This ended up being much better than I expected from Jexhius' comments. While the production values could have been better - there was a lack of really good character animation, and some of the digital composition was awkward - there was enough awareness of visual storytelling that the script didn't have to carry everything. As Emma is a woman of few words, it fell to the storyboarding and directing to subtly point out the glances, the small gestures, the facial expressions that express her feelings and those of the people around her.
Emma felt a bit like a self-insert character at times in her interactions with William. She's overly shy and self-effacing, and I get the feeling that when writing her, Kaoru Mori thought "Wouldn't it be lovely if I was romanced by a proper English gentleman who would defy class barriers to be with me?" On the other hand, her loyal relationship with Mrs. Stowner helped to flesh her out, and her backstory, while a bit extreme, justified her personality.
Introducing Hakim into the mix was a good choice - an Indian prince is not someone you often see in love stories set in 19th century England, and his foreigner perspective gave the situation a unique spin. His harem constantly following him around, that he would unleash on anyone who he wanted to influence, was quite amusing. I really liked the conversation he had with Emma when Emma visited the Jones house; the awkward pauses said more than words alone could.
Perhaps my favorite part was
Mrs. Stowner's gradual decline and death. It was a sensitive and realistic portrayal of death by old age, and having seen this process happen, it cut me to the quick.
The ending was painfully romantic, open yet satisfying in a strange way.
Nothing says romance like fruitlessly running after the train carrying the one you love.
If Season 2 is an improvement over this, I'm in for a treat!
God that boys a whiner. He should be thankful he even has a girlfriend, since all he's done is drink her drool. Though it must be frustrating trying to figure this girl out. Each scene she comes out weirder and weirder. And that last scene made no sense. Well, it's a good show so far, if not weird.
This ended up being much better than I expected from Jexhius' comments. While the production values could have been better - there was a lack of really good character animation, and some of the digital composition was awkward - there was enough awareness of visual storytelling that the script didn't have to carry everything. As Emma is a woman of few words, it fell to the storyboarding and directing to subtly point out the glances, the small gestures, the facial expressions that express her feelings and those of the people around her.
The ending was painfully romantic, open yet satisfying in a strange way.
Nothing says romance like fruitlessly running after the train carrying the one you love.
If Season 2 is an improvement over this, I'm in for a treat!
Season two is pretty amazing compared to season one. While it may appear very similar at first glance it was actually created by a different animation studio which means that, you know, the characters are well animated. Considering that this show is all about characters talking to each other it's a good thing that they finally get that right.
Season two also feels like it has substantially more interesting content than season one. There's far more events and characters and relationship developments than in the original season, perhaps something like three times as many 'story developments'. It's fair to say that important events happen every single episode.
Emma felt a bit like a self-insert character at times in her interactions with William. She's overly shy and self-effacing, and I get the feeling that when writing her, Kaoru Mori thought "Wouldn't it be lovely if I was romanced by a proper English gentleman who would defy class barriers to be with me?" On the other hand, her loyal relationship with Mrs. Stowner helped to flesh her out, and her backstory, while a bit extreme, justified her personality.
I really get the feeling that this is the case.
While I don't understand why Kirei & Kiritsugu were fighting in that room (might've missed something from the last ep), this episode was just glorious. The Kirei/Kiritsugu fight was damn near everything I wanted, the episode itself was very brutal, and Kiritsugu confronting the grail had me nervous with anticipation. Gilgamesh appearing in all his powerful glory? Just icing. However, that last command spell used by Kiritsugu, now that was the last thing I expected. Never once considered anyone would attempt to do that to the Grail given its apparent history and power. It's nice to be legitimately surprised here and there.
Seems like we're missing something with the Lancelot/Saber scenes though.
This is setting up for a very exciting, and, more importantly, a very satisfying conclusion to the show.
Season two also feels like it has substantially more interesting content than season one. There's far more events and characters and relationship developments than in the original season, perhaps something like three times as many 'story developments'. It's fair to say that important events happen every single episode.
Reading the nice little booklet included in the Nozomi release, I see that the first season only covered the first two of seven volumes, so I'd imagine the second season was much faster paced by necessity. Not that I had a problem with the relaxed pace of Season 1.
Everything I hate about 'the gundam tale' in 1 hr. Like a handful of people with agendas all shooting at each other. Bullshit 'save the world' nonsense. 'Flashy 00 style lights'.
fuck.
Now i'm super curious about AGE. If this bullshit is better than that... My brain...
Maybe, but the time wasted is reasonably low that I'd be willing to sacrifice that time in hopes I might enjoy the later parts of the series. Also, being able to tear it apart later is worth the time investment. (and I'd give a movie the courtesy of watching through it regardless if I don't like it, a 4 hour series aint much different)
Beach ep? Snore. At least it was only the first half. It wasn't very enjoyable with Galil being the most enjoyable part and even then she was mostly used as a background gag.
Second half? Much better. If 10 is outright urban combat, I'll be pleased.
That Kiritsugu vs Kirei fight was one of the greatest things I've ever seen.
I love how even with basic knowledge of what happens in the end the show manages to be extremely tense, especially during the Kiritsugu scenes in the grail. That Ilya scene was just heartwrenching. Also dat ending.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 35-37
Forgot I watched this the other day.
God, there's so much wasted time everywhere. Duels already take too much time and stretching this out over five whole episodes makes it really oblivious they were basically killing time everywhere. Not to mention Honda and Bakura's fun time is pretty stupid and breaks the focus of the duel.
I do miss shows have super spoilerific next episode previews.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 35-37
Forgot I watched this the other day.
God, there's so much wasted time everywhere. Duels already take too much time and stretching this out over five whole episodes makes it really oblivious they were basically killing time everywhere. Not to mention Honda and Bakura's fun time is pretty stupid and breaks the focus of the duel.
I do miss shows have super spoilerific next episode previews.
I assumed people were exaggerating when they said that you could tell that content was cut from this episode, but it's actually extremely noticeable. Which is a shame, because that episode itself is good but there's clearly a number of -scene missing- moments which reduced my enjoyment of the events that unfolded.
I assumed people were exaggerating when they said that you could tell that content was cut from this episode, but it's actually extremely noticeable. Which is a shame, because that episode itself is good but there's clearly a number of -scene missing- moments which distracted me from my enjoyment of the events.
I assumed people were exaggerating when they said that you could tell that content was cut from this episode, but it's actually extremely noticeable. Which is a shame, because that episode itself is good but there's clearly a number of -scene missing- moments which reduced my enjoyment of the events that unfolded.
Maybe, but the time wasted is reasonably low that I'd be willing to sacrifice that time in hopes I might enjoy the later parts of the series. Also, being able to tear it apart later is worth the time investment. (and I'd give a movie the courtesy of watching through it regardless if I don't like it, a 4 hour series aint much different)
I am just getting closer to death every minute, I don't need to spend my time on anime that I don't enjoy simply because I have already watched a part of a series.
Fate/Zero 22:
The calm before the storm. There were some really nice moments with Waver throughout the episode, which I thought did a great job at bringing his arc around.
He's spent most of the series trying to pretend to be someone he isn't, but he finally manages to find some acceptance for who he is.
Also,
what the fuck, Kirei? I couldn't believe he did that.
I am just getting closer to death every minute, I don't need to spend my time on anime that I don't enjoy simply because I have already watched a part of a series.
I am just getting closer to death every minute, I don't need to spend my time on anime that I don't enjoy simply because I have already watched a part of a series.
Then decide that, with your fans clamoring for the story to move forward, you'll do a three-chapter flashback back to Guts's time as a boy. That's another year and a half! Fuck you Miura!
Then decide that, with your fans clamoring for the story to move forward, you'll do a three-chapter flashback back to Guts's time as a boy. That's another year and a half! Fuck you Miura!
I am just getting closer to death every minute, I don't need to spend my time on anime that I don't enjoy simply because I have already watched a part of a series.
Kanbaru is much much better than snail girl plus she is way more interesting. This episode made me realize it's kinda hard to decide which aspect of the show is more fun to watch: the random nonsensical talks they keep having, or the supernatural elements.
Kanbaru's room looked so bad with all these red books laying around. Not that I expected them to put any effort into it but at least make the books have different colours.
So we've got ourselves a villain that holds some contempt over the fact the pirates of this era are mere space entertainers. Assuming the villain will be defeated and this arc will even conclude in time for the season finale, the pirates defending their right to party/entertain and maintaining the status quo, which would be lame or it could it end with them realizing how lame space entertainment is and they change their ways to become actual pirates. But seeing how this is anime, it will probably be the former.
Then decide that, with your fans clamoring for the story to move forward, you'll do a three-chapter flashback back to Guts's time as a boy. That's another year and a half! Fuck you Miura!
Kanbaru is much much better than snail girl plus she is way more interesting. This episode made me realize it's kinda hard to decide which aspect of the show is more fun to watch: the random nonsensical talks they keep having, or the supernatural elements.
I am just getting closer to death every minute, I don't need to spend my time on anime that I don't enjoy simply because I have already watched a part of a series.
Ludicrously ornate private school for the ultra-rich elites? Androgynous boys striking florid poses? An androgynous girl who's the cutest of them all? Roses, roses everywhere? Sure, I'm down.
Some of the comedic tricks used here were pretty neat, such as the continually progressing lightbulb gag. I particularly liked the arrow pointing to the vase throughout the first scene as Haruhi is meeting the Host Club. There's an almost Hitchcockian sense of suspense as you know that vase is going to drop; you're just waiting for that moment to strike.
I had a conversation with duckroll a while back in which he mentioned that all of Bones' works feel like the product of a male-oriented studio culture, but this feels pretty shoujo to me. There's certainly strong resemblances to Oniisama e/Utena/etc. in both content and visuals. This is not a surprise coming from Takuya Igarashi, whose pre-Bones career was spent working on Toei's shoujo shows.
