Tag: episode 2

Sakura Quest – 02 [The Gathering of the Five Champions]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sakura Quest

I’ll be honest, I’m digging this tale about the attempted runaway queen that ends up selling sweets in a self-made stand. Sakura Quest is a third of a loose trilogy from PA Works about characters and their specific jobs, after Hanasaku Iroha (about hot spring inn) and the heavyweight Shirobako (about anime industry) which are more adult-oriented than our typical anime field. This week runs more like the first trial for our Queen Yoshino as she has to sell 1000 boxes “Chupakabura manju” sweets, which ultimately failed. But of course, she’s having fun in a process and all of our primary cast is gathered to make the selling project altogether. It’s great fun to see those girls pour the hearts and passions for the work. Sakura Quest maintains its nice pace and firm gasp on small moments with great eyes for details and absurd humor.

After finding out about one year contract, meaning, she has to stuck in rural town Manoyama town for an entire year; Yoshino understandably freaks out and wants to escape the place as quickly as possible. But the old man Kadota gives her a first mission: to sell of those sweet boxes that he placed a wrong order (haha, this guy). So comes her first quest of gathering all the necessary people, meeting up the locals and running a website to promote the sweets. Only in 2 episodes this little town already has a warm and live-in atmosphere, and those locals already feel like my actual neighbors. There’s a diner store which do fortune-telling on a side. There’s the bus driver, the cranky old woman who hates tourism board, the cowboy blonde guy who plays harmonica (he actually doesn’t fit with the rest of the cast). This little town is not unlike any other small town, but it breathes so much refreshing air.

In order to sell that huge amount of sweets, the girls figure out the way of promoting it: making a fancyccult website. 0 products sold. Then the Queen will shake hands with the commoner. 3 sold by Shiori’s family members. Then putting an advertising video. 1 more sold. That’s it, they have no merchant skill at all. I have a good laugh with the absurdity of the video, but it’s well made, I totally sold to buy it. At the end of the week, all the girls just sit there and enjoy the expired sweets, while reflecting that the last week was indeed FUN.

The five champions, as the show put it, have their own personalities and while they’re not that flesh out yet, their interactions to each other are gold. Apart from Yoshino the running Queen who is energetic, we have the local members of Shiori (soft-spoken sweetheart) and Ririko (the typical dandere quiet, monotone shy girl. Still, her shifting glance is awesomely animated) and the girls from big city Sanae (who becoming anti-social when moving to this rural life; she’s sadly my least favorite character so far) and Maki (my favorite character, a no-nonsense local celebrity who appears in a popular series- as an unknown side character). All of them have different jobs and different characteristics, but that exactly why they can bring such great chemistry together.

The more serious theme for this episode, however, lies in the allure of big city versus quiet rural town. Yashino loves to live in big city Tokyo because it provides more job opportunities and it basically has everything. But nothing in particular. I guess this is the attitude from most of young people out there: going to the big city, getting the fine job and settling down there. But as Yashino finds out, putting a foot into that world isn’t easy with countless interviews without single job offer, but here in Manoyama she is given an opportunity. Sakura Quest presents an alternative mindset regarding that: “Doesn’t matter where you go, with the right attitude you can find a place for yourself anywhere”. That is a solid advice if you ask me. Sakura Quest is an energetic dose of anime that I’m gladly welcomed to my life right now. Long live the Queen!

Tsuki ga Kirei – 02 [A Handful of Sand]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Tsuki ga Kirei

Tsuki ga Kirei, or “as the moon, so beautiful.” as English title (a famous Japanese way to say “I Love You”), is your very definition of a slice-of-life romance show. Tsuki ga Kirei pays exclusive attention to the atmosphere, the small moments and characters’ reactions, while main plot and dramatic tension taken a back seat. It’s adorable, yes, not in the way cute girls doing cute things behave, but in its realistic approach to that innocent, awkward stage of our life – when, you know, it still matters a whole lot when you receive a text from the person you like, or getting nervous before the match in a sports festival. This week, the show spends an entire episode detailing a day of our characters participating in a said sports festival. We get to know more about the supporting casts and we also follow Kotaro in his house before and after the festival, and we have more cute moments for our duo Kotaro and Akane. This is a solid Tsuki ga Kirei episode so far.

As typically a bookish type person, Kotaro also loves to write. He’s a bit shy and defensive though, never let anyone to read his works, or in his everyday life, doesn’t let his mom to come for the festival. It would be embarrassed to fail, after all. This whole sports event where both our duo would get really clumsy and embarrassing, one fell hard while running, the other dropped the baton that lead to the loss of the team. But the show does a great job to not overplay those embarrassing moments and present them like normal situations. Because they are. Other shows tend to make a big deal out of character’s issues, to the point those moments can really affect the mood of the festival. Not here. The main emphasis, after all, is entirely fixated on characters’ passing feeling than any conflict, like how the show concentrates on Akane’s insecureness towards losing her potato plushy (is that really a POTATO?), instead of how she’s messing up because of that. I also like how sometimes the show would focus on Kotaro looking at body parts (either by accident or by his friends’ suggestion) of the girls without any sexual tension, in an awkward innocent not pervertly way.

This episode introduces us to the other two members of the cast, Chinatsu and Takumi. Although I enjoy the easy-going antics of Chinatsu and her moment with Korato in a medical room, especially her lousy treatment to Kotaro really speaks to that carefree side of her, the guy Takumi just tries so hard to impress Akane. From the look of it, those two are set up to be romantic rivalries to our main couple and if that’s the case then I ain’t particularly fond with it. I like to see them as real people, not the obstacles the leads have to pass to be with each other so I hope the show understands that. Tone down the romance, play up the slice-of-life aspect. I also enjoy Roman and his straightforward crush for sensei, kudos the show for make it subtly by showing it rather than screaming it aloud for the world to hear like other shows. Speaking of Roman’s crush, the shorts about various romance after the credit were a nice touch, both fleshing out a bit of our side characters, and taking more edgy side to this so far bright, pure-white world. But it’s real as well, at this stage of their life many starts to behave more grown-up, while others still act like a kid, this show really understands that.

And in the end, it’s so warm seeing the two helping each other out, texting to each other and Korato grows up a bit in the process (he’s still embarrassed to show his writing to others, but decided to show it because he’s passionate about writing). This show is adorable, but the “adorable” part is what I’m worrying about. So far, its adorableness comes from the show’s realistic portrayal of first love, and the sweet, light moments of preteen life. If they play up the cuteness, the show will become nothing more than another “cute characters show” and it will lose its sparks immediately. Two episodes in, Tsuki ga Kirei proves to be one of the most true-to-life representation of what 14-years-old kid life is about. This show is standing strong.

Scum’s Wish – 02 [I’m here for that warmth]

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

Welcome to the roller coaster of the emotional manipulative anime of this season, are you with me on this ride? Scum’s Wish has the exact opposite issues with ACCA in that it tries to overwhelm us with lots of raw feelings that sometime it touches the line of manipulation. This episode, fortunately, still pretty much gets away with that problem, but at the same time I’m not satisfy with it. In my first impression, I have mentioned that the show explores two interconnected themes, first is the hard truth about one-sided love and keep pressing their heads into thick wall (which I kinda have mixed feeling) and the second theme is about sharing the pain together through physical and destructive relationship (which I find myself really invested in). Unfortunately, with the introductions of those “third-girls” from our mains – themselves a third person on their own love –the story heads itself towards the former and pretty signals that things will go pretty heavy and unsatisfied later on.

As I said earlier, to make things even harder to unknot, we are introduced with the new threads of this web’s relationship, Moca and Ecchan, the person who secretly love Mugi and Hanabi, respectively. These are as doomed a relationship as you would get, but it’s actually interesting to see how similar yet different those two hopeless obsessions progress. Both are described as childhood crush (which actually the same with the mains), but while Moca’s crush towards Mugi is framed as childish and somewhat light in tone, Ecchan secret love towards Hanabi is framed as sort of hidden and forbidden love. While Moca is always very vocal about her love, Ecchan’s love is silent and concealed. Hanabi actually sees through all the efforts Moca’s trying to make to pull Mugi off her, thus she harshly shrugs the girl off. As Hana says it to Moca, as much to herself; “Don’t go around clinging for what aren’t yours”; it’s never fun to see your ugly sides through the mirror. Well, as for Ecchan, I give it a point for how the show actually portraits a yuri crush, a love from a girl to another girl that feel realistic and true to life.

The show doesn’t give us much the actual relationship between Mugi and Hanabi in this episode, but when it does, it’s still remarkable and brings the emotions forward. They rely on each other physically in order to take away their pain and frustration towards their true love, and in one of flashback of Mugi there was another blond, short hair girl who seem to sexually abused him before? I’m not really sure but if that’s the case then… *smirk* bring it on. Talking about remarkable, I’m very impressed by the ED of Scum’s Wish that is done in the style of the Rorschach inkblot test and is very risqué in presentation that very, very fitting to the provocative nature of the series. It might be just me but I see this ED full of female private parts, naked characters (because those feelings are pretty much naked too) and the music really brings the melancholy tones home. Good stuff.

But on the other spectrum, in terms of story, even with its already complex web of doomed relationships, the show still feels the need to cram in a side love story from Hanabi’s friends asking for her advice on which boys she should pick. I get the point of this little story that meant to point out that her friend’s love isn’t true love at all, but I can’t help but feel that side story is totally unnecessary. Those relationships are already complicated as it is, there is no need to stuff in more doomed love from someone else’s. All in all, this is the direction that I’m a bit worry whether the show can pull it off. Now that all the main characters are introduced let see how they manage to use them to full potential. I’m pretty much in for a ride anyways so come at me with all you got Scum’s Wish.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 02 [The Partner in Crime’s Name is Nino]

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

I admit that although I think ACCA is one the most solid show this season and I in particular like how they set up the settings and the events to come, the first two episodes didn’t grab me that much personally. As a result, in prepare for this post, I went ahead and watching them again, and I picked up a fair amount of new details this time and the show did grow a bit on me. Many of our characters seem to have hidden agenda, heck, nearly all of them have, from our main character Jean Otus, his sister, his best friend Nino, Mauve, and the five heads of ACCA. There is an uprising about to come and the higher-up suspects Jean has a vital role in the middle of all this, which whether it’s true or not remain to be seen.

The kingdom of Dowa remains one of the most intriguing settings this season have to offer. Dividing up into 13 states where each of them have their own authority and maintaining peace for 99 years after a vicious civil war ain’t a small feat at all. So exactly how did the king managed to unite all these bastards to create peace? At the moment, I guess there are some conditions the king promised back then, and those conditions have to do with 100 years and the upcoming coup d’état. ACCA is created to supervise the day-to-day operations of other districts; and how their propaganda put it; a symbol of peace itself. There’s still so much details hidden underneath the surface but at this moment the show quite succeeds on hinting these bit by bit. No, I don’t trust everything that I’ve seen in this world. That Dowa kingdom is like an old expired cake, beautiful from the outside, rotten from the inside.

But the way the show tells its story marks how confident they approach the material. The show follows Jean who perform his everyday job and we get to see him doing his jobs, smoking, and meeting with everyone around his circle. Jean himself is a question mark because most of the time he doesn’t say much about what he thinks or even express his feeling at all, but I say he’s quite an interesting lead. As of now, the five heads of ACCA suspect he’s involving in the upcoming uprising so they decided to have him monitored by his best friend Nino no less. For everyone thinking he was ratted out by his best friend, I say that it’s not always the case because first, they are close friends from way back, even to the point now that Jean really relies on Nino for gathering information (the anonymous tips on episode one was likely from his source, as was as Jean’s lighter incidents), and second, the true motive of Nino is pretty much unclear. In fact, except from the obvious crush from agent Rail to Lotta which I see as genuine, I don’t trust any other characters of ACCA either, even Lotta seems to have something hidden underneath her cheerful personality.

And that might be the show’s most distinctive feature and might be the show’s greatest weakness too. It keeps the audience at arm’s length. I don’t trust what I see so far, be it the façade of this peaceful world or the character’s motivations, thus now I can see why I have a hard time personally connect to it. Everything so far is intriguing and fascinating for sure, and Madhouse approach this series with confident pacing and styles, but its emotional distantness will keep the audience more admiring than outright loving it. The character designs are attractive, although many supporting characters like the ACCA representatives in Jumoku have a Tintin-esque styles that completely out of place. I’m sure things will get greyer and darker as the story moves on, and I suspect that is when the story really get interesting. For now, I’m totally fine with its rich worldbuilding and Jean smoking and buying/eating breads. There’s a whole bread culture in there.

Zaregoto Series OVA – 02 [Day 3 (2) Assembly and Arithmetic]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, OVAs and Movies:, Zaregoto Series

The bomb has finally dropped as the murder everyone waiting for eventually come, but we still aren’t clear who the victim is. If there is one cliché about murders involving beheading, it’s that you can never be sure about the identity of the headless victim. The one you think is dead will return to the story near the end somehow, not only with his head intact, but with his evil grin as well. It appears for now that the body is Kanami’s, a genius painter, since the body is in her room and worn the exact outfit; in addition, based on the info I read somewhere her name is a wordplay that if you read her name in reverse it means: no head now. But it could be one of the maids. As of this moment we don’t get to know any of the maid so the main focus is still squarely on those geniuses.

One of the most important clue that we gained right now is how the table set up like a clock, with the host is at 12.00 o’clock and Tomoe is right opposite her at 6.00. We simply don’t have any clue to work with at this moment but I figure that in the future development this clue is going to be relevant. Another strange occurrent that happen on the night of the murder is the earthquake which resulted in the messy room we see at the end, or was it not? How the earthquake relevant to the murder is unclear, but for now I suspect that because the earthquake happened so randomly that the true culprit didn’t plan on this and thus left some evidences behind. Lastly, there were a mystery on this island that occurred before that caught Tomoe’s curiosity but for now we know nothing about it.

We got introduced to the last genius in this island: Yayoi the genius chief. Although she claimed that she has no natural talent, she can actually smell and sense a huge lot different tastes. Apart from having that absolute taste and absolute pitch, she appears to be the most normal out of all geniuses. Just really wonder why there is no one who commend about the foods that they eat, after all it’s Yayoi who cook all of them, right? Oh we also get to see the host Akagami, but apart from being a fulltime event manager and bragging about the new character to come, she’s just plain like a rice cake.

Not much actually happen beside all the chitchatting of course, but this episode sheds a new angle about Il chan relationship towards Tomoe. Maki (A genius fortune teller who know the past, the future, people and the world) really likes to scrub Il-chan the wrong way, but she seems to see through this guy. And because she understands his character she despites the way he’s doing things. She also digs a little too deep about his and Tomoe’s strange “friendship”. She’s something that he wishes he could’ve been and seeing her- despite all that- unhappy make him feel good. Those scenes in which he’s inside a TV-like box that Maki can see through him perfectly elevate the sense of discomfort of Il-chan towards Maki’s words. There’s still much more oil that needed to pump from their relationship of course, like what she thinks about MC and why she needs him to come to this isolated island in the first place.

Even with this once-a-month format Shaft still manages to stays behind schedule and and pushes back the next episode until January next year. As of now, things are moving so slowly and there is simply not much material to work with, but starting the next episode the plot might get a little more entertaining with the investigation now that the murder kicked in. In the mean time I might try to eat by using two pairs of chopsticks Tomoe-style, by the time the next episode begins I might have mastered that skill already.

Flip Flappers – 03 [Pure XLR]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Flip Flappers

Flip Flappers again raises the bar of what is expected of them, as this week the show goes even much trippier than the previous two weeks, and much darker too. They break out even their own formula, starting this episode right in the middle of desert wasteland. While this episode certainly reminds you a lot of other shows (to namelist: Mad Max, Fist of the North Stars, a bit of Star Wars, the fights of FLCL, the transformation of Sailor Moons (with fairy wings), the Super Saiyan powered-up, and whole other real life, historical references that I will discuss later), it still maintains its own personalities, runs its own beats, being busy with its own aesthetic and as a result Flip Flappers just gets weirder and more awesome. This is hand down its best episode so far.

In this episode, Flip Flappers decides to go to new direction. Instead of half-Cocona in her daily school, half-Pure Illusion worlds, they jump straight into the middle of Pure Illusions world. I love how things just got escalated very quickly in this episode in terms of plot, and because we have no idea about that world, the show freely twists our expectations of what about to come. We first follow Papika as she was abducted by the rare race with pumpkin-like faces. We see them as a potential threat for Papika until we see how they live an old but civilized, peaceful lives. Then, Mad Max-style gang of bandits attack the village and take their water. Their biggest, bad-assed guy challenged Papika and it all turned out that they’re no match for her. Then revealed their boss who is none other than Cocona, in mask. Then when that fight between two girls are done, we learned that Cocona has been manipulated by the girl in black. Then they nearly lose their lives to beat that monster, just so the other group comes in and kills it in 3 seconds. And the three people in that other group are just some pawns for something much bigger. You get what I mean? Flip Flappers keeps … well… flipping our expectations around that except from knowing Cocona and Papika will be alright, we can’t never tell for sure what going to happen. Everyone is not what they seem (clued in Cocona’s obaa-chan here, her detached response gives me a chill, I wouldn’t be surprised if she turns out to be some sorts of villain), and everything is not what it seems; they are the only rules of Flip Flappers.

Apart from its aesthetic which is already mesmerizing and overwhelming, the amount of symbolisms here in Flap Flappers is just way toooo much. But that’s why I love it. As one of our reader pointed out before, Uexekull is a reference to Jakob von Uexküll, a biologist who actually influenced some areas of philosophy like Phenomenology (study of the structures of experience and consciousness), which is kind of related to Pure Illusion experience. The chanting of Asclepius from the other organization is come from the god of healing Asclepius in Greek mythology, which also appropriate since Cocona was in that place that resembling strongly to the ruined Greek buildings, but I’m still not sure why they use that reference though. The antagonist girl, who I don’t know where the show inspires of, clearly symbolizes something lustful, decay and manipulation. The robot TT392 proves again to be the most human character that we’re all can related to well, as he spiraled out of control when seeing naked girls and basically was volunteered to be the sexiest girl’s servant at all cost. At least I know that what I would do too. And there is one thing you should learn for the next Pure Illusion trip Cocona and Papika: make the hole on the ground, that’d save you a lot of trouble.

I have mentioned last week that I think Cocona and Papika both the represent the dual side of girlhood. Well, I still stand by that because the theme of duality is still going strong here. Cocona was manipulated to fight against Papika because she’s unsure about her shelf, she wants to break out from that shelf (the feeling of wanting to punch Papika). Moreover, sexuality theme again popped up here, last week it was to control your desire, this week lust is hindered everywhere, from that infamous dark scene, to the fact that the fragment is located in Cocona’s thigh; and isn’t it the girl’s transformations represent their ultimate purity? Also, their hair change to other’s counterpart colors after transformation, and their transformation names Pure Blade/ Pure Barrier support that duality theme as well, as do you see any fighter without either blade or shield? Also, it is interesting to note that the FlipFlap organization is designed as some kind of broken down lab sciences, while with the other organization, it looks like a cultish group. Kinda huge leap from the groups that share the same objectives don’t you think?

Here’s one of my theory about the nature of Pure Illusions. It might represent the state of mind, the characteristics of one particular characters. In the first episode it’s Cocona’s version, as a result we have a winter snowy landscape (because she’s coldhearted), no people around (because she’s lonely). In the second episode it’s Uexkull’s, so the girls transform into bunnies, the colors are overloaded (indicates that it isn’t human visions). If we follow that sense then this episode is from the characteristic of Papika, which kind of make sense because of her hotheaded nature (desert), her outgoing traits (this is the first Pure Illusion world that we have other people, other races, and more spectacularly they are not one but 3 races), and the red desert that align with her hair colors is a dead giveaway. But I agree that this is kind of stretching the idea and somehow if they have indeed done it that way then I feel they are limited to themselves. The fun here in Flip Flappers is to sit back and enjoy the imaginary washes over you, and you just keep your eyes peeled and follow their sense of madness logic because you know it gonna be a fun ride.  I have fastened my seatbelt, now take me to wherever you want to go, Flip Flappers!!!

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.

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.

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.