The execution in this episode was completely different from the previous one, but the basic premise was the same: a lot of build-up that comes together wonderfully at the final few minutes of the episode. This episode wasn’t as good as the previous one, but it still was a great one.
For most of the episode, I actually didn’t think this was the case. I mean, I could see what it was trying to do: showing different sides of the characters and flesh them out. That’s great for a series with 26 episodes. For 13 of them… not so much. I mean, there is a plot that you’re meant to tell. If you’re going to keep wasting episodes like this the ending won’t have any build-up.
But really, after the climax everything made sense. This episode did more than just flesh out the characters, it really developed them a bit, and added extra depth to them. The climax was completely different from the climax of the previous episode, which was strong, full of energy and visually powerful. This time however, the episode ended with this awkward silence when two people in a group are fighting. I loved how Maya clashed with everyone else in this episode, who without knowing pulled a completely inappropriate prank on her.
This episode was a bit shaky at times, especially Kozue was reduced to a walking stereotype, but when it mattered this episode really delivered. Ami’s father really stepped too far when he tried to turn Maya back to the way she used to be. When Maya was slapped, it didn’t suddenly make her nice again like you’d expect in some cliche. It was rather Ami’s words that calmed her down. I loved how realistically this was portrayed.
The storyboard of this episode also was… interesting. Especially in the first half, it just kept switching back and forth to close-ups, regular shots, far-away shots and close-ups at random objects or limbs. I wouldn’t call it low-budget because it was as detailed as ever (save from a few notable far-away shots here and there).
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Interesting, another 2 ep arc?
Is this going to be a 13 ep anime? Because so far the main plot doesn’t seem to have developed that much…
On a side note… Are you blogging Katanagatari 8?
This episode progressed predictably, but it was pretty funny until the end when it turned into a slapping contest. Smile’s ear pudding was pretty funny.
Ami’s father’s point of view is more sympathetic than an affront. He doesn’t know anything about aliens destroying the world. To him, all of that occult stuff is probably just a joke, and he only sends his daughter to the academy to make her happy. He remembers Maya as the little girl that apparently spent more time with him and his daughter than she did with her own father; suddenly she’s an orphan. She’s returned only to be alone and moody, and he maybe thinks of her like she’s his own. Ami’s mother isn’t there so she may be dead, and maybe we’ll see next episode that he harbors some guilt about his own daughter being raised without a mother that he’s projecting onto Maya’s situation. This episode develops Maya as much as it does Ami.
I think this was filling some of the anime trope quota (cup ramen, meat duel, fireworks, watermelon). The show seems to be less plot-driven than it is character-driven, and all of the oddities so far have been dealt with rather abruptly. Maya decapitates the first one, Chihiro’s organization traps the mothmen in a cave, the third one was resolved in the world’s most anti-climactic way by Fumiaki. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last three episodes build the final arc, and they end up saving the world in about ten seconds in a completely ridiculous way as a gag. Leaving me to wonder what happens to Fumiaki after the timeline is disrupted.
Loved the art direction in this episode, it was really well done. Animation and art shined where it needed to, and it just seemed like someone really wanted to craft something dynamic and interesting out of what would otherwise be a generically storyboarded episode.
Strange to see how A-1 Pictures are becoming the new studio of interesting animation techniques.
i loled at the photo that Bunmei took of the alien. wonder why it show’s 1 big J.K. and another 3 smaller version of him in the pic?
Those are his piglets. They go wee wee wee all the way home.
I found the episode predictable all the way through. It wasn’t poorly told, persee, but it did bug me how telegraphed the UFO stuff was.
I still don’t like the cast that much. I respect them and their render style. I just don’t like them!
The show definitely seems more character- rather than plot-driven, but then I doubt that the plot has ever been taken seriously. It’s more about the comedy, I think, and the occasional dramatic moments; each one complementing the other, it would seem. Ami’s das was an efective addition, and I liked the way that Maya, so cool and capable normally, has been forced to really think about her relationships with these people and with the occult/ her past… I wouldn’t be surprised if that became the focus of the series, Maya’s growth/ coming of age, but in a less cheesy way than that sounds. Alongside some, er, concise, Key hunting, of course. Which leaves Uchida and the whole interdimentional thing to be resolved.. Shame it’s only 13 epis, eh…
I liked this episode, I thought it was rather delightful. I do feel it was mostly a bonding episode to get to better understand Maya and Ami a bit more.
I am hoping this series comes together in the end in some wonderful (though probably a bit wacky) way. If it does I will end up putting this pretty high up there on my list of favorite titles.