They've messed up several times with menu content and some of the presentation (like inconsistent death fading - including the ending of the final battle against Kayaba), which leads to some inconsistencies, but I guess those aren't big problems compared to the main story itself.
having pity sex with a girl at the lowest end of self esteem because he was "being a nice guy"
wtf!?
Episode was good, I doubt that the two obstacles are completely out of the picture, but their meddling power levels have been decreased dramatically now.
Sword Art Online - 17
This is stupid, I didn't think the overall plot could get more dumb, but it did somehow and that's ontop of the already dick of a villain, Navi Yui and the damsel in distress.
At the very least the world presented has a system that's interesting.
The writer should pitch these ideas to companies, the cardinal system and sao, and the flight engine and world tree of alo, I cant imagine what the others are like.
They really don't make them like this anymore, do they? I watched Robotech when I was like eight, so this was a very interesting psuedo re-watch for me. Everything felt nostalgic and familiar, but the plot's twists and turns were new to me simply because I don't remember any of them
(Roy dies!? )
.
I was genuinely surprised at how well the atmosphere and story aged. The peril that the SDF and it's passenger's encounter feels real and constant. And the occasional death of a character makes it feel like no one has a plot shield. I was seriously blown away by episode 27 "Love Drifts Away". In it we have
the four million Zentradi ships obliterating nearly all life on earth. The subsequent firing of the UN's Grand Cannon which annihilates most of the Zentradi, followed by the SDF using the Daedalus Attack to punch into the main Zentradi base and blow it up from the inside out. And don't forget Ichijo's confession of love to Minmay, her first kiss to him and her infection to the Zentradi fleet via singing protoculture.
Wow! Seriously one of the most incredible episodes of anime I've watched. And all of that coupled with, what I imagine to be, the bulk of their animation budget. Speaking of animation budget, this was one aspect that didn't age particularly well. The art is inconsistent and silly looking from time to time. The switch between beautiful VF combat and hard-to-look-at character animation is jarring. Personally, I can ignore it, but I can see it being a barrier for people looking to experience or re-experience this masterpiece.
Ever since I wandered into Macross Zero, I haven't been able to shake this Macross fever. So next up is Macross II: Lover's again. I've heard a few bad things about it, but since it's only a six episode OVA I'm not too worried.
Well, this fall season has turned out better than expected. If I were to rank the shows so far, it'd probably be something like this;
1. Psycho-Pass - Easily the most interesting series right now; sci-fi police drama with some social commentary, great action scenes and a high budget to boot.
2. Robotics; Notes - While this looked a little generic at first, the plot seems to moving into an interesting direction with the little developments in Episode 3.
3. JJBA - Pure testosterone-filled badassery, 'nuff said.
4. Shinsekai Yori - Best use of atmosphere and motifs I've seen in a while. Would probably be at the top of the list if I was a fan of the suspense genre.
Overall, every series is quality and my ranking is just based on personal preference. There are no Fujikos here as far as I can tell.
How is Haru too perfect? I thought its clear he has anger issues, people hitting issues, and etc? However he is good designed character and one of my favorite this season.
The depiction of Terraists in this episode went from fanatical morons/terrorists with a devotion for the stupid to utterly ugly monsters. Seriously, they look so fucking monstrous now. I knew the show wasn't ever apologetic about their depiction (they are less a religious entity and more a full-blown guerrilla group), but making them ogreish is ridiculous.
Kesler got a cute waifu and Prince Alec is born. Good omens.
You need to hang out around Mrs. Cazzellnu more, Karin-chan.
Reinhard valiantly commands his troops against the Iserlohn rebels without any regard for his own health. Of course that all goes awry when he collapses in the middle of the battle, information that is inevitably intercepted by Julian and co., granting them a great opportunity to strike against the Kaiser. The way the entire Imperial fleet falls into confusion tells us of the over-reliance on Reinhard's combative ability. The fact that not even Bittenfeld would strike against the Iserlohn forces is evidence of the over-reliance on the Golden Lowe. Things do not look well for the Kaiser.
The use of unmanned ships as a decoy was superb, but as a gamble it was too risky, especially when compare to Yang's more cautious attitude to battle. Too bad Reinhard is not at his fullest. Julian would be fucked had the Kaiser been physically better.
This was probably one of the best episodes I've ever watched in anime. If forty plus hours were built up around getting to this moment then they were forty plus hours well spent. It managed to both glorify and abhor the horrors of warfare, and also to give a fitting coda to many of the side characters that have accompanied the audience all this time.
I am thankful that all the Iserlohn good guys were able to meet a dignified death after the ignominy of Yang's assassination. Julian himself foreshadowed it when he concluded that the era of heroes and geniuses had come to an end. There really would be no place for these champions in a universe of peace and cooperation. If they are a remnant of a brutal and better forsaken period of time, at least they got a glorious entry to Valhalla.
I thought that Valhalla was reserved to people who died in battle. Suicide hardly sounds like a glorious way to go out in the name of the Kaiser.
The beginning sequence with Katerose singing in memory of Schenkopp felt way out of place with the show. Never mind the fact that we have never been told anything about her singing abilities, it fucks up the solemn mood the rest of Iserlohn is living at the moment. Plus, she's an awful character who exists for the sole purpose of giving Julian some prize at the end of the road.
Mittermeyer's dream with the Kaiser joining the other admirals was incredibly sad. He will be the only remnant of Reinhard's short-live reign, but, on the other hand, he has his own family to take care of. This message of "mourning just the sufficient amount and focus on the later generations" may be optimistic, but it still feels kinda like dipshit after you've spent so much time around these characters.
Rubinsky's last plot is another one of those elements, along with the Terraists, that should have been left for a lesser animu. While I don't doubt he had the means to install all of those explosives under the city, that's the kind of vengeful machinations that is so out of the blue that you can't help but glare at it in disgust, added to the fact that Heinessenpolis has experience about a bajillion different terrorist attacks in the past two years so the effect is diluted. They are trying to cram far too much into this episode.
I was surprised at the relative ease to which the Kaiser acknowledged and somewhat accepted Julian's proposal for a constitutional parliamentary. It might be the illness doing him or the fact that he knows it will no longer be his obligation to rule over the universe. I like to think he acknowledges the problems that a hierarchic government entails. His objective was always for him to rule the universe, not for his bloodline to impart the law for all time. He suffered through some of the worst days of the Goldenbaum putrid governance, after all.
The show is definitely ugly at times. Not to mention the verbosity and length can be a huge impediment towards trying to get into the show --I've been a huge critic of the -monogatari series' love with its own pompousness before, but I can't deny SHAFT at least tries to make it visually creative in order to capture the audience's attention. There's none of that imagination in terms of camerawork or cinematography here. Talking heads occasionally working from one place to another are the norm instead of a disappointing byproduct in an otherwise opulent work.
And yet I couldn't help but love every second of it. It's an œuvre with a message to tell, and regardless of whether it's efficient or not at telling it (
TERRA IS MY MOTHER
) the ambitiousness surrounding it is commendable. The moniker 'Legend" aptly applies here: LotGH's subject matter reaches far, the patience need to produce such story encompassing a long time. I remember I once commented that most stories out there are simple enough to not necessitate more than fifty episodes or so. I'm glad to admit this is the exception to the rule, as, unlike many of the shounen cartoons that equal or surpass LotGH's length, the story it tries to tell is complex and in need of the time it demands of its audience.
Aside from the dramatic moments, what I most admire out of the show is its commitment to remain a 'historical' recount of the Galactic Empire. There were many a time when the narrator would spoil something that would happen later on, including vital and #gamechanger stuff like
Yang's death
. This approach is unlike anything I've watched in the medium before, and I ended up rather enjoying the educational vibe.
Without going into the political stuff, as I don't feel well-rounded enough in the matter, I do extol any self-proclaimed anime fan to go ahead and watch it. It's an experience like no other in animation, exuding tons of love from its creators in every little detail of its body.
I give Legend of the Galactic Heroesfiveaxes axing Imperial heads out of five and a Regulus Tera Official Seal for One of the Bestest Animus Ever™, however devalued those seals are.
This was another poor episode, since nothing of significance really happened. There was a clear necessity to further establish the setting and characters, but the small developments that occurred should have been told in a much more concise, focused manner. The pacing was slightly improved compared to the previous two episodes, but it remains entirely too slow and tedious.
Yui remains the best character, and, as such, her moments with Kirito were quite good, since her relationship with Kirito and Asuna represents one of the better dynamics of the show. The revelation that
Suguha is Lyfa
was highly predictable. Her
romantic interest in Kirito
is a thoroughly unnecessary development, but, at the very least, the inevitable moment she
discovers that Kirito is her brother/cousin
will be greatly satisfying. Recon's nearly as insufferable as Sugou, but, thankfully, his appearance was rather brief. I do like how
driven Kirito is to save Asuna
, since it essentially illustrates a level of immediate suspense that the comical antagonist certainly fails to provide.
Sugou
is a terrible, unconvincing "antagonist". His portrayal as this
perverted egomaniac
isn't threatening at all. Of course, during his
reintroduction
, he conveniently
slips into a monologue of forced exposition that details all the "complexities" of his ultimate plan
. Though he wasn't particularly great,
Kayaba
is a much better antagonist than
Sugou
. One of my largest criticisms of ALO is that Asuna's characterization and role in the narrative as a
damsel in distress
only serves to stall proper character development by artificially forcing her into a state of fixed isolation.
The production values, for the most part, are rather impressive, especially the background art, which, due to the setting, is very visually appealing. The animation was great as well, particularly during the flying sequences.
All in all, Sword Art Online is rapidly descending into something far below mere mediocrity, unfortunately. Though it could certainly improve as the story progresses, I don't really expect it to. Despite the numerous flaws within the SAO arc, it still managed to be consistently enjoyable, but, so far, in ALO, there's a noticeable lack of compelling developments, and the narrative, as a whole, is thoroughly contrived, lacking the proper tension that might allow it to be somewhat engaging.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War
This movie was even better than the first! The little romantic arc was a bit predictable, but that's pretty much the only negative I could come up with. It's weird, Yang is definitely the most relatable character out of the two, and seems to be much less one-sided, but during the battles I simply can't help but root for Reinhard. What joie de vivre he finds in warfare! Such grace in leadership! Yang seems to be the only one capable of countering his tactics, and it's gonna be interesting to see a battle when they're both in charge from the start.
I'm very excited for the series now. The movie gets a 9/10.
EDIT: Heh, looks like someone else's legend just finished.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War
This movie was even better than the first! The little romantic arc was a bit predictable, but that's pretty much the only negative I could come up with. It's weird, Yang is definitely the most relatable character out of the two, and seems to be much less one-sided, but during the battles I simply can't help but root for Reinhard. What joie de vivre he finds in warfare! Such grace in leadership! Yang seems to be the only one capable of countering his tactics, and it's gonna be interesting to see a battle when they're both in charge from the start.
I'm very excited for the series now. The movie gets a 9/10.
EDIT: Heh, looks like someone else's legend just finished.
"main plot"/relationships become somewhat standard
.
---
Say I Love You 4
As for the episode itself, I really did look forward to seeing the Aiko episodes and I think for the most part, they did it fairly well.
There was some nice shot selection that I appreciated:
This really doesn't need much explaining, insomuch as it just perfectly illustrates exactly what is happening in the scene - there is a feeling of physical intimacy, but of course the way it is framed creates a powerful sensation of isolation. The fact that the frame is just filled with empty, black space simply evokes how empty this intimacy really is. This ties in directly to what we know of Yamato and his background with bullying. Ignoring the problem was wrong, but this sad facile attempt to reach out (Kimi ni Todoke?!) to Aiko is just as problematic.
Then, the next scene cuts to a close up of Aiko's body and her personal trauma:
And we quickly see that having a close up is just as troubling as having a wide angle shot, especially if the character being shown is ashamed of her body.
I mean, I complain that sex really isn't an issue that happens in anime because everyone has to be virginal, but body issues are almost entirely absent (outside of laughing at the random fat character that appears once in a while). I was worried that they wouldn't focus on the stretch marks, based on that last episode, but I can see that they were saving it for this episode and the direct contrast between the wide and close shots.
But that's not really the end of the story! The director then turns this sense of visual isolation on its head int he same episode when Mei and Yamato meet up again at the end:
So you get the shots of them kissing and whatnot, and that's fine, but here the inversion of the visual trope of self-esteem problems is inverted from Aiko's sense of isolation to Mei's growing self-confidence. The shot focuses on the same part of Mei's body as she deals with her own body issues (being the virgin when your partner already had sex), but it's a much more positive experience. There's no negative space, for one, but the hint of hope is seen in the shot of the bracelet that is almost off-frame.
A similar shot happens when Yamato confirms his feelings for her:
It's just a nice touch to use the visual language of isolation established earlier (and in the previous episode) as a positive experience at the end. The implication is that Aiko and Mei are more similar than not (which of course we see in the plot), but that they are also connected to each other.
And just because I thought this was neat a reminder of episode 2:
They set up the Aiko shot two episodes ago! But where the negative space in the Aiko shot creates isolation, here it creates intimacy. I'm just impressed that there is such a nice symmetry that exists even between episodes. It shows a level of thought and care that you don't really see in live action TV shows.
So yeah, this also has blushing girls that blush because that's what they do, but between the actual plot/themes covered in the show and how it's shot, even if the rest of the show flames out, I'm perfectly ready to call this one of my favourite shows of the season.
As I said back in episode 1, I'm sure there are tons of shoujo that deal with body issues in a realistic manner in manga, and I'd welcome any suggestions if you have any, but this is the first time I've seen this in an anime so it's hard for me to contain my excitement. lol
Yeah, from the new world is a really atmospheric and mysterious show but it presents a really strange story in a sensical way.
I did enjoy the batshit craziness of Penguin Drum though.
What a unique show that was!
So hold on. ALO has been out for a year now. That means it was advertised and purchased all while the SAO debacle was going on, despite using the same technology. Not only that, but
imouto has been playing it since before her brother woke up from the coma.
Damn, people are stupid and insensitive.
And is it just me, or are players taking this world more seriously than SAO, despite their lives not
(knowingly)
being on the line and with a normal ability to log out? You got your racism, your political tension, stuff like that. Games are srs business.
I...I might need to watch this again just to grasp everything that happened but... wow.
So, that whole info dump was pretty intense. The stuff about Boy A was disturbing as shit. Interesting how they were as shocked as they were to hear that humans would harm other humans. I mean, I know that they live in a time where this doesn't happen, but it's still so hard to grasp, you know?
Then there was the bit about war with the PK users and all that led to the Dark Ages (vol. 2). The best part was that about the emperor that butchered his people so often that he cut his population in half and there were flies all over the place because of all the dead bodies around. Show's dark, man.
That monk dude's pretty mysterious. Interested to see if he plays much of a role going forward.
I'll rewatch this when I watch ep. 5 just to go over this again. Look forward to it.
Sword Art Online 17
So hold on. ALO has been out for a year now. That means it was advertised and purchased all while the SAO debacle was going on, despite using the same technology. Not only that, but
imouto has been playing it since before her brother woke up from the coma.
God, this show is just the stupidest shit ever. So even though Kirito picks a dude that looks exactly like him and uses the same god damned name, the sister
doesn't recognize him at all and starts the process of joining his harem
. What the fuck.
Then, for good measure, the idiotic meta plot just continues to explain how incompetent the Japanese government seems to be. The only thing that would justify this stupid meta plot is if the government was actually in on it and wanted a way to
social engineer its subjects
, but even then, it doesn't absolve the fact that all the players are fucking idiots.
But since AW is a sequel series, I don't even what to know how stupid this world gets 50 years from this point. Why would your burden a franchise with this shitty nonsensical mythology? I can only imagine how stupid AW is after the utter incompetence on the part of all the characters in this show.
To excuse this as just some shitty story written by a dude in high school would be an insult to highschoolers. SAO is clearly the masturbatory fantasies of someone who read a slightly less shitty cyberpunk novel and decided to write a story about how being good at video games makes him the best person ever.
(So of course, just like Twilight, it makes perfect sense that this show is fucking popular. God damn)
God, this show is just the stupidest shit ever. So even though Kirito picks a dude that looks exactly like him and uses the same god damned name, the sister
doesn't recognize him at all and starts the process of joining his harem
. What the fuck.
Then, for good measure, the idiotic meta plot just continues to explain how incompetent the Japanese government seems to be. The only thing that would justify this stupid meta plot is if the government was actually in on it and wanted a way to
social engineer its subjects
, but even then, it doesn't absolve the fact that all the players are fucking idiots.
But since AW is a sequel series, I don't even what to know how stupid this world gets 50 years from this point. Why would your burden a franchise with this shitty nonsensical mythology? I can only imagine how stupid AW is after the utter incompetence on the part of all the characters in this show.
To excuse this as just some shitty story written by a dude in high school would be an insult to highschoolers. SAO is clearly the masturbatory fantasies of someone who read a slightly less shitty cyberpunk novel and decided to write a story about how being good at video games makes him the best person ever.
(So of course, just like Twilight, it makes perfect sense that this show is fucking popular. God damn)
Well when you have cool lead characters like Edward and Jacob, who are also on Kiritos level, then they are definitely deserving of the popularity. (movies/graphic novel).
As I said back in episode 1, I'm sure there are tons of shoujo that deal with body issues in a realistic manner in manga, and I'd welcome any suggestions if you have any, but this is the first time I've seen this in an anime so it's hard for me to contain my excitement. lol
Well when you have cool lead characters like Edward and Jacob, who are also on Kiritos level, then they are definitely deserving of the popularity. (movies/graphic novel).
God, this show is just the stupidest shit ever. So even though Kirito picks a dude that looks exactly like him and uses the same god damned name, the sister
doesn't recognize him at all and starts the process of joining his harem
. What the fuck.
Then, for good measure, the idiotic meta plot just continues to explain how incompetent the Japanese government seems to be. The only thing that would justify this stupid meta plot is if the government was actually in on it and wanted a way to
social engineer its subjects
, but even then, it doesn't absolve the fact that all the players are fucking idiots.
But since AW is a sequel series, I don't even what to know how stupid this world gets 50 years from this point. Why would your burden a franchise with this shitty nonsensical mythology? I can only imagine how stupid AW is after the utter incompetence on the part of all the characters in this show.
To excuse this as just some shitty story written by a dude in high school would be an insult to highschoolers. SAO is clearly the masturbatory fantasies of someone who read a slightly less shitty cyberpunk novel and decided to write a story about how being good at video games makes him the best person ever.
(So of course, just like Twilight, it makes perfect sense that this show is fucking popular. God damn)
Fucking amazing.
This feels like a good adaption. It totally makes me want to read the manga and is just really fun to watch.
The source material is obviously awesome, but I could have thought of ways to butcher this up.
Moreso than the frog scene the way Jojo reached for the branch just killed me.
Zeppeli is a good addition as Jojo needs a mentor who is stronger than him. I really like all the characters so far.
Well when you have cool lead characters like Edward and Jacob, who are also on Kiritos level, then they are definitely deserving of the popularity. (movies/graphic novel).
)
