I can't believe this incredible journey is over. This has been, and probably will be, the most fun I've had watching science fiction since the early days of Stargate SG-1. There are just so many lessons that I have to assume the Japanese production crew must have learned from watching the shitshows that BSG and JJTrek turned into as reboots and they're all applied here to create something that - I admittedly have to assume - venerates the original series but modernizes the series in a way that makes it meaningful to a contemporary audience.
Even how they handled the ending and the
retcon of a certain death shits over what JJ did in a recent movie this year.
There are the small twiddly bits that are just weird - at times, it feels like they added more female cast members not to diversify the crew but to have more figurines to sell to otaku, but unlike say JJ showing Carol Marcus half naked in his crappy movie, at least these characters are more than just pretty women to gawk at.
As for the actual denouement, it serves as a nice quiet ending to the fucking balls out cliffhanger from last week. The journey back to Earth is framed by
the circle of life and death and rebirth... with the wedding, the captain's death, and of course, the "miracle" that happens with a certain character. They don't show how Earth is saved by this magical technology, because you already see it happen, so ending the show with the crew disappearing into a point of light and a blue Earth rising out of the darkness is just perfect
.
There are obvious questions, which is probably why there is a 2014 project, but it is an emotional ending to the previous episode's explosive climax.
There is no need for a gimmick, like the crew of the Galactica being our ancestors, or Khan with his blood of immortality, or the entire cast of characters going to a church and going to heaven or whatever bullshit SyFy has dumped on me in the last decade. It's just an ending marked by beauty and contemplation, one that is just simply happy and posits an end of a narrative rather than one that tries to make some shitty grand revelation or final plot twist for the sake of trying to be "memorable".
It's the perfect desert after a hearty and filling full course meal.
I know like only 5 people here will watch this show. But those 5 people will experience one of the greatest science fiction stories of the modern era. (It might even bump Aria off the top of whatever theoretical list I might make, which is just fucking inconceivable for me).
Still watching tier
-hunter x hunter
-Dokidoki precure
Still watching but what is wrong with me tier
-Sain seya Omega
Hyped as fuck for it tier
-SAMURAI FLAMENCO
-GINGITSUNE
-KYOUKAI NO KANATA
-KILL LA KILL
-NAGI NO ASUKARA
-PHI BRAIN SEASON 3
Will watch because it look intresting tier
-KYOUSOGIGA TV
-GALILEI DONNA
-YOZAKURA QUARTET: HANA NO UTA
-COPPELION
-NON NON BIYORI
-LOG HORIZON
-BLAZBLUE ALTER MEMORY
-INFINITE STRATOS 2 ( will the main character be denser than in the first season ? )
-TOKYO RAVENS
-UNBREAKABLE MACHINE-DOLL
My backlog it hurts Tier
-Rozenmaiden
-valvrave
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME tier
-Gundam build fighters
-ARPEGGIO OF BLUE STEEL
-GOLDEN TIME
-MAGI S2 ( only episode 1 )
-YUUSHA NI NARENAKATTA ORE WA SHIBUSHIBU SHUUSHOKU WO KETSUI SHIMASHITA (Yusibu)
Soo... Lisa is the child from the ship fire incident? Whaaa? I swear in one of the first episodes of Battle Tendency the narrator says that Erina's child and the adopted child get married and have Joseph, and then they die in a war or something. Maybe the subtitles were incorrect? Because Lisa would be Joseph's mother if that were true.
This is the truth. For viewers and writers alike, the best doujins (and fanfics) are those that understand the characters and are fairly close in presentation to the show.
I'm not really sure what this episode was supposed to be. Did that stuff happen? Is this to show some cyclical sequence of events? Or did they just do something like this just for the hell of it?
Soo... Lisa is the child from the ship fire incident? Whaaa? I swear in one of the first episodes of Battle Tendency the narrator says that Erina's child and the adopted child get married and have Joseph, and then they die in a war or something. Maybe the subtitles were incorrect? Because Lisa would be Joseph's mother if that were true.
I think I just need to get over how the space battles have nothing to do with battles taking place in space. lol
But, if I'm going deep cuts, I suppose I should finish Utena first at some point.
Like most of the show, this finale felt a little underwhelming and a little disjointed, but imbued with a certain amount of earnest "heartfulness" that made it still quite pleasing to watch. Yay for
everyone, including Komachi, ultimately getting their happy ending
, not that I was expecting any different.
Also,
so much for a final battle lol. Even with everyone working together, they couldn't even put a scratch on Protozero. Most one-sided showdown ever.
Luffy sure knows how to make an entry. Those moments of absolute shonen badassery almost make out for the absolutely intolerable pacing (almost).
In other order of things, finished with Rozen Maiden (great show DESU). Hope to finish the rest of shows I'm watching these days so I can start deciding on next (some stuff looks really interesting so far, looks like a great season!).
Whoever sqid Ippo has gone downhill is crazy. Its just that Hawk was the perfect enemy for Takamura, bit he is not the main character. Lot of good and potential foils for Ippo. They gotta add something with Ricardo Martinez though.
I'm looking forward to Outbreak Company. It's written by the author of Magician's Academy, and if Outbreak has even remotely the same approach to otaku humor that Macademi Wasshoi! had, it's going to be a fun ride. Though probably not as bonkers. Claymation censoring is one of those things that sticks with you.
What the hell even was this piece of shit episode about? The mood changed so often and so poorly that I've got whiplash. Like, what the hell, really. First, Katejina is jizzing her space pants because her (MOST FUCKING TERRIBLY DESIGNED) mobile suit beat the Victory (it didn't, a fucking truck out of nowhere, that shouldn't have been there AND IS NOT EVER SEEN AFTER THOSE TEN SECONDS beat him.) Then, suddenly Shakti is chewing out Odelo for shooting at people (Uh, Shakti, you got to live it up in a cush palace while your mom's people were hunting Odelo down, shut the fuck up now and please also murder yourself in a violent and grotesque way you selfish asshole.). Then Uso is having a sexy bath with his captor and he sucks her tit and makes a naked escape that is like when Judau escaped from Haman's residence except not graceful, classy, cool, or even well thought out. HOW SHITTY IS YOUR REBEL FORCE WHEN A DOG AND A TOY ROBOT HAVE TO BAIL YOUR ACE PILOT OUT?
Then it is time for crazy times as Uso ESCAPES. HOW. WHERE. WHAT IN THE FUCK IS YOUR SECURITY DOING. Holy shit, I hate these Zanscare so, so so so so so fucking much. Haman Khan would've gutted them ALL on the spot for this shit. How do you let a naked, hand cuffed boy escape with the assistance of a dog and a toy? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? WHY DID NO ONE THINK TO GROUND HIS MECH? But there it is! Uso just up and escapes, somehow. And there's Katejina, completely forgetting that she was on Uso's side and oh, by the way, the closest thing to a motivation she has for what she's doing is still Cronicle's cock. Like seriously, if she's trying to be The Boss, I'm going to quit Gundam.
Then suddenly Victory 2 with laser angel wings years before Strike Freedom. And then Uso is pitching a bitch fit about how his mom sent the V2 (which, btw, is NOT stated on screen) and expecting everyone to know this (she doesn't even have the same last name!) and I don't know.
Even the fights are getting dumb because we're at the point in a Gundam show where people start shouting stuff at each other in a way that is thoroughly detached from reality and the plot itself while they try and clobber one another.
How are there still 20 episodes of this plodding bullshit?
So Fakir finally realises Ahiru was the duck. And I think he's really fallen for her now to boot. Some very delicious Krahe this episode too, and the ending tease was just delicious.
Sango is by far the worst character in this story, not only did she steal the Tetsayga, lose to Naraku, lose to her brother, but then she didn't want to stay with the group because she'll "betray them again" someone needs to smack some sense into her.
At least Kagome became OP with a bow, holy crap that shot did all the damage.
Probably one of the better surprises this anime season. I started watching it mostly to pad out my CR queue a bit, because it looked mildly interesting. Turned out to be one of this season's best shows.
Probably one of the better surprises this anime season. I started watching it mostly to pad out my CR queue a bit, because it looked mildly interesting. Turned out to be one of this season's best shows.
What a nice ending. Really good layouts all throughout, and above average animation for the show. Inoue wasn't there this time but the whirlwinds blowing things up were really well-done!
It was fitting how the first thematic dialogue of the series comes back, in the episode where the balance of the three 'groups' is thrown into chaos as they come together in one place. Benten, being one in touch with all three, was really the only one to stop Akadama's rampage. I still think they could have devoted a bit more time to her character, but here she played her role flawlessly.
This was without a doubt the best show of the Summer season. Visually striking, evocative and quirky with well-realized characters. There isn't much anime like this and I'm glad it turned out really well. They really should adapt more Morimi novels.
---------------------
Summer season is finished, bring over sakuga Fall now!
Well, new season thread means I gotta make a list of shows and my intention to watch them =D
BACKLOG TIER (this tier has only shrunk by two shows since the start of last season. MUST TRY HARDER) Yes! Precure 5 GoGo! ←watching now Fresh Precure! (the Precure journey continues) Heartcatch Precure! (someday I will get this far, and it will be a glorious day) Suite Precure♪ (someday I will get this far, and nobody will care) Smile Precure! (someday I will get this far, and I will become addicted to the OP) DokiDoki! Precure (by the time I get this far, it will almost certainly be over) Hidamari Sketch ←STILL not actually watching now because of Precure addiction Hidamari Sketch x 365 (yunoyunoyunoyuno) Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu (yunooooo) Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb (yuno) K-ON!! (I should probably actually break up the Precure with some of this stuff but I don't think it's going to happen) End of Evangelion (starting to think I'm never actually going to get around to this)
Saying this now, but you've definitely slowed down, which is bad because I'm doing big detailed posts with Heartcatch (since it's reairing) and I'm going to be much more spoilery about it as well.
Great stuff. Ended on the same light-hearted note that this show started with and managed to have everything come together quite nicely. There definitely seems like there's more that could be fleshed out but I don't think it necessarily needs it. Benten for example would lose a lot of her allure if that mysteriousness was gone. I really loved the central theme of just enjoying life and having a good sense of family values. The art direction was just consistently fantastic and, like Dresden mentioned before, having pedestrians actually move around in the background just made the setting feel so much more alive.
Definitely my favorite show of the season and I would love to see more of this down the line. The OP was infectiously catchy too.
Uchouten Kazoku > Love Lab > Silver Spoon > Teekyuu S2 = Rozen Maiden > whatever I didn't finish/dropped
And with that Summer is officially over for me, anime-wise.
It seems to load a lot of things per page. The feeds especially.
They're rolling out an update soon which apparently includes a rewrite of the code so it may perform better. but their new forums still make my fans blare out so don't hold out too much hope.
I don't feel like the series did a very good job of making us feel attached to its characters. The leads were all right but never really stood out much. Cerebrem showed some promise as a villain, making decent use of his shapeshifting powers on occasion, but ultimately I didn't feel like his motivations were ever clear, making it difficult to appreciate him as a character. The final showdown with him in this episode didn't feel nearly as climactic as it should have; it felt like everyone was just going through the "final battle" motions for the sake of it.
And of course all the characters who weren't the four leads or Cerebrem felt completely empty and meaningless. Except Fuyuna, I guess, but she felt more like a plot device than an actual character.
Most of all, I feel like this series tried way, way too hard to make everything seem deep and mysterious and significant, when none of the mysteries or themes ever actually seemed to lead to anything substantial. Even the "shocking revelation" that Akari
was half-Daemonia herself
didn't feel like it had much significance. It gave Cerebrem an excuse to be interested in her. That was about the only effect it really had on the plot. With the series now over, I don't feel like I really understand this world any better than I did at the beginning.
This episode was frustrating, Jinenji was a very annoying character and the racism was so stupid in made me cringe. At least the scenes of InuYasha and Kagome interacting were good.
I remember not liking this the first time I saw this. I thought it was a fucking mess and was full of crazy for the sake of being crazy. Yep, still have that same feeling.
Most of all, I feel like this series tried way, way too hard to make everything seem deep and mysterious and significant, when none of the mysteries or themes ever actually seemed to lead to anything substantial. Even the "shocking revelation" that Akari
was half-Daemonia herself
didn't feel like it had much significance. It gave Cerebrem an excuse to be interested in her. That was about the only effect it really had on the plot. With the series now over, I don't feel like I really understand this world any better than I did at the beginning.
That revelation was the pretext to explain why she was the only one to hear the voice , why cerebrum would be intrested in her , beside her card but also gave the goal of her life attiitude ( necessary for a main heroine )
Since it's her goal in life now to find a way to save human turned into daemonians
I don't think they missued that revelation but i do think that they didn't expand enough on her mom
Despite nothing much really technically, y'know, happening in this episode, I feel like things are starting to get real. Got the obligatory weird dream sequence and everything. They brought up some stuff about the nature of truth, which I suspect will be a theme. So far I really like both protagonists, with Vincent's mopiness contrasted with his air of mystery and Re-l just generally being cool (despite her tiny tie which I can't take seriously at all). Enjoying this show so far, and looking forward to seeing where it goes.
You know what we could do instead, we could just refrain from mentioning anything Sword Art Online related until we're forced to watch the next series (cos you know it's coming).
