Dragon Ball Z: Kai - The VO for Freeza is fantastic. He comes off as such an overly confident douche (rightly so) and yet is so polite that it gets under your skin. Chris Ayres is putting in a great performance. Not a bad localization either with that nonchalant "Hey Fats" line. Meanwhile, Captain Ginyu reveals his ultimate technique which appears to be the "Freaky Friday beam". No doubt Nail is gonna bite it soon. He's out of his league. I still can't remember how these things play out so I'm excited to see what happens next. DBZ Kai continues its quality run.
Rating: Pocket Sand!
Kill la Kill - A great penultimate episode that leads into the final showdown at the academy. My favorite scene was the reveal of the Four Star Ultimate Battle Regalia. I liked how they are a mix of their previous designs and Nudist Beach's bare skin stylings. Oh, and Nonon's Symphony Regalia Finale... Yowza! Mako (who is the greatest ever, btw) showed everyone the what the power of friendship can literally accomplish. No doubt that girl has the energy to power an entire city. The whole sequence from when the vocal track kicked in until the Original Life Fiber was defeated had me grinning the entire time. And perhaps while not completely earned, I even liked the nod to Gurren Lagann with the shot of the cast all standing in a row. We even got the full ending including the Nui troll interruption and post credits scene. Tune in next week for the finale!
Rating: WTF all the way
Michiko & Hatchin - I really need to rewatch this episode as I honestly couldn't follow half of what was going on. The editing was kinda confusing which made all the subtle exposition hard to grasp. Also, it's throwing a lot of new characters at us very quickly. I can't name half of them. While I admire this confident storytelling style, it's also a bit frustrating. I did like learning a bit about Michiko's past even if it was not all that interesting to be honest. Meanwhile, Hatchin continues to be my favorite thing about this show mostly because she's the only character I feel like I can relate to and understand in any way. Those damn thugs better not do anything to her! I swear, if they do, I'll f'ing rage.
Rating: Cray Cray
Sword Art Online II - Judging by the amount of pointless and unnecessarily detailed exposition of how this game works, you can tell the guy who wrote SAO must REALLY like writing about MMOs even though it's obvious he's out of his depth. It was all made worse by being delivered via Yui's ear-bleeding voice. Regardless, I think I still prefer this cheesy, overly dramatic, "Let's Play" plot line to anything that's come before. It's sad that they're making Klein into a horny moron who lusts after curvaceous NPCs while in the company of actual real girls. On the plus side, the Frost Giant looks cool and the animation during the previous battle scene against the minotaurs was downright impressive. When I look past all the terrible technobabble, I still chuckled a few times and kinda liked this episode.
Rating: It's a Trap!
Naruto: Shippuden - While the Ramen shop owner and his daughter are somewhat charming, you can NOT spend half the episode debating whether tsukemen is ramen! At least Kakashi is still the smoother operator and helped that scene be less painful. The only other noteworthy moments I can remember from this bore-fest was the ridiculously sounding prayer and the Atkasuki getting on each other's nerves. That's about it. Is it too much to ask for some ninja action in this show about a world full of ninja? The best we got were two old geezers.
Rating: Gag me with a food pill
One Piece - Wow! Amazing episode!! Usopp really needs be commended for his willingness to stand up tall, take off his disguise and bring Luffy to his feet. He was downright facing death (Lucci) in the face for a chance to save his captain. He even got a few good shots off and saved Zoro! Meanwhile, that final scene with Luffy getting to his feet and beating the ever-loving shit out of Lucci was so expertly choreographed and the music so perfectly arranged I was on the edge of my seat! The entire episode (after the recaps, of course) was perfectly paced and executed. Just fantastic.
Rating: Berry Deadly
Attack on Titan - Yay! My favorite character has arrived! The female titan is such a badass. Her creepy stares and athletic moves are just awesome to behold. I love the scene where she spares Armin's life. I wonder if that means
for him? The next series of episodes are all great and wonderfully animated.
Rating: Gotta go fast
