Kiritsugu is one cold mother fucker. Everything about this episode was fantastic. The fight the speeches. Lancer's last words. Kiritsugu's and Saber's argument. Need the next episode now!
Yeah that was pretty a'ight I guess. I recently finished the UBW route so decided to give this a watch. The pacing was uhhh.... actually, what pacing? I guess it's to be expected when condensing an entire route into a 105 minute movie. While giving them credit for trying, I can't ignore how disjointed it all felt even from the first few minutes.
The animation felt pretty solid for the most part. Better than what I remember from the DEEN series but worse than Fate/Zero's. There were lots of good looking scenes and the action wasn't half-bad bad I thought. The fight scene between
Shirou and Archer
was a highlight. It was one of my favorite moments in the VN and I enjoyed how it transferred into the movie. The other scenes were okay but maybe I'm just spoiled from Fate/Zero's action scenes. Unfortunately everything else felt like an afterthought in the film.
As I mentioned, the pacing was pretty much nonexistent so obviously characterization suffered immensely. This is a movie where I would definitely not recommend to someone who hasn't already played through the VN. Though it's pretty conflicting now that I think about it. Those who haven't read the VN will be pretty lost and those who have played the UBW route will more than likely be disappointed. So I dunno.
Truth be told, I actually enjoyed the Fate route a bit more than the UBW route. Shirou is a lot more of a bad-ass in UBW (though still dense as fuck) but for some reason I just enjoyed the romance in Fate a little more. I like Rin and all, but I wasn't a huge fan of how the VN handled their relationship and man that was next to nonexistent in the movie. I've still yet to go through the Heaven's Feel route and I hear it's really good (and apparently really dark).
Overall I can't say I'd recommend this to someone unless they've already gone through the UBW route in the VN and have some time to kill. The condensation of the characterization and plot really hinders this from being great. Lots of things were cut out such as the backstory between Ilya and Berserker, Shirou's characterization, the relationship between him and Rin, Lancer being a total bro, and a few other things. Speaking of Lancer,
man after the last episode of Fate/Zero that was pretty ominous. Lancers never seem to catch a break do they?
It's a pretty obvious fact but the VN explains and details everything in a much better manner, however it is a lofty read so those who've got short-attention spans might not be a fan of it.
I thought that was gorgeous. Furuya was funny and had great faces throughout and Babu too. I thought the episode overall was boring, and I think it will most likely remain that way going forward. I liked it better when
she wasnt a zombie
. Rea is just dull and boring and plot is just a bit too unrealistic now. Something feels like its missing in it.
So as it had been set up in the prior episode, this is a job where Revy and Eda are working together (Eda <3). They make a nice looking, but not the most unique team. They're both troublemakers and don't really contrast in personality, but seeing them go head-to-head is always fun.
Anyways, the set-up only goes partially as planned as the getaway vehicle is gone. Visually, nothing interesting happens. In terms of narrative, not much happens either. I find this episode decent just for the interactions between Revy and Eda. Their knowledge of the urban battlefield only amplifies their relationship.
The action aspect was present here, music wasn't doing it many favors just "bumpin' beats". While it's not my favorite action scene it was good because it showed off some unique aspects of some of the hired killers (Fat fire guy, Crazy Chinese Dragon Lady, Chainsaw Sally). They add little scenes of their own and more trouble for the femme fatale duo.
Overall, I liked it (for the reasons I shared above). I guess I'm ready for it to wrap up though, the pivot of the episode (Counterfeit Girl) isn't interesting and kind of a pain in the ass whenever she's on screen. A textbook Bitch n' Moan. Everyone else is accomplishing their goals just fine though.
I didn't find the episode as offensively fanservicey as much as I found it disappointingly lacking in interesting direction. The atmosphere, the gloom, the expert use of light, and the sense of foreboding are gone, and in their absence we're left with a straightforward ecchi comedy.
I'd like to think that I wasn't deluding myself by believing that the show could retain its high level of quality for its entire run, but when I really consider that Sankarea is, at its heart, a show with the premise of a guy wanting to bone a zombie girl, I wonder if all of this was inevitable. There's no way to class up something like the loofah scene short of omitting it entirely, and I have to remind myself that the first three episodes ultimately weren't indicative of what the overall tone of the show would be like, but, rather, were a long and careful establishment of the real premise.
The next episode promises to be even tawdrier from the preview. I'm nowhere near above liking ecchi in my shows, but considering how hard the first three episodes of Sankarea tried to rise above its source material, I don't think that I'm ever going to be able to accept that the tragedy of Rea's death and rebirth is being dumped in favor of tits and ass.
I'm going to step in here for a moment because I think you all saw the same translation. A translation I don't agree with I might add.
In this scene he says "最低だ!", which can mean "worst, nasty, horrible, disgusting." However that's not the word for nightmare, and to be honest I don't think he's referring to the dream itself as being bad. 最低 is usually used to refer to PEOPLE, and sometimes the speaker themselves. If I were translating this, I would have translated it as "I'm horrible!" or "I'm the worst!" because I think he's feeling disgusted at having a dream where both girls were just throwing themselves at him. He's shown in all of the episodes thus far that he has a VERY low opinion of himself; it's not surprising he'd beat himself up over fantasizing that, as weird as that might be to us the viewer.
I'm going to step in here for a moment because I think you all saw the same translation. A translation I don't agree with I might add.
In this scene he says "最低だ!", which can mean "worst, nasty, horrible, disgusting." However that's not the word for nightmare, and to be honest I don't think he's referring to the dream itself as being bad. 最低 is usually used to refer to PEOPLE, and sometimes the speaker themselves. If I were translating this, I would have translated it as "I'm horrible!" or "I'm the worst!" because I think he's feeling disgusted at having a dream where both girls were just throwing themselves at him. He's shown in all of the episodes thus far that he has a VERY low opinion of himself; it's not surprising he'd beat himself up over fantasizing that, as weird as that might be to us the viewer.
Thanks for explaining this. Your take on it does sound better. I don't who is ultimately responsible for the translation job at Viz but it feels like it could be much better.
Accel World 3+4: That music at the beginning of episode 3 is so [redacted]. Feels so very Onoken. Need a loop asap. A pretty uneventful episode other than the awkward direct linking in Chiyuri's room. Taku's one meter cable~ Direct linking, the next generation of affection. The whole kings business reminds of Air Gear in a way. The whole all Burst Linkers being like 15 year olds is a little ehhhh but sure whatever. A bunch of exposition this episode but it seems out of the way.
Episode 4. The cg car had enough. It needed to end its own life before it ruined yet another scene. The censoring with Araya was weird though. Toilets also made another appearance again with inconsistency. The whole love thing and is pretty contrived but sure why not though I guess that opening sequence with Haru being all Wild Arms through the desert makes more sense now. Taku being
Cyan Pile
was pretty obvious. All dat frustration. I'm kinda hype for the fight next episode. Might get to hear more MintJam rocking it out. The only new track that was interesting was during the Physical Full Burst.
I'm going to step in here for a moment because I think you all saw the same translation. A translation I don't agree with I might add.
In this scene he says "最低だ!", which can mean "worst, nasty, horrible, disgusting." However that's not the word for nightmare, and to be honest I don't think he's referring to the dream itself as being bad. 最低 is usually used to refer to PEOPLE, and sometimes the speaker themselves. If I were translating this, I would have translated it as "I'm horrible!" or "I'm the worst!" because I think he's feeling disgusted at having a dream where both girls were just throwing themselves at him. He's shown in all of the episodes thus far that he has a VERY low opinion of himself; it's not surprising he'd beat himself up over fantasizing that, as weird as that might be to us the viewer.
The animation felt pretty solid for the most part. Better than what I remember from the DEEN series but worse than Fate/Zero's. There were lots of good looking scenes and the action wasn't half-bad bad I thought. The fight scene between
Shirou and Archer
was a highlight. It was one of my favorite moments in the VN and I enjoyed how it transferred into the movie. The other scenes were okay but maybe I'm just spoiled from Fate/Zero's action scenes. Unfortunately everything else felt like an afterthought in the film.
I think what I'm kinda torn about is (UBW VN Spoilers)
while I liked the way it was animated I would have liked to have seen it more like the VN, with Shirou tiring rather than having SHOUNEN POWAH here in the movie, and like in the epilogue, Archer seeing that his ideals were at one time, beautiful(and in turn allowing Shirou to win).
As I mentioned, the pacing was pretty much nonexistent so obviously characterization suffered immensely. This is a movie where I would definitely not recommend to someone who hasn't already played through the VN. Though it's pretty conflicting now that I think about it. Those who haven't read the VN will be pretty lost and those who have played the UBW route will more than likely be disappointed. So I dunno.
It is. And I want to say more but it sounds too spoilerish. I will say though that I had seen a clip of the game at a rather important scene leading up to the climax that hit me pretty hard as I was fresh off Fate.
Speaking of Lancer,
man after the last episode of Fate/Zero that was pretty ominous. Lancers never seem to catch a break do they?
You understand me, Solune, but I don't know if I want to carry the weight of that 'reasonable' title anymore, I'm not being reasonable here now... call me 'apologetic' instead! Sometimes I think I defend the indefensible just because...
It sounds like you're carrying a burden! I think something would be deemed 'indefensible' if it was widely considered and generally accepted that something is terrible i.e Mars of Destruction. I haven't been keeping up with Metaka Box so I can't comment on it's quality, but I do keep up with the manga(I saw your post in ManGAF btw.) so I'm aware of the genre shift and am able to derive enjoyment from it, if only for NiseOisin's trolling. In this case, I don't think you're being an apologist but rather it seems how much enjoyment one gets from Medaka Box is proportionate to how much one likes NisiOisin's writing.
Huh... Does anyone here know how reliable "Akibablog" is? It seems to have a lot of followers in twitter, including from some PR twitter accounts, and the blog seems to be pretty well known too.
I think what I'm kinda torn about is (UBW VN Spoilers)
while I liked the way it was animated I would have liked to have seen it more like the VN, with Shirou tiring rather than having SHOUNEN POWAH here in the movie, and like in the epilogue, Archer seeing that his ideals were at one time, beautiful(and in turn allowing Shirou to win).
I honestly liked the movie and thought it was a pretty good job from DEEN, aside from the obviously disjointed scenes mashed together, rendering the film only comprehensible to those who read the VN. Not to mention the utter lack of characterisation. It would be glorious if they could transplant the moment you mentioned into the movie but I don't think DEEN could do that scene justice.
I would have loved to have seen
Rin and Shirou's date and with Saber at the batting cages.
I want this so much!!! Alas, there probably wouldn't be enough time to fit in such moments in the movie. Maybe UBW would have been better served by being a 12 episode series but then I look at the original F/SN anime...
I've always loved this picture of Rin from the VM. As nice as it looks from the film it was more faithfully reproduced in the tv anime though.
Rick is surprised as a beautiful and mysterious girl washes up on shore, and being the consummate gentleman he wants to stuff her full of his bread free of charge the moment he sees her.
Unlike this asshole doctor, who decides to look at the girl's pendant before even checking whether she's alive or dead.
He faces a personal setback, however, when he suddenly discovers that his bread won't stiffen, and no matter how much he kneads and pounds it it remains limp and flaccid. Rick gives himself an exam through his back door to try and determine the cause, and discovers that there's a clog in his chimney.
Rick decides to seek professional help, but he receives the shocking news that thar be pirates comin' ashore, and after many a lonely month at sea their bread is so stale and crusty that they'll gobble down another man's bread without a moment's hesitation. Rick only has one day's warning to hide his bread from the horde of hungry buccaneers, but as if he didn't have enough bread problems already, he soon discovers that his bread is emitting a smell so powerful that it's waking the townsfolk from their sleep.
The yeasty aroma is so overpowering that it even brings mystery girl out of her coma. Her first sight upon waking up is Rick shoving his bread right in her face. In spite of her shyness, her body instinctively reacts to the sight of such an impressive baguette and her pendant erupts, spreading the room with its pink glow so intense that it attracts the attention of the pirates at sea.
Mysteriously, it turns out that Rick's chimney doctor has been engaging in some kinky bondage play with a girl in the back of his workshop, and when the mystery girl's pendant reacts, she reacts as well. The psychic link between the two girls created by the ecstasy of smelling Rick's bread culminates in the bondage girl producing an intense energy blast that blows up one of the pirate ships, saving the island. Even though more mysteries are cropping up, the one thing that remains constant is that Rick's bread is the one thing that the islanders can count upon through thick and thin. That's the long and the short of it.
You know, I thought about watching Rick's Bread for the bread puns, but I think I derive more than enough enjoyment from you guys' takes on it. more like Shiawase no Pun, amirite.
0_o. I was not expecting this kind of development so soon. Things are really progressing at a brisk and effective pace. I really loved
Kuroyukihime's movement during the Physical Full Burst.
Really nice effect and drives home the fact the difficulty and struggle that comes with using it. Also loved the music during that scene.
Kind of got a mixed opinion on
Kuroyukihime's confession. On one hand, the reason isn't as contrived as I was expecting. On the other, "I love you because you got a high score" seems a little... odd.
Maybe that's just what the culture is like in the future! I still loved that scene despite my problems with it.
And yeah, everyone called
Taku being Cyan Pile
, but I still thought the reveal was handled quite well.
One thing I love about this show is it is very good at doing cliff hangers. This one ended in the perfect spot to make the wait for next week painful. That's definitely how you keep the audience watching. Totally hyped for the fight.
Also, fuck you guys! I couldn't watch a stupid 20 second bathroom scene without laughing.
You know, I thought about watching Rick's Bread for the bread puns, but I think I derive more than enough enjoyment from you guys' takes on it. more like Shiawase no Pun, amirite.
I honestly liked the movie and thought it was a pretty good job from DEEN, aside from the obviously disjointed scenes mashed together, rendering the film only comprehensible to those who read the VN. Not to mention the utter lack of characterisation. It would be glorious if they could transplant the moment you mentioned into the movie but I don't think DEEN could do that scene justice.
Rin and Shirou's 'moment' before going leaving to Ryuudou Temple. Yeah, its based the Realta Nua scene, but damn if the music for that was wonderful. I know there are those who didn't like the anime and movie, but Kenji Kawai's score was a very nice highlight for both.
I want this so much!!! Alas, there probably wouldn't be enough time to fit in such moments in the movie. Maybe UBW would have been better served by being a 12 episode series but then I look at the original F/SN anime...
I think its simply a matter in how they present it and pace it, as I don't think its impossible. The anime also did try to cram in other things simply to represent the other two routes and that didn't help. However I'm not too hard on it as I do feel like I'm one of the few who actually got enjoyment out of it, and it was what got me looking for the VN.
eh, Rin looks kind of strange in that picture. I prefer the VN one more.
You know, I thought about watching Rick's Bread for the bread puns, but I think I derive more than enough enjoyment from you guys' takes on it. more like Shiawase no Pun, amirite.
The movie had some really gorgeous scenes and I mean really gorgeous. I could have easily taken screencaps from that movie and made them into wallpapers.
Are they mentioning a straight-up immediate (or very short-term) cancellation or a shortened run? Because I don't find plausible anything other than maybe a reduced span for the series, airing less episodes. Even then I think that is dubious after the very recent, continuous and full-out promotion they have made of their fabricated opportunity for redemption/consolation that is "the 3rd generation".
The original message just indicates that it'll be ending prematurely, doesn't give any specifics about the amount of episodes it'd get.
However, if you think about it, Gen 2 ended up shorter than Gen 1, so I guess they might already have taken this episode cut into account, if it's real, and they'll continue up to episodes 38 or 39, when a new season starts, making Gen 3 just slightly shorter than Gen 2. Of course, nothing is official right now...
It's even better in motion when you see those two guys in suits get out of the way in slow motion.
-----
Natsuiro Kiseki 1+2: So this is the four girls show with Sphere. It's not bad but feels a little bland. Not particularly impressive production but not obviously bad either. I can see some fun things being done with the rock similar to the acts of god in Kamichu. I don't know if they'll get inventive with it but they certainly should. I don't really like Natsumi or Saki but Rin and Yuka are cool stuff. The pursuit to idol status seems like a superficial aspect and it's probably better that way. The long running scenes in episode 2 was pretty amusing though it was Yuka and Rin making most of it though. I'll probably end up enjoying this somewhat at least if the aforementioned two are entertaining along with some fun wish granting rock hijinks.
It's awfully hard for Sengoku Collection to suck WHEN IT DOESN'T SUCK. WHAT THE HELL, BRAINS BASE?
At heart, these episodes are still as ridiculous as all fuck and doubly so for Masamune because of all of the grimdark of this episode juxtaposed against her titty costume, but the desperate amount of effort that Brains Base is putting into making this watchable continues to astound me more and more with each passing week. Per usual this episode had great backgrounds, but all things considered the overall direction was surprisingly solid and almost convincingly managed to hold the weight of its own seriousness. The
killing montage
toward the end bordered on genuinely stylish.
Next episode looks like lolishit, so I think I can safely return my expectations to the gutter.
In the mean time, this week's gallery of interesting shots:
Cant fucking wait.
In fact, I had episode 15 on replay on my phone waiting for the buses back from the festival tonight. Some drunk girl kept asking me what videogame I was playing. She also asked to wear my eyeglasses. I politely declined.
I do not have a very hard source for this but it sounds like Sentai just announced US plans for Kids on the Slope and Mysterious Girlfriend X at their ACEN panel.
