Star Crossed Anime

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – 06

May 21, 2016 by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri

If you haven’t heard by now, the second season of Attack on Titan has been delayed till 2017 because Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is far too awesome for Studio Wit to handle in a single year. I really couldn’t care less about the delay since I already know what’s going to happen in season two but Koutetsujou no Kabaneri doesn’t concede an inch when it comes to future episodes. I certainly couldn’t predict the evasive maneuvers the Hayajiro pulled off when escaping the Kabane-Titan is chasing nor the epic showdown in the end but there are few details to note before we get to the fireworks.

These past two episodes have been Memui-centric with her mysterious origins playing into her current brooding about being weak or strong. Haven’t been bitten by a Kabane, it raises the question of how she became a Kabaneri either through being injected with the virus or some other means. There is also the issue of the fused colony and how that thing came into being. Instead of being a collective Kabane or manifestation of the Kabane in its purest form like I suggested last week, it more of single special Kabane that centrally manages all the biomass on itself, either living or dead. If Memui’s brief hesitation before delivering the final killing blow is any indication, the Kabane shei recognized is probably someone from her ill-fated group.

Whereas Icoma’s backstory had a Kabane chomping on his sister, Memui is a victim of the fear and paranoia seeping into the people that are to supposedly defend the remainder of humanity. I’m just glad that Icoma just doesn’t really care all that much about the philosophical nonsense and proceeds to blow through a horde of Kabane. Just look at his setup at ensnaring the Kabane and using explosives to funnel in his opponents. I did felt cheated that we didn’t get to see the full fight between Icoma and the Kabane because it would have been awesome to see him in his gladiatorial style when compared to Memui’s far more elegant method of Kabane-killing gymnastics. The second half of the episode more than made up for that omission with its fast-paced high-stakes action sequence.

This is where the Rule of Cool trumps any concerns for the actual physics when it comes to standing in front of a massive Type 48 Cannon, releasing the pressure limit by undressing or having enough weight to influence a speeding train from derailing. There was a show that aired not too long ago called Rail Wars! and it had the exact same situation where the occupants had to shift their weight to prevent the train from derailing on a turn. Physic calculations were done and it was concluded that it had practically no effect in preventing the train from derailing. Another nitpick that I make is the line of rifleman standing in front of the Type 48 Cannon. A gun of that caliber would produce a shockwave strong enough to throw those dudes right off the train when it fires.

Infantry stay behind this arrow so that they don’t get BTFO.

I could go on about all about the unrealistic things but when the entirety of KABANERIOFTHEIRONFORTRESS is blasting in the background while the Hayajiro is just one step from doing a multi-track drifting maneuver and everyone is fighting for their lives, those inaccuracies tend fall to the wayside. I just love the imagery of the entire scene as there was so much good frantic action taking place in the approaching dusk as it reminded me of what made Attack on Titan so popular. Studio Wit continues to up the ante when it comes to delivering jaw dropping set pieces and episode six doesn’t fail in the least.

Chinese Animation Guide – Part 3: Haoliners inputs

May 21, 2016 by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario, World Animation

This part we explore one Chinese animation studio’s works. I choose Haoliners partly because they are independent studio, and their works are not hard to find. Just established in 2013, Haoliners is an indie studio but gathered more reputation in the last few years in their homeland. My experience with them through those titles below have been hit or miss, but even me can say that their production is quite great and they are a creative bunch. Their shows, while mostly anime style-wise, cover many genres: from comedy, romantic to thriller. Their climax action scenes are quite impressive as well. Here are the 6 shows in no particular order:

Yaoguai Mingdan – Monster List (妖怪名单)

The story started on the campus of a university. The poor university student Feng Xi can occasionally see demons, but he didn’t trust his marvelous senses. An unexpected snooping allowed him to find out that the school beauty was a demon fox? What should he do during the date with a demon fox? The beautiful demon fox gave him a small present, and then he realized his university was full of monsters. This is by far their most popular show but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Here we have the most ecchi show of the whole bunch, which is quite fitting seems those monsters are girls seducing their prey (horny young boys). I had to say the final fighting scene is very entertaining, but this is not my type of show.

More after the jump Continue reading “Chinese Animation Guide – Part 3: Haoliners inputs” →

Bungou Stray Dogs – 07

May 21, 2016 by SuperMario, posted in Bungou Stray Dogs, Currently Watching:

This week the plot revolving the Azure King was resolved and it raises the conflict of sense of justice between Dazai and Kunikida. Like what I suspected last week, all the new characters are in play in this episode and now I get the hang of Bungou Stray Dogs storytelling now. The new characters will get introduced, have a little bit of introduction, serve to move the plot or supporting the cast, and then get discarded very quickly and I doubt that we would hear from them again. Case in point, in this episode, Rokuzou the hacker and Sasaki the victim appear in the climax, when both of them manage to shoot each other and die, and “it was the only possible outcome”. How ridiculous is that? There are many ways where they can resolve the problem without any single one dying, or maybe I’m not that deep to understand that bit. These new characters, sadly function like a plot device to move the story forward than a real person. I will put that aside for now, because after all, their very existence is just to advance the plot and put more depth into our main characters.

But judging on advancing the plot, the action moves very fast to the point we don’t have time to process all the plot development. There will be few hints but either it’s too obvious (like when Sasaki mentions her soulmate), or too inconsistent (remember that Sasaki is the mastermind behind planting the bomb, so when the agency found out about the location of the bomb in front of her, common sense would be her tries to prevent or slow down the process, right?). Moreover, some elements just appear so randomly, like the usb that luckily contains all the necessary information, or Rokuzou shows up to the scene, or the fishing tackle store (how on earth would WE figure that out?). No this plot development moves so hurriedly that it becomes, quite frankly, a mess.

In the character’s development area, it is interesting to raise the difference of how Dazai and Kunikia view of justice. They are both have very different personalities and I believe Dazai does all that out of worry that Kunikida’s ideal and sense of justice, and a bit of guilt over the Azure King case would one day consume him. But that in itself is not the right way to treat Kunikida. For all thing, Kunikida has to learn it by himself. He has a lot more to prove and I expect to see more of this angle in the next episodes. Next week look to be more interesting as it is now Yosano’s turn, along with a new girl in red. Sounds like a promising episode to me.

~SuperMario~

Joker Game – 07

May 19, 2016 by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Joker Game

You know, I am beginning to wonder just how do those lessons go at the D-Agency. Is it something like “Ok, class. Today I will teach you how to summon dolphins with a whistle. After that we will go over the magic rituals of Aleister Crowley and finally have a refresher on the finer points of Capoeira.”? Because it’s just becoming utterly absurd with how many talents these agents have. The first episode gave the impression that these men would primarily be remaining undercover for the rest of their lives so for what possible reason would you give them such a ridiculously extensive curriculum? Well for today’s episode I feel that Joker game is really starting to waste my time as this feels very much like a rehash of the last episode. Except instead of a train, we have a boat. Instead of a informant we have someone trying to sneak into the country. And instead of letting the murderer get away this time he gives them over to the authorities. Other than that we have essentially watched the same story beats of the last episode. The only major difference here is that it looks as though the D-agency spy plans to take care of the woman’s daughter and dog. Perhaps he plans to take her back to japan with him and she will end up treating the D-agents as surrogate father figures and learn spy talents from them. Frankly that sounds far more interesting than our current story. The things that caught my interest were related to the enigma machine and the motive for the MI6 agent is that he purposefully sacrificed a ship by leaking intel in order to use it to help decode the enigma code. Which is worthless because the machine is set up in such a manner that even if you could use that to decode the message it would only be worthwhile till the end of the day. Once the day ends, Germany changes the machines settings and anything you decoded is completely moot. That’s what made the machine such a monster in the first place as the effort required to decode the machines settings would take more time than a day. At most this man’s plan would give them a little headstart on decoding but unless he plans to sell out a ship every single day that plan is just not cost effective. It would be broken by a man called Alan Turing(Though I hear a mathematician called Gordon Welchman helped out) who essentially had to design a machine of what could be considered part the basis of the modern computer programing to figure it out. However I am not a historian so don’t take my word on that.

I may be going off tangent more than usual but if this show plans to repeat itself then I certainly see no reason to do the same. But as it continues I notice the writing is getting lazier and more nonsensical. For example, It’s revealed that the murderer shouted to her dog in the beginning because the dog was getting close to the british spy she was deemed to kill. The reason why she panicked about this is because she keeps a photo of her husband and the man in the dog’s collar…wait what?! Why? For what reason would you put a photo in a dog’s collar and what made you think the man would find it if the dog came up to him? Personally I would consider it a much bigger problem that you drew attention to yourself because the man should know who you are! He attended your husband’s funeral and talked to you directly! You didn’t wear any disguise or even bother to put down a false name. And you are worried about the dog giving you away? If I was the man I would be wondering why the wife of a British solider I doomed to death just so happened to be on my escape ship. You could argue that maybe he doesn’t remember her because it happened a long time ago but based on the little girls age it’s a few months at best! Of course mister super spy happens to figure out she’s the one that did it because the victim mentioned Cerberus, Cerberus is a hound that guards the underworld, this woman has a dog…of course! Well he happened to know the name of the woman’s husband and looked up her name in the ship manifest but still. Lets not forget the two MI6 spies discussing top secret information at the top of their lungs that’s related to the widow’s husband. Real smart guys. Our episode ends with the murderess leaving her child in the hands of the man she has had a maximum of two conversations with and knows absolutely nothing about. The end result here is the same as all the other episodes up to this point, the D-agents show everyone how amazing they are though the power of knowing the shows script. If I wasn’t blogging this show I would consider this the dropping point as if Joker Game does have some greater story in the future I say it’s come too little too late. It gave the impression at the beginning that it would be presenting something of more class but has only settled for a poor power fantasy. I have lost all patience for it to become anything but.

~AidanAK47~

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress OST Review

May 18, 2016 by HelghastKillzone, posted in Anime Reviews, Currently Watching:, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Other:

This will be the first time in my anime blogging career that I have ever done one of these anime OST review. It should be known that I have a complete bias for Hiroyuki Sawano as he has become one of the biggest composer for anime in recent years in some of my favorite anime shows. His musical style tends to emphasize heavy rock, orchestral, choirs and electronica in a bombastic manner. It not that he isn’t capable of other genres as he has shown to be quite proficient but his loudest and epic soundtracks receives the lion’s share of attention. Some of his works featured in shows like Blue Exorcist, Guilty Crown, Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Seven Deadly Sins, Aldnoah.Zero, Seraph of the End, and Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. Sawano also composed the soundtrack for Xenoblade Chronicles X as well as various Japanese live-action drama throughout his career.

If there is one legitimate complaint about Sawano’s music, it’s that he tends to rely too heavily on the same few singers for the vocals in his anime compositions.Thankfully, he incorporates more singers into his latest work including EGOIST, Eliana, Cyua (performed for Guilty Crown and Kill la Kill ) and Aimer. Describing his latest work on Koutetsujou no Kabaneri is little tough since he likes to reuses the same style but it would be something along the lines of the dramatic vision in Attack on Titan combined with the epic beats of Aldnoah.Zero.

Standout Tracks:

KABANERIOFTHEIRONFORTRESS, Warcry, JAnoPAN, Through my Blood, 88城, Grenzlinie, Ktetsu上-abdli, 1coma, icon

Strong Background Tracks:

KGK, ComeBack音, noname

Impressions:

KABANERIOFTHEIRONFORTRESS – The main theme of Koutetsujou no Kabaneri with Eliana being the main singer and is what ət’æk 0N tάɪtn was to Attack on Titan. While ət’æk 0N tάɪtn had an absolutely sick drop with Mika Kobyashi vocals, I felt that this theme was more consistent in its buildup and execution.

Warcry – As heard in episode two and five when Memui goes to town on those pesky Kabanes, this insert song comes with all the terrible and cheesy lyrics of mpi

JAnoPAN – This odd track is more along the lines of SiTE-n0w1 (Aldnoah.Zero) where it had this funky dancefloor beat and peculiar voices. I have been never been a fan of mpi as his English singing really sucks but the intensity of the latter half has me interested in where they decide to insert this as Memui goes further down the hole.

Through my Blood – Featured in episode four, it’s a tossup between Mika Kobyashi and Aimer’s version bundled with the ED CD single.

88城 – I didn’t get all that riled up by the first half of this song even though it was had this sweeping sound that you find in your typical introduction in a movie. It is the second half that got me excited as it was

Grenzlinie – Uplifting song with Cyua on vocals that starts off soft and ends off in on an epic note.

Ktetsu上 abdli – Not a big fan of piano solos but the first half of the track has this depressing jazz-like feel to it like a person who is moping about and wailing at random things. It’s not a bad thing as it does sound quite lovely in a morbid kind of way as it spirals down in oblivion in its second half. Featured in episode three where Memui impales a pregnant lady that had the misfortune of turning in a Kabane.

1coma – The definitive theme for Icoma. I would says that this describe about the resolve of our main character that grows into this epic orchestra version of Through the Blood as he gains the means to realize his purpose of protecting people by kicking ass with his own steam gun.

icon – Different version of the ED where Eliana sings in English as opposed to EGOIST/Aimer’s Japanese. I prefer the original version as the Japanese and interplay between the two voice makes for a more pleasant experience and the cheesy English lyrics proves to be too much.

Should you purchase this soundtrack? The answer would be a resounding yes as I found myself placing ten out of sixteen soundtracks onto my music player. Hiroyuki Sawano manages to find his way again after his rather subdued work on Seraph of the End and comes out with a smashing OST to a show where the there are definitely no brakes on the zombie-killing train.

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World – 07

May 18, 2016 by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

A certain criticism has loomed over this series from its very inception. As the series continued people have asked the question “How can Subaru brush off his horrific deaths so easily?” Today we have the answer to that question and that answer is that he doesn’t. It’s been building incognito in the background all this time but finally Subaru’s deaths have begun to affect him. And it hit him hard. The Subaru of this episode was a fairly broken guy who has little of the happy go lucky meta humor of before. This actually proves that his meta jabs are a kind of coping mechanism so he can help bury his traumatic experiences. But those things are still there and we even see him having nightmares of his previous deaths. The straw that broke the camel’s back was likely Rem’s confession that both her and her sister were just pretending to be friendly with him which I say isn’t quite the truth. Maybe this time around as Subaru was more distant but I do think they were more genuine with him in previous loops. However they don’t remember those loops and that’s what truly destroys Subaru. To him Ram and Rem are people he’s known and bonded with over a month but to them he’s no more a stranger. The pure utter frustration just wells out as Subaru vents his despair at her despite knowing that she has no idea why. All before his throat is ripped out by an unseen attack later revealed to be Ram.

We have learned a number of things this episode. One is that the main reason Subaru is killed by Rem is because he has the smell of the Jealous Witch around him. This smell seems to be only perceivable by Beatrix and Rem, it angers Rem greatly because a group known as the witches cult did something unforgivable to Ram. This may be related to Ram’s ability to manipulate air which seems like really dangerous magic. Looks like there is one area Ram excels at better than Rem as she certainly is the most dangerous of the two. The smell seems to grow stronger with each loop which does explain why Rem only started killing him on the second loop but this could also be because of another thing we learn. As Emilia is confronting him, Subaru decides that he doesn’t have to go through the loops alone and is about to confide in Emilia. It makes sense as many in a time loop situation find someone who believe them and thus help escape the loop. Bill Murray had Andie MacDowell. Okabe and Kurisu. Though Homura is an exception. Just by having someone to listen can really help out victims of this particular scenario. However as it sadistically turns out, Subaru can’t tell anyone about his power. Anytime he attempts to, a hand will appear and threaten to kill him. It’s likely that it’s a clause of the curse he was given that should he tell anyone then he will die for real. So Subaru must bear the weight of his power alone which is unbelievably cruel. Why Subaru was given this power is still unknown but now we have a prime suspect of who gave him his power. The Jealous Witch, Satella.

This time around it looks like Subaru gets closer to Beatrix who sticks with him out of guilt at first but looks to have become attached to him. Due to Subaru making a deal with her to protect his life he then survives to the fourth day. But due to a strange turn of events, Rem dies of the same curse that killed Subaru. I truly applaud the voice actress of Ram for that wail of grief because that was soul shattering. By this we can be certain that the curse that killed Subaru in his sleep is not related to the sisters. But why did they target Rem instead of Subaru? It’s possible that the killer knew that Ram would in turn target Subaru because he’s the most suspicious person in the mansion but there is another aspect to this. For one, Rem originally went to town with Subaru in previous loops. One could assume that Rem went alone to town while Subaru holed himself up in the house. So could it be that something in the town hit them with a curse? I don’t want to suspect the dog bite as it’s a little too silly but it is the most suspect action that happened in the town. The mystery here is who is killing Subaru with that curse? Roswell looks to be out of the running as I don’t think he would kill his own servants. Beatrix looks to be in the clear as well so who is left. Honestly despite him having an alibi, my money’s on Puck. I get the feeling he’s not quite as fond of Subaru as he lets on and Beatrix did state that a death during sleep could be induced by either her or Puck. The only major problem with this is Puck’s time limit.

This episode’s finale is Subaru attempting to kill himself in order to fix things but finding that forcing your body to commit an act that goes against every biological functions instinct isn’t nearly as easy as fiction made it seem. Plus the fear that “Return by Death” won’t activate this time as there truly is no guarantee that it has unlimited uses. Even I question whether it will still work when Subaru kills himself instead of being killed by someone. As it seems that while having nightmares Rem and Ram held his hands and calmed him down. Thus he decides to save them both and return once more. Having found his resolve, Subaru manages to commit the most bravado suicide I have seen so far in anime. I would like to bring up how great it is that white fox sometimes cuts out the anime opening and ending to fit in more content. Normally that is a thing reserved for finales or opening episodes but here they have had a number of episodes were no Opening or ending played at all and instead we were just given new content. It really shows that White fox are putting real effort into this adaption and I certainly hope they can keep up the high level of quality. I can safely say this was the best episode of Re:Zero to date and I am solely waiting on the next episode. I just hope it doesn’t pass by as fast as this one did. That’s a truly annoying aspect of a great show. Time makes it feel so short.

~AidanAK47~

Kiznaiver- 06

May 18, 2016 by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kiznaiver

This week we have focus on the problems of a specific member of the Kiznaiver, that member being Maki.Well my assumption about Maki’s problem turned out to be incorrect though I did think compensated dating is a bit too serious for the tone of this show while proposing it. Her actual problem turned out to be a big surprise as she is really a fairly famous shoujo mangaka who co created a popular work with another girl who died. While it isn’t confirmed how she died, it’s suggested by the opening scene that she committed suicide in front of Maki. While the opening scene shows Maki stopping her from falling, the breakdown she has where she has a flashback back to that moment seems to suggest that she didn’t actually make it in time to stop her falling. Why she killed herself is up for debate but the content of the manga (unfulfilled love, bullying) does suggest that she was dealing with some major issues. Either way Maki’s claim that she killed someone is just as suspected and it looks like she’s just blaming herself for her friend’s death. This looks to be the first part of resolving her issues as she faces the problem of her editor pushing her to allow a documentary to be made of her. She has obvious reservations because of her co writers death and her desire to keep her status as a mangaka secret. I must say her emotional breakdown as she’s put on spot at school was truly excellent visually. The scream she lets out as her pain is conveyed to the others sent a shiver up my spine. Naturally it looks to be the power of friendship which will save Maki from her issues and help her come to terms to her friend’s death which is rather cliche but suitable. The documentary staff were acting pretty antagonistic though which I found too blatant. It’s clear they were meant to play the role of a villain but I wish it was subiler about it as they acted slimy and purposefully arrogant. This is the kind of attitude I would accept if they were reporters but considering their role is to make a documentary with Maki it’s not beneficial to put her on the spot like that. It would’ve worked better if they were confused and accidentally put her in a bad position due to misinformation from her editor. Though this does give the KIznaivers a chance to each chase them off.

This doesn’t look over though as Maki finds out that they helped her as part of a mission and theirs big hints that this whole thing was set up by Noriko which causes Nagata to seek her out. Thus we end the episode with Nagata telling Noriko that he’s “disappointed in her” which as Noriko pointed out, is pretty powerful words to come from the emotionally stunted Nagata. We don’t get a chance to see her reaction but I am fairly certain those words cut hard as based on previous episodes, Nagata is the Kiznaiver Noriko has the biggest attachment to or some personal history. Meanwhile we have Niko who looks to be trying her best to help keep the gang together and I am fairly certain she’s going to have an episode when the topic of what everyone plans to do once the experiment is over comes up. She’s the most attached to the group and I am fairly certain she doesn’t want it to end. for fear of everyone going their separate ways. The love triangle has been put to the side for now though when they are discussing about their emotions getting shared besides pain, Tenga does make a small mention of something he wants to keep hiding. I am fairly certain I know what that something is. Yuta looks to be still trying to woo Maki and I think he will play a large part in resolving her problem. The question at the moment is just how powerful the Kiznaiver bond will get as now the group can feel Maki’s pain over her friend’s death. For now it looks like the bond shares just pain, be it physical or emotional. But will other emotions be shared among the group? I for one would find it most amusing if Maki began caring for the group and that feeling being shared much to her dismay. There’s likely some comedic potential in that.

~AidanAK47~

Flying witch – 06

May 18, 2016 by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Flying Witch

It’s no secret that I prefer shows that emphasis on little moments rather than the plot-driven shows, and Flying witch still delivers that strength, albeit this is their weaker effort. This episode as usual splits into two parts. The first part concerning Chinatsu as she wants to be a witch apprentice. This development comes as no surprise though, since it was apparent in many episodes before that Chinatsu is curious with the life of witch, but I believe (and I think the show knows it) that she’s not cut out to become one. Chinatsu is one of my favorite characters of the show so it’s fun to see her taking a spotlight this first part. I like the way she gets all worked up and motivated to become a witch (because she thinks it’s fun). This is really like the way kids see celebrities, sports stars and they want to become one, but in reality there are more to it. For the 12 years old girl this is just understandable. I’m also quite surprise of how laid back and easy her parents are, which actually feel slightly uncanny at times. They are just cool on everything, it makes me wonder if they really care for it.

In the second part we have Akane teaches Makoto and Chinatsu her simple spell. This is one of the Flying witch’s comfort zone. The part meant to shows the touch of magic in the everyday life settings, make it feel a bit like a magical realism, but in that front this part just barely succeed. Making spells that make people laugh with whatever they see and another one that make them cry is a whimsical touch, but it drags a bit towards the end. The punchline, which having the father both cries and laughs uncontrollably at the same time, feels rather weak. Another thing is I enjoy so much the side characters (Inukai and Nao in particular) that it’s a bit of a let-down when this part just concentrates on the family members. This week of Flying witch is barely passable, but that not to say there is a drop in quality or anything. Flying witch is as consistent as ever (sometimes to a fault). I still have a quality time watching Flying witch this week and hopefully they will include more characters for next week.

~SuperMario~

Mayoiga – 07

May 15, 2016 by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Mayoiga

This going to be a ridiculous post review rambling about the ridiculousness of Mayoiga. This week the silliness has gotten to the whole new level. I’m not going to complain though because this is just Mayoiga being Mayoiga. Ridiculous had always been its main element since the first episode. It’s not bizarre, it’s not absurd, it’s just plain silliness and I have become really appreciate that silliness. This week there are so many madness happened and it’s always fun to talk about that. Firstly, it’s amazing that just from a little news article people read last week, they really convince that Masaki was a ghost to the point of tying her and stabbing her just to test her out. Even when the poor girl is bleeding they would think that this is her ghost’s power. What an amazing train of thought this gang has. Consider that this is not one of the series where they would explore the dark side of human by blame someone as a sacrifice thingy, in this show they really believe that Masaki is a ghost. Lovepon remains everyone’s best friend with all her suggestions keep feeding people what to do. Secondly, the backstories this week are just as nuts and ridiculous as last week. From Mitsumune’s story of his twin brother passed away because of his Mom shouting, his mother keeps treating him as his twin dead brother, to the father who actually suggest him to play the twin role, to his sincere apology for things not going according to plan. The most amazing bit is that we also learn that the father was a teacher and he was in the process of promoting, which is NOT AT ALL related to the how Mitsumune turns out the way he is. Other backstory is from Maimai, the girl who saw giant Mitsumune few weeks back. Turns out that her ex was similar looking to our main character, and by dating him, everyone (including the guy) turns their back on her. This must have hurt her a lot, and she must really miss the guy, since what she saw back there was not him, but the giant Mitsumune. And I did remember not only her see the giant monster, but others like Nyanta and Toshi Boy was scared and run away as well. Are they really see the same thing? I guess not but the show seems to forget about that bit as well. The third ridiculous thing happens when our main guy, who always wants to stay on the same side with Masaki and would do anything just to be with her, was defeated and back down from his love when he faced the monster. “Masaki, I’m sorry” he said. Other silliness stuffs include the gang decided to deceive our main protagonist, which make the whole conversation the most human-like moments of the show; and the way Valkana keeps judging Koharun for going with the flow and try to calm Hayato down from stabbing Masaki, but he ends up to be the one who hold Mitsumune down so that the other guys can proceed what they are doing.

Seriously, it would take me all day to talk about all these ridiculousness, and it’s precisely what so interesting about Mayoiga. Don’t let the other stuffs like backstories and theme fool you, Mayoiga has no deep meaning and had no attempt to do so. It’s just loud and madness, but at the same time it really feels like you talking to your drunk old friend, where you know all his talks are nonsense but you can’t help but enjoy them anyways.

~SuperMario~

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – 05

May 14, 2016 by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri

Sometimes being a badass isn’t enough.

On the journey towards the Shogun’s stronghold, the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress hype train finds itself staring down a massive glowing thing while Memui is fracturing between her newfound companions and her past. Memui’s motivations aren’t all that hard to see given her ability in smashing Kabanes into the ground and following the young master’s orders. An old acquaintance, that looks like Snake from Metal Gear Solid, observes that this is only her redeeming value and it does much to blunt the progress she made in connecting with the people aboard the Hayajiro. There was this picture in my mind that Memui’s master had a super awesome plan to save humanity but the scene where Memui’s friend is executed makes it seem that he isn’t all the benevolent to begin with. References to weapons being stored up for human targets by the Shogun authority will no doubt pay off later down the storyline but more pressing issues are at hand like the Black Smoke and removing the obstacle off the track.

The action doesn’t disappoint with Memui’s assault on the boiler room that mirrors her fight in episode two with a few additions like using a cloud of suicide bags as an offencive tool. Even the music is the same but with the lyrics taken out lending itself to being a foreshadow of the limits of her personal fighting power. It’s just too bad that the sheer volume of enemies proves to be too much for Memui’s as cool as that entire action sequence was. I prefer her when she was just cheerfully murdering Kabane with a carefree demeanor as opposed to recklessly fighting out of a sense of pride and desire to be a useful tool. .

What exactly is that massive Titan-Kabane that everyone refers to as the “Black Smoke”? It is simply a bunch of individual Kabanes glued together to form a megazord or is this an entirely new creature that is the physical manifestation of Kabane virus? The close-up view reveals all the Kabanes being mashed together but the eerie sludge-like movement and glowing eyes say otherwise. Those new upgrades to the firepower to the steam rifles and Katanas better come in handy because this “Black Smoke” Kabane doesn’t like a pushover at all.

I showed my friends, who have seen Attack on Titan but were not following current airing anime, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress and were instantly hooked. It then turned in a marathon session where we caught up to the current episodes and they told it was already better than its predecessor because of its pacing, music, characters, setting and the maddening wait for the next episode. I would be inclined to agree as it ends with the Hayajiro standing alone against a zombie-titan while the Kabaneri duo are off doing their own thing.