Shiny Chariot ended up as an under-appreciated teacher at her old school and how her media empire crumbled. She could've just spent the rest of her days with fat wads of cash but somehow ended up with a shitty job.
From what I gather, maybe the the Shining Rod left her possession at some point, like it chooses its user. After that she dropped her Chariot persona because she couldn't do the kind of magic she did before.
Something I really enjoyed about the first half of this episode was the storyboarding. The moments where Lotte is raving about the book series are well storyboarded with the split between the book pages and the other two's reactions. I also thought it was enjoyable seeing Lotte express an actual emotional range. There wasn't any sort of exceptional animation in the first half but it's still a lot of fun.
That said, I found the second half of the episode to be sorta flat as I couldn't care about the kid's problems as they weren't really expanded upon in an interesting way nor did the show deign to spend any significant time on her problems. In addition to that, the scene where Lotte and the kid are rambling on runs for a smidgen too long. The second half of the episode just lacks any sort of energy.
I'm posting this in both threads because this episode was the first flat out bad episode and it also exemplifies some of the larger writing concerns. This is a weird episode to talk about because the first half of the episode seems especially poorly written but they do somewhat explain some of the writing issues later.
For example the security being somewhat light around the Sorceror's Stone is because the Academy can't directly stop Fafnir from repossessing the stone.
So the audience is left with a first half that just seem like a mess from a writing standpoint but they do enough to justify that later but still it's sort of rough. I should mention though that I'm liking the ongoing narrative about
Luna Nova being broke and how it seems magic is dying in that world. It goes well with Brexit.
There are two serious problems with the episode. The first is that the storyboarding and art is pretty much garbage. I know it's the first outsourced episode to Liden but damn. I don't so much mind the character models being off-model for the entire episode. Yes it's obviously a problem but the bigger issue is how lackluster the storyboarding was. The above screenshot is an example of bad storyboarding in that Akko is obviously supposed to be weighed down/pushed back by Diana's criticisms and instead of some visual motif weighing Akko down, it just has Akko bending her body back for no visual reason. A better storyboard would have had Akko being pushed to the ground by a literal visual representation of Diana's words. Instead the sequence comes off as Akko doing the limbo. Another example would be the chase/fight sequence in the forest which was just atrocious. The camera takes on a number of flat angles and there's never any sort of real tension despite the action going on. There's no sense of danger and so when the
classmates are grabbed, the emotional effect is 'oh okay' instead of eliciting any real emotional response from the audience
. I understand part of this due to Liden being a crap studio and so they aren't really capable of animating a high speed broom chase. In which case I'm wondering why this episode was outsourced to Liden instead of episode 4 and having this episode be done in-house at Trigger.
Not to mention the composition is terrible in this sequence as well. This is only highlighted by the contrast between the high level fire animation, which was probably corrected by Yoshinari himself, and the poorly drawn character models. This might be a bit too harsh but Nomura isn't even coming close to Kaneko's level, hell I'm not even sure he's doing a good job at this point. The backgrounds art this episode seemed pretty bad, especially in the forest and ruins. There's just nothing. On top of that, I noticed that with an earlier scene, with the broom flying above a bunch of flat leaf textures, the framerate of the background was slower or off compared to the broom which was distracting.
That was just the first problem with the episode and it mainly relates only to this episode in particular. This second problem is a larger issue with the series as a whole. The problem is that the characters' skill sets are largely fucking gone compared to the OVA series and also the cast is way too large at this point. What I mean by the first point is that Akko isn't good for jack shit at this point. I understand nerfing her so her growth into a capable witch is more prominent but she isn't doing shit in these episodes. Akko isn't learning jack shit. She doesn't seem to show much effort in learning and is completely inept. This might be fine if she showed some of her earlier emotional range where she was depressed at her own lack of skill but the last two episodes have sidestepped that and she comes off as annoying more so than anything else. She doesn't really show any sort of frustration about her own incompetence and it's played off for laughs now rather than some of the earlier moments in episode 1 and 2. The show needs to make a bigger focus about her actually learning something. Amanda also seems to have gotten hit by the nerf stick as this episode had the crew trying to break into a place to steal something back and she didn't do shit either. This episode was straight up her alley and she does nothing of worth. Diana however has seemingly gotten the most extreme of buffs.
This is like some high-school student being able to read ancient Latin perfectly
. Thankfully the writing staff mellowed Diana's personality out but her skillset seems way too perfect now. I know the word Mary Sue triggers people here but this is coming across like that. Come the fuck on,
there's zero build up or set up that she could read ancient dragon
. On top of that, nobody else in that initial party of six does anything to resolve the events in this episode. Constanze, Jasmine, Lotte, and Sucy don't really do anything of note other than look pretty. Instead of using this as a chance to flesh out those other characters, it turns into another reason for the teachers to rimjob Diana. The cast is coming across as too large where a number of characters just aren't doing anything. How many lines did Lotte even have this episode?
The next episode has Akko actually attending a class so maybe the staff will remember that she's supposed to be going to school. I think this would be less of a problem if she wasn't so inept or if she was somehow resolving events, like if
she got the dragon to stand down instead of getting into an argument with him where she's name-calling him
. I should also mention it's a little puzzling that this episode had better sakuga moments such as with the smoke at the beginning, despite it being outsourced to Liden than the previous in-house Trigger episode. lol
I have to agree. There's a few good moments like Constanza packing heat but that's pretty much it. Backgrounds fell flat too and didn't have the great sense of aesthetic the series is known for.
Yeah this was pretty bad. The line that stood out to me the most was Sucy saying "Why are Lotte and I even helping you with this punishment" which is a good question, which is given no answer! NICE.
Like what the shit who do I root for here? Diana is right, Akko is just a troublemaker idiot who doesn't pay attention in class despite being so invested in being a witch. But Diana is so perfect (a literal Mary Sue) that it has to be some kind of joke, right? Nobody wrote that line about being able to read an extinct dragon language at the age of 12 seriously, right?
Its just...bleh. Can't Trigger stop this flip flopping between me liking them and then immediately fucking up again the next show?
Everyone's so down on this episode, but I enjoyed it plenty. Some good gags with Fafnir, which got actual lols from me.
Akko's stupid hotheadedness and Diana's impossible perfection are certainly heightened here, but I at least did not find it annoying. The ineptness of the school administration, on the other hand, went a bit far, in my opinion...I wonder how serious this "magic is fading from the world" thing is going to be, and how much that's connected with Luna Nova's fading fortunes. Originally I thought the endgame for this series would be a "Let's save the school with youthful enthusiasm and willingness to challenge established tradition!" thing, but now a larger scale seems somewhat possible.
Diana was going through multiple time loops in order to prevent some bad future from happening. She's shown using time magic and she's too perfect and really cold this episode.
Far better episode than the last one for sure. Akko grew up a bit and realized she has potential. Also it appears that magic is dying or is simply becoming irrelevant which might explain why Chariot disappeared from the spotlight.
So this was definitely better than episodes 2, 4, and 5. Part of the problem with the series right now is that Akko is beyond incompetent. She's completely inept to the point of not even passing the starting line. It's frustrating when you have a main character that can't even do simple shit, for a witch anyway. I could understand making her bad but she's so bad it's not even funny anymore. She's casting spells literally in the opposite direction her wand is pointed at. It's not just that though but also her attitude that makes it really infuriating. Instead of just hitting the books after realizing she's going to fail all of her classes, she comes up with any excuse to get out of actually studying. That's the kicker. If she was seriously trying and failing, I would be much more sympathetic to her plight rather than her using every 'get rich quick' scheme she can think up. It's not completely her fault though as Luna Nova has shown itself to be a shitty learning institution by generally not helping the failing student. I mean why would Badcock think Akko can go master this spell by herself? Shouldn't there be tutors or teachers helping Akko catch up? Her supposed 'mentor' only ends up coming to help her pretty late at night and only hears about Akko struggling from her friends by accident. What sort of school is this? It's like every teacher was Snape.
Now all of that said, this episode seems to be the turning point for her character. The climax involves Akko seemingly, and I do put emphasis on seemingly, realizing that she needs to change her attitude. I thought the climax with Shiny Chariot was fairly well done and hopefully gets the point across to Akko that she needs to hit the fucking books. I'm hoping there's more of an emphasis of her actually learning things in future episodes because even by the end of this episode, she still can't cast a metamorphosis spell. They've spent 6 episodes to get this point across, which doesn't seem like an efficient use of your episode count, so now it's time to get to work. They've spent multiple episodes on these hijinks and Akko is still just as incompetent as she was in episode 1. That's not a good thing. So with this climax, I'm hoping it serves as the ending to this six episode long opening arc.
I'm confused, is Diana and Andrew supposed to be the same age? Dude looks like he's five years older than her.
Now the rest of the episode is about introducing possibly the villain of the series. Turns out he's male (but no father-son groping yet). I'm hoping Andrew doesn't turn into a love interest for Akko and I'm especially hoping it doesn't turn into a love triangle between Akko-Andrew-Diana. I can see it and it scares the fuck out of me.
Visually this is a noticeable step up from 2, 4, and 5 which were lackluster from an animation standpoint. The finale looks like it was either directly animated by Yoshinari, which would be a first for the TV show, or heavily corrected by him. I'm guessing some of it is probably Masaru Sakamoto too. The second half as a whole is pretty solid from an animation standpoint with a sequence probably by Hori (the background animation gives it away). The crying sequence was fluid but it didn't have enough punch for me.
Goddamn could you sound any more like a pedophile?
The first half of the episode was really starting to piss me off due to Akko but the strong second half turned the episode around for me. I'm hoping this means that we'll see Akko either striving to be better or just skip to a point where she's not a total dunce. This episode also was much more in line with what I expected from Trigger in regards to animation and visuals.
The problem I feel is this episode should have been like episode 3 or 4. Right now the story is inching on a little too slowly, and Akko needed to have started pulling her weight some time ago. Hopefully now we'll see her actually do something good next episode onwards.
Yeah, go ahead and give my name to a big jerk! ;_; At least he seems like he's going to change his mind over the course of the series.
In retrospect, it actually does make sens that after the early episodes Akko would just kind of expect to be able to bullshit her way through everything with mysterious artifacts instead of putting in the work.
Akko busting through the door was a great bit of physical comedy, really had me laughing.
This was a strange episode for me, it opens with telling us how awesome Diana is and how utterly hopeless Akko is and I'm already starting to tire of this constant reminder. Once every few episodes might have been fine but right now it's rather boring.
The introduction of Andrew and his father (One or possibly both as the villains?) was pretty mundane but I'll let that slide. As a character there's nothing standout about him, even his interaction with Diana and his negative view on magic fell flat.
It is nice that Akko is starting to realise she needs to pull her act together, if this is the beginning of her growth that'll be fantastic. The issue is Diana, as she's pretty much the best possible student, how do you bring her back down to a level as everyone else? It kind of feels like the show wants to be both about the crazy adventures of a group of rowdy students (So the natural super competent and intelligent character makes sense) and also have some good character growth but sort of failing on both fronts.
The final scene for this episode was weird too, felt like there was something more but it just sort of ends there, seems a few episodes have done this to me already.
Now the rest of the episode is about introducing possibly the villain of the series. Turns out he's male (but no father-son groping yet). I'm hoping Andrew doesn't turn into a love interest for Akko and I'm especially hoping it doesn't turn into a love triangle between Akko-Andrew-Diana. I can see it and it scares the fuck out of me.
Akko being bad at everything is getting boring and annoying.
Diana being good at everything is getting boring and annoying.
I like the concept of the anime, but it's getting way too stale in my opinion since most of the episodes consist of Akko screwing something up and either Diana saving the day (as always) or Akko using some secret Chariot ability.
This is the epitome of the series so far. It better change -- and fast.
The animation quality of the first episode blew me away.
I knew in my heart that would never last past that epsiode, but I was still disappointed at the following drops. That all said, I am really enjoying the pure positivity of the main character. This show is charming the shit out of me.
Comedy highlight was Akko's freakout after sending Professor Pisces down the drain. I liked her telling off the poacher, too.
It was nice to see the side characters show off what they're good at and get a bit of development, too. The most important thing was Ursula forcefully standing up for Akko, though, finally becoming the sort of advocate and ally she's really needed all along.
There wasn't really anything particularly strong about this episode until right at the end and I think the only part that got a laugh out of me was when Ursula pretended to be the goldfish teacher. I did enjoy her go off on the other teacher about Akko's improvement though, which the episode did well to show how she has improved.
Still the plot wildly swings to throwing Akko down in the dumps to giving her some serious plot armour and inconsistencies to keep her in the school.
There wasn't really anything particularly strong about this episode until right at the end and I think the only part that got a laugh out of me was when Ursula pretended to be the goldfish teacher. I did enjoy her go off on the other teacher about Akko's improvement though, which the episode did well to show how she has improved.
Still the plot wildly swings to throwing Akko down in the dumps to giving her some serious plot armour and inconsistencies to keep her in the school.
I'm not sure it's inconsistencies, it might be plot armor but it appears that Akko is only good at Magic when it's crunch time. She's kind of like a shounen protagonist who can only power up when either someones in danger or it's a life or death situation (kind of like early Midoriyama in MHA).
Another great episode. Probably the funniest one yet. Was good to see Akko getting serious, but I was never really worried about that, I knew it would happen.
Haha holy shit what was that episode the different Sucy's of varies feelings and spouts of erratic emotions that go through a teenager, that one Sucy forming into the others like some monster out of *The Thing* then transforming into a dragon to parody sleeping beauty turning into a almost weird *Gotcha* fanfic ship of Sucy and Atsuko?
Whole episode was a mushroom trip.
The amount of references too. Silent Hills, Akira, Star Wars, Sleeping Beauty,
Finally the sort of episode that I could get behind! When I first jumped on board for this series I was expecting more adventures like this and less of what we've been getting (Outside of episode 3) this was totally playing to Trigger's strength and was one of the stronger episodes in the series. The hectic nature of this week's plot really shows how good the series could be and feels so much more fresh to watch than what we've seen for most this series.
So many good moments this episode but I loved the giant monster transformation scene the most, giant monsters will always get my vote. Really enjoyed all the different versions of Sucy too and how well her VA (I presume) hit it out of the park with so many voices but man is Sucy herself such an awful friend, not that that's anything new.
First episode with no Akko screw up and sasuga Diana either and look at how well done it was!
I'm not sure it's inconsistencies, it might be plot armor but it appears that Akko is only good at Magic when it's crunch time. She's kind of like a shounen protagonist who can only power up when either someones in danger or it's a life or death situation (kind of like early Midoriyama in MHA).
Oh I wasn't really talking about her power level, I felt the series has done enough to show she's rough around the edges and slowly improving. I was more talking about how she stumbles upon a fish > helps fish's family > gets photo taken of her > school is about to expel her > local wild life groups call and praise her. Like how would the wild life group even know that was a rare fish she saved???
Dude, episode 8 was fucking AWESOME! That was maybe one of the most inventive and entertaining episodes of anime I have ever seen. Everything after this is just gravy. The series has now justified its own existence AND the existence of the original two movies! Probably even Trigger itself!
I seriously can not overstate how much I love that episode. Shit damn!
Dude, episode 8 was fucking AWESOME! That was maybe one of the most inventive and entertaining episodes of anime I have ever seen. Everything after this is just gravy. The series has now justified its own existence AND the existence of the original two movies! Probably even Trigger itself!
I seriously can not overstate how much I love that episode. Shit damn!
Meta moment in the beginning, where Sucy decides against testing the potion on Akko because making her too competent would be boring. It felt like it was directed at everyone who was complaining about her being too useless, lol.