Tag: animation

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. (Winter 2017) Review – 83/100

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario

Imagine my utmost amazement when a show that I wasn’t that confident on taking in the beginning turned out to be one of the most solid offering this season had to offer. ACCA is the most recent anime adaptation from mangaka Natsume Omo, which despite isn’t a household name, many of her works (6 titles of them) have been translated to English, a privilege that rarely seen among this industry. Watching ACCA though, it’s easy to see her appeals: attractive and recognizable character designs, detailed world settings, complex yet laid-back themes and featuring characters that always in the move. ACCA embodies all those traits with slow but confident pacing that have an ending that perfectly tied up all the plot threads- for me one of the best ending I have seen in years. ACCA isn’t perfect by any mean, after all, adapting full 6 volumes into one cour of 12 episodes mean that they have to cut LOTS of extra details. Although I would’ve preferred more if the show has more time to focus on these 13 Districts and their ACCA’s representatives, the mere fact that they manage to make the plot points flows seamlessly, while still engage (or rather, enhance) viewers’ interest by each passing episode isn’t an easy feat at all; so a special shout out for Madhouse for this wonderful adaptation.

At first, what really makes ACCA compelling to watch is its rich world setting; as the show’s diverse settings is one of its identity itself. The 13 districts all have their own distinctive traits and are vastly different in wealth and their sub-cultures; which remind me a bit of the worlds in Kino’s Journeys. In fact, it’s too different from each other that the only thing that they all SHARE is its autonomy. I should remind you, the demand for putting background details for this show is insane, as they have to show the characteristics of all 13 districts in the little time they had without obstruct the pacing, but Studio Pablo (you might need to remember that name- They are an anime background company, the team who also handled the gorgeous visual backgrounds in Flip Flappers) did a marvelous job in putting as much details as possible from those districts. The two poorest districts were given more development than the rest with their own stories and struggles and as a whole, Dowa Kingdom is a place that I’m more than happy to spend more time to. The ACCA’s representative member in each district, likewise, all given just about enough personality to both inform us their own characters, and how the uniqueness in the district they work in starts to influent them. Regrettably, I still feel the show doesn’t have much screen time to flesh out those ACCA members but that is the sacrifice I’m willing to take…

… Because ACCA is masterclass at its storytelling and pacing. Even now when I’m looking back at the series, I don’t see any wasted segments, any meaningless conversations or any useless developments. Everything the show puts in, they are there for a reason, either to advance the plot, or to flesh out the characters, or give the show more identity. All the plot developments were hinted subtly way ahead, so when the BIG ANOUNCEMENTS take place, we don’t feel like them pulling the rug under our feet, but instead we’re well prepared to take such twists in. Secondly, all the character’s usual habits like Jean’s constantly smoking, Nino taking pictures, or Lotta eating cakes all the times not only tell us their personality, but also those details suggest a deeper plot meaning (see the relevance of cigarettes here? Or the reason why Nino taking pictures all the time?). Moreover, for a show that mainly about the scheming, plan within a plan within a plan about the coup, there are surprising overloaded with breads, cakes and deserts. Characters in this show fall in love with breads, buying cakes when scheming about a plan, making friends through the love of toasts (which ultimately saved Lotta’s life), and to be fair, the love of bread is what give birth to Jean and Lotta to begin with (guess where their Mom met their father? A bakery of course), but strangely, those moments of cake-porn never feel out of place in this ACCA world. For me personally, cakes and toasts will be what I miss the most about this show. And then the pacing. While many would argue the ACCA is snail-moving slow, and they’re mostly right, this is one of the most confident pacing that I’ve seen this season. It’s slow, but it never drags. It’s slow, but it keeps getting more intense as it goes on; steadily to its final showdown.

Another attribute; however, that really sets ACCA well apart from other political thrillers, or any thrillers in that extend; lies in its almost non-existence of violence and dark intentions. ACCA is an idealistic show; characters in ACCA think and behave for the benefit of the kingdom, where sacrifice of individuals can be necessary to keep peace for the nation (That make the backstory of princess Schnee even more tragic). Even the show’s main villain’s thrust to destroy the throne wouldn’t necessary qualified as evil either; after all, all he wanted is the “rightful” power and control for his own district, one of the richest and most influential district. If shows like Berserk or Death Parade keeps addressing the dark and ugliness of human’s nature, show like ACCA is the opposite. It’s almost too bright, too optimistic about human, which is be no mean these characters aren’t complex. The characters are plotting plans within plans, and sometimes their actions are already manipulated by other’s, but more or less their objectives always aim for the better of the people, with little to no gain for themselves. While personally I don’t have much of an issue with it, I do feel portraying the world that devoid of violence or ill-will might split the audience on being unrealistic, and that ending where too much of good things happened (look, Pranetta hits gold) could turn some viewers off for being over-cheerfulness.

Madhouse’s execution to this series is overall top-notch. The use of strong color pallete, for example, gives the show so much texture and more impressively, they fit in with the tones so well that those color palletes don’t stick out like sore thumb. Episode 8, for example, detailing the one big flashback of princess Schnee through Nino and his father’s eyes is textbook example on how to use those colors the most effective. The music, likewise, is really on point most of the time and the shot compositions have great flairs, cinematic, and sometimes they convey the mood and tension just by showing one character’s position to another (like when Mauve informed Jean about his royal heritage) or putting the characters in the soft, blurred background (most prominently through the climax of the last episode). In one word, exceptional. But there is one minor issue, though. For a show that have high caliber of crafting like ACCA, the animation, the actual motions, is lacking. Characters stay at static positions most of the time, and even their expressions don’t change much. Which for me is fair, because ACCA has always been about the calm, about what beneath the surface so it’s only appropriate that we don’t get to see much actions on the surface, both in term of actual movement, or the plot itself.

ACCA also is extremely well-grounded in terms of underlining characters’ chemistry. Although I would argue that those characters don’t change/grow much in terms of character’s development (see, in the end, Jean is still the same guy we saw at the beginning, so is Lotta, or… gasp, Owl), but the show delivers such natural chemistry between the cast, especially the trio Jean – Nino – Lotta that it’s such a nice time to see them hanging around together. Each of the pair give off a different chemistry to boost, and they always feel so effortlessly to each other that when Jean and Lotta find out the truth about Nino, it’s bitter and sweet at the same time. For a show that is more about the detachment (everything flows underneath the surface), they understand that the underlying emotions of the show is the buddy relationship between Nino and Jean (and well, Schnee’s tragic past) so rightfully ACCA gives their final moments on those two as a sweet farewell to us.

But like I mentioned earlier, ACCA is not without its issues. One of it is that the show has to compress its source material to only 12 episodes, as a result in the last third of the show the sweet cakes and deserts just evaporated (but I can understand, we wouldn’t take the coup seriously with all those cakes and breads so they have to go), and like I said, more time to flesh out the uniqueness of each districts and their ACCA representatives would benefit the show greater. Secondly, by giving much attentions to the royal and the members in power, we don’t get to see the Dowa Kingdom in ordinary citizen’s point of view. I mean, we hardly know anything about Jean and Lotta’s father, a commoner, for example. Moreover, being slow and static and diplomatic-centric also means that when the show has to raise up its tempo; most notably during the Lotta assassination; they are clumsy in both storytelling and execution to the point of near-ridiculousness. And lastly, show with this deliberate pacing won’t attract much of the mainstream audience, in which if that is the case, the only think I can say is that they have missed out one of the best well written gem this year had to provide and trust me, this show will hold up well with time. I will definitely check out more of Natsume Omo’s works.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 12 [Where the Bird Flies]

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Currently Watching:

Boy, what an impressing ending to this great show. In a way, I should’ve thought about that, keeping in tradition which what ACCA has been established so far: a coup d’état without any chaos, or violence; an actual coup d’etat but not aiming to exclude the Prince and the royal, but to Furawau district. The coup that was just… too polite, like it was the calm during the storm itself, but it swept all my concerns for a conclusion that tied up ALL the loose ends. First, it’s none other than Qualms who leaked about the royal blood rumors (this guy’s impressive!), but the main players in this game are none other than Jean and Mauve. Jean apparently learned about Lilium’s plan from Mauve back when she informed him about his royal heritage (don’t underestimate the power of the opening sequence, when she literally whispered to his ear), then it was Jean who proposed a counterplan that run right beneath Lilium’s evil plan. All the districts want the continuation of ACCA, Lilium wants the power into his Furawau’s district. Mauve takes up the stage and delivers a kick-ass speech, in which not only “forced” the Prince to accept the continued existence of ACCA, but also negated Lilium’s own plan. He left the game, as did his district from the Dowa kingdom. Jean settled the game without having to step in for the throne and his identity is kept secret from the public. I can’t possibly think of any better way to resolve it as satisfying as we have here.

After that, everything else falls on positive notes (if a bit overly so), the Prince turns out to be much nicer than everyone thought. The 5-heads dragon, now with Lilium gone, decides to disband, each of them (save Grossular) returns back to their district to become a chief district and seem to be much happier with it. Mauve becomes the leader of ACCA (so deserving), and while it’s a bit sad that Mauve and Jean don’t become a couple, I believe they’re better off that way. The two poorest districts are now growing to be much better (I can see that the author really care about those two districts), with Pranetta hits gold and become a new “American Dream” – or should I say, “new Furawau Dream”; Suitsu opens its borders and now citizens can vote freely. Lotta has a whole lotta more opportunity to meet her new cousin and beloved grandpa and eat cakes and breads. Abend is indeed, Owl, and this guy was the one who pulled the strings from behind so that everything can fall according to this outcome. Like Nino said, an impressive feat.

Finally, Nino seems to be so relaxed and peaceful. I think all of his load was taken off from his talk with Jean last episode, now he’s truly free to do what he wants. I was actually smiling when he stands behind Lotta in that crucial moments to protect her. He can’t change, huh? Kudos for the show to focus squarely on Jean and Nino’s relationship in ACCA’s final moments. In the end, no matter what happen, they will always stay beside and trust each other. I’m in particular impressed again with the use of jazzy music during the coup scene and the use of strong color pallete everywhere in this episode. This episode indeed ends the show in a high note, and I’m sure this show will hold up very well, and rewatching it to pick up all the subtle details would be very rewarding. In retrospect, people might complain about its slow and deliberate pacing, but for me this is one of the most confident and well-balance pacing that I’ve seen in recent years. Every detail they put in counts and I don’t really see any unnecessary fat so far. I really have a blast blogging this one, and believe it or not ACCA becomes one of my favorite titles this season (not a slight judgement with a season that has Rakugo, Little Witch Academia, and Hand Shakers… I kid, I kid). Well, full review will be up soon, all I can say is I am satisfied with the whole experience. Well done ACCA.

Demi-chan wa Kataritai (Winter 2017) Review – 62/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario

Demi-chan is one of the newest addition to the monster girl subgenre, which usually feature a human helpless male lead get stuck in a harem of mythical creatures, in form of oversized boob girls of course (why usually those monsters are in female forms anyways? Aren’t they sexless?). In this case, we have monster girls as high school students in an otherwise mundane ordinary world, where human begins to accept them as a part of society. With the help of a teacher who takes special interest in demi-human, those monster girls (called themselves as demi) starts to navigate their lives, opens up about their demi abilities and how they adjust those abilities to fit in with the environments around them. Demi-chan, as a result, tackles quite thoughtfully and sincerely about demi issues from multiple sides; from demi side, from those who do and don’t aware about them. The middle part of the show, however; dragged the show down by a passable but uninspiring slice-of-life tendency where nothing much happened. The final two episode picked up some of the show’s best spirits but as a whole, Demi-chan isn’t special enough or hard-hitting enough to really stand out in a crowd.

As you can probably guess from the title “Interviews with Monster Girls”, the show focuses on the main demi-human nature of our high school girls: vampire, dullahan, snow girl, succubus. By that the show comparing their true natures to those traits we all heard from mythology (Do vampires hate onion? How succubus work to attract male preys?), addressing their main concerns toward blending in with human world, and explaining their demi abilities so that those girls understand and be proud about their nature. One of the main moral question the show keeps asking throughout its run is that how we, the human people, should treat the demi girls most appropriately. Should we treat them like normal people, or should we care more about their monster’s attributes? Isn’t keep questioning about their “abnormal” nature a kind of discrimination itself? When you keep asking about those natures so many times it’d make the monster girls aware that they are different than the rest. For that Demi-chan argues that it is necessary for the girls to learn and embrace their own natures because those natures are a part of themselves and are what make them unique as a person. The human as well should learn and understand their concerns in order to really support them. Sometimes we do some discriminated actions to them without we knowing it (one of the lines from a recent film Hidden Figure really hits it home. The white boss: “Despite what you may think, I have nothing against y’all”. To which one of the black girl replied “I know, I know you probably believe that.” I totally agree with this thoughtful approach and to be frank this attitude is relevant to the people from ethnic groups in real life as well. I’m not going to touch on world political much but with Trump’s aggressive actions towards Muslim countries and border immigrations, sometimes what we should do instead is understanding each other’s points of views and acknowledge and respect their distinctive cultures.

Another strength of Demi-chan is this show has a lot of hearts. The show has its light-heart, sweet nature hanging in the air and many of those big emotional scenes are heart-felt and delightful. Well, you can argue that those moments (like Hikari confronts the bullied girls in the toilet, or Hikari encourages Tetsuo by the lake) are over-sentimental for its own good, but when its heart is on the right place I have no problem with that. It’s that sweet nature and the easy chemistry between those girls and Tetsuo that basically carry the show throughout its run. In addition, the sweet voice acting help elevating the chemistry as well. Of those characters, Tetsuo-sensei and Hikari are easily the best characters of the show. Hikari for her over the top but that’s-exactly-what-we-need carefree attitude, and Tetsuo for consistently helping out the girls with his kindness and he also grows from approaching the girls with curiosity into wholeheartedly caring about them. The second last episode where the show examines how close should he assist the girls is also a thoughtful, well-drawn conflict that help developing his character and making us see how much he means to other monster girls.

The introductions and then the interviews of our monster girls are easily the show’s best parts. After the interviews segment though, Demi-chan stumbles in finding a hook so it relies on some of its more questionable aspects: the romance and the slice-of-life approach. The romance is a totally dead weight, unfortunately, because this show doesn’t need any romance to begin with. Sakie’s crush on Tetsuo is more of a missed opportunity than a hit, because it’s awkward in tone and worse, gets pale very, very quickly. Kyouko the dullahan’s feeling towards her teacher is also the show’s low points, and there was more than one time that Tetsuo having a sexual tension towards her, which gives this show a rather bad taste. Secondly, after the interviews the show wanders around for “cute monster girls doing cute things” focus, that including the girls studying for the exams, enjoy reading old manga and swimming in the pool (really, we MUST have pooling episode in some ways). Those moments sure are cute and relaxing but they don’t really have much to say and it loses its steams by each passing episode. In fact, I don’t remember much what happens in those middle episodes because nothing really happened, nor mattered. Lastly, the new characters introduced in that period are unmemorable at best. The young boy and the detective adds little to the table, that Tetsuo’s scientist friend has no chemistry whatsoever with the cast, the human students don’t have much screen time to stand out and Hikari’s parents, while well-fleshed out, still remain underdeveloped. In fact, where is Himari in the second half of the show? It is a shame because she’s far more interesting than most of the core cast out there.

In the end, I’d only recommended the first 4 episodes and the last two, which would sum up to exactly half of its runtime. Except from its well-thought approach on the nature of the demon girls and the easy chemistry between our characters, the show leaves little impact and unfortunately, for me at least, the middle part really brings the show down to the point I feel it falls flatter and flatter as each episode passed. The last two episodes did regain some of its spirit but by then it was far too late. Still, I don’t deny that I have an easy time watching Demi-chan, it’s good to get sucked in their world and enjoy the band of demi-girls having fun times, but ultimately when it’s all done and gone I left without much personal attachments from any of this.

Seiren (Winter 2017) Review – 51/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario

Let me say this out front, Seiren is NOT a good show, it’s a highly uneven one. Throughout its run, I can see some solid moments and fresh ideas that could potentially raise it above the bar, but ultimately, view it as a whole, Seiren is a show that isn’t worth recommending. At first, I’m actually intrigued by the premise of the show: an omnibus format on the romance between our protagonist and each of the girl (3 of them this season). Ya know, a harem without an actual harem. For me personally, I’m dread at the concept of “the one” in romance, that there is one person who specifically for you, your “true love”. I always believe that having a romantic relationship with someone is a matter of meeting them at the right time in the right circumstances, of course with enough chemistry and efforts. So, for a show like this (and Amagami, I’ll get to that later), showing multiple possibilities one could’ve have to be in love with different girls is actually interesting and more realistic concept, at least for me. Moreover, with 4 episodes for each arc, it is a perfect length to flesh out the characters, heighten the chemistry before the romance itself drags out for too long. That was in theory anyways, because what we got instead is a show that bugged down by a very inconsistent plot progression, awkward pacing and weak writing in general.

It’s hard not compare this to Amagami so I will address this issue first. Although Seiren is an original show, it borrows the same concept, the same structure and even the same settings with the latter, so like it or not we have to see if this show is better than its inspiration or unique enough to stand out by its own. For the quality, Amagami is way better and way more focus, they understand the romance is their central point so everything they put is mainly to flesh out the relationship between the main character and any given girl. Each of the route starts and finishes around the same time period, making us feel strong connection between each arc. Moreover, Amagami works because it adapts its Sim-dating format really thoughtfully (okay, enough about Amagami, I won’t address it again. Promise). Seiren, being an original show, doesn’t really need to follow Amagami’s footstep because frankly, why stick to a game format when you have an ability to do something fresher? Seiren achieved it in a way, because after finishing the show I wouldn’t call it a ghost of its predecessor. It is its own thing, but in an inferior way.

The first issue here is the route, because honestly I can’t call it a route. Each arc happens in a different time period, and sometimes without the knowledge of the previous arc, you couldn’t follow the details in later arc (like Tatsuya, Shouichi’s friend, who has a fetish for rabbit). Worst of all, except for featuring the same stock of characters in the same school settings, the three arcs are vastly unrelated to each other, be it in themes, in the romance, even in characters themselves. For that I mean the characters change in personalities during each arc that it’s hard to consider them the same person. Take Shouichi best friend, Ikuo for example. In the first arc, he appears as Shouichi’s close childhood friend but he’s more academic, he’s more serious about his life and spends a lot of time for study. In the second arc however, the show betrays his nerd side by putting him to become a game-buddy with our main leads; and in the last part I wouldn’t consider them close friend at all (how can you call each other best friend when you have no idea the girl that Ikuo crushed for so long) and Ikuo acts like a love-struck Romeo. The only thing that consistent is the show’s weird fetish for deer, in which I find rather fascinating.

Then to the big elephant in a room, the writing and the progress of the plot are all over the place. In Seiren, I have a feeling that there are too many chefs in a kitchen, thus the result is a hot mess tomato syrup. Sometimes it wants to be a game-buddy show with exciting mecha fights (really!), sometimes it focuses on magical girl- passion only for later it drops that storyline to focus instead on the girl baking and enjoying Christmas party, then it remembers that it had to develop a romance so it puts the characters alone together. In addition, normally you know the writing of a show is inadequate when a side character shows up and you had to think for a few seconds to remember who that person is. Well, I have the same problem with this series. Like, who is that girl in swimming club again? From the poster, I supposed she’d be one of the harem but where are the other two girls then? They might be around somewhere but at this point I lose all the interest to find out who they are. And not even characters, but the plots development as well. Let’s see, why Seiren keeps focusing on Hikari’s best friend backstabbing her subplot and then kind of drop it off all together? Why the subplot of the Student Council President (oh, my bad, it’s Public Morals Committee) forced the Home ec Club to build a Christmas tree? There were like dozen subplots in one arc without any proper development that it feels just like having a dream. I bet in few months all we can remember is the main plot points and some fragments here and there but we totally forget everything else.

But the show is not without its charms, mind you. First thing I should mention is the hilarious dialogues that bother self-satire, that actually make the show ridiculous and funny at certain points. Line like “Sorry, do you mind if I feed my deer” in a middle of a café date with deadpan delivery is something to behold. While the main male protagonist is plain, I like the all three girls Hikari (no, not the vampire), Toru and Kyouko (no, not the dullahan. What’s up with this show and Demi-chan?) and they are interesting and diverse enough to carry the show by themselves majority of the time (my favorite girl: Hikari). Lastly, I enjoyed the epilogue parts of each arc because I think it’s one of the rare cases where the randomness in details work in their favors. Watching Shouichi become a chief, a school bus driver (haha) or a magical girl mangaka is both hilarious, but also remind us the endless possibilities of our own future.

The technical aspect of the show is nothing to write home about, although it fulfills its jobs. There are some moments, most notably, during the “kiss in a beach” scene, where the visual and sound really elevate the whole sequence. Other time, the show did a decent job of choreographing an action mecha fight and the character designs, while attractive in general, sometimes I do feel like I was looking at fake wax statues (weird huh?). I think it mostly have to do with the character’s eyes, sometimes they just kind of staring too long without any emotion attached.

It’s note repeating that for my score, I consider 60 as recommendation line; as such Seiren falls short. The inconsistent in plots and sometimes in characters themselves are its most drawbacks. It’s a pity because I can see many of its plots have a potential to become a solid offering, but when they jam up everything they can think of together, the result is a half-baked resolution to most of its plots. If there will ever be a second season (come on, there are 3 more girls), I’m not exactly sure if I still care to watch it. At the end of the day, Seiren is a misfire romance show, it had potential to be a much better show, but all it need is to settle in some major plot points and develop them properly. To put it more precisely, Seiren lacks a sucker punch.

Scum’s Wish – 11 [A Kind God]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Scum's Wish

It’s strange, for a show that almost certainly make viewers furious one way or another, be it totally love it or hate it; I remain indifferent for last couple of episode. The thing is, I can’t ship this Akane – Narumi relationship, because I’ve witnessed this kind of relationship in real life before and it just didn’t work out. Contrasting personalities can attract each other, sure, but they still have to share the same basic fundamental of mutual understanding. I’m sure Akane and that robotic sensei have different sets of value about commitment, and until they can sort out that gap, marriage proposal is out of question. Furthermore, to what extent should we love and accept a person the way they are? The only one-sided, unconditional love that work is the love of the parents towards their child (I love a line in Xavier Dolan’s movie“Mommy”, in which a Mom talks to her son- “The only thing that’s gonna happen… is I’ll love you more and more. And you’ll be the one loving me less and less, but… Life works that way.”). Love as a couple means you love and expect the other to love you and have a moral obligation to behave correctly towards each other as well. How will he react if Akane is going to stay true to herself and f* anything that moves? Accept it means he assists her to her own destruction but reject it means he doesn’t accept her they way she is.

Therefore, it’s important to know what Akane’s feel about this relationship, and I actually can see why Akane attracts to Harumi. For all her love life, she has been a man’s sexual desire. She’s in the centerstage, demand all the men’s attention and enjoying their possessiveness and their jealousy over her. For Akane, it’s the proof of her worthiness. But Harumi cares none of that so that order is thrown out of the window and she suddenly feels confused and wants his approval. His very perspective of love- he’s fine if she screws around because she likes it- eventually reaches to Akane, shattered all the gallery of previous relationships (great visual metaphor here, although I still don’t understand why the young Akame again?), and makes her feel connected. As I said above, I don’t think this love will last and marriage proposal is way too fast for this relationship.

I’m glad the show doesn’t tackle this, instead just hints very slightly this episode; but at one time I thought they made Harumi lose his glasses so that he sees Akane reminds him again of his lost mother. Because if it is then I really question if Harumi really love/care/know Akane enough to live with her for the rest of his life. Akane herself doesn’t sure if it works out either, but the mere fact that she wanted to change is good enough. Also, credit where credit is due, although you know I believe he’s the worst-written character out of this show, I need to praise Takuya’s appearance in this episode (yep, he was in this episode, sobbing when he found out that Akane was cheating on him), because seeing the brief moments of him hurting by that love, I can feel the way his pure love is broken and a glimpse on how he becomes the way he is now. That is a sensitive storytelling.

Akane accepting Harumi also means the rejection for our boy Mugi. For the first time since forever, they have a date but it’s just purely a date, you know, no love hotel. Akane enjoys herself and then firmly rejects Mugi. When you think about it, it’s actually very thoughtful of her (I guess because she actually cares for Mugi) that she cuts that relationship clear and clean so Mugi can be able to move on. Like a protagonist in 500 Days of Summer (gosh, what’s with all the movies’ references today Mario!!!), he learned that people can actually change, but it’s always someone other than him; he has no real influence on her decision. Now, it’s important that he remembers this so that he can grow after this pain. “If it’s a special kind of pain, they’ll be able to become stronger”. Indeed. If there’s a central message to all of our tainted love threads, it’s that line. Now, it’s only Hanabi and Mugi left on stage for the finale (it feels so long without Hanabi), the real question is if they mature enough now to actually be together? I don’t really mind how the result might turn out, but I do think they deserve some happiness after all the troubles they have been through.

Little Witch Academia – 11[Blue Moon]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

I don’t mind the lighthearted shenanigans of Little Witch Academia but in my opinion it’s episodes like this that will truly make the show memorable. After ten episodes of mere hints as to the state of magic and it’s history we get a truckload of answers. Why is magic being considered antiquated? Because magic is declining and less witches are being born into the world. What is Ursula’s past? Much like Akko, she chased after her own Icon in the form of professor Woodward, one of the great witches. What is the plot of Little Witch Academia? Akko must activate the magic words of Shiny rod(Claiomh Solais) and bring back magic to the world. As it stands Akko has activated two of the words, strangely the spell she said in the second episode doesn’t seem to count. We even get a small glimpse of an antagonist and strangely it wasn’t the horned woman who turned out to be Professor Woodward. It’s nice to see Ursula get some development though rather silly that Akko is too oblivious to notice her connections to Shiny Chariot. Even the Bird in Ursula’s room should have been a massive giveaway. Though perhaps I don’t give her enough credit as in her dream it showed at first Ursula from behind before switching to Chariot while repeating Ursula’s words. At least on a subconscious level, I think she’s beginning to catch on. Either way, with a task given to her by Woodward I think Ursula is going to buckle down on Akko’s training. If so I hope they go further with the bond the two have in this master student relationship.

Can I just say just how refreshing it is to see anime make references to Irish Mythology? I admit that as an Irishman I am biased in that regard but it’s just so refreshing to see something referenced that isn’t bloody leprechauns. Today we know the real name of Shiny rod and that is Claiomh Solais which strangely enough translated to “Shining Sword”. Considering that it has the ability to transform into a bow and an axe I say that it is highly likely that it also has the ability to transform into a sword. I also really loved the celtic theme that played when Ursula was talking to Woodward. Quite marvelous. This episode was a bit of a retread of the fountain of polaris as Akko once again seeks out something detailed in her Shiny Chariot cards. Though with the fountain she was seeking a quick path to becoming a great witch, here she is just trying to see if she has the potential to become Shiny Chariot. While the reason for seeking it out is different, the lesson is more or less the same. In a way it’s sort of regression that Akko needs to learn that there are no shortcuts for her a second time. It is understandable that she is losing patience with her constant failures with magic though she has made progress. The weakest part of this episode was the choice that Akko was presented as giving up her past in exchange for being Shiny Chariot was out of the question from the start. There was no tension in the choice because the choice was obvious. Otherwise I consider this a great episode of the show and one it sorely needed at this point.

My biggest worry at the moment is that with the story laid out this will mean we return to the more episodic nature of previous episodes. After this development I don’t think people would have the patience for the show to sideline it so that we can see Akko have some  one off adventure with little consequence. One of the things that could suggest this return is that while Sucy and Lotte have gotten their own individual episodes, there’s still Amanda and her whole crew that have yet to get the spotlight. Not saying I wouldn’t want an Amanda or Constance episode but if we are going to get one I would wish it would push forward some kind of plot. Diana may have gotten a large amount of screentime but I feel she has become a Mary Sue with the antagonistic aspects of her removed. I originally applauded this change as I thought this would put more focus on her contrast with Akko but unfortunately she just has been disconnected with the stories so far. So in order for this show to really shine we need Akko to work towards finding these words while developing the side cast of characters. One last thing, was Sucy meditating at the start of the episode? That’s a pretty interesting detail.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 24

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

When I started this season of Rakugo I was under the impression that this would be Konatsu’s and Yotaro’s story seeing as Yakumo’s had reached it’s end. However to my dismay it appeared that halfway through the season Yakumo has hijacked the series. I previously stated that the story of Rakugo has already ended with the last episode and nowhere is this more apparent than this episode. In a rather odd supernatural twist this episode took place entirely in the afterlife with Yakumo meeting Sukeroku and Miyokichi. Overall this episode confirmed one thing, that Yakumo is 100% dead and unfortunately after the previous fake out’s I don’t have any real strong feelings about that. I love the guy for sure but him dying has essentially been the only story going for the last couple of episodes. I don’t think removing this episode would have a major impact on the series and in some cases it would be a good thing seeing as this episode makes it out that the ghost apparitions Yakumo was seeing were indeed real. This show has always been fairly grounded in reality so it’s odd that I now know everything about the afterlife of this world. Of course you could write it off as some sort of fever dream before Yakumo died but in that case it would make this episode a rather sad delusion of his subconscious absolving him of guilt.

From what I see this episode hit a lot of people hard as it certainly was pushing for the so called “feels”. Being the heartless monster I am, I found myself rather unmoved. I will admit to having a soft fuzzy feeling when Yakumo and Sukeroku did a pinky promise on the river zanza but I think this episode was trying a little too hard to that effect. Having Masuda show up as Yakumo’s boatman was an outright sign for “Cry now please” I can’t say I hated this episode but I also can’t deny what it is. Pointless. None of this was really needed and I actually really hate that they tried to explain away Sukeroku’s stabbing as a joke that turned into a horrible accident. Oh she used to wave around a knife and just so happened to trip…bullshit. Where the hell did the knife come from in that hotel room? In a way it sort of cheapens the whole tragedy by showing the two in the afterlife as it makes their death have far less gravitas. Looking back at the first season there won’t be any real emotion in that scene anymore because here they are laughing it up in the afterlife.

That just really bugs me. I am somewhat reminded of the ending of Infinite Regius which attempted to turn the horrible experience the children went through into some fondly loved adventure. It paints the suffering the characters went through as something minor and insignificant. Yakumo gets his emotional sendoff but none of the emotional drama over death has any real meaning anymore. Makes Yakumo’s suicidal thoughts seem almost comical with him getting all worked up over death when it was his big afterlife surprise party I must reiterate that I didn’t hate this episode and still enjoyed it but this show truly has run out of steam. I honestly think it would have been better off giving Rakugo a ten episode run and giving the remaining episodes over to KonoSuba which could have made much more out of them. Next episode has us seeing Yotaro’s and Konatsu’s children grown up and I find myself not really caring all that much. The extended epilogue continues when the majority of the cast has left the stage.

Saga of Tanya the Evil – 10[Path to Victory]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Saga of Tanya the Evil

What am I to say when the majority of the episode is detailing a military operation? I admit that content has become spare in this series as of late and the Tanya vs God battle has more or less been pushed to the sideline. Tanya had one moment here where it looked like her mission could be a bust but thankfully, her subordinates hits gold. There is a certain joy in seeing a plan come together and this plan had echoes of Hannibal’s tactics during the famous battle of Cannae where he managed to surround a far larger army on all sides and rendered their numbers meaningless. We get a small glimpse of the politics of the empire and it’s clear that the army holds significant sway in decisions. They tried to use the retreat as a means of criticising the army’s leadership, only to have the military succeed and render them all silenced. In a way, Zetter’s genius is scary as the man not only won a war but used that victory as a means of retaining political dominance and shut down criticism of the military. As it is now, I would say that the Empire is only a mere facade of democracy and has become a full blown dictatorship.

Anson returns with a bang as he shoots down Grandz. I have my doubts that he’s actually dead as I didn’t see any blood but this does confirm that Anson is the endboss of this series and I more than welcome someone who could make Tanya try for once. The end credits scene shows why Grandz looked rather awkward when Tanya commented if anyone did anything to Viktoriya. If you wanted to look deeper into it you could theorise a level of indoctrination with Tanya’s men as Viktoriya follows her orders to kill even within her dreams. There are rumors that this show will actually be two cours which I find dubious considering that this episode was delayed as well as the clear production troubles the studio has been having. I would most certainly welcome two cours but if it was going to be the case, I would prefer it to be a split cour so the studio can lick it’s wounds. Former madhouse staff or not, this is still their first production as Studio Nut and the last thing we need is them burning themselves out.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 11 [Furawau’s Flowers Smell of Malice]

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Currently Watching:

Really ACCA? Only one episode left and you’re still in set-up stage, with the coup is lingering in the air, but never comes in real form. In fact, ACCA is a series about setting up. Its deliberate pacing can really test the viewer’s’ patience, and I totally understand if most of you have fallen out with it; but really, ACCA’s getting better by each passing episode. Many plot threads start to come together, and this week we have a major plot development: Jean decided to go along with the Lilium’s plan, which is the worst decision ever. Lilium, in a very definition of true villain archetype, already behaves in a victory-mode for a successful coup, although there isn’t any coup yet (sorry honey, I have to see it first to know if it exists) and starts mapping out his evil plan OUT LOUD for the one person who is capable of changing the situation. I guess this is more of overconfident issue but boy, when you do that I know immediately that the plan is going to fail, hard. And does he really think he can control and manipulate Jean, of all people? Bull. I don’t even think Jean will take the reign. Heck, I don’t even think the coup is going to happen at all. But I do think he plans to put certain someone to the spot instead of himself. He raises that argument when he meets up with Lilium, saying that as long as the next throne isn’t the Prince, he doesn’t really interested to take control the kingdom. So logically, who is the person that Jean would place his bet on knowing that the person can take good care for both ACCA, the people and the kingdom? Of course, it’s Grossular.

But Grossular still has some issues with Lilium. I still wonder why Lilium holds much control over Grossular. I still think Lilium holds a certain secret that Grossular doesn’t want to spread out, but what secret would that be? How is this centenary going to play out next week? I originally thought Qualms the Privy Council President is involved, but based on how limited time he had (if at all), I think the main players for this centenary is going to be Jean, Lilium and the Prince. But then, how’s about Abend? Will he has any role at all in the end? Damn ACCA, you better tie up all loose ends next week.

Nino is finally back and is immediately got shot down, literally. But this is where I find the plot pretty much implausible, for you see it would be much easier (and less dramatic) to just follow those assassins and knock them down before they were going to shoot. Why following them and then run all the way to Jean to shield the bullets? And really, the way the show handles the thriller part is very uneven. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the chemistry between Jean and Nino and I could feel Jean’s emotion stirring up when he talks about Nino’s objective in life. He deeply cares for his friend Nino. Another interesting fact is that Nino’s supervisor doesn’t allow Nino to come to Furawau, and for now my guess is that the supervisor doesn’t want Nino to pry into Lilium’s family, maybe for the sake of Jean and Lotte’s safety. (or just simply because he doesn’t want Nino to catch hay fever. A nasty sickness).

It’s otherwise great to see all the ACC representatives from each district come all over in one place. We saw all of them but many of them don’t have much screentime or that memorable before, but you can sense a very natural easy-going chemistry between them (they obviously know each other well before) and how they can still carry the characteristics of the district they’re currently in. I don’t get why the show spend so much time for Eider’s romance but it’s certainly fun to watch. One thing I find the most interesting was the two ACCA representatives from 2 poorest districts, Warbler and Rocksterra (from Suitsu and Pranetta, respectively) are the ones who actually sense something wrong about following up the coup. They come from the poorest and hardest districts, meaning that they, of all people, should be happy for a wind of change. But quite the contrary, they know that each district has their own voices, and they see far greater benefits under the Dowa Kingdom; even the Prince will be unlikely to break much rules, and those are all valid arguments but they must be very dissatisfied with the Prince (or current Royal system) to the extent that all the 13 districts vote for Jean. Jean did mention that everything need a final push now, what would that be? With only a finale of 20 minutes left and plenty of possibilities next week, I really hope the show can wrap things up in a most satisfying way. You won’t disappoint me, will you, ACCA?

3-gatsu no Lion – 22 [New School Term – Fighter]

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

We get to an end of 3-gatsu run but it feels more like a new beginning. Like what I feared last week the last episode doesn’t really have a conclusive ending, instead offers us the new semester of Rei and his childhood and his shogi, which in all fairness are the weaker parts of 3-gatsu. In part I understand it’s tricky to make a conclusive ending point when you’re in the middle of the story, especially for a slice-of-life drama like this one, and the series does attempt to bring some out of order material to shows us how Rei has maturing up to that point. Fortunate for us, they greenlighted the second season which will air in this Fall season (I will be there blogging) so I’m not that dread over this “ending”; but they totally could turn last-week episode into the final episode and I’d be completely content with it. Okay, I’m done rambling now so let see what this episode has offered us.

Rei starts a new semester and again he finds himself unable to make new friends. Hayashida-sensei (becoming my favorite teacher that is) suggests him to form a shogi club, so that Rei can make new friends and he can still be Rei’s adviser. In all honesty, I would love to see his shogi club instead of the “shogi science club” and I find that students have zero interest in the old game kind of stretching it a bit (I’d join myself, especially if I know a professional player is the club president). But the merging of the club make sense narratively: if you want result, you need to take action. Rei still wants to go back to study because he wants the feeling of not running away, and lately he actually enjoys himself a bit more so I’m sure joining with those guys will be a great experience for him. Also, Noguchi’s moustache is great.

While this first half is generally light-hearted, the second half delves into Rei’s personal problems from way back: the feeling of a lone wolf that doesn’t feel belong to anywhere and scare that the sit next to him will forever be empty. That little trip in his childhood underlines his loneliness. He hides himself from everyone and eating bento all alone, looking at the ants and reading shogi all by himself. There’s also a sad feeling concerning his childhood, so he devotes himself to shogi. With him, shogi is not only the place to belong, but also the place that offers him his companions, offers him the seat where he knows for sure would be taken by his opponents. Then we have a metaphor of he’s riding a train of shogi, with all the shogi players tagging along into the great shiny shogi paradise. But here lies an interesting bit, the show has constantly showed us that the path of shogi is a path that people keeps wandering ahead in the wasteland-like, lonely and suffered; here we have the totally opposite visual metaphor. I guess it just depends on perspective, on how you choose to look at it huh?

In the end, I still have plenty of good time with this episode but it isn’t among its great ones, let alone be worthy enough to be a final episode of this season. I mean, there’s no three sisters, no Kyouko, even no shogi match this week. Normally I would give the show a proper full review, but since it’s confirmed that we will have a second season, plus the fact that I believe with this kind of story we’re better reviewing it as a complete story, I will hold off my full review for now. Overall, I still believe Shaft did a great job of adapting it, and while the shows still have some tonal issues and problems of adapting too faithfully to the source material, the show really shines whenever it digs deep to the characters and fleshes out their relationships. Rarely a show can write characters that deep and heartfelt so I feel overall pleased that we have the next season to look for. Until then.