Tag: Winter 2023

Kaina and the Great Snow Sea Anime Review – 61/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Kaina and the Great Snow Sea, Reviews by Lenlo

CGI has had a bad rep in anime fandoms for a long time, and it isn’t undeserved. From Berserk (2016) to that bear in Golden Kamuy, studios typically aren’t very good at it. And why should they be? It’s generally a cost-saving measure. There are only two studio’s that really seems to care and invest in their CGI pipeline. The first is Studio Orange, the team responsible for Houseki no Kuni and the latest Trigun Stampede, the front-runners in the industry. The second, and the ones responsible for the topic of this review, is Polygon Pictures. And while not quite at the same level as Orange, it’s clear from this latest project that they are really trying. So without further ado I give to you, directed by Hiroaki Andou, created by Tsutomu Nihei with music by Kouta Yamamoto, Misaki Umase and Hiroyuki Sawano, Polygon Picture’s latest attempt: Kaina and the Great Snow Sea.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Kaina and the Great Snow Sea. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “Kaina and the Great Snow Sea Anime Review – 61/100” →

Vinland Saga S2 – 12 [For Lost Love]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Vinland Saga

Welcome everyone, to the halfway point of season 2 of Vinland Saga! This week is more Olmar and Canute, but it connects deeply back to Thorfinn and his struggle. Some very interesting things to talk about this week, so lets dive in!

It should be obvious, both from the episode and that opening, that Olmar is the centerpiece this week. On the surface level, it’s all pretty straightforward. Olmar gets insulted, his pride is wounded, he starts a fight, Canute uses that as an excuse to take action against the farm, exactly as he planned. Of course it wasn’t perfect, Canute didn’t account for Thorgil, not him being there nor being strong enough to take down around 10 men. Seriously, what is it with dudes with “Thor” in their name? Luckily that doesn’t really matter to Canute, because no matter how strong Thorgil is. One man can’t beat an army, and that’s what Canute has. Ketil was screwed the moment Canute decided he wanted his farm. If anything this willingness to throw away the lives of his own men says more about Canute then it does Thorgil and Olmar.

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The Fire Hunter Anime Review – 31/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo, The Fire Hunter

Novels. The progenitor. The alpha and the omega. So often ignored for its easier to digest kin, Light Novels and Web Novels, yet often containing some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced. In anime, they gave us works such as Run With the Wind, Tatami Galaxy and Fune wo Amu. However sometimes… Sometimes even Novels fail us, as they have by giving us todays topic. Animated by studio Signal MD, directed by Junji Nishumura of Vlad Love fame (?), with music by Kenji Kawai and art direction from Hiromasa Ogura, I give to you the most disappointing show of the Winter 2023 season: Hikari no Ou AKA The Fire Hunter.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for The Fire Hunter. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “The Fire Hunter Anime Review – 31/100” →

Kaina and the Great Snow Sea – 11 [Scale of Hope]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kaina and the Great Snow Sea

Welcome everyone, to the grand finale for Kaina and the Great Snow Sea! Or at least the most finale we are going to get until the movie in October. I won’t lie, this week was a bit of a disappointment for me. Kaina really screwed the pooch at the end. There’s a lot of reasons for that though, so lets dive into them!

Starting off, more then anything Kaina’s ending felt rushed. It resolved more plot points in the last 3-4 minutes, from Valghia’s surrender to visiting the Canopy to convincing Ririha’s father of the Great Canopy Tree, than the other 20 minutes of the show combined. Considering Ririha lost the map in a fire, which apparently didn’t matter at all, it feels like an entire episode is missing from this finale. Some kind of “This is done, where do we look next” sort of epilogue. Knowing there is a movie coming softens this blow a bit, sure. But as a standalone season of TV, Kaina’s ending doesn’t feel that good. Considering the potential it had at the start of the season, that’s what I mean by disappointing.

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Vinland Saga S2 – 11 [The King and the Sword]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Vinland Saga

Welcome everyone, to another week of Vinland Saga! This week sees Canute and Thorfinn enter onto a headlong collision course, meanwhile Ketil runs into an old friend of ours and Canute shows he’s a bit of a baddass. Without further ado, lets dive into it!

Starting off, with Thorfinn in such a good place it’s not surprising that we got another Canute episode this week. And much like last weeks, Canute continues to show just how much he’s changed from that young man all those years ago. Case in point, despite still hating swords and violence, as seen by his reactions and his complete disdain for his armaments, he still trains with them, publicly, to reassure his warriors and gain their approval. As with so many things we see this week, such as his resolution to requisition farms to pay for his army of believing he needs an army at all, it’s a microcosm of Canute’s new attitude. Simply put: He’s become a Utilitarian. The ends justify the means, so long as an action results in more people being safe/happy then those who suffer, it’s worth it. And unsurprisingly, it’s kind of hypocritical.

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Kaina and the Great Snow Sea – 10 [The Builder]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kaina and the Great Snow Sea

Welcome everyone, to the penultimate episode of Kaina and the Great Snow Sea! This week sees some questionable decisions, both in universe and out. What am I talking about? Well lets jump right in and talk about them.

Right off the bat, I have to ask… did the people of Kaina not know you could… melt… snow? Into water? Is that going to be how the Sage made as much water as he wanted? He just knew how to put a pot over some fire? I really hope that isn’t what just happened this week, because that would be a massive disappointment if so. Not only does it directly undermine the main conflict of the world, IE resource scarcity, it makes every character in the show seem like a moron. Especially when they have steam baths/saunas, which they presumably use… Snow… for. At least I hope they aren’t using their precious water resource for that. Suffice to say, if Kaina doesn’t give us a justification for what happened and what this means next episode, I will be massively disappointed.

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Vinland Saga S2 – 10 [Cursed Head]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Vinland Saga

Another week, another episode of Vinland Saga! This week sees a timeskip, the return of Canute, and the first signs of conflict for the farm. Lets jump right into it!

Starting off, time skip! That’s right, 3 years have passed. 3 years on the farm, 3 years of cutting down the forest, 3 years for Thorfinn to figure his shit out. Does this skip over a lot of stuff, is it an excuse for Thorfinn to progress off screen? Yes, a little bit. But do I think it will enable a greater story because we can see these changes through Thorfinn’s actions to future events? Also yes. This sort of time skip, where a character truly comes into their own and changes substantially, are only a problem when a series fails to show us how said character has changed. And I don’t think that Vinland Saga will have that problem. Not with how much focus it’s already given to Thorfinn. What I’m saying is, to anime-onlies watching Farmland Saga for the first time, don’t worry. The time skip is good.

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Kaina and the Great Snow Sea – 9 [Insignia of an Ancient Castle]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kaina and the Great Snow Sea

Welcome everyone, to another (late) episode of Kaina and the Great Snow Sea! I really need to get my shit under control, these are taking way to long. Let this be a lesson about doing 4 shows in a season, you just get to busy. Speaking of busy, Kaina has a lot going on this week, so lets just jump right into it!

Starting off, lets talk about the war. So far? It’s fine. A pretty standard affair if I’m being honest. The most I can say is that it’s nice Kaina is actually trying to use tactics. Setting up a beach head to prevent ships from landing, cannons to whittle them down from afar, Orinoga planning a surprise attack on their command. I like that it’s all based on imperfect information. Orinoga doesn’t know that Valghia is kind of a tyrannical dictatorship at this point, nor that there really isn’t a command structure. Of course they won’t care if he attacks the capital, there’s nothing of value there. The more people he kills the less mouths there are to feed later. It’s a decent way to add tension to the fight while giving him and Amelothee some one-on-one time while the ships duke it out. Not bad really.

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Vinland Saga S2 – 9 [Oath]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Vinland Saga

Welcome everyone, to another episode of Vinland Saga! This week is one giant gut-punch as it takes everything about Thorfinn, throws it on the ground, and steps on it for good measure. Is it the most healthy thing in the world? Probably not. But it makes for damn good television. Now lets dive into it!

First up, the visuals. Vinland Saga is not a particularly animated show. And it never needed to be! Action is nice, but this isn’t a battle Shounen, it’s not what is important. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to have when it steps up, and that’s what happened this week. Just the entire visual experience of Thorfinn’s “Valhalla”, the way the warriors moved and fought (When not CGI at least), the color direction and detail on Thorfinn’s hands. It was beautiful. In a dark, deeply traumatic sort of way. Now was it particularly subtle? No, not really. Vinland Saga has never been very subtle with its themes. But is it still effective? I would say so. Sometimes punching someone in the face leaves a better impression then politely asking asking them. And that’s what Vinland Saga did here.

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The Fire Hunter – 8 [Garden of the Gods]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, The Fire Hunter

Welcome everyone, to another week of Fire Hunter! This was an interesting week, lots of lore drops, and a possible shake up of the status quo. Was it good? Will it save the series? I don’t yet know. But at least I have plenty to talk about. Now lets dive right into it!

Starting off, credit where it’s due, Fire Hunter has some incredible lore. We learned so much this episode. From the Flickering Flame being a satellite in space put there by the previous civilizations to the Treefolk being experiments created by the Divine Clans, with only the “successes” being sent out into the forests to act as benevolent helpers to the villages. Meanwhile the failures are left to rot inside the city, unloved and uncared for by their creators. There’s even some backstory regarding how humans came to be this way, along with the Flame Fiends! It’s all pretty interesting stuff. Which makes Fire Hunter’s ability to deliver it in the most dry, uninteresting way imaginable all the more egregious. Despite the lore being inherently interesting, all I could think of while watching the episode was if I could get away with skipping forward or not. And that sucks.

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