Just a note here: I’m going to be really busy for the upcoming weekend again, so expect some delays. This Saturday I’ll be at Abunai Con, one of the biggest anime conventions in the Netherlands. If you happen to go as well, let me know. 😉
Sket Dance – 21
What a surprise: I was getting tired of this series at this point, and here it comes with one of its best episodes so far. The creators pretty much removed one of the stereotypes from this series. Giving the goth emo girl a make over isn’t anything new, but even before that makeover, this episode treated her as a character who could just hold a normal conversation, instead of overplaying her own stereotype. On top of that, it was rather fun to just see the main cast hanging out. And to have a boy and a girl go out without turning it into a romance. It even toys with that very effectively. The drama during the previous episodes of Sket Dance was rather cheesy, but this worked really well. Just… what was that shiritori thing at the end of it?
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Usagi Drop – 08
I have one criticism for the episodes of Usagi Drop so far: Compared to other slice of life series my emotional investment is not as big as it could have been. This show is undeniably well executed, but the emotional connection with the characters could have been done better for me. Cue this episode, which was packed with tons of subtle emotions. Rin’s mother was great when she finally saw her daughter again, Rin was great when she learned about grandpa’s flowers, and Daikichi was gtreat standing in the middle of it. This episode was very good at portraying the feelings of the different characters.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Kamisama Dolls – 08
Interestingly enough this episode included some nice jabs at the usual fanservice cliches. Beach episode? Haha! Typhoon! Is the restaurant owner going to let his daughter and a young girl dress up in weird outfits? Of course not! There unfortunately was some fanservice that was used straight, but none of it was solely for the sake of fanservice. The second half of this episode once again was excellent, and I especially love the way in which this series is turning the female lead into more than a pair of boobs who stand on the side-lines or get kid-napped. The best part though is that I can still see this one closing off well! The episode ended with everyone back in Tokyo. Five episodes should be enough to give all of them a good climax and to wrap up all of the main plot lines. The thing I’m anticipating the most is Kyouhei’s background. The thing is: the previous episode was excellent, but I really feel like Kyouhei only told part of the truth: it in no way explained why Aki hates him so badly, nor does it explain the very first scene of the first episode.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Sacred Seven – 08
What the hell, man? What the hell? Sacred Seven, you had an awesome OP. Why did you switch it out for something cheesy like that? Beyond that, this series did so many things wrong. It could have been so much, and yet it’s completely boring. As much as the trolls would like to convince you, the reason for that isn’t Arama. He’s pretty good, he just plays his part. He has a decent backstory and he’s interesting to watch as this tall awkward guy. The big problem is that every single other character is completely boring. I actually can’t think of any sort of exception unless you start looking at the characters who just appear for one minute. This episode was without a doubt the worst. Why did the creators find it a good idea to turn this into a dating sim? Ruri completely degraded what character she had left.
Rating: – (Disappointing)
“The thing I’m anticipating the most is Kyouhei’s background”
I’ve seen the scene in the manga and I can’t wait until they animate it- it was awesome.
As for the ending, I’m afraid that the ending will be rushed unless they start cutting scenes. Right now the anime is toward the end of volume 4- out of 9 volumes currently.
I completely agree with you about Sacred Seven. It was abysmal. It was one of the worst episodes I’ve watched of any anime in a quite a while.
Ahm .. actually psgels Sacred Seven didn’t get a new OP … it’s just that the old OP and ED switched places and they both got new art .. IMO i find it way better this way.
As for ep8 .. really .. it isn’t that bad .. yes i was cringing my teeth at how Ruri and Arama can be dense sometimes .. but at least we got to see why Arma is so unsocial … we still don’t know Ruri’s background story so we can’t really judge her at all … also .. seeing parts of Arma backstory .. and the fact they met at some point in the past are interesting points of the ep … and let’s not forget the relation between Ruri and Arma is critical to the stone activation as each one of them separately is useless as a rock … so a quite episode about them bonding isn’t so far fetched .. it would be a waste if they have communication problems again after bonding in this episode .. it would make it all a waste .. otherwise if their interactions are changed and are full of confidence now it has payed off.
Also .. it is the calm before the storm .. we have seen that the info digging that Ruri ordered Kagami to do caused some reactions on the other end … if Ruri and Arma find out what is going on in those labs things will get pretty heated (and that’s pretty much what will happen IMO) .. sad to hear it is only 13 episodes though XD
I think psgels was talking about the animation, which is now a lot worse. The original opening was amazing. As for them meeting in the past, I feel that its a really overused trope in anime, and an extremely unrealistic one at that.
On top of that Ruri’s acting was really uncharacteristic because she really wasn’t this awkward before. And the big revelation that made everything better was just a misinterpretation of Arma’s words, which is also really lame in my opinion
An already bad episode of a mediocre, entirely generic series is further ruined by fansubber trolling. I wish those guys would just drop the series if they don’t feel like trying. They’re the only ones who think they are being funny, really. This still isn’t as hideous as what they did to Hidan no Aria though.
@Anon. If you’re talking about gg they’re well known for their troll subs. I think the worst I remember was the ‘vagina bones’ line they put in Merry