Tag: anime

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 2 [Bucket List of the Dead]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Welcome all, to the last of the new shows I will be covering this season: Zom 100! I couldn’t let it go by without talking about it, so here I am, once again taking to many shows in a season. So without further ado, let’s jump into it!

Starting off, as far as how it compares to it’s premier, I think this episode of Zom 100 is a bit of a step down. And that’s fine! Zom 100’s premier was fantastic, with some very strong visual story telling and some very striking imagery. It’s the kind of premier meant to hook you early. And it’s not like this episode looked bad either. There was some nice animation, nice shots, good story telling. It just didn’t “wow” me the same way, you know? Part of that is no doubt due to just how energetic Zom 100’s premier was, going from a dull office day job to literally blowing out the black wide-screen bars in joy at the zombie apocalypse. That kind of shit was always going to be hard to match. But I think it also had to do a bit with the episodes subject.

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Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 2 [Hidden Inventory 2]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome back everyone, to another season of Jujutsu Kaisen! This shouldn’t come as a surprise, we all knew it was coming and you all know I like to try and cover sequels when I can. What is a surprise though is just how positive I am on it, as I ended Season 1 with some concerns. Why am I so positive on it? Well let’s jump right in and talk about that!

Starting with the production, it should come as no surprise that Jujutsu Kaisen looks pretty good, on basically every level. The animation is fun, whether it be character expressions or battle sequences, the direction feels nice with good use of visual metaphors, such as basically any scene with Fushiguro in it. We haven’t gotten anything particularly incredible yet, nothing that breaks the bank or makes you go “Wow”, but overall I think it’s solid. Definitely above your average “Shot-reverse-shot” anime production. If I’m being honest though, I’m not really all that concerned about this? Jujutsu Kaisen is MAPPA’s Golden Goose, they aren’t going to leave it out to dry. We will get some fantastically animated action scenes. We will also, probably, get some questionable composites and schedule crunch just like we did with Season 1. Will that stop me from enjoying the right though? Not really. And here’s why.

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Undead Murder Farce – 2 [Vampire]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Undead Murder Farce

Welcome all, to the first new show of the summer season: Undead Murder Farce! This is a fun one, the moment I saw it I knew I wanted to write about. It was just such a surprise that I had to do it. So without further ado, lets dive in!

First up, overall Undead Murder Farce looked pretty good this week. There were a lot of strong choices, from interesting shots and small facial/character ticks to some nice shading. After the premier this isn’t very surprising. However there was one thing that stood out to me, and not positively: The pixelated greenscreen effects. I don’t know if this was meant to look cheap, if that was the effect they were going for, but they really just looked like a complete and total failure of compositing. Like they were done by an intern on short notice or something. It’s really rather ugly in my opinion, and ruins a couple of otherwise decent shots. A shame in what is otherwise a pretty decent looking episode I feel.

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 21/22/23/24 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to the halfway point for Kemono no Souja Erin! We have a lot to talk about, this was an eventful week. So let’s just jump right into it!

First up before we get to the good stuff I want to talk about something Erin does a lot that I’m honestly not a big fan of: Flashbacks. Erin has a lot of them. So many in fact that I often feel like it doesn’t trust us, the viewer, to remember anything. I’m talking about how half an episode will be filled reminding us about Erin’s time with Jone, or about what she saw with the wild Beast-Lords. On some level I understand this, the show aired in a timeslot for children. On top of that the way we are watching it, 4 episodes a week, is much faster than when it originally aired. Even with those however, I often see the same flashback either in back to back episodes or twice in the same episode. And that’s just… Insulting? Unnecessary? Wasting time? It doesn’t feel good that’s for sure.

Ultimately this isn’t a huge issue, Erin is still good and the flashbacks are always relevant to what is happening on screen. I just wish it would show a bit more restraint with them, that it would trust the viewer to remember what has happened a bit more. With that done, on to the episodes!

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 17/18/19/20- Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to week 5 of Erin! Apologies for the lateness of this, it’s been a really rough week for me and I just didn’t have the drive to get this prepped ahead of time. Hopefully next week will be better. Regardless, what do you say we put that bullshit behind us and just jump right into it huh?

First up we have episode 17, “The Targeted Queen”. This episode doesn’t really involve, or concern, Jone and Erin that much. Instead it primarily serves to educate us on the current state of the countries politics after the 4 year time skip. Teaching us about the Saigamaru, people who believe the Duke should be King and rule both parts of the country, other dissident elements within the country. How much of the nation is trending towards inaction, not taking them seriously as a threat. All the while Shunan is trying to change the country and Ngan is falling right into their trap. It’s all pretty interesting stuff. Erin is setting up its late-game narrative well, and I like how early/consistently it’s been doing it. My big question at the moment though is how it’s going to fit Erin into everything.

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Vinland Saga S2 Anime Review – 92/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama, Reviews by Lenlo, Vinland Saga

The last time a seasonal anime impressed me, affected me, this much was 2018’s Run With the Wind. Not because of any surface level similarities, one is about kids in college running track and this is about Vikings and farming. Rather it’s because of their similar themes of finding oneself, of accepting who you were and resolving to be better, of just taking that next step regardless of how hard it seems. Upon hearing that it should then, for those that know me or have looked at my previous reviews, come as no surprise that I absolutely loved this season of Vinland Saga. Directed once again by Shuuhei Yabuta, his 2nd ever directorial credit, and this time animated by Studio MAPPA, Vinland Saga returns to once again dominate its season. But this time it does so with plows, not swords, sweat rather than blood, and wheat instead of arrows.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Vinland Saga Seasons 1 and 2. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 Anime Review – 92/100” →

Kemono no Souja Erin – 13/14/15/16 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to week 4 of Kemono no Souja Erin! This week sees our next paradigm shift for the series as Erin grows up and we shift to a new part of the country. What does this mean for Erin and the show? Well lets dive in and find out!

Getting right into it, first up is episode 13, “The Valley of the Beast Lord”. Initially this seemed like just another “Jone and Erin hanging out” episode. One where Erin learns a bit more from Jone, more setup and prep before the inevitable school arc, all that stuff. And because of that I, at least at first, wasn’t particularly interested in it. Not because it was bad per se, more because I wasn’t really looking for another “They get closer” thing. As the episode progressed though this started to change a bit. Rather then Jone learning to trust Erin as a capable individual because of some small “take care of the house” thing, it became a full on “Save his life” event, evening the scales for him saving her and allowing them continue as equals in the relationship. And that’s not even the half of it!

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 9/10/11/12 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kemono no Souja Erin, Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to week 3 of Kemono no Souja Erin! This week continues our time with Jone, teaches us a bit more about honey bees, and drops some politics on us before tossing our next big plot-hook at us. We have a fair bit to talk about this week, so lets dive into it!

First we have episode 9, “Honey and Erin”. This one was a whole lot of Erin learning about her new home, about bees, and what Jone does. Getting to know him, getting acquainted with the house, learning about his way of life. Basically last episode she was still reeling from losing her mother, this episode she starts adapting to her new circumstances. That doesn’t mean that Soyon is in the past, Erin still spends a decent amount of time reflecting on her. Whether it be a comment from Jone that makes Erin think of her or something else that triggers a memory, Soyon is still going to be important for a while moving forward it seems. And that’s good! Losing a parent like this should be a pivotal moment in a kids life. It’s only a problem if the show wallows in it, which Erin doesn’t appear to be doing.

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Vinland Saga S2 – 24 [Home]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Vinland Saga

Welcome all, to the final episode of Vinland Saga Season 2! I won’t call this the grand finale, as that was last week. This one is more like an epilogue, the wrapping up of loose ends and a look towards the future. It’s a pleasant, happy ending to a story filled with loss and war. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now lets dive in!

All things considered, this was a rather quiet episode of Vinland Saga. A nice and relaxing one after the last couple that were emotional climax after emotional climax. As I said in the intro, in a lot of ways this feels more like an epilogue then it does a finale. And personally? I like that. It makes the season feel… Final. As if, assuming we never get a season 3 adapting more of the manga, we have gotten a complete story. And I think that’s a really good thing. A show shouldn’t end saying “But wait there’s more and you’ll have to wait to see it”. It should end in way that, if the next season never gets greenlit, we can feel satisfied. And with the way Vinland Saga tied it all back to season 1? I think it did just that.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 11 [A Connected Bond:Daybreak and First Light]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to the double-length grand finale for Season 3 of Kimetsu no Yaiba! With double the runtime we have a fair amount to talk about this week, so lets jump right in!

Starting off my immediate question is: Did this need to be double length? Did it really? Personally, I would say no. Cut out a lot of the more useless flashbacks, the last minute tricks, the extended back and forth’s, this could easily have been a single episode. The only reason to make this a double feature is to add a bit of weight. That said, as far as endings go… This ain’t bad. In fact it’s better then I was expecting. We got a nice visual/setting change as the sun came up, a shocking amount of legitimately emotional gravitas, the first in the season, and some actually decent comedy. As far as endings go, this is more then the season deserved. At least until Yaiba managed to shoot itself in the foot. Again.

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