Tag: fall 2021

86: Eighty Six S2 Anime Review 42/100

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo

Sequels are always difficult to write reviews about. Usually, barring any major production or authorial changes, you can tell if you will like it just by your reaction to the first season. With minor shifts up or down for whatever the current content is about. My recent Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen review is evidence enough of that. But sometimes… sometimes you have the unfortunate case where a sequel falls short. Where for whatever reason, be it changes in production, writing staff or simply going on longer than it should, the series falls off. Animated at A-1 Pictures, directed by Toshimasa Ishii and originally created by Asato Asato, 86: Eighty Six Season 2 is, sadly, one such case. Why is that the case? What could have happened between season 1, something I enjoyed, and this to fall off as hard as it did? Well, lets jump in and talk about that.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Eighty Six Season 2. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “86: Eighty Six S2 Anime Review 42/100” →

Eighty Six S2 – 12 [Handler One]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Welcome everyone to the big finale of Eighty Six! It took a long time to get here, damn near 3 months just for these last two episodes, but it’s finally happened. Does it wrap things up well? Do Lena and Shin finally meet? Is it worth the huge wait? Let’s jump in and find out!

So as far as endings go… I think Eighty Six actually did a good job. I know, I know, “Lenlo, you’ve ragged on Eighty Six for almost 6 months now, what do you mean its good?!”. Trust me, I was surprised to. But for all that I hate how we got here, hate the 9 episodes of mediocre journey, Eighty Six did the best it could to wrap up what it had. It called back to, and connected with, all the story beats that lead up to here. The 86ers finding something beyond war, finding acceptance in a new community, the whole thing with Eugene. A lot of this is augmented by some pretty stellar direction, and yeah if you think about it to hard its still meh. But emotionally? I think Eighty Six delivered on it’s ending. And you know how important endings are to me.

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Eighty Six S2 – 11 [Shin]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six, Currently Watching:

Eighty Six has returned everyone! After 3 months everyone’s favorite genocide simulation has come back to finish what it started! I’d say I hope all of you went and rewatched some old episodes for a bit of a refresher, but doing that myself just reminded me how disappointing this season really was. Still, it’s time to bury the hatchet and see if Eighty Six can end on a high note. So lets jump into it!

First up, lets talk about just how good this episode looked. Like seriously, say what you want about the narrative, the Eighty Six team used those 3 months well. This episode looked gorgeous. From the editing to the coloring and animation, it’s like they saved all of their efforts since production started for this. Take Shin’s opening flashback for instance! I absolutely loved the use of foreground silhouettes layered over scenes in the background. The flat black morphing and flowing around the screen, exploding into nothing at the sound of the gunshot, the exaggerated mouth movements and use of negative space. And then we have stuff like the black bars constricting the scene tighter and tighter, Shin reaching out towards it. The story of how we got here may be mediocre but the visuals behind it certainly are not. And this is only the beginning of my visual praise!

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 Anime Review 68/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Action, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Reviews by Lenlo

Sequels are beautiful, dangerous things. More often than not you already know what to expect. Is it a series you enjoyed? Then it’s a guaranteed good time. And if it’s something you didn’t? Then you can skip it without having to worry about what could have been. Indeed, it’s rare that a sequel goes off and does it’s own thing, that it wildly changes from whatever formula made it successful before. Why would you when it can bring you the sort of success Kimetsu no Yaiba is experiencing right now? That’s right, Directed by Haruo Sotozaki and animated by studio Ufotable, Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen takes everything you loved about the first season and doubles down on it. Love the fights? The entire season is one big one. Love the visuals? I dare say this season has some of the best yet. And the narrative? We will get to that.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Kimetsu no Yaiba Seasons 1 and 2. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 Anime Review 68/100” →

Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 18 [No Matter How Many Lives]

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

Hello everyone and welcome to the final post about the second season of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This is going to be a shorter one since I’m prepping the final review but there’s still plenty to talk about. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off lets talk about my overall thoughts for the arc. As a whole I think Yaiba has everything it needs. All the basic beats, all the important core pieces of the narrative. An MC struggling against stronger and stronger foes, a few groupies with distinct personality traits, the mentor and a villain with a tragic backstory. Everything you need for a basic Shounen story is present in this season. So why then for the past few episodes now have I really only praised Yaiba’s production, which is indeed rather good. I’ll be answering this question more in depth in my final review but I can answer the spirit of the question now: The way Yaiba tells its story is very simple and straight forward, the most basic of Shounen tropes. And to prove my point I want to talk about the core of this weeks episode, the Demon’s backstory.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 17 [Never Give Up]

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

Welcome everyone to the penultimate episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba S2! I’ve heard some rumblings comparing this to the fabled Episode 19 of Season 1, and you know what? They aren’t to far off. So without further ado lets dive in!

For now lets start positive with the production. Because as anyone with eyes can see, this week was rather pretty. You could probably argue that Yaiba went a bit to heavy on the effects in places. It’s certainly not a style everyone will enjoy, especially not those who value subtle, realistic movement. But even those folks would have to agree that what Yaiba did this week was technically impressive. Nozomu Abe, Masayuki Kunihiro, and others really nailed the sense of 3D space. I especially liked the heavier linework you’ll see in Abe’s scene I linked below the break. If you’ve read me for any length of time, that shouldn’t surprise you. I love heavy line work. And Yaiba is one of the few series I can consistently get it in. My only real complaint production wise is the photoreal fire simulations don’t quite fit the rest of the scenes.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 16 [Defeating an Upper Rank Demon]

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

Alright everyone its another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba so you know the drill. It’s time to talk pretty lights, simple fights and everyone’s favorite sleepy boy. So without further ado lets dive in!

Starting off some small praise to Yaiba. Visuals continue to look good. To follow up on my point last week about poor camera usage, I want to say the wide shots were some of my favorites this week. Seeing everything in motion together, the belts, the blades, the characters, is always the best for me. That said, there was one Uzui clip in particular that caught my eye. You’ll find it below the break but suffice to say I loved its entire aesthetic. The different colored lights, the sound of fireworks going off, the wide full body shot as he swings his blades. It’s all so in character for Uzui, so his style, yet it falls perfectly within what Ufotable like to do. I’m really glad they found a way to depict his Sound Breathing since they can’t give that proper elemental effects like Tanjiro and Zenitsu.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 15 [Gathering]

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

Welcome everyone to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! While last week was the quintessential Yaiba episode, this week is a bit more subdued. Not in the fight or anything like that, more in what you can expect from it. Interested? Then lets jump in! Once you find a site to watch the new episode come back and tune in. You can easily find a free site online, but does anyone know where to watch jackass forever movie?

Immediately I need to get something off my chest: I have issues with Yaiba, and by extension Ufotable’s, animation style. Oh its all technically very good, we can all see that. The lighting, the movements, the coloring, that’s all obviously good. But this week also shows a big issue of mine: The speed. So much of this weeks fight just moved to fast. We cut from camera to camera at lightning speed, the blurs and closeup shots, the overreliance on the 3D camera. I get it, we CAN move like this. But SHOULD we? The episode cut between so many different close ups so quickly it make it difficult to follow what was going on. I almost always found the wide shots, where we could see and follow the characters movements, to be more appealing. Does this mean Yaiba looked bad? No. But it was difficult to follow.

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Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 14 [Transformation]

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

Welcome to another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba everyone! This week Nezuko discovers the power of family, Uzui shows us why he is the God of Festivals and we meet the true villain of the arc. Sound fun? Good. Then without further ado lets dive in!

Starting off I need to, as usual, praise Yaiba for looking good this week. Not just in the animation this time, though the blood blades, lighting and 3D camera work all looked good. Rather I want to praise it for something a lot of anime seem to ignore: Shot composition. There were some really good ones this week! I’m talking stuff like Daki sitting passively behind Uzui, always in the background after his entrance. Or the framing of her brother as he appears out of her back and takes up the whole frame. Uzui and the way he is suspended in the air while dodging blades and tossing out bombs. Yaiba usually looks good in movement, that’s what its known for. But I’m glad to see these slower, wider, epic shots like what we saw with the spider family last season make a return. They are the truly memorable ones.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 14 [Transformation]” →

Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 12/13 [Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!/Layered Memories]

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

Welcome back everyone! Apologies for missing last week, I didn’t have much to say and combined with the new year just put it off until now. Is that lazy? Yes. But this is a hobby so I do what I want! That said, this week and episode 13 were pretty eventful. So lets dive in and talk about those.

First, we have a lot to talk about regarding the production of these last two episodes. Had this post just been about episode 12, I wouldn’t be very positive. The CGI models, and their compositing with the backgrounds and other 2D characters, is starting to become very noticeable here. It isn’t a massive drain on the enjoyment but sometimes I’ll see a scene and think “Oh yeah, that stands out”. But it seems that is only because Yaiba was saving a lot of its best for episode 13. Like seriously, just look at this cut by Nozomu Abe after the break. Do the CGI cloth strips stand out? Yes. Do the fire effects and Tanjiro’s quick movements look so good that I honestly don’t care about the clothing? Also yes. And that’s basically the entire episode in a nutshell. Highs so good they make me not care about the lows.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S2 – 12/13 [Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!/Layered Memories]” →