So whoever is the owner of that one single magic shop gets to be queen of like, the entire Witch World.
And they decide who owns the shop by lottery.
They hold a lottery to decide their next leader.
We have G Gundam where war is based on the principles of sportsmanship, and we have Doremi, where leaders are chosen based on who owns a shop by sheer luck.
If you say it this way, G Gundam's way of deciding leadership is just as bad or worse than Doremi's.
"The leader of the entire Earth Sphere is determined on a fighting tournament that also causes destruction to the world. The winner of the tournament isn't necessarily even the one who becomes leader, the head of state does and they don't even need to take part."
Monster-8
This was kinda weird. So Tenma goes back to work despite knowing that people probably want to kill him.
Also fuck Eva. Bitch can drown herself in alcohol. Tenma did the right thing ignoring her. I started bawling out in laughter when she tried to blackmail him back into a relationship with her.
For a man bent on committing suicide, he sure is incompetent at actually doing the deed. I love the "I'm in despair ! _______ has left me in despair !" line.
Great episode. The three deranged students had me laughing my ass off. Nozomu is a fine character so far and his interactions with the female teacher are hilarious. I only hope that the developing harem is only there for comedic purposes.
Talking of saving anime, I'm going to be on this year's Apprentice hoping to make it to the end to propose my idea to Alan Sugar to get into licensing anime in the UK. Wish me luck.
Talking of saving anime, I'm going to be on this year's Apprentice hoping to make it to the end to propose my idea to Alan Sugar to get into licensing anime in the UK. Wish me luck.
Dammit GAF, you've ruined me. I can't not notice the stupid "cheek mouths" of the people in this show without imagining some really fucked up anatomy if I were to switch perspectives a couple degrees in either direction.
I think at this point the tonal shift between this and Fate/Zero is starting to hit me. It's definitely gonna be more difficult to get into things when all of the revealed masters are fucking highschoolers fighting for really petty reasons. At least when we had Waiver we had his master, Iskandar, as a counterpoint for what was essentially a motivation of "proving yourself". There's no such fun contrast in this, and the Master/Servant dynamics come off as far less interesting in this (I've read the VN).
The first half of this episode definitely felt like the "beginning of a VN / school life" drag where I'm painstakingly going through the day of boring ol Shirou. It contrasts pretty heavily when we actually start getting into his backstory though, as others have mentioned, they seemed to have gotten the introspective parts of the character down pact. It's just cutting through the fat of a very typical VN introduction sequence that's mellowed me out after the highs in episode 00.
Based Illya though.
Garo the Animation 1-2
God, there are so many hits this season and I feel like I've just come away watching yet another really satisfying one. Typically I'm turned off by CG (hated it in Gatchaman Crowds, etc) but lately it feels like studios have been able to find a way to incorporate CG into their shows without losing the "weightiness" comes with their inclusion. There's a certain deliberateness in their movement that feels believable within the setting and I think this is one of the few times in which I think a studio's really nailed it. Given that Mappa's also handling Bahamut it's clear they've got some talented CG dudes at their disposal.
Design wise I can't say I was too sold by the look of the Horror in episode 2. Episode 1s dude gave a very "organic" monster feel, immediately giving me flashbacks of some of the dudes in Berserk. But episode 2?
What a fantastic battle of friendship, rivalry and dreams. Chibodee's improvement from when he first fought Domon were impressive and seeing him go against Domon with all that energy and drive made for a heart pounding match. I wonder if the Shuffle Alliance matches will continue that smoothly for Domon though.
Garo the Animation 1-2
Design wise I can't say I was too sold by the look of the Horror in episode 2. Episode 1s dude gave a very "organic" monster feel, immediately giving me flashbacks of some of the dudes in Berserk. But episode 2?
What?
Oh well, looking forward to seeing more of Green Hair and Blondie in the future.
So at last we have reached the penultimate episode of the first season of Sailor Moon and indeed one of the most shocking episodes to ever happen in the Magical Girl genre. First, I need to address a few things, this episode makes me understand why Toei is going so far in the opposite direction with the tone and direction of Crystal, maybe too far, but still why they are doing it. This episode was marred and indeed almost ruined by the stupid comedy spots in the beginning of the episode. This is episode that demanded a needed a special weight to it, if you needed to humor it should have been to lighten and otherwise heavy mood and acting like this was a typical episode does it a disservice.
That being said, the episode still does a decent job in underscoring the emotional weight and impact that the death of the Sailor Scouts has. Admittedly it is hard to have that much in the way of emotional resonance these days knowing that they get better but within the context of not only the episode but the time of release this was absolutely emotionally devastating as this show had the chutzpah to kill off its supporting cast. An act that surprised even the mangaka. I do like the added touches of having the loss of the other scouts at first shocking Usagi into so much grief that she almost surrenders because she doesn't know what else to do. That being said, her over-exaggerated personality does oversell the pain at points with at back the resolve. Also, still endlessly amusing at how many of the love interests ended up being emotional dead ends. Seriously, why did that happen.
Anyway, automatic highest recommendations to watch this episode, but the episode quality has been diminished by time, perspective and bad comedy.
Racism, domestic/animal violence, immigration and suicide. This show has no qualms about making fun of even the most sensitive topics. The fact that it took me so long to check it out has left me in despair.
Dante's daunting plan was a good way to end out this battle. The weakness was fairly clear but it was still good all around.
DraColle Episode 28
Best of the two this week simply for the beautiful friendship to make another DraColle evolve. The friendship through Hiro's time in this world with Shin coming together in this one battle was great. I just wish the battle didnt make the 11 minutes feel like one minute. It was over before I knew it
I've been chuckling with Kokkuri-san, and Shirobako looks indeed interesting (my second PA Works anime I've been in touch; first one was (unfortunately) Glasslip).
I've been chuckling with Kokkuri-san, and Shirobako looks indeed interesting (my second PA Works anime I've been in touch; first one was (unfortunately) Glasslip).
I really really don't understand why Keith exists. It's like having Shining Hearts: Rick's Bread in the middle of a Gundam show. All he cares about is baking and sharing his bread. I'm also disappointed by how psycho Sochie is. I thought she would be an endearing sidekick-type character but she's just a pitifully one dimensional racist. The fact that this is considered one of the better classic Gundams makes me think that the original, Z and ZZ were even worse than I thought. Finally, it's really hard to keep my excitement up when the robot fights are just so lame and silly. They're all just clowning around. How this show manages to be less serious than Gundam Build Fighters is beyond me.
I'm only watching because I know that the show is going to get interesting, or, at least, enjoyable near the end. But the road there is just so long and meandering.
Yea dude, I'm nowhere near enarmored with Turn-A as some people here. It's like they want to tell a serious war story but then you get characters like Keith. I felt like Turn-A was just mediocre at a number of aspects and instead of trying to delve into the psychology of characters, we get goofy Gundam antics.
Also I definitely agree about the robot fights being super boring.
HEROBANK Episode 28 Friend or Foe?! Sekito Sakuraba!!
The opening theme with the new voices is something I need in the full version. The voices make it feel a bit more alive than it already was and kind of made me laugh. The scenes with Kaito and the Big Money Company either getting dizzy from the opening scene or a few other things makes it pretty funny. Then the voices with the "fufu" and "oh yeah" is a good touch. It kind of helped set things up to be funny as this season looks to raise the bar on it.
Sekito in the zone was funny as well as his way of just being their to stalk Kaito and Nagare in the store (no one noticed him on shelves or something), or that one smile. Ending theme with him all around them though, suggests hes definitely way friendlier than they are making him.
The elusive MrJeff has been caught and in doing so I was entitled to one wish. That wish, you ask? I wished he would watch bet me in order to restore the sanctity of the watchbet. Between the general reneging on bets and Mike's slow murder of phoenix, something had to be done. He was kind enough to grant my wish. We agreed to begin in December due to prior commitments on both of our parts, my work and nanowrimo eating up the little time I'll have in the coming weeks and his constant escapng from children attempting to capture him to have their own wishes granted.
He selected the following to be my challenge:
Apparently a show of little renown and questionable quality, I'll do my best in completing this task.
Right, so whatever the missteps that past few episodes have had, they have been a solid building to this the ultimate climax of Sailor Moon season 1 and with the full weight of the season behind it I would say this was not only a really excellent handling of the end times but maybe the best episode of Season One to boot. Indeed not only do we get the emotional capstone for Mamoru and Usagi and we reach stakes that are literally world ending. The end fight was pretty epic in spite of a lack of action, but perhaps that is for the best since Sailor Moon fights are pretty shitty on the action. Also, kudos for using the power of good two shoes in ways that do not feel trite or forced, always a problem there, looking at you Harry Potter. Anyway, we end things on a book end that scream that they were not sure they were getting a second season at the time of creation so we can make this a series end but keep it open enough in case a sequel comes along. Anyway, capital episode and of course highest recommendations to watch.
Sailor Moon Series 1 Review:
So to all legends there is a beginning, and this is the beginning of the legend of Sailor Moon both in-universe and to international acclaim. That being said, does it hold up after 20 years? Well, that answer is yes and no, in fact, I can sum up this season with one word and that is uneven. When the series was on point, it could be quite excellent, I think the overall high point was from the end of the Nephrite arc to the beginning of the Kunsite arc, basically the Zoicite arc, and not just because Zoicite was the best villain of season one. The Zoicite arc stands out because the monster of the week format actually enhanced the story since every monster was connected to the overraching plot and there was a sense of progression every episode and you knew what the stakes were at any given point. The worst was undoubtedly the beginning of the series where we had to deal with Usagi and a rookie super hero, having to put up with her ultra grating exaggerated anime personality with nobody to bounce off of was truly teeth grinding and I am shocked it didn't get the series cancelled. Indeed, there are some very rough spots to the first season, some of it was just endemic to the times and the length.
This season alone was 46 episodes, so it had to fill the space in some fashion and had to draw out characterizations and plots and all that jazz. Some errors are more inexcusable, like how they screwed up some of the characters, I had not released how badly botched Minako is in this version, but I can tell you she is a hell of a lot more interested in the manga and hopefully Crystal then she was here. The unevenness of Sailor Moon can be best expressed in its villains this season, the Four Great Kings all had distinct personalities, goals, hopes, drams wants, needs and other character make up that made them compelling and thus were the real driving force of intrigue. On the other side of the coin we had Queen Beryl who just sat around on her ass barking orders and that was about it.
She was less a character and more a harold and personification of the power ofQueen Metalia, who displayed truly world ending power in the flashback. In the present she little more then background noise form Beryl, and this is why Beryl is much more remembered and iconic of the series, for as flat as she was, she was basically the face of evil for this season as uninteresting as she was.
So, I suppose if I had to rank this season and grade it, I would give it a C and maybe say it is the middle of the road, an alirght beginning, but both better and worse times are ahead.
This was pretty funny. Erika is giving me Sakura from Nozaki-kun vibes, with all those reactions and quirkyness.
In the end I guess they'll both fall for eachother for real, but the journey there may be fun. I'll give it two more episodes, if it can keep up the fun stuff I'll watch it to the end.
The arrival of a rival makes the stakes a lot more interesting. It seems this mysterious magical girl has a different motive for collecting the Jewel Seeds than Nanoha does who I'm guessing wants them to protect her city and friends as well as getting them all back to Yuuno.
As for what the Jewel Seed did this episode, making an adorable kitten roughly 30 times bigger is just well...adorable!
Next episode is a hot springs episode, you've got have one of those in an anime somewhere! <_<
I watched the first 2 episodes of this the other day, was interesting but not captivating. Kind of like Space Dandy. My interest does not hold as well with stories that do not have continuity. I prefer stuff like Samurai Champloo that has side stories as the plot progresses.
I watched the first 2 episodes of this the other day, was interesting but not captivating. Kind of like Space Dandy. My interest does not hold as well with stories that do not have continuity. I prefer stuff like Samurai Champloo that has side stories as the plot progresses.
If you think about it... stories usually do not have continuity, each one is separate from other ones. It's just that some are longer (like an entire season) and others are shorter (just one episode).
I.. what is this? Something feels awfully fishy. School with 6 students, MC being paranoid, school bus wreckage, sniper rifle, knifes, gas mask and lockpicking.
Atleast there's blond Mayoi Hachikuji, so I'll root for her in this.. assassination war to come? I don't even know what's happening.
Tried the first two eps of Bacanno after watching all of Durarara. Just not my thing. I've heard reviews all over the spectrum for Ping Pong. Still not sure what to think about it, but I'm probably going to watch it sooner or later.
Yami to Boushi looks a bit more slutty than I'm in the mood for, but Tatami? Madhouse? Well why didn't you say so? *Adds to watch list*
Was gonna say something about the Dark Kingdom only sending a handful of monsters when they're this close to the portal and everything, but... Yeah, being a magical girl is suffering... Sailor Moon also got her own Star Wars moment.
Talking of saving anime, I'm going to be on this year's Apprentice hoping to make it to the end to propose my idea to Alan Sugar to get into licensing anime in the UK. Wish me luck.
The elusive MrJeff has been caught and in doing so I was entitled to one wish. That wish, you ask? I wished he would watch bet me in order to restore the sanctity of the watchbet. Between the general reneging on bets and Mike's slow murder of phoenix, something had to be done. He was kind enough to grant my wish. We agreed to begin in December due to prior commitments on both of our parts, my work and nanowrimo eating up the little time I'll have in the coming weeks and his constant escapng from children attempting to capture him to have their own wishes granted.
He selected the following to be my challenge:
Apparently a show of little renown and questionable quality, I'll do my best in completing this task.
In an act of mercy, I offered him something excellent in return, a proven winner. Known as one of the best space operas in anime, it's something I'm sure he'll enjoy given the classic status it holds in both our hearts and lists everywhere.
That's right:
Pray for me that I might complete this journey unscathed.
the whole things entrenched in LNisms like a serial killers apartment is reeking with the smell of corpses under the floorboards but the self aware cynicism of pretty much everyone down to even the cute 'n cuddly mascots really keeps things afloat. a shame its all gonna sink when the amnesia flashback stuff torpedoes the rickety ass boat.
I was full of dread thinking that Parasyte would be a horrible adaptation, but I'm content with it so far. The soundtrack seems out of place and some of the added scenes feel odd, yet I'm hopeful the series can keep from falling on its face. Fingers crossed.
Parasyte is very promising so far. Its going to get very dark and messed up in horrible ways I imagine, but Madhouse will lovingly animate it all as well as possible.
