Seikaisuru Kado – 04[Rotowa]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Seikaisuru Kado

Well this went down as easy as I thought it would. United Nations are bullying Japan to give up all the Wam, Japan is naturally clueless over what to do with it and there are a whole host of people who find it too good to be true. So far the only negative effect aside from pure economic collapse is that Wam could lead to the problem of global warming. The specifics are a bit over my head but from what I can assume it appears that while Wam is a perfect power source, it is still being utilised by imperfect machines. Machines leave waste heat and introducing Wam to the world would result in the creation of more machines. Which in turn would lead to a far greater amount of waste heat which would contribute to global warming.  Though such an issue would take several hundreds of years to actually manifest.

The UN wants the Wam to be confiscated though by the UN that mainly refers to its five permanent members. Two of which(USA and Russia) serve to lose out the most of Wam are distributed. Thus the main conflict is finding a compromise which allows the Wam to be used while not throwing people under a bus. I find my opinion in agreement with Saraka who surmises that humanity is in no way ready for a gift such as Wam. Though regarding her I do find her to be far more suitable comic relief that the other girl as her general embarrassment over laughing on the negotiation table and frustration with Shindo is far more entertaining than a ditzy genius scientist that has no common sense

The prologue phase appears to be complete and now this show looks to be what I originally called it as. In that regard however i have come to accept that this will be one of those shows which isn’t really hyped up. Kado is slow paced and methodical with a focus on political situations that result out of this Alien shaking up the planet. Admittedly it’s not the type of show you can get on the edge of your seat for. More the type to enjoy with a cup of tea. Well za-Shunina appears to have chosen a representative who can be the key to the whole situation and…oh god no. It’s the scientist girl. I was dreading this but I somehow knew this girl was going to come into this somehow. No matter how much I didn’t want her to.

Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan) – 30[Historia]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan)

If there is one thing in particular that I would fault Attack on Titan for, it would be that the author is bad with characterisation. When looking over how characters develop in the series, this normally happens in one of two ways. Either the character has a flashback or another character just starts a verbal dissection of someone’s character right to their face. In this episode we have evidence of both these things at work with starting off with as flashback to the scouting corps winter training which we never saw before and Ymir outright berating Crista over what she surmised was her wish to die while doing something perceived as heroic. I dislike this matter of character development as it pretty much ignores the fact of how utterly obnoxious this kind of thing would be to a genuine person. Imagine if you will, some random coworker coming up to you and insinuating about your character based on their personal observation.

It would be annoying because who is this random person to judge and quite frankly, nine times out of ten they would be completely wrong. The readers of this blog can insinuate a lot about my character by how I write these posts, but I am fairly certain you would be far off the mark on who I truly am no matter how closely you read. When you get down to it these outbursts are not for the character benefit as after all they just sit and take it. This is for the audience’s benefit as someone verbally lays out this character’s motivations and intent bare. When it comes to matters like this, less is more and if you have reached the point where you need to verbally explain someone’s character to the audience then I think you have failed as a writer. At least when it comes to the visual medium.

Well this episode has Ymir defending the remaining people just in time for the rest of the scouting corps to arrive to save the day. Other than that we have a flashback to Ymir and Christa’s training days which serves to explain that they both have trouble with family. In Christa’s case it seems her family name holds a large amount of importance if the priests of the wall is to be believed. Ymir looks to be dead but considering titan regeneration it’s possible she could walk this off. I do believe that Eren managed to regrow an arm in the first season. Speaking of which he finally killed his first titan using 3D gear which really goes to illustrate just how much of the kid is talking the talk but not walking the walk. In the titanverse he admittedly hasn’t been  in the corps for that long but for someone who oh so boasted about killing all titans, this is suitably pathetic. But oh, is that just Eren. He has always been the character to speak grander than he can deliver. Which makes his pairing with Mikasa, who has the skill to live up to such promises, all the more fitting. Eren is all ego, no action. Mikasa is all action, no ego. When thinking about it this does make you question just what is more important in this kind of dire situation. To be a person who says what needs to be said or someone who can do what needs to be done? Admittedly not much happened aside from that, this was mainly an episode focused on Ymir and Christa. I will say that shot of Christa face when saying her name to Ymir was quite beautiful.

April Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Busy weekend so I am late! As usual, this summary is about all episodes that aired in the month April, ranked from the ones I like the least to the best. If I kept adding I’d never get these posts done.

There’s lots of great stuff this month, and I managed to keep up with twelve shows till the end of this month. No short 5-minute episodes, so fitting them all in was a challenge. General themes this season seem to be fantasy and racism. Overall production seems very solid. I mean, the bad shows were really bad and all, but so far the good shows really seem to want to deliver something good, and seem to all more and less understand what they’re doing. I feel a lot of them are trying to take their viewers seriously. You cannot imagine how refreshing that feels after 2013…

Anyway: yarr there be spoilers! And obligatory these are just my own impressions and nothing else. 3500 words which doesn’t seem too bad this time. Let’s go!

#12: Sakura Quest (01-04)

I liked the first three episodes. They were chaotic and colourful, yet grounded. The lead female was naive, sure. But she was thrust into this new situation and just had to figure out how to deal with everything being thrown at her. I like that. After that though… I’m afraid that the creators have already hit a bit of a slump. Episode four was all over the place in terms of how much it wanted to be taken seriously.

The show spent so long try and get the female lead to accept her place as the queen. And then it just pulls the other four leads into the team like it’s nothing. Their motivations are all hazy at best, and now they’re suddenly all working together (getting paid, I think) like they don’t have anything else to do. And then there was that inventor. Like, there are more series that have a character that totally doesn’t fit amongst the rest, and it can work, but the difference is here that his inventions totally transform the context of this series from out of nowhere. This used to be a fairly grounded series: it was colourful, but it could have happened in real life. Not anymore. This is actually very important, because how are we going to have to relate to it now, if it can just pull stuff like this out of its ass?

And with this, this show has become a “5 girls doing cute stuff”-series, instead of the Hana-Saku Iroha-wannabe. Hana-Saku Iroha did some crazy stuff, sure. But its sharp drama was what made me return to it. Sakura Quest so far hasn’t been sharp. I’d sooner describe it as dull and forced, very in danger of being dropped.

#11: Atom – The Beginning (01-03)

This show frustrates me. Not because it’s bad, or I wouldn’t have kept up with it, but because I see potential that this show is trying to not draw attention to. Like at first sight this is a really childish robot show with annoying characters. And yet I cannot name something that it’s technically doing wrong. And then once in a while it delivers something surprisingly poignant.

Now, three episodes in, I understand that Atom – The Beginning is an homage to Tetsuwan Atom, the very first anime series ever made. That explains the characters: Osamu Tezuka’s characters always were out there and exaggerated. The creators are doing their best to re-create his charms, but they do miss something that the old master had. His stories were about absolutes, big plot twists, and teaching kids harsh lessons instead of sugar-coating everything. But who knows where this series plans to be going.

But I admit: it knows how to write its annoying characters. The whole point of annoying characters is that they serve to bring in energy, and if they’re rounded enough you as a viewer will warm up to them. This is actually very difficult to do, and most attempts fail and become excruciating to watch, because failure means that you have to spend an entire series with a character that you hate. Like this show is seriously doing something right, but then on the other hand it spends an entire episode on finding a lost robot dog.

#10: Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho (01-03)

The animators are really struggling with properly bringing life to these characters, but thankfully the rest of the show does a really good job at making up to it. The setting in this series feels alive. The characters visit a lot of different towns and cities in these first three episodes, all of them populated with different people who actually feel like they live there.

What makes this series stand out the most is the racist themes. A lot of the fantasy series this season deal with them, but this series does it best, because there is not one side who is morally right in everything. It presents three different parties, who all are against each other due to complicated reasons and misunderstandings that grow because of some overreactions. There are evil characters, but they are individuals who mess things up for everyone. It really stresses that things are complicated. I like that a lot.

In terms of the characters, I still really like the two main ones; their chemistry is as solid as ever and they’re a delight to watch. It’s not all well though, because episode 2 introduced a really annoying character who seems to be tagging along for the whole ride. And I can’t stand this kid. All he does is whine or make bad jokes. And that’s basically this series: there are some things that it does really well, and some things that it’s really bad at. What makes me want to continue is that it’s the core of this series that’s really good. I mean it’s really onto something with its racial themes!

#9: Uchoten Kazoku (01-04)

Uchoten Kazoku is really tough to measure, because of how different it is. On one hand it’s slice of life, but enough things happen, and yet it doesn’t really have a plot: just a sequence of events in the lives ot these characters it plays through. It’s chock full of culture, references both really obscure and popular. It lacks the dramatic bombast that every other series had, but in terms of world-building it’s pretty darn excellent: how these tanuki are living their lives, and all their customs and strifes.

I think this lack of dramatic flair is what got to me in the first season. I mean, I couldn’t call this bad at all… it’s just hard to find a structure here to follow. Like, certain points or scenes that stick out or stand out as memorable. You could say that this series’ flaw is that it’s too consistent. Sounds weird of course, but anime remains an art form, and art can be really weird in how it sticks to people.

But don’t get me wrong: the writing here is very good. It always has something to talk about, characters are well rounded with rich backstories, the writing is also excellent, and you can definitely see that the creators did their homework.

#8: Sagrada Reset (01-04)

Okay yes, that was one hell of a misleading opening episode. I can understand why some people were turned off by episode 02, and let me warn you: if you were turned off by that, stay FAR away from episode 04, because it’s going to get even worse. As for me though, I like what the creators are trying to do: they have got this world chock full of people with strange powers, and every episode they try their best to make an as complicated story with them as possible. They just keep throwing stuff at you as the episode progresses, and combine that with how characters are constantly trying to explain each other’s motivations, constantly seeking the truth amidst these bizarre rules.

But let’s get one thing very straight: this is NOT a high school show where characters happen to have powers. This is full on mystery. And the way this show looks at death and pain is really weird. It’s like: “oh by the way, Pete died”, right as the characters are casually talking about something else for example. And none of the characters show any sign of being put off. There is plenty of remorse, but that initial shock you get when something terrible happens: that doesn’t seem to exist in this universe. It’s really weird, but they’re very consistent at it, which leads to a number of really bizarre situations, culminating in that incredibly disturbing end of episode 04.

I still like it a lot though. This show dares to break with conventions, and it’s constantly trying to one-up itself. Some of the logic either flew past me or is not consistent with itself, but eh: not enough for me to find it bothersome. The characters still are very enjoyable, and their calculating chemistry still works quite well. Perhaps not as good as with episode one, but in the meantime they tried to put in enough to make this work for the long run and make this not a one trick pony.

#7: Warau Salesman (01-04)

You’d think that this would become a novelty. Yet I keep returning, every week, despite how similar each episode is. Is it some sort of Stockholm Syndrome or something? Like every single episode is a big kick in the balls, and yet I keep returning. Falling for the charming salespitch, being drawn into this show just as the characters are tempted by the titular character. Seriously this guy is one evil sunovabitch.

The strength of this series is that it shows how easy it is to fall for temptations. While everything here is exaggerated, the core truth that they want to portray rings everywhere: its criticism at these sales constructions that are set up in such a way that breaking them and ruining your life is wraught with temptations that are just too easy to break. The same temptations keep returning: lust and stress relief. And some stories are stronger than ever, but there are some particularly biting ones. The first one of episode 04, for example. Like holy crap!

Make no mistake, despite the cartoonish look, this is an incredibly dark show. Also look how the Laughing Salesman also manages to wiggle his way into innocence, by pointing out the faults of his clients. It’s now gotten as far that during episode 4, you could see the traps he laid out miles beforehand. And that’s what makes this such a good horror series: by making these traps so easy you’re constantly screaming “don’t do it!” at your screen, yet unlike your average dumb horror character, you can understand where they’re coming from.

#6: Alice to Zouroku (01-05)

A big theme of 2017 is pushing powers to a new level: have characters with powers that are more all-encompassing than before, that have less limits. And not in the way that they create bigger energy-beams, but with the way that they start tearing the whole fabric of reality. Alice to Zouroku puts this in thriller-form, with a lot of childish innocence.

Out of all the series with action this season, Alice to Zouroku is the most grounded in reality because of how it keeps stressing responsibility. The characters all have lives, and backgrounds, rich in detail. And yet, it doesn’t shy away from anything, that’s what makes it scary. Seriously that hands woman was one hell of an effective villain in how she just completely doesn’t mess about, but even then I didn’t expect her to actually shoot something resembling a child. But that’s the strength of this series: this incredible contrast of childlike innocence on one hand and just this businesslike harshness on the other.

In april, Alice to Zouroku got five episodes out. It was not the most entertaining series of the season, but still I have to say that at the end of episode five, when they closed off the arc, they did so in a really adorable way. And it was thanks to all of this careful build-up. But erm, show… you do realize that you’re 12 episodes long, don’t you? Everything seems resolved now… how are you going to be able to top this?

#5: Re-Creators (01-04)

Re-Creators may not have had the most exciting start, but it’s clearly and visibly growing: every episode has gotten more interesting so far. This series came with a really interesting premise: what if characters suddenly came to life? It shows how they’d react to this new find knowledge, and also how they view their creators: the ones who write their stories. Every character looks at the issue in a different way: that’s what you need! A look the matter from many different angles.

And on top of that it also just got the basics right. It knows how a story and characters are written: rounded, instead of simple stereotypes. It takes its time to establish the kind of world it’s in. Characters behave in believable and consistent manners, there are no weird leaps in logic, and the acting is powerful, yet nobody is overacting. Animation is overall consistent, and the soundtrack also keeps getting better. These guys are really trying to put down something solid, yet exciting, and the kicker: the dialogue is also really well written. Heck, the main focus of this show is on its dialogue: the action is just there as a vehicle, to create tension.

My only complaint is how average the male lead is: like nothing sets him apart. But ah well: you can see him as a jar of glue; he holds everything together. Because of him this really diverse cast of characters managed to gather together and interact. And what this show did really well is keep him in the background. It realizes that this is in no way his story, and instead keeps the main actors the main actors, without him trying to wiggle himself in the important positions. And thank god there’s no romance yet!

#4: Shingeki no Bahamut – Virgin Soul (01-04)

Okay, so Virgin Soul is the sequel. Unfortunately I cannot find the time to watch the original like what I did with Shouwa Rakugo, so I’ll just watch the second season. For now it seems to be quite accessible without any prior knowledge, unlike Berserk, which I really want to continue, but won’t, for the same reason why I haven’t continued Mushishi’s second season.

There is one thing in particular that Shingeki no Bahamut does better than any other show this season. Yeah okay, there are multiple. The fluidity of some of its action scenes is un-rivaled, even when put next to Shingeki no Kyojin, which makes for a great spectacle. But the reason why it’s so high on this list is because of how expressive it is. The characters are alive and vibrant with emotions, they just pop out of the screen. The female lead is the best example of this where she just continues to bubble all over the screen, but the other characters do this to. Some obvious, but others subtle. Because of that it has a very engaging villain. Just the way he’s posed and drawn: this guy got presence. He beams royal confidence. That, combined with the setting in which a bunch of humans are the assholes for once in a fantasy-show makes the plot simple, yet very effective.

And it doesn’t need a complicated plot like what the other fantasy series have. This show is all about power plays. Taking what it has, and really trying to get everything as right as possible. That has lead to some impeccable animation: the poses, the stances, it’s all right. Notice how few still frames this show uses. When characters talk, it’s not just their lips that go up and down, no their chins move subtly as well. There’s more life in this series than any other show this season.

#3: Shingeki no Kyojin (26-30)

Ah, it’s just as I hoped: Shingeki no Kyojin decided to screw some conventions here. Not the ones I expected though, which makes it in a way even better. Five episodes aired this month, and in a move that very other series dare: it pretty much put the main cast on a bus in order to focus on some side-ones: all Eren&co did was travel, while the side cast got bombarded by all of the weird plot twists. And consider that this second season is only 12 episode makes this even more special: for this show to have the balls to really take its time, instead of doing the most obvious and put more focus on Mikasa, the most popular character of the series.

On the technical terms: yes. Great animation, soundtrack’s good, pacing’s terrific, storytelling had me on the edge of my seat. It pretty much did everything right. One thing in particular that stood out was the way in which this show does its horror. It combines it seamlessly with its mystery here: the characters were terrified, and it used that fear brilliantly while hinting for certain plot twists. It created such a paranoid atmosphere. Well done, Shingeki no Kyojin! Sometimes, not saying anything can do wonders.

Shingeki no Kyojin definitely aims to take the viewer on a ride. The most of any other show this season. It’s an emotional roller-coaster, but very different from the first season, which had a lot more bombast. And yet, when it hits, the second season does go much further. Like the gore? Much more detailed than what we saw in season one. These guys have gotten more interested in making something really special. Now keep challenging yourselves! Keep screwing more conventions!

#2: Seikaisuru Kado (00-04)

Shingeki no Bahamut and Shingeki no Kyoujin are behemoths. Their budget is huge and you see that in the animation, which is a feast for the eyes. And I like that a lot: one reason why I’m into animation is to see how well it can bring characters and settings to life, and big production-values are a great way to do this. My taste may be weird, but I love seeing a big group of people working together to animate a story, in all different meanings of the word. That this isn’t required or even necessary is proved by Seikaisuru Kado.

Nearly everything here is done in jarring CG. This is not a pretty looking series, and it was obviously done on a budget. But here’s the thing: Shingeki no Kyojin was bound to get a sequel, so you’re bound to invest in it. The other shows this season: here too you can see why investors were interested in their production: Bahamut is an epic fantasy series with dragons, based on a well received first season, Alice to Zouroku has cute girls, Warau Salesman is the next in line of classic shows to be revived. Even my number one pick for this month: it’s incredibly save. They all make sense. Seikaisuru Kado is the only one that doesn’t. I mean, how was this even pitched? “All-powerful aliens visit the earth and we need to negotiate with them”. Just, where did this come from? This is just so out of left field, it really takes balls to come with a series like this. I admire that a lot.

This show… over the course of five episodes it has done some really weird things. Note how every episode is significantly different with its focus, and yet every episode flows seamlessly into the other. Every episode is also incredibly thought-provoking. You may not agree with its statements, but that’s not the point: what IF an alien suddenly came with items that would solve the world energy crisis if used well? What would you do? What would happen? And it goes incredibly in-depth in its analysis and predictions. It’s bold, the way it’s doing this is going to piss off a lot of people, and in terms of global politics it is bringing more and more unspoken rules to the surface. A lot of shows this season have balls, but really: Seikaisuru Kado has by far the biggest ones. I was for a minute debating with myself about putting at at the top spot this month, but nah: that show reduced me to tears due to its sweetness. However, out of all new series to debate this year without a first season… yeah I can say that Seikaisuru Kado has the best and most interesting opening month of 2017.

#1: Natsume Yuujinchou (01-03)

I was about to go on about how this series really needs closure now, but then this new season came with its first three episodes, and even for this series’ standards they are excellent. Where the previous season felt perhaps like it was treading a bit of the same areas, these episode could only fit at this point in the story because of how well they’re making use of all of the build-up of the previous five seasons.

It all fits now: Season 1 was the introduction, Season 2 was Natsume getting to know more and more people. Season 3 was his growth. Season 4 was about his family. Season 5 was about his friends and the people around him. And now Season six is there to show how different he views the people around him now. He’s part of the family now, he has friends he trusts, and he’s opening up more and more to them: you see his resistance fade away more and more. Episode 02 stressed that he’s not alone anymore, and episode 03 did something really clever, in bringing back a character that used to annoy him, yet now manages to accept and see the good intentions. And vice versa.

And in the meantime he’s just completely adorable. Six seasons in and it still manages to tell these incredibly heart-warming stories. One month in and without a doubt this series is my favourite of the currently airing ones. It has this way of storytelling and pacing that makes the ending of every episode a delight, and at this rate, the other series have got an incredible job ahead if they want to be able to compete with this one. This is good! Be competitive! Strive to be the better one, this competition and wave of inspiration is what’s going to make the medium as an entirety better. The key is to learn from each other and inspire each other. Natsume Yuujinchou has nailed how to tell a story, and after nine years you can see its subtle influences all over. Holy crap the first season aired 9 years ago already! What happened to all that time!?

Nier Automata Video Game Review – 83/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Game Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47

 

When I heard about the reveal of a sequel to Nier my initial reaction was of relative apathy. Even upon hearing it was coming to PC I was relatively unhyped. To say I was uninterested would be wrong as I did previously hear of Nier being a game with a interesting and strange story but I couldn’t really find myself all that invested in it. Around the release of Nier Automata my interest in the game went higher as I learn more about the writer, Yoko Taro. Taro is a strange fellow who likes to write strange stories. He has a desire to test the boundaries of video game storytelling and his previous efforts were noted for being strange but refreshingly unique tales. The biggest problem is that while Taro has wrote some interesting stories for his games, ones enough to gather him a fanbase, even the most dedicated of fans would struggle to say they were good games. A Yoko Taro game was something you played for the plot and the gameplay was often the thing you had to struggle through to get that plot. This is another one of those things that had me rather apprehensive about a new Nier game. However this time is different as Platinum games steps up to lend a helping hand. Thanks to that while people could debate the quality of the story compared to his previous work, this is clearly Yoko Taro’s best game. One which has me rather interested to experience the rest of his work. Before playing Nier Automata I watched summery videos on youtube of Nier and Drakengard 3(As Nier is a spinoff of the Drakengard series.) Not that you need to know anything about those works as Nier Automata is clearly it’s own self contained entity. For this review I played the steam version of the game and I will try to avoid spoilers. Lets dive in.

The game is set thousands of years after the end of Nier 1 and earth has been conquered by Aliens.Humans have retreated to the moon and use an Army of Androids to go down to earth to take back the planet for the human race. Likewise the Aliens combat these androids with an army of Machines and this battle has been raging between the two for hundreds of years. You play as an android by the name of B2 who is send down earth and works together with a hacker android called 9S to fight the machine menace. Said androids also happen to fight with samurai swords while in gothic maid and butler outfits with heads up displays in blindfolds. I mentioned this before, but Yoko Taro does indeed write strange stories. The story is certainly intriguing as it explores the nature of what makes something human and whether the self is truly a irreplaceable thing. The androids are the most humanlike creatures on earth but have a rule against feeling emotion. Though expressing emotion isn’t so much as a reinforced law as plenty of androids break it. I saw that a android repressing emotion was more out of decorum rather than a genuine law. The androids hold humans to a high regard so it’s fitting that they would find imitating them to be disingenuous. I do admit that the story has very interesting idea’s and execution but I found my biggest gripe with the story is that it is just how disconnected the events of it where. Each part of the story has very little correlation to the other and there isn’t really much of an overarching goal besides the matter of reclaiming the earth. Though how that is accomplished is never made particularly clear. For most of the game you are ordered to investigate an area and often take down a certain robot but there isn’t any real sense of progress on what you are doing. One thing that really speaks of this flaw is that in the second half of the story suddenly a massive robot appears and the entire android army is tasked with taking it down. Is this massive robot related to the antagonist? No. Is it used for character development or to shed insight into Nier Automata’s themes? No. Does it affect the plot in any way? Not really besides giving a reason for 2B and 9S to be separated. Overall the whole section feels like their was a big section of the script which had “Insert multi stage boss fight here” on it. This is what really bugged me about the story of this game, it’s so disjointed. Like Yoko Taro wanted to present a series of idea’s but didn’t really attempt to weave them into an ongoing narrative. If you’e looking to play something different, you can play satta king online by visiting a satta king website.
Continue reading “Nier Automata Video Game Review – 83/100” →

Re:Creators – 04 [That Time I Said Hello to Him]

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

Another dialogue-heavy episode where Re:Creators takes its time in continuing to build up its foundation and finally have an inkling of stakes in the overarching story.

Meteora gets the short end of the creator stick with the news that her writer/producer is dead due to a fatal motorcycle accident but ends up opening up a different avenue into relationship of creation. Even though the two will never meet, the care and dedication poured into the making of Avalken of Reminisce is more than enough to cement their connection. I doubt that Selestia and Takashi sees each other in the same light but there is a chance for them grow into a parent/child relationship. That’s all fine and dandy but I just wished that Re:Creators didn’t frontload so much exposition in the first few episodes even though it was accomplished by slice-of-life montages. It would have probably been better if it spaced out its philosophic musings more instead of Meteora explaining everything in rapid succession.

On Gunpuku no Himegimi side, her own cast of characters are far more fractured in their overall goals and direction when compared to Souta’s growing harem. Either they are desperate and scared or mildly amused at the whole situation like the detective but they are certainly not following the military uniform princess’s desires to outright fundamentally changed the creator’s world. With Meteroa theory that the continual use of powers that is the means that world is to be destroyed, Re:Creators might go down the route where the real world must be sacrificed. Alicetelia’s disposition is certainly evidence of the kind of person that is willing to do anything to save her own fictional world. The way she aggressively forces her creator to rewrite her world is probably just the tip of her ideology of absolutes which makes her relationship with Mamika so interesting. Either we will see them soften up their ideals or have Mamika go down a dark path trailing behind Alicetelia.

Uchoten Kazoku 2 – 04 [The Tanuki Shogi Tournament]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Uchoten Kazoku

Time for little furball romance. This week is all about pairing up Yaichirou and Gyokuran and she definitely fits the show like a glove. So far, Eccentric Family has been successfully follows Yasaburou around with his frantic odd jobs, while at the same time reintroduces the old cast and more over fleshing out the new additions, as such this week is another great week for our furballs adventure. We have a solid 3-arc standalone development for our new girl, Gyokuran. She first appears in this episode when she pays Yasaburou a visit, he himself serves as a stand-in for Okazaki family – a zoo tanuki family that consists of dozen members that all go to a holiday on a city bus (how can you even beat that?). Upon the conversations two things are pretty clear about Gyokuran: she’s lovely, caring person and she has romantic feelings towards Yaichirou, but they had a “tragic past” that prevent Yaichirou from playing shogi with her again (in other words, silly little reason – she was purposely lost that made Yaichirou raged).

But good things never go as plan in the world of tanuki. Despite making the best efforts to bring back such an old tradition of Shogi Competition (which in truth is the match between only 2 players: herself and Yajirou the frog) to tanuki community, small disputes between the idiot twins and Yasaburou bring annoyance and chaos to the event. Gyokuran shows her insecure side by transforming into a white tiger to snap back the twins. The commotion upsets Gyokuran so she holes herself up and refuses to meet everyone. Yasaburou shows up to make amend and bridges the love between Gyokuran and Yaichirou. All those flashbacks are lovely, which I’m particularly impressed with the second flashback when the young kids looking for Yasaburou: the atmosphere, the vivid background and the sound of the wind really bring a sense of overwhelming-by-the-nature to life. The shogi match at the end between the love birds feel like a natural progression for their relationship. Gyokuran appears as sincere, yet insecure who like Yaichirou is torn between responsibility with the community; her own family’s tradition and the desire of freedom. Just like how the tanuki lose their ability to transform when they’re inside a cage.

This episode further examines the main weakness of Yasaburou. Yasaburou lacks any sense of responsibility, that we all know well. So far, his carefree attitude breaks the normal convention to bring something fresh, fun and exciting to his everyday life, but when putting in the context of society, his impulsive actions tend to bring trouble to the people around him. Sure, the twins start the fight but it’s just plainly irresponsible of him to ignore all the efforts of others and fight back. I actually feel worse that he shows little remorse over the consequences. Likewise, he can’t understand the appeal of shogi in which discipline and patience take priority. For him, he rather invents new rules instead of follows the old beaten path. But given that he’s flexible in every situation also equal to Yasaburou is very quick to console others from their disappointment. His meeting with Gyokuran where he humors her by his silly shogi moves and directly tells her to go for what she’s feeling because “why not!” says the best of his characteristic to bring optimism and enthusiasm towards other members.

Other characters all doing fine this episode whenever they appear on screen, but it’s those characters who don’t appear this episode that makes me kind of puzzled. I can overlook the absence of Kaisei (she comes and goes as she’s pleased, just like Benten), but I can’t think of any reason why Yashirou didn’t appear in the Shogi Tournament. I know The Eccentric Family has such large cast so it’s better to divide them up but please don’t put them away for too long or make them disappear inexplicably. Hopefully as the story keeps rolling forward together we will have everyone appears again soon. Other than that, Tousen steals the scene by offering Yasaburou an offer that he can’t refuse. Yajirou is as observant and cool as ever and Bentei, OMG Benten, she comments how petty Nindaime is but she proceeds to ruin all his shirts and flies off? I’m hype for their crash in the future. As of now, like the old tanuki say, after beating Yaichirou, Gyokuran is taken by the God of Shogi (remember this guy? The one who made a contract with Rei in 3-gatsu). Or is it Father’s forgotten secret room? We will have the answers next week.

Tsuki ga Kirei – 04 [Passing Shower]

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

I’m totally impressed with Tsuki ga Kirei thus far. This show has its own voice and after this episode I’m confident that we will have the constant quality in display for the rest of its run. Nothing can beat consistency, I assure you. This week, the kids go to another city for a school trip and it’s…wait a minute…Kyoto. Within the first few shots of the city I could easily recognize that favorite town of mine (if you ask me how much I love Kyoto, let just say it’s THE city that I wanna live in. And I might). I’m digging it how the show handles the aftermath of the confession last week: take it slow and give it some more thoughts. Her delayed response really is the most natural decision come from Akane and it might be her best decision, at that stage when she isn’t sure if she’s romantically interested to Kotarou (whether she has a crush on Kotarou, yes, but how many crushes you have back in school life? Once every few months right?). Remember that she doesn’t deny when her friends ask her if the boy she’s interested in was Takumi. Chinatsu, on the other hand, plays off her role as a romantic rivalry, though there was never any romance to begin with, and actively assists the duo. I love that behind her cheerful and out-there personality, she reads the situation so spot-on; and she handles the situation effortlessly. Minor issues that both Kotarou and Akane would find to awkwardly to address, she brushes it off with ease. Such a good characterization for a character who doesn’t have much screen-time. Bravo!

While the romance aspect is this episode’s main focus, the slice of life part really brings the calm, grounded and bright atmosphere to Tsuki ga Kirei. The school trip plays out exactly like any regular school trips, with great details to the settings, and to the small activities of the students. There’s this group of girls taking selfie, the other group playing cards, most of them would skip early bedtime for playing around and talking romantic stuffs. In this world, all the surrounding characters feels breathable (for the lack of better word) in the environments around them. Both Kotarou’s friends and Akane’s friends are highlighted not by their distinctive traits, nor by their development, but by their everyday interactions with the world around them and their own self-position towards that world. Hands up for Aira (one of Akane’s friend) for giving her some space that most of the kids that age ain’t sensitive enough to realize. Again, this show’s characterization is top-notch.

The episode also highlights the anxiety of our Kotarou and Akane towards their newfound relationship (or the lack thereof) and it’s as honest and awkward as it might get. They’re afraid to talk to each other, but always aware of other’s whereabouts (man, so true!). Kotarou’s nervousness of texting the girl and then has his phone taken by the teacher in the process are nicely played out before the climax. And when the climax kicks in, the tone, the pacing and the whole execution were incredible. He’s late to meet her, he doesn’t respond her phone, he shows up in poor, soaked state: all the conditions that could make any girl mad, although we’re in his shoes so we know he deserved better. I understand both the frustration of Akane and the helplessness of Kotarou. He even doesn’t try to justify himself, which make me hold him in higher regard. Akane’s response later perfectly leads the show into the right direction and closes the episode on a high note. She just wants to talk to him more. Usually other romantic anime speed up this process (and to be fair, even in real life), but unless she knows more about him, unless she spends some more time with him, she wouldn’t know if she really likes him.

I was initially considering about the combo of Tsuki ga Kirei – Scum’s Wish for portraying both spectrum of teenager’s romance, but now I’m leaning towards this one – Flowers of Evil double series for addressing contrasted sides of growing up. They’re both set in adolescent phase, when most of them are still unsure about themselves. While Flowers of Evil leans on its dark side that tackle on obsessions, youth-frustration and identity; Tsuki ga Kirei is pure white that focus on the brightest side of first crush and self-grown, and friendship. That not to say this one isn’t complex, far from it, because Tsuki ga Kirei tackles such seemingly simple premise with keen eye for details and a deep understanding of growing up process. It’s simple, true, but it’s the kind of “simple” that isn’t easily obtained.

Sakura Quest – 04 [The Lone Alchemist]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sakura Quest

Hmm, I don’t really like the direction Sakura Quest is going for. To be more precise, this episode brings up some questionable variables that I don’t think blended well with the show. The actual story for this week though, is still enjoyable and grounded enough to overcome those concerns. At least for now. This week the Queen and co take up a new approach of boosting tourism: promoting woodcarving industry that is indeed a traditional government-protected industry in Manoyama, albeit many earlier attempts of gaining tourist flows using woodcarving industry have been failed. This time brings the same unsuccessful outcomes, as expected, mainly because of the girl’s lack of knowledge to the town, and to the art of woodcarving itself. How can they expect to successfully draw people in if they don’t really know about what they’re promoting? The plot is going to get worse for Yoshino and her friends before they can learn from those mistakes and get better. So this episode is functional enough at its core, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

The first issue is its weird addition of modern technology in this otherwise mundane and down-to-earth world. The girls meet the oddball local mechanic who is your typical silly inventor-type that usually brings more trouble than success, or both at the same time (think about “Doc” in Back to the Future). In this episode, his inventions come a bit too handy that they would be right at home at Phineas and Ferb’s daily summer break: an iron box that transforms into a jukebox, the mechanic suits that help farmers carry their loads easier. I get the point of merging the traditional woodcarving and the modern technology (old and new) from the outsiders with the assistance from the locals (in and out); but if the show meant to be a grounded, realistic portrayal of tourism job in rural town then those weird robotic arms and suits throw that realism out of a window. It’s so out of place and weird that for once I’m not on board with their plan and agree to that grumpy woodcarver and Mama merchant instead (come on, Buddha vending machine is BLASPHEME!!!)

The second flaw of this current approach lies in the main cast themselves. Take their spiritual predecessor, Shirobako, for example. The main cast in Shirabako have different jobs within the anime industry and even in different stages of their careers; they each have to deal with their own problems because each of them have different issues in their lives. Sakura Quest groups them together too early, so that all of them now work for the same goals, share the same house, eat the same food and that don’t work well in their favor. I have fun following them for the first 3 weeks because each of them still has different interesting traits, but their personalities start to blur in this episode. Give me more drama, tear the group apart so they have to overcome their issues by themselves is for me a much more appropriate approach (but seeing that we have 20+ episodes in our hands here, I don’t worry much about not having enough time to develop them). This episode sadly doesn’t work well character-wise.

Furthermore, I have a mixed feeling towards hinting at the romance of Sanae and the new guy woodcarver. Romance isn’t bad by all means but Sakura Quest is about mature people and their tourism jobs, so I hope the romance will only serve as a character’s development for Sanae and not taking too much concentration. The new guy nails it when he mentioned about the insecurity of Sanae: running away to the small town because she feels replaceable, like her existence isn’t that important to the busy Tokyo life. I had that experience myself sometimes so this might cut a little too close for myself. Overall, this week is a slightly misstep episode as the core material is still running strong here, but this episode is bogged down by some unconvincing details. These issues won’t deal any permanent damage, but Sakura Quest needs to work harder than this to become a real sleeper hit.

Little Witch Academia – 16[The Trial of Pohjola]

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

One of the weaker episodes of the show but still enjoyable. This week sees us visiting Lottes parents and Akko unlocking another of the words of Arcturus after sloving a disease outbreak. Thus getting closer to the grand triskelion and now learned the meaning of pathence. Except she didn’t learn the meaning of pathence. This episode was strange in that it clearly was geared towards teaching Akko the meaning of pathence. Much of the episode showed off Akko’s lack of pathence causing trouble and I was waiting for the “Ah Ha!” moment of realisation where she would demonstrate her new understanding of the word. However that didn’t actually happen as when Akko had her “Ah Ha!” moment when stiring the potion and then proceeded to stir it slower till Shiny rod finished the job for her. It feels like Akko only learned the meaning of the word when the Shiny rod just said “Close enough” and gave her a freebie. Which makes me wonder if the activation of these words just means you have to guess the meaning of them and not nessarily grow or learn from them.

This makes me question Akko’s character growth thoughout the series as there have been times that it felt like she made massive leaps in her character arc only to regress back in the next episode. It’s hard to really cheer on a chearacter when they don’t learn from thier mistakes and Akko was certainly testing me this episode. The whole ordeal with the Yeti was humorous enough until you realise that Akko’s friends were quite literally dying the whole time she was critising the Yeti. Speaking of which, despite the stakes being high the atmosfere of the episode was really too light hearted to get accross the actual agency of the problem. The ridiclous conditions for the desease, the comedic gathering of ingredients and a general lack of concern from both Akko and Sucy made the entire situation just feel like another day at the office. I did like the moment with her begining to doubt herself when walking through the snow but it was a small moment that was quickly brushed aside.

As for Criox, who knows what she’s up to. She’s discovered that the emotion of anger can draw out the most energy from magic but to me that’s just asking for trouble. Much like in Doom 2016 they thought that the prefect solution to an energy crisis would be to draw energy from Hell. It’s just a matter of when everything goes to hell if the source of your power is based around dark matter. My big question is why is Ursula just letting Criox do as she pleases and not warned Akko about her? She clearly sees the threat she poses and yet isn’t really trying to do anything to get in her way. Theres also the matter of the governer who has yet to do anything despite foreshadowing shutting down the witch academy. Seems he was shoved off stage rather fast and the same can be said of Amanda and friends. Despite having a spot on the opening I am rather surpised how under utilised they are. I was under the impression that after the second OVA that the three would be a regular part of Akko’s entourage but that appears to not have happened. Shame as their presense could have really brightened up the interactions in this episode. Sucy and Lotte are good but both are too quiet to really bounce off Akko. Even having just Amanda there would have been good for drilling in the point that Akko needs patence as she could have been another example of lacking it. I have lots of complaints but that is out of a geniune love for this series and a wish for it to excel. I wonder if anyone on the trigger team happens to notice these kinds of complaints as the Yeti getting trolled online certainly seemed like a metaphore for just such a thing.

Re:Creators Episode 3 – “Don’t worry about what others said. Just be yourself.”

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

This week wasn’t a particular exciting episode as it went further into how the mechanics between the Creator and Created might or might not work.

As speculated last week, Yuuya Mirokuji is a pretty fun character that takes his teleportation into the modern world in stride. His own fictional universe of the Tokyo underground isn’t all the different from the real world and it doesn’t come as a surprise that he sees this whole ordeal as a vacation with good food. It’s too bad that Alicetelia February entry into the show is only given a brief moment to extract Madoka Mamikia before Yuuya gets to steamroll her. Alicetelia’s description as a knight/lancer is within a fantasy setting is a little similar to Selesia’s own story but her noble upbringing is probably the difference that causes her to team up with the Military Uniform Princess.Hopefully, we’ll get to see more fights features multiple creations smashing each other’s faces at the same time.

The bulk of the episode is found in conducting the experiment on whether or not the creator could change their creation’s powers through their descriptions. Whereas most shows would have quickly covered this aspect in an scene or two, Re:Creators, with its extended runtime of twenty-two episodes, has the luxury of fleshing out its relationships and it does so with some humor. Finding out that Charon will eventually betrays Selesia and having her best friend die in the latest light novel is one way of achieving that while demonstrating the differences between the anime and light novel versions of herself. Perhaps the highlight of episode is when Selesia’s attempt at her new transformation that actually combine Sawano’s epic music for a comedic scene of hype and failure.