Tag: spring 2021

Megalo Box Nomad – 13 [El con alas lleva al sin alas, y el sin alas bendice al con alas]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Megalo Box

Welcome all to the finale of Megalo Box: Nomad! It’s been an interesting ride with ups and downs, both of which we will talk about in this weeks episode. If you’re looking for a final review just give me a few days, it’s almost done. So without further ado lets dive in!

First up lets talk about the visual aspects of the fight. By and large I would say it was… lackluster? Meh? I wouldn’t call it disappointing because the narrative beats were strongly delivered. But as far as fights go Nomad’s best action was still a sparring match. Its a really weird allocation of resources to me. Did they not want the spectacle to overrun or take away from the narrative of Mac’s fight? Or did they just decide that the simpler background and lighting of the sparring match was easier to handle? I’m not sure. Whatever the case though, this fight wasn’t a very “hype” fight and that was a little disappointing. Luckily for us that the fight wasn’t the main draw of the episode or even the show. That honor goes to the narrative.

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86: Eighty Six Anime Review 65/100

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

War stories with giant robots and a dash of racism are pretty common in anime. You have everything from classics like Code Geass, Gundam and Gurenn Lagann (depending on how you define “classic”) to the more cult-hit works like Muv-Luv and uh… Gunbuster? Can you tell I don’t watch much mecha? Regardless this year sees a new show try its hand: 86: Eighty Six. A Light Novel adaptation written by Asato Asato, created by A-1 Pictures and Directed by Toshimasa Ishii, Eighty Six looks to take an existing idea and perfect it. And judging by all the press and the reactions I’ve seen in the community it appears to have done just that. But does it deserve the praise and accolades it has been receiving? Let’s find out!

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Eighty Six. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “86: Eighty Six Anime Review 65/100” →

Megalo Box: Nomad – 11/12

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Welcome back to Nomad everyone! Apologies for missing last week but work and Wisconsin called. Lucky for us though that these two episodes feed into and fit so well together because we have a lot to talk about. So without further ado, lets dive in! And be ready because this is a long one!

Since I missed last week I wanted to start this post off by talking about where Nomad is going. I’ve talked a lot in previous posts about my dislike of the corporate angle, and I stand by that! I think it, Sakuma and Rosco as a whole, are at odds with the story Nomad is trying to tell. But credit where it’s due, Nomad has at least worked it in well. It has done the best with a bad situation. Nomad has taken Rosco and, while they are still antagonistic, removed them from the center stage. Making the focus not them, but their effects on Mac and his family. How corporations take advantage of, abuse and ultimately throw away the average person who is simply looking for a better life. Just like Chief. Just like the immigrants and their theme park home. And that’s kinda cool.

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86: Eighty Six – 10 [Thank You]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

Welcome all to the penultimate episode of Eighty Six! For this season at least. This is an interesting week as from what I have been told this episode is almost entirely anime original. And yet despite basically being filler, its good. Like really good. So without further ado lets dive in! Oh and before I begin a reminder that I will be away on a business trip until Thursday, so no Nomad post until then. Sorry.

Anyways, on with the show! And what better place to start than with the production? Once again Eighty Six has some of the best editing and shot composition I have seen in ages. The way it takes everything from dull shot-reverse-shot dialogue scenes or simple travel montages and makes them visually engaging is a treat. From the way it emphasized the emotional distance between Shin and Raiden despite their physical closeness or the way Shin’s head turn and the water hitting the leaf were cut to the music. I shouldn’t be surprised by it anymore, Eighty Six has done this consistently from episode 1. However I can’t help but smile when I see editing like this. Toshimasa Ishii is doing a fantastic job with his full series directorial debut and I can’t wait to see more from him. Absolutely Kino.

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Megalo Box Nomad – 10 [Las derrotas pasadas son acompañadas por señales de buena suerte]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Hello all and welcome to another week of Megalo Box Nomad! This is late, I know, but I have a good reason. You see I will be out of the state for work starting Sunday and have been spending the week busily packing and prepping. This also means I will be unable post/writeup Nomad on Sunday as I won’t be able to watch it until Thursday. So yeah, expect this weekend and the week afters to be merged into one post before the final review. Sorry about that. Now on with the show!

And what batter place to begin than with exactly what I wanted to see from Nomad, the family stuff! So much family stuff this week. From Mac to Sachio, Joe to Yuri, the way Nomad managed to tie everything back into the 1st arc. This is exactly what I wanted from the series, up to and including minimal Rosco! While one reader might disagree with me on Rosco’s story overtaking Joe’s, I’m sure we can both agree that this episode benefited a lot from it’s family centric focus. And if I sound like I’m being purposefully vague here that would be because I am. I don’t wanna spoil non-watchers before the break but I also want to give a clear hook to make people read, oh the tightropes we walk. I’m rambling because I’m happy with the episode, I promise.

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86: Eighty Six – 9 [Goodbye]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

What an episode. Eighty Six has come a long way from classroom politics and shitty lakeside ecchi. While the other writers on this site might disagree, might thing Eighty Six weak, I can’t help but enjoy what its trying to do. So without further ado how about we dive in to that?

Now in an effort to be fair lets start with the only real negative I have this week: The CGI. Eighty Six tries really had to avoid the showing the CGI. It does everything in it’s power, from clever editing and shot composition to after effects like smoke, to avoid it. And most of the time this works! The Legion looks… fine in motion because the CGI sheen gives them an otherworldly/inhuman feel. That works to their benefit! Meanwhile the 86ers are largely stationary which makes compositing them into the shot much easier. But sometimes a crack slips through and when it does… it doesn’t look good. I’m of course talking about Undertaker’s big fight in the first half of the episode. Narratively I enjoyed it, and we’ll talk about that in a moment, but the mech fight felt like the worst part of the scene.

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86: Eighty Six – 8 [Let’s Go]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

I’m late I’m late for a very important date, that’s right the Eighty Six post is here! Only… 2 days late but the show must go on. So without further ado lets dive into another episode of Eighty Six!

To start I want to pose to you a question: What the hell was that opening? Did I skip an episode? How much happened off screen between 7 and 8? I understand wanting to start in-media-res but this was to much. The opening felt out of place and I barely understood what they were talking about. It took me rewatching the scene a few time to understand that it was basically a quick time-skip of deaths off-screen, widdling us down to 5. While this was interesting in its brevity I can’t help but feel confused and annoyed as a viewer. It’s not like I don’t understand why they did it either! Without this we would be repeating similar storylines, similar deaths, for the rest of the cour. But Eighty Six took its discontinuous narrative approach that I mentioned last week to far this time.

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86 Eighty Six – 7 [Will You Remember Me?]

by Lenlo, posted in 86 - Eighty Six

Welcome back to another episode of Eighty Six, now with 100% more tragic revelations! Is that statistic legitimate? Probably not but you’ll have to read on to find out. So without further ado lets dive into this weeks episode!

And what do you know, Eighty Six is once again one of the best edited/directed show of the season. Tomohiko Ito, the man behind some of the best episodes of their respective shows, did great work this week. The way the fireworks were intercut between the mortar shells, Lena’s balcony shots, Shuga’s speech, it all looked good! And you know that. So instead I want to take a moment to talk about the one thing that’s bothered me with them: Continuity. Eighty Six has this obsession with shifting around shots so that they are discontinuous. Showing scenes earlier in the episode that happen later in the timespan. Sometimes this works to great effect! But I’ve found it can also be very confusing as to the order of events. Especially without proper indication of the order between the two main areas, the 86ers and the Albas.

Still my production gripes aside, however minor they are, lets talk narrative below the break!

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Megalo Box Nomad – 7 [El tonto que muestra su carta no es un payaso estúpido]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Rwaaaarg I’m back with another episode of Megalo Box: Nomad! I know it’s late, blame the State of the Season and work for being busy. Do you know how annoying interfacing with a dying protocol like XMPP is? Anyways without further ado lets dive in!

And like usual what better place to start than with production? Except this week we actually have something cool to talk about! That’s right Nomad actually gave us a well animated fight for once and I loved it. It shouldn’t be, it makes perfect sense why, but it’s incredible how much good animation can elevate a sports series. Seeing Liu and Joe go at with such clarity and speed really sells how far above the rest of the competition they are. Whether it be Chief’s fights or Joe’s underground matches, all of those look like child’s play compared to this. Just look at the way Joe’s hair moves in the clip below the break as he ducks and waves through punches. It’s a very different presentation of Boxing to Hajime no Ippo’s jet engines and explosive power. I hope Nomad can keep it up, I would love to see more.

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Megalo Box Nomad – 6 [Aunque estés consciente de tu impotencia, Dios te ofrecerá su imagen para que la pises]

by Lenlo, posted in Megalo Box

Welcome back to Nomad! This is a bit of a late post, I apologize for that. Busy busy weekend. So how about we skip the preamble just jump right into it!

This is a weird week for Nomad all things considered. There were no huge revelations, no big game changers, it just sort of… happened. Effectively acting as a check-in for the rest of our old cast so to speak. This isn’t bad! It’s all useful and important information. Nomad uses it to remind us who each of these characters are with their new designs and to remind us of their relationships with each other. The only person we haven’t yet seen is Yukiko, and technically Yuri I guess since he hasn’t talked yet. We get to spend some time with Oicho, Sachio, Santa and Bonjiri as they hang out and discuss Joe. Mulling over how they feel about him, how they still care for each other, etc. This is all good stuff but I wouldn’t say any of it was amazing or standout.

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