Tag: episode 4

Zaregoto Series OVA – 04 [Day 4 (2) The 0.14 Tragedy]

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

Zaregoto is back to its intriguing premise. This episode brings out many of the show’s best strengths. While still follow the investigation, it shifts its main focus on the characters, especially fleshing out again the relationship between Il-chan and Tomoe (to be more exact, what Il-chan thinks about his relationship with Tomoe), and the visual presentations are in overall impressive across the board. Overall this episode is a clear step up from its previous episode.

Let first start with the locked room mystery. In this episode the majority of our cast have already figured out that bit, many of them intend to hide that they know to keep the situation things from escalating. The mystery turns out to be quite simple, in that the murderer made a river of paints AFTER the earthquake, which leave all guests and host and servants a possible suspects. One other interesting development is that Akane and Kanami had met before 6 months ago. And then Akane bring up the topic of letting someone kill yourself, which make me wonder if this Kanami case is the same. So far, there is actually no motive from the cast (and by the look of it I don’t think any of them have any real motive whatsoever, maybe except for Sasaki), so what if this is some plan carried by Nanami and the killer to kill her, but for exactly what reasons? Is it because of Sasaki? Then, why capturing the head?

A good chunk of time was dedicated to explore Il-chan and Tomoe intrigued chemistry, and I believe this is where the show shines the best. One constant theme that NisiOisin keep addressing throughout his writing career is the conflicts by the main lead between two opposing thoughts of “better left alone” and “rely on others’ support”. His protagonists are always a lone-wolf, with the belief that they have to deal with their own issues in order to grow, and having friends will carry an unnecessary burden that weighed them down (a statement in which Koyomi Araragi clearly expressed in his Monogatari series). In this case though, il -chan takes care of Tomoe not out of love or kindness, but with destruction in mind. He wants her to choose him and him alone, the feeling that he’s actually special to someone. For now it’s hard to say if it’s pure dark intention from our main lead to the blue-hair girl, as we still don’t know about their relationship previously and even what Tomoe truly thinks about Il-chan but man, I’m digging this kind of ambiguous relationship.

And for me another highlight of this episode was the surreal settings right in front of Akame’s room. Shaft sure takes a lot of liberty here with its dark background, the only lights were the colorful reflection of window’s glass, and red butterflies hovering around. While I enjoy most of the conversion between our MC with Akame, and with Maki the fortune teller (she clearly knows more than what she spilled here, and her enjoyment out of tormenting Il-chan is priceless), but sadly the other genius, Yayoi the cook is really plain and ordinary right now. I would love it if the show can flesh out her more in next episode. And finally, oops, apparently our main leads don’t know about Ilia’s curse before heading to this island, so expect them to get it in the next events as well. As of now, although the show is getting better, I suspect that the monthly release really killed off the vibe it has and it’s hard to get excited for something that you have to wait too long (and then delay, really Shaft??) you just better forget it all together. For people still hanging around with it like myself, well, at least those posts will be your companions. For others, I strongly suggest you to wait for all of this come out and then watch them all at once. Will be a much more engaging experience.

And I still think the issue with the painting is his watch.

Scum’s Wish – 04 [Bad Apple!!]

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

This was a sublime episode from start to finish. By showing these tales of love through fragments from many characters’ point of view, it adds more layers, as well as more perspectives to this webs of broken desires. Normally this approach of focusing of fragments mean that the story can become disjoined; but not here. Every small stories in this episode matter and it keeps sinking us to its muddy swamp. And yes, the music in this show is incredible; if you listen closely there’s a distinctive theme for its stories and it really helps to elevate the mood for each segment; like how you could feel a seedy sense in Akane-sensei story, or a false mood of sweet, dream-like quality in Narumi-sensei part. Again I’ll discuss each of the theme in last week’s format, as I see it as the most appropriate format to squeeze out most of what this show tries to convey.

“Being desired by men. There’s no greater feeling than that”

Turn out that our sweet Akane-sensei isn’t sweet at all, but a manipulative bitch. That might sound negative but in truth this is a kind of character that works really well in this story. She isn’t your typical bitch after all, as she’s the most observant one out of all characters in this story. She is the only one who sees through many intertwined love nets and really the only one who can sees through Hanabi. Using her attractiveness as a weapon isn’t something utterly terrible, but what is remarkable about her character is how she’s playing up her attractiveness mainly for wrecking other girls, for them to feel the pain of seeing the one they love taken away by her. She said she doesn’t aim for superiority but all I can see is superiority plays a significant role here, since all she wants is attention from men and the hurtfulness from girls. I love the way she recognizes that Hanabi is pretty much on the same side as her, by neglecting the one sided love of other (Moca). The true Akane is anything but pretty, but now at least she’s real. What impressed me the most is the way the show underlines her sexiness and her thrust of physical consumption; not through big boobs, sexy clothes or suggestive behaviors, but merely by her sweating. Hooray for solid characters writing here.

“I decided to believe it was fate”

The next segment was told from the point of view of Narumi-sensei, on how he was attracted to Akane and thus become her unfortunate prey to play with. This story is slight and the least impactful compared to other segments, but I still found it interesting because out of anything, the first impression he had towards Akane was directly tied to his memories of his long-lost mother. It furthers detailing his long searching for a feminine figure all his life, and really that was a false picture that he incidentally subjects Akane to be and that was the reason why he’s blind be this affection. In the end, things that too good to be true are more likely deceptive in nature so I really hope he’s sensitive enough to figure out the true Akame on his own (would be really disappointed if he can’t).

“I want you to be filled with me”

Last but not least we have a development to Ecchan and Hanabi relationship as they sunk deeper to love confusion. There’s always a distinctive border between friend and lover and now they crossed that line, each for their own selfish reasons. Hanabi both needs Ecchan as a way to escape her own heartbroken from Narumi (which I can totally feel for her), and because she still needs and loves Ecchan as a friend. Ecchan likewise knows all this, but she’s determined to use every opportunity to have Hanabi all by herself. What they both know but too afraid to acknowledge is that once they crossed that line, they can never be back to “just friends” again. That image of little Hanabi disgusted with her current self sums that sense up pretty nicely and for me the best moments out of this already excellent episode. Scum’s Wish stands on a very firm ground here, as the story keeps maintaining its confidence take on the line between physical desires and emotional desires, on how the characters keep using the former as the substitute for the latter (the first and the last segment directly tied to this), but end up being more lonely and suffering. I know a lot of viewers have been turned off by its depressing nature but all I can say is guys, you might miss out one of the more thought-provoking look on relationship here.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 04 [Smoldering Embers in an Isolated Nation]

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

We are no stranger with this kind of world in anime: an isolated, conservative world that cut-off from outside communication and ultimately stay behind its times, slowing back 10, 20 even hundred years. Everything there is monitored and controlled by the rules and authority. As ACCA keeps suggesting the chaos within this peaceful façade, the most appropriate way to question this very world is to put its ideas to an extreme spectrum, as a result we have this isolated district of Suitsu. The Dowa kingdom promotes autonomy in its 13 districts, with each of the district bring their own uniqueness to better suit the place; but what happen when the authority started to abuse their power in a negative way? Citizens in Suitsu are prohibited to use phone, even to communicate with outsider in the pretense of “preserving tradition”; they in turns are displeased with how things going and form an angry mob. What sadden me the most is we’re living in this exact same world, where North Korea still cut-off from the rest of the world just like this. Suitsu district, when you look at it, is more like one of those weird countries straight out of Kino’s Journey, but it still manages to add ambiguity to the flaws of the Dowa Kingdom’s systems so in that regards, this episode still has its merits.

But when it comes to the actual plot of this episode, then this week ACCA made one mistake that they managed to avoid so brilliantly before: its delicate pacing. ACCA is slow-burn, at the same time there are many plots and themes going on both underneath and beneath the surface but as far as I concerned they hold everything together extremely well. This week though, we follow Jean as he auditing the district, witness him being kidnapped, then learn about the coup d’état, follow the angry mob, the uprising and their ultimate downfall, both in a runtime of merely 20 minutes. The pacing therefore is much quicker this time, as a result those big events don’t have time to settle down or give much impact. We just know Wabler or Biscuit at the beginning of this week so it’s hard to relate to them or the events around them. I get the message: frustration out of unfairness and strictness is relatable, but I hardly feel any of this. It comes quick and goes quick and leave not much impact.

When you judge this episode through its stance in the big picture, then this show offers too little to the main narrative as well. At the end, those uprising will be hidden and forgotten, only Jean gets away with the knowledge of the actual coup d’état and that’s freaking little development for a complex show like ACCA. Although we do learn that Nino apparently is working as a triple agent and we have a glimpse on another member of the ACCA’s five Pastis and the Suitsu representative Beurre, this still leave a lot to be desired. No, this episode, while certainly is a competent episode in its own ways, serves as my least favorite episode so far of ACCA (the curse of episode 4) both because it runs too quick for its own good, and it adds too little to the main narrative. And where is the glorious cake and tasty bread this time? All we have was a loaf of bread when Jean was all tied up so… um, no, thank you.

Flip Flappers – 05 [Pure Echo]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Flip Flappers

And Flip Flippers is back in business; with a style. But guess what, instead of the girls adventuring in a new Pure Illusion world like last week’s cliffhanger suggested, it appears the show has some time skip. So here in this episode we witness them preparing to go on another Pure Illusion, and then learn that Cocona and Papika at least had 2 more new adventures and all lost to Yayaka’s side. Whether the show will get back to those two or skip it entirely is anyone’s guess. But based on the little screen shots that we saw regarding those adventures (robot and plant worlds? Count me in!), they look fantastic enough so I hope they get back to it. But then again, I’m not really sure why they skip these Illusion worlds? Isn’t the main plot point of Flip Flappers being the girls adventuring those worlds? So they must have an overarching plot? But what overarching plot, then?

It seems more apparent to me that Yayaka really care for the wellbeing of Cocona that made them more like a rival than an enemy. Let put it this way, Papika just meets up Cocona and declares that Cocona’s the one she been looking for and follows her around since, whereas Yayaka knows and understands Cocona back from childhood and has been her only friend ever since. That is to say Yayaka’s genuine care for Cocona is much more grounded for me, compared to Papika’s. There is that conflict between Papika and Yayaka that later become an actual fight and I see the conflict as a running theme for the series. Adding to that, the girls have no idea what they get themselves into. They are easily lost track in their worlds, sometimes being irresponsible for themselves and when being asked what they really want for collecting the fragments, their answers are uncertain. These fragments might hold a powerful, and maybe hideous, power that could change the world and the girls at least need to know what all the deals are instead of being manipulated like that. The other group, on the other hand, goes to such extreme of modifying the physicals and the brains of Yayaka and the twins in order to gather these fragments.

It’s always so fun to speculate about each week’s Pure Illusion world, and I’m not suggesting that there are more hidden, deeper meaning behind those worlds. The show is what it is- a whole mess of many intrigued ideas and symbols put in together- so that it’s best to just take it at face values, but again it’s really compelling to sit back and wonder how they come up with these symbols and motifs for their worlds in a first place. So what do we have in this week’s settings? The creators sure don’t hide their impressions on this world: it’s obviously dark and creepy. From the typically “dark and stormy night” settings (the rain that causes blood!), to students with no faces (once again addresses the theme of identity and personality), distorted voices, creepy dolls, and the endless loop of that hell and the teams literally run into time to break that loop. I also can’t help but laugh at the goofiness our main heroines are this time. Remember previous episode where they were overpowered gung-ho fighters who jump up the sky and smash the earth? This week they constantly got scared and run for their lives by the faceless creatures. Yeah, keep running while your arms raised up, girls! It’s interesting to note that, unlike other Pure Illusion worlds that we encountered so far, this world is based on their real world. The school is there, the clock tower is still there, the dome that reminds me again of Utena, and Yayaka and the twins are already there in those new uniforms before Cocona and Papika arrived (the twin boy looks hilariously cute in his female uniform dress).

I say another main theme for this world’s Pure Illusion is the ability to break out from the vicious cycle, from something that keep luring you out of your initial goals. Like the Hotel California, the self-destruction place where once you’re in, you can’t get out because you lose tracks of why come in for. Lastly, the theme of underlying sexual-awakening is again presented here (“hot and bothered”, as the episode put it). Well, this time, again Papika and Cocona have a chance to take bath and sleep together, and Papika has to suck Cocona’s finger over and over again. All that sexuality, yuri motifs are hinted everywhere in that dark society (tea time, that lily flower, piano-leisure time, book reading) and this world is a steep contrast to the bright desert world in episode 3.  While that in that particular episode the theme is more Papika-wise (dealing with finding your true self) and it’s Cocona who got sucked into that world, I could draw the parallel here as well. In this world, they got sucked into the neat society, the expectant of being a part of the whole group, repetition means stable here, something sounds much more like Cocona and this time it is Papika who is lost into that world. These worlds are really extreme versions of an ‘ideal’ worlds that have their own sets of rules, promote certain types of values and Papika and Cocona need to confront those in order to learn more about themselves and grow up. That is a best kind of coming-of-age story for you right there. This episode further confirms its willingness to go wild and trippy without relies on plot or continuity and personally that attitude is all I could ask for. I have fun following them, writing about them and now I can rest assured that Flip Flappers will never betray itself.

3-gatsu no Lion – 04 [Hina – Buiesu]

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

Seems like overalls it’s not a good week for my anime blogging, as all the shows that I’m covering haven’t fared very well this week. Not that they are disasters but all the shows veer off from their greatest strength to a more mediocre approach. For Sound Eupho they went for big climatic drama instead of their focus on dense little moments. For Flip Flappers they abandoned their wild Pure Illusion world for a more mundane and aimless plot, and for 3-gatsu no Lion they passed on their intimate look on real characters for… well… cartoonish characters. 3-gatsu no Lion is at its strongest when the show concentrates on Rei’s inner emotions and how the characters around him in a way change his very perception to be more open and honest to himself. Sadly this episode has little of those moments and instead relies on exaggerated silly moments which simply isn’t as engaging.

As soon as I knew the next chapter was going to focus on Hina, I was actually looking for this since Hina is my favorite character out of the three sisters. But boy, they decide to fall on the usual pitfall of portraying preteen middle school girl: through romance and first crush. Takahashi is the tall boy, baseball-ace from her school and she makes up her mind to cook a bento for him. Takahashi is almost an object of affection from the outside looking in, literally; as Rei stands from outside the field looking into the boy. Hina wants to make the most perfect bento out there, and the whole plan goes as everyone would expect: failed miserably. It’s fun to see her struggling with making foods, each time goes more and more horribly wrong and completely running out of time. But when it’s time for her to give the bento, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

While so far this chapter stumbles a bit because it ticks all the cliché teen romance plot, at least the chapter ends in a solid note. The ending works because the show still understands its character very well. It explores the insecurity of Hina, something fairly normal for someone her age: about her shyness got the better of her, about feeling vulnerable compared to the “near-perfect” sister. There is a huge age difference between the three sisters, but that makes sense in this context because the three sisters represent different stages of women’s life (I know, I know I might be obsessed with women’s issues but please bear with me this time). This theme becomes apparent here as Hina’s efforts remind Akari of her own, years ago and I believe although they’re different in term of personality, this is a phase that they all had to go through. Furthermore, this chapter ends with the most brilliant execution in this episode, as the voice-over switched gently from Rei to Akari. Up until now, we always follow Rei’s train of thoughts so it’s a nice change to hear other characters say what they’re thinking, and Akari sincere voice really gives of a warm and sweet feeling (unlike the first love) that the chapter wanted to achieve.

On the second half, things got real noisy for Rei as Harunobu came to his house unannounced to practice shogi with him. I certainly like him as a character, since last week the show gives more light to his character, but he also turns me off whenever he’s in that loud and hyperactive mode. Sadly the first half of this chapter was full of this and only when the duo meet the three sisters, things get more interesting. It turns out that he’s getting along well with kids, which actually is unsurprising because he himself still acts like a kid. I like the way the show makes references that obviously inspired by real-life counterparts. Well, others might say Bodoro is a blatant rip-off to Totoro, for me I say that this Bodoro has his own charms. Then it’s Akari who has a weird fetish: she likes everything soft and fluffy and has a affection for Harunobu considering his… ahem… body. Now, that actually becomes an issue. Like I mentioned last week I think the best strength 3-gatsu no Lion has is those characters feel like real people. This episode making their quirks so cartoonish (no, I’ll rephrase: so anime-ish) that they don’t feel like actual people anymore. I know maybe this problem comes from me so if the show still goes with these cartoonish traits then I’ll have to re-evaluate my own judgement.

Overall, besides being the show’s most unremarkable episode yet, I find some of the jokes actually landed well, like all the parts involving “some other people’s kids” or the last scene with Harunobu’s butler Hanaoka and I still think Shaft adapting the show quite effectively so far. There is a lack of Rei’s inner voice this week which actually hurts the show a bit, but we got one brief scene when he’s mentioning ‘love’ and it seems like he was in some kind of abuse with a girl before. This week is just a slightly misstep so I’m not worry too much. 3-gatsu no Lion is still a strong show and I can’t wait to spend more time with them next week.

Magical Girl Raising Project – 04[Add More Friends!]

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

Guess I gave Ruler a bit too much credit than she deserved. I still think in her own way she did care about her team but she had a much bigger ego than expected when you see her real self. Ruler has the problematic nature of overestimating her own worth and in doing so pushes away others under the guise that they are not at her level. Problem is that when you push away everyone you have no one who can point out your own faults and thus never improve as a human being. Ruler was a big shot at school but when she entered the working world she started bottom of the rung and was doing pointless odd jobs. Seeing as she had the ego the size of a small continent this naturally didn’t sit well with her and she used her Magical girl identity to flatter her ego. It’s funny when you think about it, she couldn’t rule the world of adults so instead she chose to rule over children. Truly she was petty creature which doesn’t deserve much sympathy as she killed off this episode.

Much like my opinion of 91 Day’s I am not fond of putting someone in the spotlight in the exact episode they are killed off or involved with a twist. To the viewer it then becomes obvious that whoever gets backstory is going to die and thus ruins the surprise of the episode. I knew that with Rulers attitude that it was really only a matter of time before she was killed off and the coup d’etat was really inevitable. However I didn’t expect it to happen this quickly and the way she was killed was rather unexpected. I don’t mean that I didn’t know Swim Swim would betray her as I pretty much pegged that by the last episode. I even was right on the money about Nemurin being the one to inspire the revolt in the second episode. But Swim Swim, despite the very silly name, could be turning out to be a very interesting villain. Despite her magical girl appearance, Swim Swim is very young and is quite intelligent as seen by how she purposefully distributed the stolen candies from Snow White in a manner that would leave Ruler in last place.

But what makes this interesting is that she didn’t kill Ruler because of hate, or because she saw her as a poor leader. In fact she seems to hold great respect for her even after ending her life. Basically it seems that she was following Rulers teachings in that all the members of the team should strive to become her. However in Swim Swims mind this meant that she can’t become Ruler if Ruler is still around. Thus logically Ruler must be eliminated. So in Swim Swim’s mind she sees this as carrying Rulers torch and quite honestly this makes Swim Swim rather scary. She’s young, smart, and can kill without remorse but is also highly impressionable. She is working with an entirely different ruleset and morality. She spent a large amount of time with the worst role model and now could start a bloodbath while seeing nothing wrong with it. I originally pinned Calamity Mary down as the villain for this arc but right now it could be possible Swim Swim is the true villain.

As for other matters the writing continues to not really be on the level of quality it needs to be on. Souta really should have known better to run off after the twin angels when he knew they worked in a team. I also find his power to be a little too on the nose. An expanding sword? Really? We all know exactly what that symbolises and quite frankly the show does as well. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he holds the sword directly in front of his crotch. The action scenes lack real excitement though it could be just this fight that wasn’t particularly exhilarating. Souta has pretty much confirmed that he will be acting as Koyuki’s protector in this fight which makes me fairly certain that he’s going to die. We have another Magical girl targeting Snow White and it looks like everyone is dividing into factions as Top Speed and ninja magical girl meet up with the nun magical girl. This series still does have the potential to deliver on it’s premise and we have enough of a build up to really get started. I hope it can at least live up to the magical girl battle royale it is promising as we have far too many Dark Mahou Shoujo failures.