turn on their routers or magic being in the air or something. We got one episode left so I hope they don’t spend it being a peanut gallery. I did like the conversation between Chariot and Akko as it was a good way to get the last word. Felt a little rushed but I am willing to give a pass on that. So we got one more episode to go and a missile to stop which make this the last time Trigger can really go all out with this show. Some are debating that one of the things mentioned in the book Lotte reads(About Belle tossing aside a nuke) is going to turn out prophetic. I would love to see Trigger go over the top but based on previous experience with this show it’s likely not going to get that insane. But I am more than willing to bet that Shooting Star is going to be in the final episode. That Chekhov’s gun has been ready since episode 3.