Thunderbolt Fantasy – 09

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Thunderbolt Fantasy

“Three to test, five to press, and the final ninth strike”

That’s the number of moves Mie Tian Hai will put Sha Wu Sheng to eternal rest. Sha Wu Sheng, never loses his cool, attacks him anyway despite knowing full well the outcomes. I suspect that this fight is some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in play, the way he still leaves his back exposed after that eighth move. Or I think he would be sensible enough to kill Gui Niao BEFORE propose to fight with Mie Tian Hai. He tags along all the way just for the sake of Gui Niao’s head, and now he misses the chance and vows to wait for the guy in the afterlife. Oh well. I can sense the master thief’s chuckle there.

But before all that happens, the trio of legendary anti-foes (that would be Xing Hai the necromancer, Shou Yun Xiao the archer, Sha Wu Sheng the Screaming Phoenix Killer) reveal the initial plan of Gui Niao: the letters he sent to them explicitly said that he requires assistance to swindle the legendary sword from a helpless girl. They then proceed to actually LEAVE the two good-heart comrades behind to pursue for their shares. At the same time inside the tower, Gui Niao is trading with Mie Tian Hai. The sword handle turns out to be fake (with his “10-second look, 5-second touch” technique), and Gui Niao intends to sale the real thing with big golds. But for me this isn’t a simple trade-off. As he said so himself he always aims for more challenging goals, so this trade could simply be his front for something more ambiguous. And I know that I might so boring here but things might go EXACTLY like what he had planned, yes including the Phoenix Killer sudden appearing and Shang Bu Shuan’s jailbreak (literally!). In the next episode I’m pretty sure we will get to know Gui Niao true intention on keeping our main guy and his main goal from all of this.

If there is any specific theme this episode is going for, it is how they explore the ego of many characters. Juan Can Yun the spear wielder learns a hard truth for his mentor Shou Yun Xiao, as being a hero means you have to sacrifice and moreover hide the mistake/ dirty stuffs that you made. I understand that it’s mind-blowing, dear Mister Spear Wielder. I feel for ya. The Screaming Phoenix Killer still tries to push forward despite knowing that the duel will end up in defeat, he still does it because his ego won’t allow him to back down. Even the big boss’s hobby of collecting swords makes him feel invincible whenever he’s taking hold of the power of destruction itself. As I mentioned above, Gui Niao admits that he enjoys stealing because of “ethos of a champion” – the feeling of superior when you steal something considered invaluable. Also, our poor Dan Fei’s ego is shattered when she learned the truth about the identity of Gui Niao, as well as feeling guilty for dragging Shang Bu Shuan into the whole mess. That emphasis on ego furthers demonstrate the rationale and the way of thinking from each characters, and I say this is a successful approach to this story, especially when the characters in Thunderbolt Fantasy are already too over-the-top and often act like they’re performing a play. Letting them stick to their ego and their roles till the very end is of course the most appropriate course of action.

Announcement Time – User registration

by AidanAK47, posted in About, Other:, Shoutbox Topics, Special Articles, Uncategorized

Hello one and all. As I am sure you have noticed, there have been changes going on around the site as of late and I understand that change is scary. Please take heed to not suffer three simultaneous heart attacks upon seeing the banner up there change for the first time in several years.

Alright, to get serious for now. Things have been going on around the site as we have been basically fixing up the site to be more efficient as how it was previously configured was hardly ideal. We also have had to deal with problems with our server as it seems it can barely handle the slightest bit of hard labor and has caused us to compromise on a few things. Likely our biggest change is the new chatbox which I understand some have grievances with. However it does have several advantages over the old chatbox and what I have to say here will address the biggest issue with it so far. As it is currently, users can only keep their name for a day. If you leave psgels and come back you cannot assume your old nickname until 24 hours pass. To fix this we have added that little register box over on the right side. With it you can register with the site and keep your username in the chatbox as well as use it for commenting. For now those are it’s main uses but we may add new features to make use of it in the future. No promises on that as we do want to keep this Anime Blog as an Anime Blog

You may notice that if you attempt to register you get a popup asking for another username and password. This is a security measure added by our host to prevent the thousands of bots desperate to sell you Viagra and prevent them from overloading the server. To get past this, just put in the username and password as “wordpress“. Check remember me to make it you only need to press ok if it pops up again in the future. Then you will be able to register with the site and log in to post in the chatbox or likewise. This may be inconvenient to some but remember you can save the login information when prompted by your browser and make it a painless 2 click process.

I would like to thank K-Off and afgm for their efforts to help the site. Well I say efforts but quite frankly they did all the work while I sat twiddling my thumbs. Lastly I would like to say that while changes are taking place, we do not intend to change this site from what Psgels intends it to be. In fact we make sure to inform him of what we are doing and ensure we have his consent on all important matters. We hope we can bring bring this site back to it’s former glory and beyond. As well as provide you lot with the best anime coverage possible.

I will try to get the next season preview your way soon and thank you for your patience.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei – 08-09

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei

Due to the pace of the series slowing to a crawl I decided to delay covering episode 8 but even having done that I find that not a lot has happened in these two episodes. Illya managed to escape doll form and regain her body but in the process picked a fight with one of the most dangerous Ainsworths, Angelica. Coupled with Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon and her own displacement magic, she makes for a difficult fight. While there is a good bit of action in these two episodes, the main topic is a moral dilemma. The Ainworths have made their goal clear and as it turns out they are actually trying to save the world. Due to a mysterious cause the world is slowly dying and taking everything with it. While saving the world by helping it regain it’s mana looks to be an impossibility, the Ainsworths wish to transform humanity into a form that can survive the world’s decay. In order to do that they plan to sacrifice Miyu as a holy grail and wish for humanity’s salvation. This does make Illya’s job a lot harder as saving Miyu means damning an entire world to extinction which has naturally cause her to lose her nerve. Though to the viewer this choice may not be as grey as the series tries to make it.

My line of thinking matches that of Chloe who deems that Miyu is worth sacrificing the world for namely for a few reasons. One is that the decay of the world looks to be too far gone and the Ainsworths didn’t really take into account just how humanity is going to live in a dead world. Even if they save humanity, the world will still be a dead husk which is likely not going to be pleasant to live it. Two is that despite all their good intentions the Ainsworths are still being massive assholes in how they go about things. It’s hard to really empathise with their situation when they are being so blatantly antagonistic. You can argue that Illya and crew are the invaders here but it doesn’t justify the Ainsworths picking fights with them and attempting to kill them without even remotely trying reason. As an outsider you can’t really see anything this group of people accomplish as being a good thing. The third thing is that it’s likely the Ainsworths were the ones who damned the planet in the first place as their house does reside in a giant crater no one can quite explain. So this tale becomes less a matter of heroes making sacrifices for the greater good and more about the Ainsworths killing Miyu to fix a problem they themselves created. Which isn’t justified in the slightest and makes Angelica’s spiel immensely hypocritical.

Though the intent appears to be to mirror that of Kiritsugu’s ideals as well as a particular aspect of Heaven’s Feel. Chloe does mention something quite interesting in that in the prismaverse Kerry decided to put Illya over the world and saved her as opposed to following through with the events of Fate/Zero. I also have a theory that they reverted Illya to childhood in order to prolong her life as in the normal Fate timeline Illya unfortunately doesn’t have very long to live. As a result Illya has two personalities. One is Chloe, the original Illya and the other is the illya who grew up with Shirou and the rest to become this shows heroine. Though doing something so cold to the original Illya does seem out of character for Kerry and Irisviel. Angelica does give a small explanation regarding mana but I always did find it rather pointless to designate magic within humans and magic within the atmosphere by two different titles. For one magic is almost always referred to as Mana and od is very rarely ever brought up. Though Od is what mages mainly use to perform magic but once converted by magic circuits in the body it’s then referred to as magical energy. So yeah, what’s the point of designating magic within humans as od? Nasu writing 101, telling you everything but never in terms you can actually understand. Otherwise we got some well animated action and Illya ultimately told Angelica to screw off because she was going to Gurren Lagann through problems and save everything. Next week looks to be the start of the final battle and is getting close to the moment I have been waiting for since the season started.

Mob Psycho 100 – 08

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Mob Psycho 100

Well to no one’s surprise this episode was filled with action. Though contrary to what the previous episode suggested, the person Mob is fighting is not his brother but instead a mysterious hooded figure. The matter of Ritsu’s power trip seems to be resolved for the most part as his brothers reaction is nothing like he expected. While Ritsu looked to be provoking Mob to deplore him or hate him, Mob merely brushes off his self deprecation and congratulates him on obtaining psychic power. As well as degrading himself on his brother’s behalf to apologize to the people he attacked. This approach to the problem is rather new to me and I rather like that Ritsu’s power trip looks to be a product of teenager emotional angst as his true feelings come out when his brother suffers on his behalf. That is only the first part of the episode however as after is a long battle scene against a member of Claw who came to abduct Ritsu while mistaking him for Mob. They may be the antagonists for the finale of the series as next episode looks to be an assault on their base. The fight that ensues is quite the spectacle.

The fight of this episode was rough and you could feel the impact of every blow with the sound design. What made this fight particularly noteworthy compared to the ones before is that this wasn’t easy for Mob. Finally the distinction between him and Saitama is made, in that Mob can in fact be beaten. In this case his greatest weakness is his heavy reliance on psychic power as his foe makes use of his physical strength and trickery. In the end, Mob with his near infinite psychic power was completely knocked out by a villain spraying a chemical in his face. Kamijou Touma’s villains should take notes from this guy, as when someone can completely negate your powers, maybe it’s a good idea to change strategy instead of throwing more fireballs like an idiot. I really like that Mob’s explosion meter didn’t move an inch after Ritsu’s attempts to egg him into a fight. But when the hooded fellow punched Ritsu it shot up to 100% immediately. Though Mob didn’t reach ??? level which looks to be reserved for special occasions. Claw looks to be the first thing to give Mob real drive to use his powers and Mob almost feels dangerously motivated. His claim to be able to take down claw singlehandedly does hold weight but the problem is that Mob is not accustomed to fighting other espers when Claw most certainly is. They are not going to simply fight Mob with psychic power but instead use anything to counter it. Well assuming they are clever.

I will admit to not haven’t much to add to this episode this week due to the heavy focus on the battle. Quite honestly I find it difficult to truly come up with something to talk about in regards to this and some of the other shows this season. Hence why my posts have sounded a bit too much like an episode summary as of late. On top of being actually late. I have no real excuses in regards to this as I find lately that my time seems to go far too fast, leaving me with not much room for intellectual musing about an anime episode. Or in many a case I really have nothing to add to what’s happening on screen.I am a bit worried I am experiencing anime burnout but perhaps it’s just a lack of enthusiasm for this current season as Re:Zero gets me writing paragraphs. I did express that this season felt weak to me in the preview and while there are shows with merit that none of the shows in the current season has grabbed me quite like Re:Zero…ah perhaps that is it. In face of a strong anime of the year contender, other shows pale in comparison thus my interest is fleeting. For I pine for the sweet reward of an continuation to the show I really want to see. No offense to Mob Psycho of course as I do think it does have greatness, just that it doesn’t quite catch me for reasons I can’t seem to put into words.

orange – 09

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Orange

Unfortunately for us, this is not a good orange episode. Hell, I could say this is one of its worst episode. orange has always relied on the regrets of the main cast, and the foreshadowing suicide of Kakeru as their main emotional impacts. When they steer away from those, this episode just loose its punch. While the character’s interactions are still there and those moments are one of the only high points of this week’s viewing, there is an issue with it as well. You see, there is no damn fun when everything goes entirely according to plan, when all the moments are just too perfect. I have no problem if this was about making Kakeru talk honestly about his suicide thoughts couple of weeks ago, but creating every moment with Kakeru too flawlessly (like the umbrella incidents this week, the “good morning” exchanges) make the whole situation feels rather forced, and to make it worse I feel Kakeru was manipulated by the group here, even if the intention comes from a good place.

But my biggest problems with this episode lie in its pacing. Last week we dedicated half of its episode for joining up team for the upcoming relay events, and this week the episode strangely drops any of the preparation phase, instead focuses on the revelation that all the cast has their own letters, worries about Azusa’s birthday, cares so much about the weather, and concerns about whether or not Naho and Kakeru should hold hands. Then they jump STRAIGHT to the events. The inconsistency of plotline occurred before in one of the episode when Naho pushed Kakeru to talk about his mother for the first time. After that Kakeru and Naho had a rather uneasy tension until it was revealed that Suwa had received the letters himself, then suddenly Naho and Kakeru again talked to each other normally like nothing happened. Well, I understand that they have to jam in many plot details to both heighten the relationship and carry the emotional weight, but I am not quite fond of letting the story just moving on its own like that.

As I mentioned in my last episode, orange is a weird shoujo production, and I will say in more details this time. For a shoujo romance-drama anime such as orange, they have an unusually high quality director and an equally unusual below-the-standard budget. So what we have here is a show that stands out in its artistic merits, as many of the director’s choices shine through this week. For example, the sequence from Asuza’s point of view is nicely displayed, as the characters are more colorful, childlike and whimsical than Naho’s point of view. In another case, the director displays Kakeru’s feeling of detachment from the rest of the events by showing him standing awkwardly among a disappearing crowd, with the wash-out color background and a slightly disorientated sound designs. Those are great moments because we really know more about these characters just by experiencing the same thing they do. The art designs of other background characters though, are just too rough and inconsistent. As a result, what we have in the end is the episode that glorious at certain important scenes, but meh and below quality in general. The sport events haven’t concluded yet, as we still have that relay to look for. Here’s hoping for a rewarding relay (and episode) ahead.

Thunderbolt Fantasy – 08

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Thunderbolt Fantasy

This is yet another typical Thunderbolt Fantasy episode, in which our MC Shang Bu Shuan just had enough with these guys and headed to the evil tower alone, but somehow still find himself tricked by Gui Niao and then gets captured near the end of the episode. Maybe the main reason Gui Niao needs him to stay so desperately is just for the sake of bullying the poor guy. There’s one interesting bit about Shang Bu Shuan that other members of the group figure out and that is while he’s a skilled swordsman, he’s not really confident with his skills; in a way he’s more natural with defensive skills than attacking. Still, leaving our main character literally to fight those monsters alone just to test him out is way too hilariously cruel; and I can see his frustration towards the group that he just heads off by himself. But as fate would have it, Dan Fei and Gui Niao just won’t leave him alone, and the three immediate find a shortcut to get through the tower without passing the magical labyrinth, just to find themselves heading directly to a trap.

Gui Niao’s true identity has finally been revealed to be a master thief. It’s about a goddamn time if you ask me. Master thief is also a common character’s trope in wuxia, but as far as I see he’s no Saito Kid or Robin Hood. Gui Niao is sneaky as hell and he’s also a master of manipulation. In order to advance his plan, he tricked the emotional outburst Dan Fei into having a fight with Shang Bu Shuan (by using hallucination smoke or whatever it’s called) and thus single-handed assist the enemy to put them in cage. At first, I find myself hard to believe that Mie Tian Hai would be stupid enough to trust this guy, but upon a closer look, it’s apparent that Gui Niao already gets a hold of the legendary sword’s handle and it’s a matter of time for him to negotiate with Mie Tian Hai. But there is a plot hole regarding all this ‘masterplan’ though as I find it hard to believe Mie Tian Hai actually forgets about the other members and keeps his guard down like that.

For next week, we will have two main developments: on the one hand there will be a negotiation between Gui Niao and the big boss and until then we can find Gui Niao’s true motive and whatever relation between those two guys. The 200-year history is a good starting point to keep delving into and I believe the main development for its last arc will be around the sacred sword, the War of the Fading Dust, and that cursed wasteland that split the two countries. It will be no surprise for me if Shang Bu Shuan might be ‘the one’ who can control the legendary sword. On the other hand, our main character and the rest of the group will keep heading to the main tower to catch up with whatever results that caused by Gui Niao. It still remains a big question regarding Gui Niao’s true intention: Is he friend or foe? Or is he just a league of his own? Time will tell, my friends.

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World – 22

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

Well the battle against the witches cult has started and…ended. I didn’t quite expect my words in the last episode review to turn out prophetic as Betelgeuse and his minions are taken out so quickly and anticlimactically considering how much this arc has built them up to be the main villain. Through Subaru seems to share my concerns as things go too smoothly that even he is suspicious. This feeling is throughout the first half of the episode as the white whale taught us that when things are going too well then there is a gut punch coming up. I commend Subaru from learning from horror movie tropes and inquiring as to whether Betelgeuse is really dead after Wilhelm chopped him in half. Prompting the little animal girls to incinerate his body to ashes. Despite this it seems Betelgeuse comes back in the form of his follower which is a girl who has his unseen hands and his rather eccentric mannerisms. However it isn’t long before he’s cut down by Wilhelm yet again and props to the clever idea of using falling water to allow Wilhelm to see the hands. Subaru and Co dismissed this as this girl being the true sloth archbishop and the first man was a proxy or the possibly that all members are the archbishop.

I however have my own theory that Betelgeuse doesn’t actually take to the field himself and instead sends his followers and has the ability to possess one of them. It fits with the sloth theme in that the sloth archbishop stay home while controlling others from afar and it leads me to have an interesting thought. When Betelgeuse number 1 got immensely aggravated with Subaru, he started convulsing and blood came out of his eyes which suggests that his body is breaking down. I think it’s possible that all of Betelgeuse’s spasms and erratic moments may actually not be because of his personal insanity but rather because Betelgeuse’s control of the body lessens as he gets more emotional. Thus in these moments the original owner wrestles to gain control of their body. So the biting fingernails, the arching of his back, the self inflicted harm is all the screams of someone trying to remove Betelgeuse’s dominance. There is a question of whether Betelgeuse himself has an original body or is some kind of spirit jumping between bodies. Though this is all just purely speculation.

So it seems that the cult of the witch recruits people by sending out a gospel to those suitable and it’s uncertain as whether this gospel brainwashes people into joining or it contains information that encourages people to. Betelgeuse made a particular interesting comment when he said that the gospel did not mention Subaru at all which seems to suggest it’s some sort of book foretelling future events. Which might explain as to how it could get people to join, after all if it states that the Jealous witch will take over the world or enact some sort of judgement day then people would prefer to join the side that doesn’t get slaughtered in the future. He also insinuates that Subaru is Pride once again and considering that Subaru picks up the gospel it may very well be something to come into play in later arcs. It’s nice that despite apologizing for fighting Julius, Subaru still has a petty grudge against him. As I said before you don’t put a bandaid on trauma and call him cured.

Subaru came close to falling back into a stupor after getting four people killed in the cult attack but Wilhelm managed to keep him focused by telling him to fight and be strong. This speech will likely act as determination for later and I like how when Subaru said he needed to get stronger WIlhelm interrupted to say that he doesn’t need to get stronger but instead be strong. This seems to suggest that what Subaru needs is not physical strength but instead mental strength. This is true as it’s is not Subaru’s job to beat the bad guys but instead to lead the right players to the right places to get the job done. In this the only thing stopping him is his own mental fortitude. When you have the power to try again infinitely then victory is certain. It’s just a matter of how many times you can bring yourself to try.

Our episode ends with Subaru separated from his group with a grim looking Ram looking down on him. The nature of this twist confused me on first seeing it as it seems to suggest that Ram was betraying him. Though considering previous loops and Ram’s history with the cult this is a nigh impossibility. However whether Roswell is a member of the cult is another matter entirely and Ram would obey his orders, regardless of what they were. In fact it is odd that he tends to disappear when the witches cult is about to make a move. He didn’t seem to be present when Puck froze the manor and if he was then taking out the cult members would have been an easy task. In fact taking into account the combat potential of Emilia, Beatrix and Ram it is rather odd that they lost to the cultists. Possibly because Subaru caught them off guard that they didn’t have time to put up a real fight but I still think that with how easily they were killed by Wilhelm and the others that they is likely something else at play here. Perhaps Betelgeuse was only one part of the group coming to attack the manor or there is another enemy to deal with in this arc. WIth three episodes left I think Re:Zero has something entirely different planned for it’s season finale.

The House in Fata Morgana Video Game Review – 83/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Game Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47

Well I promised I would do a review of this visual novel quite a while ago and believe it or not I only just got around to finishing it. If the fellow who requested it is still here then here you go, I kept my word. Anyway it has been a while since my last game review and I have been itching to cover more visual novels on this site. What better way to jump back into the fray than with The house in Fata Morgana made by Novectacle in 2012(2010 if you consider the trail version) but recently localised by Mangagamer and published on Steam on May of this year. Now this game is a strange beast for a Visual novel. Usually a VN has a main protagonist who lives in Japan and has a number of female friends who act as alternate routes and stories depending on who you choose to partner up with. Fata Morgana doesn’t have that and just in case you were thinking it, it’s not an Otome novel either. (AKA, what i just described but with male friends) Instead what we have here is a visual novel set in the west forgoing the usual anime style for a more comic book/gothic portrait style with a story that is akin to anthology of tragedy tales. For those concerned about censorship, there is none here as this game was all ages, meaning it holds no pornographic content. Don’t take that to mean that it isn’t dark or gory because I can assure you that is most certainly not the case. In a world where in the vast majority of cases you primary concern is choosing your first waifu, this game sticks out and very much in a good way. Don’t take it that I consider visual novels to be generally trash, this is more like the anime industry were for very interesting title you have a truckload of terrible fanservice fantasy harem battle anime. Only difference here is that unlike the anime industry, the dozens of visual titles coming out are not all translated, leaving potential greats sitting in the visual novel database unread due to no English translation. As a prime example, Baldr Sky which has held a spot in the top 5 visual novels of all time in VNDB since 2009 is only just now getting an English translation. It honestly pains me when i think of the numerous potential great titles which escape my grasp due to a lack of a translation. But alas let us move on.
Continue reading “The House in Fata Morgana Video Game Review – 83/100” →

Mob Psycho 100 – 07

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Mob Psycho 100

The fall of Ritsu is rapid, perhaps too rapid as the pacing of this series has sped up. Before it wasn’t really apparent that the anime was skipping material to get to the good content but here you can really tell that a significant amount of time has been removed which showed Ritsu’s more gradual descent. With Dimples help Ritsu manages to unlock his dormant psychic powers which appear to have awakened due to his actions in framing delinquents for crimes under Shinji’s orders. The two look to have become heroes of the school despite their nefarious efforts though Shinji clearly revels in it while Ritsu only feels guilt. Shinji’s karmic payback was quite beautiful when after falsely accusing delinquents in order to keep them in line, he in turn is falsely accused by delinquents of being a person called White T Poison and is promptly beaten up. White T Poison being the mantle that Ritsu has adopted despite it originally being a title given to his brother Mob. This episode attempts to tightrope between comedy and tragedy. WIth all honestly I am not certain it succeeds. On one side you have a series of schools delinquents named after condiments with Mob being conned into buying a vase. On the other you have severe cases of bullying and a boy drowning in power. The stories art style keeps a light hearted tone but as the plot darkens it becomes somewhat mismatched with what’s happening on screen. Sort of like watching Jojo if it took itself way too seriously.

Thematically I like the ideas behind this as it shows the main idea off power better residing in those who are apathetic about it. Ritsu seeked power and is now drowning in it while Mob seeks normalcy but is constantly pulled into strange events because of his power. Teruki attempts to pass on the lesson he learned from Mob to Ritsu(While wearing a fairly hilarious wig) but Ritsu is just far too gone to listen. And while all this is going on, Mob is busy being fooled by con artists. This side story feels out of place amidst the telling of Ritsu’s fall from grace while it does show more examples of Seigan caring about Mob. Though I laugh at Mob berating con artists in front of another con artist. Though it does make me wonder as to just why he is keeping up this act in front of Mob. Obviously it could be to exploit his powers for his own gain but I feel like there is another agenda under his facade. Animation looks to have fallen in this series as of late as I notice the number of still frames pop up. It could be due to the lack of a need for flashy animation during this particular arc. It is a wonder just how Mob will react to his brother gaining psychic powers and just what he has done to obtain them. There is also the matter of the mysterious hooded man who appears to be an esper as well. Next episode looks to be an action packed one.

91 Days – 07

by AidanAK47, posted in 91 Days, Currently Watching:

Avilio’s machinations are truly coming to fruition and his plan is looking more Monte cristo-eqe as it unfolds. Fango has a new hairstyle and is itching to take down the Vanettis and the Galassias but I must admit that for someone as psychotic as him it’s strange how he allows his girlfriend to steal his lines. As she continued to cut him off I was expecting him to pull out a gun and kill her, or at least get her to shut up. Yet it seems he is more whipped than expected or has a soft spot for her. Either way it looks like his craziness has calmed down and I would personally prefer it that way. The big focus of today’s episode is a falling out between Nero and Frate as tensions between them lead to one taking out the other. The true victim in all this is Fio whom got a lot of screentime before she was put on a train and likely out of the plot forever. From the looks of things, she married Ronaldo to protect her brothers despite having no real love for him. Yet despite her efforts Nero and Frate ended up fighting each other with Ronaldo pushing for Nero’s death despite Fio’s pleas.

A lot of reasoning was happening to try and work for a peaceful outcome, which Nero wasn’t all that against. They sent his uncle to smooth things over and even Fio tried to talk the two into a truce and very nearly succeeded. But peace isn’t in Avilio’s plan and this is where is revenge gets muddy. He fooled Nero’s most loyal man into attacking Frate and killed any chance for a truce. Though heres what I don’t particularly like about this episode as it appears a large amount of time passes after the attempted hit and the two appear to have been in a gang war for quite some time. However this is all represented in a few newspaper page montage before returning to the story within seconds and suddenly Frate is worn down by a war that only started a few seconds ago. It felt far too sudden and that moment would have been perfect to have a good old mob massacre montage like in the opening.

Frate was a pawn though and though. He never truly realised it though. When things got tough he ran to Ronaldo who pretty much dictated his decisions and appeared to have gotten him hooked to a drug which he supplies. What that drug is, is a matter of debate. It doesn’t seem to be cocaine seeing how he attempted to ingest it through his mouth. Opium is a safe bet though considering Frates symptoms I would think it was some sort of drug to keep him submissive, like toluene. Despite Fio’s efforts it looks like even if Avilio didn’t push for this outcome that Ronaldo likely would have. Perhaps that’s what lay in the note Avilio gave her along with the flowers and the gun. Ronaldo underestimated the level of stress he was putting on her and likely didn’t quite realise that having a child be a bridge between mafia families wasn’t the best way to rescue his wife. Still this move was a big risk for Avilio as while he did give her a nudge in the right direction, there was no guarantee than she would have what it takes to shoot Ronaldo. But perhaps he had more contact which her than was suggested based on how he whispered to her before boarding the train. Honestly Avilio’s plans seem to require a lot of luck and great foresight or just him rolling with the situation.

Him removing the bullets from Frates gun with slight of hand looked to be an impulsive move to stop Nero getting gunned down. The beauty of it was that Frate pulled the trigger first before Nero shot but the gun only clicked. It was almost as if it was a test to see if he really would kill Nero but I am uncertain if Nero was truly aware that the gun was empty. Having killed his brother Avilio steps up to be Nero’s most trusted companion but it’s possible that he intends to get rid of him soon. He has taken out one of his targets with Nero’s father, Nero and the mystery man remaining. I am having second thoughts over Corteo being the fourth man, thematically it would make sense of his reaction to the letter and his efforts to convince Avilio off the path of revenge as well as being a kick to the gut of Avilio’s motivation. I would actually prefer it as he is one of the few in the story to have a constant presence and thus the reveal would have more weight to it rather than some person introduced at a later date or someone who has stuck most to the background. I don’t think he was a gangster back then but perhaps played a role in informing the murderers for money or in a potentially interesting turn, revenge. However i admit the reasoning is somewhat flawed and it’s highly doubtful he sent the letter to Avilio. Though it’s possible the letter was not sent by the fourth man but rather an outside party. We have had a slow burn of a story so far but I hope with the coming episodes we can have some great set pieces to give 91 days a memorable note to go out on.