Tag: Throwback Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Kemono no Souja Erin – 5/6/7/8 – Throwback Thursday

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

Welcome all, to week 2 of Kemono no Souja Erin! This week is the conclusion to what I view as our “prologue”. We’ve got mystery, tragedy, and mediocre comedy! Lots to talk about this week so lets dive in!

So before we get to far into it I want to talk about the music. 8 episodes is enough to get a feel for that I think. Composed by Masayuki Sakamoto, Erin’s OST is really interesting to me. Most of the time it doesn’t have much going on, it’s very much in the background and doesn’t announce its presence. But every now and then it switches to these folksy insert songs, from childhood lullabies like “Lalalila Lalila” to these more emotional, family oriented songs I have yet to find the name for. While the core stuff doesn’t wow me, these are really good! And every time they come up they leave an emotional impact I wasn’t expecting, really accentuating a scene. They aren’t meant to be diegetic, as Soyon is still talking to Erin over the song. Yet they feel diegetic, and that gives them this extra unexpected weight.

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Wolf’s Rain Anime Review – 89/100 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo, Throwback Thursday, Wolf's Rain

The early 2000’s were a rough time for anime. It produced some incredible works, from Welcome to the NHK to Tokyo Godfathers, my favorite animated movie ever. However it was also smack-dab in the middle of the industries transition from cel animation to digital. Entire pipelines changed, the animation process became completely different, leading to a glut of poorly produced, visually abysmal series. It was in this time that Studio Bones was born. One of the more prolific studios still working today, Bones had to get it’s start somewhere. And it’s one of their earliest works that I am here to talk to you about today. I present to you, originally written by Keiko Nobumoto, directed by Tensai Okamura, with music written and performed by Youko Kanno, the early 2000’s Sci-Fi adventure: Wolf’s Rain. Let’s dive into it!

Oh and really quick before we get to deep, just ignore the Omegaverse tags if those are still there. Those are stupid and have nothing to do with the series. There is no Alpha/Beta/Omega crap. Just enjoy the cool Wolves dangit. Onwards we go!

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Wolf’s Rain. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Additionally this review also covers the 4 episode OVA containing the true ending to the series.. Continue reading “Wolf’s Rain Anime Review – 89/100 – Throwback Thursday” →

Wolf’s Rain – 29/30 [High Tide, High Time/Wolf’s Rain] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Throwback Thursday, Wolf's Rain

Welcome all, to the grand finale of Wolf’s Rain! This is a contentious ending from what I’ve heard, and I can see why. We have a lot to talk about this week so lets just dive right in!

Before we get to deep into it though I want to talk about whether or not this ending works for me. And overall? I think it was… effective. There are bits and pieces I’m not 100% sure I either understand or entirely like, but the more I think about the finale the more I feel like it works. Everyone got some kind of closure to their arc, no one was ignored, it answered a lot of questions regarding the setting and why all of this was happening. I’m satisfied. The only places I’m not totally sure on is the core idea of “repeats”. I’m typically not a big fan of these kinds of endings, for reasons I will talk about later. But Wolf’s Rain managed to frame it in a way that I think works well. Is that vague? Yes. Follow me after the break if you want spoilers.

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Wolf’s Rain – 27/28 [Where the Soul Goes/Gunshot of Remorse] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Throwback Thursday, Wolf's Rain

Welcome all, to the penultimate week of Wolf’s Rain! This week we get into the OVA, the true ending of the series. Does it live up to the hype? Is it good? Or should it have maybe stayed incomplete? Well I won’t keep you waiting, I’ll just come out and say it’s pretty damn good. So without further ado lets dive into the episodes!

First up though, some praise for the production. Wolf’s Rain was generally pretty solid on this front. But after the opening few episodes it rarely “wow’ed” me. Well this OVA is making up for that in spades, because it was stunning. From beautiful effects work such as explosions and snow to incredibly detailed facial expressions such as Hubb and Quent, or the fur and muscles of the wolves as they ran. This is easily the best Wolf’s Rain has ever looked, and it’s sending quite the statement as far as finales go. Hopefully it can keep this up for the last 2 episodes. And of course the music has also been great, but I don’t want to look up specific tracks at the moment, so I’m just going to leave that with “Music sound good :D”. You’ll get more in the final review, I promise. For now, episodes!

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Wolf’s Rain – 23/24 [Heartbeat of the Black City/Scent of a Trap] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Throwback Thursday, Wolf's Rain

Welcome all, to what may be the best week of Wolf’s Rain… well ever. We have a lot to talk about this week, and basically all of it is fantastic. So without further ado, lets dive into it!

Right away I need to talk about this, I absolutely love the Lost City. There’s just so much character, so much atmosphere, to what it really should be the blandest location yet. Something about how the blank-faced people go around and interact with the seemingly flat and repeating environment. Their blandly colored outfits making our leads stand out all the more. The repeated “There is no war in Ba Sing Se” style refusal that there’s any problem or that there’s something weird going on with the town. It comes together to really sell Jagara’s omnipresent, omnipotent nature within this city. The closer you get to her keep, the higher the tier you went up, the “better” it becomes. All in all just a really nice presentation for what I initially thought would be a really dull location.

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Wolf’s Rain – 21/22 [Battle’s Red Glare/Pieces of a Shooting Star] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Throwback Thursday, Wolf's Rain

Welcome all, to another week of Wolf’s Rain! We’re in the final stretch, with only 4 more weeks to go, so it’s time for Wolf’s Rain to start wrapping things up. Is that what it does? Well lets dive in and find out.

Starting off, I want to praise Wolf’s Rain’s production this week. Music, animation, backgrounds, there was a lot to love in these two episodes. Between the soldiers combat sequence and the giant walrus, the action especially stood out to me. While the Darcia keep standoff had some nice stuff in the Kiba vs Darcia fight, this is the first time I’ve been legitimately impressed by Wolf’s Rain’s animation for a while. That isn’t meant as a knock against the series of course, you can’t keep that up forever and it hasn’t looked bad in any way. Just that this weeks production got me excited for whatever finale Wolf’s Rain is cooking up, hope that it will look gorgeous.

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Wolf’s Rain – 15-20 [Recap x4/A Dream of an Oasis/Consciously] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Throwback Thursday, Wolf's Rain

Welcome everyone to another (probably late) week of Wolf’s Rain! This week sees us through the aftermath of the castle explosion, a little vision quest to remind us of our goal, and a whoooooole lot of recap. Let’s dive into it!

First up, lets start with the recaps. I promise I won’t spend long here. These were, by and large, disappointing. That shouldn’t come as a big surprise, no one really likes recaps. But what bothers me is how easily these could have been much more interesting. Wolf’s Rain could have given us new perspectives on past events, recontextualized scenes by putting us in the heads of characters we normally don’t get into. We saw a bit of this in episode 18, where it let us watch from Hubb and Quent’s perspectives. We even got a few small new scenes to spice it up, such as getting confirmation Quent is the one who shot Kiba! Do this a bit with Tsume, Hige and Toboe’s episodes and maybe they could have been less of a waste of our time. As is though, I can’t recommend anyone ever bother with these.

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Wolf’s Rain – 13/14 [Men’s Lament/The Fallen Keep] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Throwback Thursday, Wolf's Rain

Welcome everyone, to the mid-way climax for Wolf’s Rain! This week sees all of our characters in one place first time since the show began. A lot happens, we have so much to talk about, so lets dive right into it!

Starting off, I want to take a moment to appreciate Wolf’s Rain’s music again. Episode 13, which we will get to in a moment, saw one of my favorite tracks so far, “Coração Selvagem” I believe, appear. This thing is a certifiable bob. The discordant rhythms, plucking guitar strings, beautiful vocals. Fantastic. And it works even better when played over the scene in question, as Hubb and Quinn are driving through the countryside. Great stuff and I’m quickly falling in love with this OST. On top of that, it also feels like Wolf’s Rain’s production is starting to kick back into gear. Everything just looked… better this week. Not just the action scenes, though we got those as well in episode 14, but the day to day stuff to. Hubb and Quinn in the car, Hubb’s backstory, etc. Maybe that’s just the mid-season climax effect, but it was nice!

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