Dragon Ball Z: Kai - I love how Goku always blatantly ignores his enemies before a big battle so he can help his friends to their feet. As for him suddenly developing mind reading powers, well, I don't buy it. Sounds more like a lame plot convenience. Still, I loved this episode because it shows just how insanely powerful Goku has become. DBZ is the master at building up super powerful characters. Goku's nonchalant attitude makes him come across as godlike before these previously fearsome Ginyu force members. Watching them suddenly tremble in fear is just delicious. Rating: Super D. Duper
Kill la Kill - Of all the scenes I expected to be edited out in this series, this week's opening was shockingly left uncut. The standards and practices people must have just given up at this point. As for the rest of the episode, I really enjoyed it. I like how it's all one long battle to rescue Ryuko from herself. Ryuko does make a great villain but she's still the protag and needs to be snapped back to her senses. Every character was featured prominently in the episode and had something to contribute (except Tsumugu who has sadly become a joke). Satsuki on the other hand was simply amazing and a master tactician. *bows* This series is notorious for its shoe-string budget so I'm not surprised by the copious amounts of still shots. On the other hand, there were a few nicely animated moments in the episode regardless. Overall, I'm just glad the "edge lord" arc is over. With Senketsu's and Mako's help, Ryuko was able to literally purge the angst from her body and we can proceed with the final showdown. Rating: Her Sunday Best
Michiko & Hatchin - This show continues to impress both visually and storytelling wise. There wasn't much action this week, which is okay. I kinda expected it. I am definitely getting tired of Hatchin constantly getting shit on, though. She's by far the smartest character in the show but because she's a little girl, she is the butt of jokes, constantly getting shot at, and being forced into slave labor. I hope things get better for her at some point. It's nice to see that Michiko actually cares for Hatchin's safety (in her own way) but she's probably the biggest idiot in the show. She does make a humorous foil for Hatchin, though. I wonder if that Chinese guy was as stereotypical sounding in the original Japanese. All in all, another good episode. Rating: Tig ol bitties
Sword Art Online II - I'll give the show props for having Asada actually give rape-boy the final blow to the head. I fully expected Kirito to be the one to save her outright. With that resolved, we spend half the episode stuck in Talk no Jutsu at the restaurant where FBI guy explains everything they were able to learn *WITHOUT* Kirito's help making me wonder what him going into GGO even contributed to the investigation. Then the show became a literal after school special about bullying before mack-daddy Kiroto shows up on his bad-ass motorbike to turn Asada briefly tsundere. The following 'Welcome to the Harem' party in the bar was to be expected but the following scene with the bank teller and her daughter was all kinds of messed up. While mostly boring, it's still SAO II so it still provided plenty of hilarious table-flips. Rating: Harem +1
Naruto: Shippuden - These new villains are already 100x more interesting than the previous filler enemy whose name I've already forgotten. Back in the Leaf Village we're stuck watching more repetitive training as Naruto tries to cut a waterfall in half in order to 'change his chakra nature' or something. I'm not even sure what that will do for him. Sakura worries about Naruto because Kishi can't write a female ninja who does anything but buys the groceries and worries about men. All in all, this feels like more filler and I thought we were out of filler territory. Hopefully the story will get back on track soon. Rating: All wet
One Piece - Compared to One Piece, Naruto's story is actually blazing along. Not much happened this week aside from the Franky family being killed. Damn, that sucks and you can tell Franky took it hard. Luffy and Lucci exchanged a few punches but that's all that happened with them. The comedy bits with Sanji and the mermaid stuff was kinda funny and it's certainly nice to see almost everyone back together but it was really slow going. I'm ready for Lucci to be defeated and this arc to end. Rating: Bridge (and episode) of Hesitation
This week started out really strong with great DBZ, KLK, M&H, and SAO II episodes but then fell kinda flat with the Shippuden and One Piece episodes.
Kill la Kill - Of all the scenes I expected to be edited out in this series, this week's opening was shockingly left uncut. The standards and practices people must have just given up at this point. As for the rest of the episode, I really enjoyed it. I like how it's all one long battle to rescue Ryuko from herself. Ryuko does make a great villain but she's still the protag and needs to be snapped back to her senses. Every character was featured prominently in the episode and had something to contribute (except Tsumugu who has sadly become a joke). Satsuki on the other hand was simply amazing and a master tactician. *bows* This series is notorious for its shoe-string budget so I'm not surprised by the copious amounts of still shots. On the other hand, there were a few nicely animated moments in the episode regardless. Overall, I'm just glad the "edge lord" arc is over. With Senketsu's and Mako's help, Ryuko was able to literally purge the angst from her body and we can proceed with the final showdown. Rating: Her Sunday Best
Michiko & Hatchin - This show continues to impress both visually and storytelling wise. There wasn't much action this week, which is okay. I kinda expected it. I am definitely getting tired of Hatchin constantly getting shit on, though. She's by far the smartest character in the show but because she's a little girl, she is the butt of jokes, constantly getting shot at, and being forced into slave labor. I hope things get better for her at some point. It's nice to see that Michiko actually cares for Hatchin's safety (in her own way) but she's probably the biggest idiot in the show. She does make a humorous foil for Hatchin, though. I wonder if that Chinese guy was as stereotypical sounding in the original Japanese. All in all, another good episode. Rating: Tig ol bitties
Sword Art Online II - I'll give the show props for having Asada actually give rape-boy the final blow to the head. I fully expected Kirito to be the one to save her outright. With that resolved, we spend half the episode stuck in Talk no Jutsu at the restaurant where FBI guy explains everything they were able to learn *WITHOUT* Kirito's help making me wonder what him going into GGO even contributed to the investigation. Then the show became a literal after school special about bullying before mack-daddy Kiroto shows up on his bad-ass motorbike to turn Asada briefly tsundere. The following 'Welcome to the Harem' party in the bar was to be expected but the following scene with the bank teller and her daughter was all kinds of messed up. While mostly boring, it's still SAO II so it still provided plenty of hilarious table-flips. Rating: Harem +1
Naruto: Shippuden - These new villains are already 100x more interesting than the previous filler enemy whose name I've already forgotten. Back in the Leaf Village we're stuck watching more repetitive training as Naruto tries to cut a waterfall in half in order to 'change his chakra nature' or something. I'm not even sure what that will do for him. Sakura worries about Naruto because Kishi can't write a female ninja who does anything but buys the groceries and worries about men. All in all, this feels like more filler and I thought we were out of filler territory. Hopefully the story will get back on track soon. Rating: All wet
One Piece - Compared to One Piece, Naruto's story is actually blazing along. Not much happened this week aside from the Franky family being killed. Damn, that sucks and you can tell Franky took it hard. Luffy and Lucci exchanged a few punches but that's all that happened with them. The comedy bits with Sanji and the mermaid stuff was kinda funny and it's certainly nice to see almost everyone back together but it was really slow going. I'm ready for Lucci to be defeated and this arc to end. Rating: Bridge (and episode) of Hesitation
This week started out really strong with great DBZ, KLK, M&H, and SAO II episodes but then fell kinda flat with the Shippuden and One Piece episodes.
I could totally imagine the little girl imagining Shino as a Heroic Fighter, and letting kiddy innocence toss a violent scene into a crayon fantasy... that would have totally ruined everything, and we'd all be laughing to days, ha.