Tag: animation

Orange Review – 73/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Orange, Reviews by SuperMario

What would you do if you receive letters from your future-self saying that you can change your future? That’s exactly what Naho experienced as she obtains ones from herself 10 years later that urge her to look after her new friend and prevent him from committing suicide. The premise, I agree, is hardly anything groundbreaking, but it functions well as a romantic drama anime. And orange is exactly that: a romantic drama anime. We have tons of romance developing between the leads Naho and Kakeru, and even more time focusing on the depression of Kakeru and the group’s attempt to save him.

The very central theme of orange is the sense of regret. Kakeru always feels regrets over his mother suicides, blaming himself for what happened and the thought of continue to live on proved to be too much for him. Moreover, it’s the adult counterpart that hold that same sense of regrets and griefs towards what they could do in the past for Kakeru. If they were more attentive, they could’ve realized his inner struggles. If they helped him out when he needed the most, chances were, he could’ve survived. Should’ve known better. It’s that regret sense that carry the weight in Naho’s, and eventually Suwa’s and the rest of the group’s actions and make their efforts feel grounded and genuine.

But that’s not to say that their efforts were executed flawlessly. The show’s at its best when the group confronts Kakeru to say out loud his issues, to really share his troubles to his dear friends. Kakeru always puts up a mask in order to cover his troubles, mostly because he believes he could drag the group down, and partly because he fears that he’d be rejected. By making him to be honest to himself, he knows that he can rely on his friends and that’s what save him in this new timeline. But orange feels forced whenever the group tries to recreate a perfect happy time for Kakeru; be it their fireworks night, his birthday, their relay match. Although those moments come from good intention, I can’t help but feel uneasy the way the group manipulates the outcomes so that little Kakeru always feel happy. Is it fair for the guy to receive too much without give anything away? Is that selfless love that you protect your loved ones from being hurt really the best possible outcomes? Hell, NO.

Although Kakeru and Naho share some good romantic moments together, it is Suwa who become the show’s best character. He’s in a complex situation since he decides to support the leads all the way, despite his own feeling for Naho. Sound cliché I know, but what make his character works is that Suwa is an observant, sensitive and highly emotional intelligent than the rest of the group. On the other end of the spectrum, Ueda is really a bad-written character. Orange clearly doesn’t think too highly of her, so the show frames her in a biased and negative light, it’s sad because whenever she appears on screen, she becomes a sore thumb to an otherwise solid cast. The rest of the cast share a natural, lively and effortless chemistry, but they are not the deepest bunch of characters you will ever witness. In fact, in the second half, the amount of time spent on the group trying to help Kakeru overwhelms their own character’s development.

In terms of production values, orange remains a very strange shoujo adaptation. The show has an above-standard quality in terms of direction. The director Hiroshi Hamasaki (who most famous for his Steins;Gate) elevates the show by his sensitive directing, which many scenes convey smartly the emotions the show want to make. The show, on the other hand, was done on a shoestring budget, as a result in a middle part the production values took a huge downfall, the characters are often off-model and those insignificant parts are treated equally messy and off-putting to the point that it brings the whole production down. This is a shame because this is a kind of budget that orange doesn’t deserve to have.

Despite a huge leap in quality, orange at least ends in high note, as the conclusion successfully ties up loose end and gives up a satisfying emotional ride. With the main theme about trying your best in order to have none regrets, it’s more about the ride, how to get there rather than the results, yet I have a feeling that orange focuses too much on the outcomes. To say all that, the ending was executed fairly well that I’ll complain no more. Overall, despite the huge decline in terms of production values in the middle part, and some thematic issues, orange is what it is- a solid entry of shoujo romance drama anime. Anyone who expect more from it will end up being disappointed.

Occultic;Nine – 02 [My Cold Dimension]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Occultic:Nine

After a disastrous first episode that has likely pushed away a number of viewers, Occultic;Nine decides to slow down it’s pacing to a more acceptable degree which is a good move. This does make the show much more watchable as the dialogue isn’t running off like a machine gun and we can actually take a moment to get invested in the plot and characters. However here comes another problem, namely the plot and characters. The actual story itself has some interesting points being it’s about a large cast of characters who all seem connected to the murder of an occult professor. But the way this show decides to tell this story is akin to a 5 year old on a sugar rush. It seems to be pulling inspiration from Narita’s Durarara and Baccano in that the story involves a large cast which the story switches between. However Narita’s characters were distinct enough to latch on to and he usually had his story in arcs with scenes that transitioned into each other with ease.

Occultic;Nine doesn’t have either of those things, it’s characters are visually distinctive but not personality distinctive. For one I actually confused the occult blogger with the boy detective that appeared at the start of this episode because besides one being a detective and the other not, they are basically the same character. A fast talking Otaku with short hair. Other characters have quirks but lack something to make them really stand out. For one Ryouka just seems like a less ditsy, much higher stacked version of Mayuri and by god if this…thing doesn’t make me question why I am watching this every time I see it. I am hardly a man who values realism in my anime but I have a hard time believing breasts of that size don’t snap this girl’s spine in two when she stands upright, let alone while dancing around the room. To me, too much of anything good or bad can turn something grotesque. However seeing how much fanart she has got already, perhaps my opinion is in the minority.

Generally in a TV episode there are two plots running. An A plot and a B plot. The A plot is generally the main draw and the B plot acts as less important story to give time in between acts. Occultic;Nine on the other hand has an A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H plot running in parallel and never give you time to breath. There’s the blogger who stumbled on a murder and is ordered to put out a tooth which is actually a hidden key.(Look at that screenshot up there, think that can fit in a human gum? Short answer, no. Long answer, HA! Hell no.) There’s a detective who is investigating the murder and is involved with some secret organization.(Good thing he erased the victim’s last dying message where he wrote “CODE” as if the police saw that it would surely give away…something. I mean what code are we talking about here? C++? JAVA? Python?) There’s a girl who has a business of cursing people with some demonic entity she has with her. There’s a girl who tells fortunes on the internet with daddy issues. That same girl and another girl are testing Curse girl’s abilities. There’s a guy with daddy issues. There’s another story about a girl who was so obsessed with her brother that she lived with his corpse. There is just far far too much going on here and none of it is given the time needed to really flesh it out.

It’s just a hailstorm of events thrown at the viewer without cohesion. And if that sounds like a complete narrative mess already then it only gets worse for believe or not, these events are not even thrown at you in order. Much like this series jumps between characters without warning, it also happens to jump to different times and you may not have even realised it. It’s hard enough piecing together just what is happening without having to worry about when it is happening as well and I certainly say this, for the love of god fire the director. Maybe if you hire someone who has an idea of what he is doing this mess can be salvaged but that of course would only be temporary. I know how this writer works and I know that whatever explanation for everything going on here is going to be utterly nonsensical and mind numbingly stupid. But hey, i am in this for the long run so throw whatever you got at me Occultic;Nine, you may even surprise me.

Magical Girl Raising Project – 03 [Update Notice!]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Magical Girl Raising Project

Mahou Keikaku continues steady ahead though it’s writing still leaves something to be desired. In particular I was surprised as to just how lackluster the reveal was that whoever drops out is killed. The previous episode made it seem as though Fav was intentionally keeping that aspect in the dark with how he removed the girl from the chat room to prevent people noticing her die and it did seem like he was being facetious with the matter. However as it turns out it was really a matter of the girls never asking him so he didn’t tell them. I find the nature of this reveal to be lacking as to have the girls just so happen upon a log of a conversation between Fav and another magical girl talking about it is just lazy exposition. Compare this to Madoka Magica where an entire episode was build around the reveal concerning the soul gems and it had more dramatic gravitas. Here it’s revealed that half of them will die and the reaction is fairly restrained. You could argue that the audience already was well aware and they just wanted to get the characters on the same page but psychological breakdown is going to be the core of the appeal for this kind of series and if this is how one of your big reveals goes down them I fear for future developments. Though at least we do have factions being made up and potential betrayals with the Magical girl team and the robot magical girl teaming up with the cowgirl.

The bulk of today’s episode was dedicated to the magical girl team, particularly a girl called Swim Swim. I feel fairly confident in saying that Swim Swim is likely the girl who Nemurin visited in her last dream and I think there are signs of the effect she had. In particular when questioned by the leader who is called Ruler, Swim Swim mentioned Ruler stating the qualities of a leader. Which seems to suggest that if Ruler was to act in a manner unworthy of leadership then Swim Swim might take drastic action. In particular she was certainly keeping her eye on Ruler doing nothing while everyone was cleaning up the illegal dump site. We could have the potential beginnings of a villain here and while here ability doesn’t sound all that dangerous, being able to swim in any material like it was water, I can certainly think of some terrifying uses for it.

The other members of the team seem to have their own agenda’s, Ruler badmouths them all the time but it is odd as to why she continues to be in a team regardless and does seem to care if any of her team drops out. Meanwhile the twin angels are looking to gain popularity on the internet with the help of Tama, who is someone I would be genuinely surprised to see survive this whole ordeal. Considering the level of attention this group has been getting I say it’s a safe bet that Tama is next in line to reenact Old Yeller. This may be what spurred on Ruler to attack Koyuki as she likely knows Tama is next on the chopping block. There is a matter that has been brought up in discussion regarding this shows adaption and it seems as though side stories are being intercut with the main plot. General opinion deems this as good as it give characterisation to people who would have been killed off unceremoniously.

However there is a problem of important information being left out. In this case it’s regarding how the new update of “trading” candies works. Looks like I was right on the money about Fav setting up a system where girls could steal each others candies but this episode neglected to go into detail on how that works. The main gist of it is that you can trade candies with anyone, even if their phone is off, so if you were to make a trade with someone who had their phone off in their pocket, you can effectively steal all their candies. In this case it makes Ruler’s attack not be a matter of her killing Snow White personally as they don’t have to in order to steal her Candies. Of course if Snow happens to have the lowest count then she will die but i have a feeling Ruler isn’t quite as cold hearted as she is trying to be.

Drifters – 02 [Footsteps]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Drifters

I originally wasn’t all that impressed with the Drifters manga but when looking at it in motion it truly shows its worth. i guess that is because of the very nature of this series being what it is. Looking at drawing of a man being cut in half and seeing a man be cut in half in animation are quite different experiences. In this it could be possible for this show to obtain the gleeful sadistic joy of Hellsing ultimate and i certainly can approve of that. For it is hard to argue against fun. Let me say first that the opening of this series has to be the best opening of the year for me. Maybe the main reason for that is because instead of a J-Pop band they used “Gospel of the Throttle” by Minutes Til Midnight which is an American band that I quite frankly never heard of. Though they seem to have had their music featured in a number of TV shows. This looks to be a choice by Yasushi Ishii who scored the original Hellsing TV soundtrack and is working on this alongside the man who scored Hellsing Ultimate.

I have my problems with the original Hellsing TV series(That terrible filler ending for one thing) but the soundtrack is certainly not one of them. It had a level of experimentation that I think Kajura and Sawano should really take notes from. Quite simply, anime needs less Jpop and more Jazz, Rock or Jazz and Rock. I want to see more openings like this which really capture the feeling a mood a show wants you to be in. I take dynamic slow motion character shots, planes shooting down dragons and sketch style animation over the standard of anime characters running in openings.(Look it up on youtube, there is a ridiculous amount of running in anime openings.) I normally try to save time watching shows by watching the opening once and then skipping it for the rest of the series but with this show, I don’t think I could watch an episode without seeing the opening. It’s just that good.

This really is likely going to be a show that’s going to get hard for me to review as it’s appeal is a highly selective thing. You have to be the kind of person who can put aside heavy criticism and simply enjoy visceral action and gore for this series is certainly not going to have introspective characterisation or complicated themes. Or at least not intentionally. However if I am to start taking a more critical look at this show I should pick out the obvious flaw that pretty much everyone unanimously agrees on. That of course being Kouta Hirano’s brand of humor. Every so often the heavy outlined and gritty art style is dropped in favor of these rough simplistic sketches to show a comedy skit. These skits tend to come straight out of nowhere and are completely at odds with the rest of the series, always jarring no matter what. Almost as if Hirano finishes his work and then lets his son draw a few panels to fill up space before sending it off. You make think that it’s because the anime is poorly adapting the humor for animation but you would be wrong. I found the switch equally as jarring when reading the manga. However I don’t not think that these scenes don’t work because Hirano has a poor sense of humor.

Actually I think his jokes can be quite good, it certainly brought a smile to my face to see Hannibal(No. Not Lecter, the other Hannibal.) and Scipio arguing with each other at the start of the episode.  It’s a joke that likely flew over the heads of people who know nothing of the second punic war(Google, Extra history, Rome: The Punic Wars. Watch the series of videos because it is well worth your time and a badass story.) but it really was funny to see these two fighting like playground children. Seeing the main characters compare ages also got a smile out of me. Overall I say Hirano has a good sense of humor but his jokes are killed because viewers can’t adjust to the style change fast enough to feel the punchline. For example, the joke about Oda mocking Toyohisa’s comment about killing anyone who couldn’t speak japanese and then Toyohisa forcing the elfs to say help me in japanese to avoid going back on his words could have really worked if they just stuck to the original artstyle.

Actually  it would have potentially worked even better as they are generally shown as badass in the original art style so seeing Toyohisa act so childish with such a design would have at least brought a smile. Instead the art style changes and it’s almost as if we are looking at completely different characters. By the time we adjust and know who’s who the joke has been said and we are right back to business as usual. This is what is killing the humor of this show. Well I didn’t think I would have this much to talk about here so I might elaborate on the particular ways the drifters are imposing their moral standards and potentially corrupting the elf race for another episode. We still got a lot to go and I say bring blood and thunder.

3-gatsu no Lion – 02 [Akari – Beyond the Bridge]

by SuperMario, posted in 3-gatsu no Lion, Currently Watching:

I’ve read some wonderful articles about Akiyuki Shinbo’s role at Shaft and let me lay this out for you. Anime fans seem to love/hate him for all the wrong reasons. Because his name always pop up in almost Shaft’s shows, together with Shaft’s very distinctive styles (to put it very mildly), anime viewers have often mistaken him as being a sole lead director of Shaft. Well, far from it. If you really take notice, more often than not in Shaft shows there are two directors: Shinbo and someone else. Usually that someone else is the main director, and Shinbo, well, if I can put his role more accurately, he’s more like an artistic supervisor than an actual director. Since he took his role in Shaft back in 2004, his main roles have been tutoring the young staffs to bring their own visual styles, and ensuring that every Shaft’s shows are consistently weird. After all, being distinctively and consistently weird means that they have a brand. Shaft’s brand. All that lead to two things. First, Shinbo has always been a director, but in that sense, he has directed Shaft the studio than really directed any Shaft’s show. Second, he didn’t solely direct any shows because he couldn’t; considering all his commitments. Prior to the airing of 3-gatsu no Lion, I originally thought the show’s going to be his first sole effort in director chair, but then I checked again and apparently Kenjirou Okada is a co-director. So, that means they repeat the circle again. Well, c’est la vie.

Now on to the actual episode itself, it seems like 3-gatsu no Lion formula is one half of Rei and his shogi life, and the other half about him having great time with the sisters. Contrast to last week’s lack-of-dialogue first half when we followed Rei gets on the train to compete with his adoptive father, this first half is loud and sometimes silly with many eccentric shogi players. Those characters might lighten up the screen a bit, but they are far from the show’s best moments. Actually, I think it is intentional to introduce those high-energy shogi players. They are here to contrast with Rei’s loneliness, almost emptied living space and as a result they kind of spark a little life into the guy. Judging from that I think those parts work as a whole but there are still some tonal imbalances between this first half and the rest. We were witnessed to the real shogi match and while I have no idea about shogi, the show did a great job of NOT creating any tension towards this match, but instead show the match as Rei’s professional everyday life. The reason why this guy Issa wanted to win so badly is conveyed very well and that shed a new light into his character. That’s what I love about this show’s writing. Through little moments or little details that we gather, we can understand more about their personalities. Many of those characters already feel like human.

The shogi senpais drag Kei to Misaki bar where Akari works and this is where the two parts connected. From last week we already know that Akari helps her grandpa to set up shop in the morning, now we get to learn her day job. Akari looks just gorgeous here but her natural gestures towards Kei and her friendly attitudes towards the senpais make her really feel like a different person. Through her story we get to know that the first time Akari met Kei, he was drunk and was dumped by the other upperclassmen. Rei’s now living alone all by himself so that makes him an easy target for those guys to play around with him. At least things could’ve been worse I suppose. If there is one thing that I really like about Shaft’s adaptation to this manga, it is their editing. They are not smooth per se but each cut they make, they highlight very well the theme of the show. The motif of water bubbling, ice bubbling, and papers flying up all represent his isolations and the feeling he hide inside that keep boiling over the surface.

In the second part, Rei joins the three sisters preparing for the Obon festival. It is a Japanese 3-days custom to remember the ancestors of one’s family because it is believed that on those 3 days the spirits of them will revisit their former households. This custom of course fit very well with the show. We learned that Rei’s parents passed away, so did the three sisters’ mother ad grandma (I’m not sure about the father though). The Obon festival, without saying, is the one event that they want to forget. Rei did forget about the time right after his parents deceased, and I totally understand that. At those time he felt like he’s floating (which again match up with the motif), saw the world around him in black and white (kudos to Shaft’s visual art style again), and felt lost. Those three sisters are something reminiscent of the family he would’ve have.

For now, just two episodes, the show already establishes a solid fundamental emotional core. 3-gatsu no Lion maintains its very confident pacing. Shaft’s aesthetic visual styles actually strengthen the show right now, reinforce the emotions without become too distracting. The show follows slowly to the manga (2 episodes for 4 chapters? This will be a long ride indeed). I know so far the show’s not perfect, but there’s no denying that just in 2 episodes, 3-gatsu no Lion is already a poignant little beast.

Flip Flappers – 02 [Pure Converter]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Flip Flappers

While I admit that I was impressed with the first episode of Flip Flappers, I had my worries as well. With a show that relies heavily on wild visuals, on their own brand of logic and very loose sense on plot, it walks a really tightrope to hold everything together for a full core season, and when it falls it’ll fall hard. Being said that I would never have imagined that this second episode plays out almost the same formula with the first, and ends up even more remarkable.

The ambitious relationship between the leads Cocona and Papika is one aspect that I found rather intriguing. I know this is the most bizarre comparison you will ever see but the duo’s relationship reminds me a lot of the two women in the classic movie Persona by Ingmar Bergman. In that movie, the strange bond between the two women keeps involving into something twisted and destructive, and then the movie implied that the two leads are part of the same person, like an actress put on some other persona on herself to escape the reality. Now, I’m not imply that Cocona and Paprika are one person (it would be boring if they are), but looking at them thematically, they might as well represent the dual sides of girlhood. For once, they are extremely contrasted each other in terms of personality: Cocona is timid but secure, Papika is playful and head-on. Granted, mismatch duo has been done a million times before but the thing about this couple is they never seem mismatched, instead they function like two sides of the same coin. Then we have Pure Illusion which basically mean the two have to tuning together in order to go to that fantasy world. Lastly, this second episode intentionally draws the parallel line with the first when this time, this is Papika who powered up and saved Cocona. Those two make up a great pair and I think that ambition creates a strange but poignant chemistry between them that I can’t quite put my finger on, but I’m enjoying it all the more.

While people often highlight the second part when the girls travel to that other worlds as Flip Flappers’ highpoint, this is the first part on Cocona’s schoolday that I’m more impressed. If you think of the second part as an acid dream, the first part functions as Cocona’s lucid dream. After all, the first thing we witness in this episode was Cocona waking up from her bed. And by that I don’t mean she’s literally in her dream state the whole episode, but rather the show follows her dream logic. Supporting characters pop in and out like ghosts (especially the yellow-hair girl Yayaka and the art-club girl who weren’t even introduced). Again there is that sense of isolation: Except from the bus scene and the class sequence, most of the time there are just the leads and no one else. And finally, that weird mascot character: Uxekull. Uxekull’s strangely afraid of Papika (played mostly for laugh though), and then get sucked under the Thinking Man statue (because WHY THE HELL NOT?), so the girls going down there as well to get him back. Well, this time it seems like they were put in another Pure Illusion that heavily influenced by Uxekull’s mind: the girls transform into bunnies and have an urge to gnaw on hard things. Now, you can take that as an “instinct vs. reason” or as a sexual innuendo all you like, I’m not going that far. Then Cocona got sucked in that giant washing machine, pulled off to the cage that descended to hellfire (not unlike the hellfire in Utena, indeed I think this gem share many similarities to Utena) and was rescued in time by Papika. Uxekull’s version in that world looks whimsical and bravery at best so I don’t mind having him around every now and then. Only every now and then.

For anyone who simply watch Flip Flappers for its visuals, there’s still a lot to love here. Optical illusion references are everywhere in the first episode (right in the very first image of the first episode). The animation again is fluid and character’s movements in particular is in top-notch. I even enjoy the character’s designs myself as I see them very expressive. References to fairy tales are all there as well, from Papika’s dress to ‘disguise’ as a new student, to that otherworldly fantasy world, to the catchy ending theme. The overload of colors work for the show’s benefit too, as it displays the colorful fantasy worlds that both invited and twisted at the same time.

After those 2 episodes, the plot was still pretty much kept in the dark. But what do we have so far? Papika has tuned in with other girls before, but apparently, they’re all failed, but what happen to them? There was a brief scene of unconscious girl in the first episode, but whether she’s dead or not is unknown to us. The leads have to go that Pure Illusions world in order to retrieve fragments that can grant true wish (another fairy tale’s reference), but for what purpose? Dr. Salt has mentioned they do that to liberate Pure Illusion, of course it sounds very vague and he seems to use the girls for his own purpose here. The other staffs, on the other hand, seem nice enough. Judging from the OD, that girl Yayaka and the twin from first episode will play some roles here, and I’m waiting to see whether the picture that the girls see building up to anything in the future. The thing is there’s not much info for us to work with, but in a way, it is what makes this show so special. With this type of show, if it makes too much sense, it will loose its sparks so here’s hoping that the show has what it takes to continue to surprise us for 12 episodes.

Sound! Euphonium 2 – 02 [Hesitation Flute]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sound! Euphonium 2

It certainly is weird to cover the second season of a show that wasn’t originally covered here, but I do it anyway because the last season was among my favorite anime out of 2015 (not in my top 5 though). For anyone who will sigh when you heard the words ”KyoAni” and “musical band” together, no, this isn’t another K-On. While K-On focuses more about the band’s members having fun time together, Sound Euphonium takes musical seriously (too seriously!) and explore the huge band members interacting to each other. Contrary to the usual complains about things happen really slowly in Sound Euphonium, I consider it a very dense show. The show might feel slow in terms of plot, but they are rich in character’s interactions, in little character’s movements and in terms of the whole production values. Everything is gorgeous to look at and there are many things that you could take out of just by seeing those characters conversing. This is KyoAni at their most confident and while I don’t consider this show their best works (the top 2 of course are Haruhi and Clannad), the show certainly comes at their near-best, and this doesn’t come lightly considering my long affection for KyoAni.

The second season picks up right when the first one finished. Having won the qualifying tournament, the band aims to reach the National stage. But the drama between the senior class that happened one year ago that resulted in most of them quit (and which we always heard of but never know what exactly happened) keeps bubbling up the surface. Nozomi is among the most noticeable player to quit. She was the president among the group of Minami Middle School concert band. When she getting to high school however, the upperclassmen basically ignored practices and new members that bring frustration to them and cause a big stir between the members. Now, when the band is getting much better and preparing to compete in National stage, Nozomi wants to come back. It doesn’t go well though as Asuka flat-out declines. Our Kumiko has a chance to talk to Nozomi and she now decides to discuss with Asuka about that.

Last week, we were treated with a double-length first episode and I consider it one of the best episode in Sound Euphonium (along with one of the best first episode this season). The great productions and great cast are all there, but moreover they approach the story with confident pacing, to the point that 45 minutes long feels like 15-minutes episode. The second episode though, we were witnessed the usual pitfall for slice-of-life school settings show: a pool/beach episode. As much as I still love the interactions of the cast, and there were some great conversations between Kumiko and Nozomi, I could’ve prefer much better if the setting were someplace else. As far as I concern the cast goes to pool don’t add much to the plot, except knowing the fact that Reina’s chest is still growing because her swimsuit is tight. This was by far not a very good Sound Euphonium moments.

But thank god, aside from the pool settings, everything else rocks. This is the show that enjoys its little moments more than a bombastic over-the-top climax. There are so much of that little moments that really convey the mood of the scene. Take for example, when Nozomi and Kumiko talking about how she quit last year; her sad, melancholic tone was contrasted by the activities of young kids taking showers: pure, fun and innocent. When Nozomi burst out and cries, her teardrops were symbolized by the waterdrop in her cold-drink can. Or in later scenes when Kumiko meets Yoroizuka at night, her question towards her senpai: “why are you continuing with the band (even when you’re hurting)” was echoed by her senpai’s rhythm games pause-screen that asked her to quit or to continue the game. Those are smart and very sensitive storytelling right there that you don’t need to say out loud to make the audience understand it, instead they feel it. This is the best strength of Sound Euphonium. Next week we will have a fiercely confrontation between Kumiko and Asuka so I know we will have a good time. Sound Euphonium’s so far looking confident and strong.

Magical Girl Raising Project – 02 [Collect Magical Candies!]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Magical Girl Raising Project

While this show certainly isn’t perfect, I really couldn’t let this season pass without covering it. So far this show has played coy with it’s darker elements as these two episode have presented the story like it hasn’t played the dark card already. Thing is that the opening scene of the entire series made it clear from the get go what kind of show we were getting which makes the twist of this episode rather predictable from the start. For the most part Fav has revealed his true colours to the audience as the little demon was saying in the first episode about how there is never too many magical girls only to backpedal and state that he has requested too many for the region. His motives are rather mysterious at the moment but I find his explanation about Magical girls drying up the lands mana to be easily suspect.

I am sure right from the start that this was what Fav intended as it really so too much of a mistake to recruit that many without checking if the land could handle it. As the girls pointed out as well he even recruited another girl after confirming the land was at the breaking point. On the note of the girls, it’s rather interesting to see all the different types. Cowboy magical girls, Ninja Magical girls, witch magical girls… and it seems like our Cowboy is the one Soujo was warning Koyuki about. He/she certainly seems the most dangerous and ready to kill. She’s likely going to end up a major antagonist or a red herring that’s killed off quickly.

We haven’t entered full on battle royale yet because the other girls are completely unaware that whoever is knocked out of the running doesn’t just lose her magical powers but also dies. As I said who was going to die and that last place was going to die was pretty obvious. I am a little surprised that Fav is trying to keep it from the other girls though as he does seem to be gearing this little competition into a bloody battle. Rules are simple, whoever has the least amount of magical candies at the end of each week is knocked out of the running. In this case it seems like the loser actually had a large number of candies but because they were earned in dreams Fav apparently doesn’t count them. What I find interesting about his competition is that our main character Koyuki happens to be the one earning the most candies and is therefore in no real danger. However as mentioned by the girls in the flashback, Fav has talked about an incident involving magical girls fighting each other and how facing another magical girl is far more dangerous than fighting another humans.

Considering how Fav thinks I am fairly willing to bet that there is some sort of PVP system in place and if a magical girl kills another magical girl then that means she takes the losers candies. Now who has the most candies, Snow white Aka Koyuki. What power does she have? The power to read the minds of people in trouble, which also happens to be the weakest offensive power out of the group left. So the one with the most candies also happens to be the one easiest to take down in a fight. If you are at the bottom of the ranking and know that means death awaits you at the end of the week, then picking a fight with Snow White is going to be rather tempting. It’s a good thing Koyuki already has obtained a loyal knight to protect her.

Another interesting thing in this episode is what Nemurin was doing in her last moments alive. I am a little sad she was taken out of the running as it would have been interesting to see her go all Freddy Kruger on the other magical girls. However her actions may have a lasting impact on the series. She entered the dreams of a little girl waiting for a “princess”, a princess who just so happened to look an awful like the leader of the Magical girl group that the shrine. Nemurin told the girl that she could be a princess too and in doing so may just have planted an idea inception style into one of the members of the magical girl group. I am fairly willing to bet this girl was one of the younger looking members of the group and that she will now have a sudden idea of taking the role of the leader. Nemurins last act could have very well unintentionally planted the seed of mutiny that would tear this group apart. Though it might take awhile to get to that point. I get the feeling this show will only really start to pick up once this death game starts in earnest but that too may be the point which it falls down. Despair is a delightful thing for me to see but it really is something that requires the ability to play with expectations. Considering how predictable this episode was i am a little worried about whether this writer can really pull it off but I guess we shall see in the coming episodes.

Thunderbolt Fantasy – 13 (end)

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Thunderbolt Fantasy

As expected, Thunderbolt Fantasy ends with a blast. While it does close the arc nicely, I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by the climax. This final episode ties up two main storylines: Gui Niao challenged Ming Tian Hai in swordfight, and Shang Bu Huan faced the fearsome demon god Yao Tu Li, and provides us a nice little epilogue in the end. Well, not the end exactly because it was announced that Thunderbolt Fantasy will have a second season. Way to go anime industry. The world needs more puppet shows. I already feel blessed with the news myself.

Back to where we left of last episode, Gui Niao decides to ridicule Ming Tian Hai on what the antagonist truly proud of: his swordfight. Turns out that Gui Niao is an overpowered badass who not only good at deceiving people, but also a master swordsman. To put it more coherently, because he’s so good at sword fighting he eventually gets bored and becomes a master thief instead. This of course doesn’t bode well for Ming Tian Hai. I died laughing at the ridiculous of it all, so was the guy. Literally. The battle is so over the top that it shook the world, apparently. At this point, Reigan’s voice on the other show keeps popping in my head: These guys are children who failed to grow up. The way Ming Tian Hai felt crushed because he is defeated by Gui Niao, that he has to break down the sword, let the world destroyed, and died laughing. These actions are not unlike those kids who their favorite toys taken away from them, so they just make a nonsensical scene. But Gui Niao actually falls for that. He expects Ming Tian Hai submitted himself as loser, so when things don’t go as plan he loses his cool for the very first time. Oh pride, the most serious sin of them all.

I love to point out how important the swords represent in this series. For villains like Mie Tian Hai or the Screaming Phoenix Killer Sha Wu Sheng, the swords represent power and destruction. Mie Tian Hai seeks the ultimate power in the legendary sword, while the Phoenix Killer mercilessly kills everyone stand in his path. Our two mains don’t see it this way. Gui Niao realizes that using the swords excessively would eventually lead him to the path of killing and villainy, which he despises. Shang Bu Huan witnesses many people misuse the swords, so instead he collected them in order to dispose them altogether. The sword he eventually carries around is a piece of wood that he painted silver, same as Gui Niao with his pipe-sword. The legendary sword, on the other hand, ends up being destroyed meaninglessly. That irony plays very well with both the tone and the theme of Thunderbolt Fantasy. The show never intends to be a straight wuxia show, so it only makes sense that Gen Urobuchi flirts with all the tired cliché and makes something new of it. Furthermore, In the world of Thunderbolt Fantasy, swords are ultimately just a tool for human, as Shang Bu Huan puts it: “Whether it cuts something or protect someone just depends on who uses it.” It’s nothing deep I know, but it’s thematic relevance.

Shang Bu Huan steps up for the climax against Yao Tu Li, the female demon god. It’s interesting that the only two demon gods we see in this series are female. It should make sense though because like a notion of life and death is meaningless among demons, the same could be said for their gender. The way they reproduce is more of the process of replication, right? It is then revealed that not only Shang Bu Huan has a legendary sword for himself, he has 36 of them. When the right time comes he would choose the checklist of his swords’ inventory like you’d choose a weapon on your crappy online games. By the way 36 is not some random number, that number (and its multiplication) have been widely used in traditional Chinese literature/text (36 Stratagems; The Monkey King knows 72 transformations, there are 108 outlaws in Water Margin) and I’m again amazed that Gen Urobuchi takes note of that. While this fight is amazing, I can’t help but feel that all this resolution is way too quick, and thus too easy, for our main characters, especially since last week they built the stake up really high. In the end, both Gui Niao and Shang Bu Huan are just too overpowered that all the suspense is gone through the back door.

But in the end, I had a lot fun watching Thunderbolt Fantasy, considered that I know nothing about its existence up until the first episode came out. Now 3 months later it’s one of the most entertaining anime I’ve seen this year. Well, I will tell you in details once the final review comes up. But definitely you will see me talking about this show again when the second season is aired.

Berserk(2016) – 12 [Those Who Cling, Those Who Struggle]

by Bam, posted in Berserk(2016), Currently Watching:

I am truly sorry for the delay. I know I know … these excuses are becoming exceedingly homologous of a young student who has been procrastinating on his homework, but I give you my word, for at least what it’s worth, that this is certainly not the case. I have been preoccupied with my pet’s medical condition, and that has taken a toll on my time, wallet, and the ability to focus and attempt to give somewhat of a fair analysis. I thank all of you for your patience and support, and finally will attempt to dive right into the first cour finale, titled ‘Those Who Cling, Those Who Struggle’.

The episode picks up right where the last one left off, with our heroes torch in hand ready to brave the encroaching horror that is engulfing Albion. Down by the courtyard we get one of the last scenes of Luca comforting Nina and once again endangering herself to shelter her. Nina has the bulk of her growth in this very episode, which basically adds up to her accepting her weaknesses and choosing to follow her destiny; wherever that may lead her.

Now we head back over to Guts and company on the ramparts, attempting to ward off the encroaching phantasm. I took extra note of Isidro’s remark regarding the fact that if the miasma is powered by human suffering, then how come the whole world is not already engulfed by such a conglomerate? However, the fact of the matter is that Isidro is still unaware of the significance of the event unfolding at the tower at this particular night; which has rendered the boundary between the physical realm and the astral world especially uncapacious.

Farnese’s whimpering has also become rather grating by this point, but thankfully this will be the turning point for her. What is refreshing though is her newfound admiration for Guts. This follows a trend that has been steadily developing, but as I will explore in my season review this still doesn’t necessarily lead to her becoming a more compelling character in the future. I liked Guts’ remark about not wasting time on prayer, as she will need both of her hands for fighting. This is on the surface referring to the physical gesture of holding hands together during prayer, and also insinuating that any preoccupation with faith and prayer will only detract in a real battle.

At the top of the newly-formed Godhand tower the Egg of the New World is about to hatch. Puck remarks that the mass of souls are all screaming in unison. It is implied that the spirits are all pleading for some form of salvation to come and free them from their hellish existence. Griffith reborn as the Hawk of Light pierces the darkness, and seemingly offers respite to the damned souls; albeit the truth is far more sinister than what meets the eye. Upon the completion of the reincarnation ceremony the tower crumbles and all the ghastly tide retreats back towards the depths of the Vortex.

We get a brief introduction to Schierke, her master Flora, and the female elf Ivalera, as the percussions of the ceremony are felt throughout the land. This is a very significant event in the world of Berserk, and it can be argued that everything since the Eclipse has been leading up to this moment. The new series has also been emphasizing this, by creating a momentum through its pacing that has steadily marched towards this encounter. For such a long build-up and implied preeminence, this moment was handled rather poorly. Any gravity that is present here is mostly achieved through the viewer’s familiarity with the world and the characters, while the contributions of the actual show add up to bot all that much.

The gang’s reunion is interrupted by the appearance of Silat and his Bairaka clansmen. He uses the term “Krishna Sena” to refer to Gut’s party, which upon some research seems to roughly translate to ‘God’s Legion’. This might be a reference to the perceived supernatural circumstances that Silat has come to associate with each of his prior encounters with Guts. We get another action scene, which while short-lasting is still done more competently than some of the previous ones. We get Guts cutting through a whole squad with a single slash, as usual, while Serpico utilizes an interesting triple Remise to neutralize three opponents (this is a fencing move that is achieved by rapid thrusts without withdrawing the sword after each attack). Jerome, Isidro, and even Azan join in the fray, and for a moment we get a glimmer of the harmony that the original Band of the Hawk displayed during the Golden Age.

This continues until Zodd makes his re-entrance. They translated one of the soldier’s remarks regarding Zodd as “Bada”, which I can only assume is a stand-in for the word ‘beast’. Seeing Zodd can only mean one thing: that Griffith is not too far behind, and right on queue- here comes the bride! Guts is about to go full berserker, but seeing the distress in Casca reminds him once again of his priorities, signaling a growth in character that has taken him far past his Black Swordsman days. The Skull Knight also drops in to make this a proper family reunion.

The final section is dedicated to tying up some loose ends, and establishing Guts’ new fellowship. Luca is found to have survived by falling/hiding in a well. This serves as a clear parallel to the old lady who survived the atomic blast in Nagasaki by accidentally tripping into a well, as illustrated by Fred Weiner’s famous 1978 World War II documentary The Unknown War.

We proceed to set up each character’s objective, and this serves as a segue into the inevitable second cour. All in all, this finale was not as bad as I thought it’d be, but to be fair my expectations were very stunted by this point. The whole thing was true to the source material and quite serviceable, but also devoid of much real joy and excitement. Not all of this is the fault of this series however, and I will soon delve into all of that with much more detail in the upcoming season one review. I am already working on that, and aim to make it the most critical and literary analysis of the show as a whole. Thank you for your time and continuous patronage, and stay tuned for a comprehensive look at Berserk 2016.

~Bam~