TheAbsolution
Member
That's not why I watch anime for though.
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Toonami |Mar15| the smartest anime is back!
- Thread starter Seda
- Start date
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It had DEATH GUN and Smallberries intentionally messing up French dessert names. What more could you ask for?
Except that it didn't, which has been my point. Yes it introduced us to the characters, but Kirito has no reason to go beyond this episode or get involved in the larger plot.
Doctor Decimate
Member
it also tried to be deep and failed hilariously
Nah, it's definitely relevant to his interests.
This is true, I laugh harder than I should remembering that shit.
Almost getting killed in a video game?
He stated he wanted to get involved in the whole AI in real world thing. This is a way to learn more and get in good with the government body behind that branch of technology. I don't think it's that tough a leap.
Is something like that really worth risking your life for though? I could understand if there was no other way but he's got so much experience with this already that a decent education is all he'd need to make it happen, which is something he'd need to do that anyway.
Imperial Bishop
Banned
Not bad, but dreadfully boring.
Doctor Decimate
Member
Three more fancy desserts!
If that was three thousand dollars Kirito would be an idiot to do it. Now if it were three months of free food from Shake Shack he'd be an idiot not to do it.
Eh, is anything in Shonen worth it?
3 more potential love interests?
Simon fighting the anti-spirals, every ass Luffy's ever kicked, etcetera etcetera. Even in shonen people usually don't risk their lives for mundane shit they can accomplish by going to college, unless it's a super hot-blooded series. Like GTO.
Speaking as someone who loves just about every minute of Gurren Lagann, I agree with much of what you're saying. It has its problems, you cover the big ones and you're not wrong. I can't imagine how all the over hyping that came with the show might have affected some opinions, it probably didn't help.
It's interesting that you call Rossiu's story in the second half jarring, since the fact that that part "doesn't fit" is what I think its biggest problem is. It's not surprising that after we watch Team Dai Gurren overthrow Lordgenome that a lot of people get mad at Rossiu's plans to give humanity its best chance of survival even if it costs many lives. I feel this jarring change in tone is caused largely by the fact that Gurren Lagann is at its heart a massive tribute to all things giant robots. The series goes through several tone changes(generally whenever the title card font changes) that represents different "eras" of giant robot anime, and the first half of the post-timeskip stuff is very much influenced by the bleaker shows like Gundam and Eva.
Whether or not it was a good idea to go through with that is up to the viewer to decide. I certainly can't tell someone they're wrong for thinking it's out of place, because it kind of is, but perhaps it's because the show tries to bring in every aspect of giant robots that it can is part of why I love it so much.
This does leave an interesting storyline in that there are now two unpinned champions floating around. But of course Wall Sina repelled the foreign invaders.
BassForever
Member
3 if you count D-Bry
Orton, Brock, and D-Bry were never beaten, former 2 lost due to triple threat rules the later due to injury and couldn't defend
Imperial Bishop
Banned
Cena sucks.
Ending was basically anime like
Actually wrestling in general is basically anime
At least Seth-kun finally got the belt, maggle
chicagocubsfan
Member
Ronda Rousey wore a DBZ shirt.
For a second you had me excited thinking Build Fighters got a dub.
Sword Art Online Episode 19: The Lugru Corridor
In which Kirito eats a third Rumble Ball
So Kirito and Lifa are traveling through a cave passage under the mountain. Kirito uses one of his Spriggan spells to light up the area, and Lifa teases him about how useless Spriggan illusion magic is in combat, though she does think it's good that he's actually learning spells. She gets a message from Recon (aka Sidekick Guy), but before she can get to it Yui calls out that there are a good dozen players moving up from behind. Lifa brings Kirito closer to a wall, where she casts an illusion of her own to make it look like there's a cave wall in front of them.
Kirito sees a pair of red eyes in the darkness, and it's that bat from the end of last episode. Lifa breaks the barrier and uses attack magic to kill the bat, and tells Kirito it's time to run. That bat is a fire familiar, which means the Salamander guys from the fight where they met are back. They run through the cave until it opens up and they can see a town on the middle of an underground lake. They run across the bridge, but someone casts a giant earth barrier from behind them, blocking their path.
Kirito tries to smash the barrier with his sword and just ends up looking foolish. Lifa tells him the barrier means there's some high level magic on the way. Kirito suggests swimming for it, but there are powerful monsters in the water so that's a no go. Lifa says they should probably just give up, since dying will only add a couple hours to their journey after respawn. Kirito wants to fight instead, and asks Lifa to concentrate on keeping him healed so he can fight without worrying too much.
The Salamanders arrive, and they send some shield bearers up front, with the bulk of their force being mages at the back. Kirito attacks, but he's not really getting anywhere, and the mages are nuking the shit out of him with their fire spells. It's all Lifa can do to keep his HP up with continual heal spells. Kirito gets mad or something, and rushes the shield wall, trying to like, make a gap with his hand and shove his sword through or something. It doesn't work great. The mages start casting again, and Yui asks Lifa to use all her mana to protect Kirito from the next set of big magic attacks.
This is played like it's a super tough decision for some reason, before Lifa agrees and puts up a magic shield around Kirito. The Salamanders send more fire, but the barrier gives Kirito time to cast a spell. Lifa recognizes it as illusion magic, but says "all that's going to do is make him look like a big monster."
Which it does, but it seems more like it turned him into a big monster, as he becomes this giant horned demon and starts beating the hell out of the Salamander guys, slashing them to death with his giant claws, and even eating one or two of them. The leader of the Salamander squad tries to get his men to regroup, but it doesn't work and he ends up jumping into the water and dying. Kirito grabs the last guy, but Lifa shouts not to kill him. Kirito drops him, then Lifa threatens the salamander with death if he doesn't tell her what's going on. He doesn't care, until Kirito offers him all the sweet items he just got from killling his friends.
Turns out somebody wants the two of them out of the way so they can't interfere with some plan. The grunt doesn't know much because he's just a grunt. BUt it is apparently kind of a big deal that Kirito defeated that first salamander team from a couple episodes ago so easily.
Lifa asks Kirito what happened with that beast mode or whatever, and Kirito doesn't remember clearly. He does remember the taste of human flesh, apparently, and at some point he bites Lifa's hand as a joke and gets slapped for it. None of the humor in this episode works, really. So Kirito and Lifa go into the town on the lake, and Kirito reminds her about her message from Recon. She logs off after telling Yui to guard her avatar in case Kirito tries to "mess with it".
Suguha gets up from bed and sees she has a ton of phone messages from Recon. He calls her again and she picks up. Long story short, turns out Sigurd, the dude who got mad about Lifa leaving her party last time, is a spy for the Salamanders. He's going to betray the Sylph leader at a meeting where there's supposed to be an alliance with some other faction and I just realized there's a lot of exposition dumped here. Whatever, Lifa needs to stop General Chang from assassinating the Federation President at Khitomer.
She logs back in and says she has to leave Kirito to take care of some Sylph business, but he decides to go with her. She points out that if they just let the Salamander attack succeed, the Salamanders will likely gain enough power to make an attempt on the World Tree; since Kirito is a Spriggan, he could plausibly get hired as a mercenary and therefore get to the World Tree much faster. All he has to do is kill her.
Kirito gives a big speech about how people think it doesn't matter how you act in a game because it's just a game, but he thinks how you act in a virtual world changes you. He could never hurt her because she's a friend. He asks her to take his hand and then he uses a super speed skill he apparently has to rush them both out of the cave. Boy that would've been useful when they were running from the Salamanders.
This episode didn't seem all that bad, except that literally none of the jokes they peppered around the story worked at all. Oh, and they're still playing like Lifa has a crush on Kirito.
Nope.
In which Kirito eats a third Rumble Ball
So Kirito and Lifa are traveling through a cave passage under the mountain. Kirito uses one of his Spriggan spells to light up the area, and Lifa teases him about how useless Spriggan illusion magic is in combat, though she does think it's good that he's actually learning spells. She gets a message from Recon (aka Sidekick Guy), but before she can get to it Yui calls out that there are a good dozen players moving up from behind. Lifa brings Kirito closer to a wall, where she casts an illusion of her own to make it look like there's a cave wall in front of them.
Kirito sees a pair of red eyes in the darkness, and it's that bat from the end of last episode. Lifa breaks the barrier and uses attack magic to kill the bat, and tells Kirito it's time to run. That bat is a fire familiar, which means the Salamander guys from the fight where they met are back. They run through the cave until it opens up and they can see a town on the middle of an underground lake. They run across the bridge, but someone casts a giant earth barrier from behind them, blocking their path.
Kirito tries to smash the barrier with his sword and just ends up looking foolish. Lifa tells him the barrier means there's some high level magic on the way. Kirito suggests swimming for it, but there are powerful monsters in the water so that's a no go. Lifa says they should probably just give up, since dying will only add a couple hours to their journey after respawn. Kirito wants to fight instead, and asks Lifa to concentrate on keeping him healed so he can fight without worrying too much.
The Salamanders arrive, and they send some shield bearers up front, with the bulk of their force being mages at the back. Kirito attacks, but he's not really getting anywhere, and the mages are nuking the shit out of him with their fire spells. It's all Lifa can do to keep his HP up with continual heal spells. Kirito gets mad or something, and rushes the shield wall, trying to like, make a gap with his hand and shove his sword through or something. It doesn't work great. The mages start casting again, and Yui asks Lifa to use all her mana to protect Kirito from the next set of big magic attacks.
This is played like it's a super tough decision for some reason, before Lifa agrees and puts up a magic shield around Kirito. The Salamanders send more fire, but the barrier gives Kirito time to cast a spell. Lifa recognizes it as illusion magic, but says "all that's going to do is make him look like a big monster."
Which it does, but it seems more like it turned him into a big monster, as he becomes this giant horned demon and starts beating the hell out of the Salamander guys, slashing them to death with his giant claws, and even eating one or two of them. The leader of the Salamander squad tries to get his men to regroup, but it doesn't work and he ends up jumping into the water and dying. Kirito grabs the last guy, but Lifa shouts not to kill him. Kirito drops him, then Lifa threatens the salamander with death if he doesn't tell her what's going on. He doesn't care, until Kirito offers him all the sweet items he just got from killling his friends.
Turns out somebody wants the two of them out of the way so they can't interfere with some plan. The grunt doesn't know much because he's just a grunt. BUt it is apparently kind of a big deal that Kirito defeated that first salamander team from a couple episodes ago so easily.
Lifa asks Kirito what happened with that beast mode or whatever, and Kirito doesn't remember clearly. He does remember the taste of human flesh, apparently, and at some point he bites Lifa's hand as a joke and gets slapped for it. None of the humor in this episode works, really. So Kirito and Lifa go into the town on the lake, and Kirito reminds her about her message from Recon. She logs off after telling Yui to guard her avatar in case Kirito tries to "mess with it".
Suguha gets up from bed and sees she has a ton of phone messages from Recon. He calls her again and she picks up. Long story short, turns out Sigurd, the dude who got mad about Lifa leaving her party last time, is a spy for the Salamanders. He's going to betray the Sylph leader at a meeting where there's supposed to be an alliance with some other faction and I just realized there's a lot of exposition dumped here. Whatever, Lifa needs to stop General Chang from assassinating the Federation President at Khitomer.
She logs back in and says she has to leave Kirito to take care of some Sylph business, but he decides to go with her. She points out that if they just let the Salamander attack succeed, the Salamanders will likely gain enough power to make an attempt on the World Tree; since Kirito is a Spriggan, he could plausibly get hired as a mercenary and therefore get to the World Tree much faster. All he has to do is kill her.
Kirito gives a big speech about how people think it doesn't matter how you act in a game because it's just a game, but he thinks how you act in a virtual world changes you. He could never hurt her because she's a friend. He asks her to take his hand and then he uses a super speed skill he apparently has to rush them both out of the cave. Boy that would've been useful when they were running from the Salamanders.
This episode didn't seem all that bad, except that literally none of the jokes they peppered around the story worked at all. Oh, and they're still playing like Lifa has a crush on Kirito.
Nope.
Doctor Decimate
Member
In semi-defense of a bad episode, I do appreciate that SAO II gets the dumb shit out there up front. It gives me an idea of what to expect, because I feel like a lot of why I get frustrated with a show is when it creates certain expectations and then doesn't adhere to them. The first season of SAO from what I recall didn't actually get stupid until after the opening episode, so my expectations were set in as something that was vaguely plausible even if the execution wasn't great. But then it just got unbelievably stupid.
SAOII is about how the baddest gamer in the land is coming out of retirement to go play another video game to save the lives the government can't for nonsensical reasons. It's fucking stupid as hell, but I I feel like I can roll with it because it comes in the expectation-setting phase. Now I know the very premise is gonna be stupid. I totally understand if this bothers people, but I'm sort of okay with it. That being said, my expectations at the moment run more toward "this is silly" than "totally prepared for anything this show could theoretically throw at me considering the last season."
SAOII is about how the baddest gamer in the land is coming out of retirement to go play another video game to save the lives the government can't for nonsensical reasons. It's fucking stupid as hell, but I I feel like I can roll with it because it comes in the expectation-setting phase. Now I know the very premise is gonna be stupid. I totally understand if this bothers people, but I'm sort of okay with it. That being said, my expectations at the moment run more toward "this is silly" than "totally prepared for anything this show could theoretically throw at me considering the last season."
Shorter Toonami still feels weird to me. Waking up in the morning, refreshed... Been a few years since that happened on Sunday, still not adjusted, lol. And in a way, this block has the most "new" I wanna see, and all so front;-loaded... I can't tune out and sketch during the "I've seen this 1 mirrion times" FMA B reruns, or visualize Bebop without even looking at the screen. Slowpudden and Gurren became my shows for trying to really give proper artsy rep to the shows I wanted to spend more time on, which really effects the impact of those eps for me. DOH!
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And then we move on to the shows I did note!-
Dragon Ball Z King Kai - I don't really remember ever seeing a part of this episode! I know a lot of people in this thread were laughing at how light death SHOULD feel in DBZ, but I think this ep did a good job at showing how much it hurt the characters, still. It was a great bridge between Dragon Ball, and that Z that signified a new tonal shift afterwards.
I actually enjoyed Chichi's crazy motherly devotion, it's... not like most anime girls who we meet young get to grow up to be like her. Mothers are normally written with more wisdom, compassion, or understanding for their spouse... She's fanatical for her kid, and shows no sign of wussing out among all the increasingly ridiculous power that the fighters show off.
And then Bulma kept a level-headed-for-anime smarty girl way about her, and it actually felt like the writers / creators CARE about these moments! Like they found them as fun to write as the combat or jokes. So many modern shows feel like they don't know how to express themselves outside of their best elements; DBZ K here did a job at showing that there;s more to characters than just "so... what's their power level?!?"
And then on the Goku letting Vegeta go thing... I didn't really find it that stupid. Goku is a child at heart, and fighting in Tenkaichi Budokai matches was basically his (deadly, vicious) form of video games. He and his wife both have tunnel vision that only sees the true importance of their own desire, even if everyone else should be involved in how they weigh their decisions. So... Good deal!
Kill La Kill: I expected more, actually. I liked Last week's ep more, because it did was KLK does best (to me, so far): ride out the absurdity by giving you cool eye candy and seemingly one-time fun that is worth remembering the episode for.
Satsuki being a boss little child is fun, ok. Gamagoori's age revelation and SM Goku Uniform is... hm. It's not what I'd expect of him., so that's cool. MAKO'S FAMILY REMEMBERED THE EVENTS OF LAST EPISODE?!? OMG! That's... sorta nice to see. That kinda stuff is normally treated more casually.
I think I somewhat enjoy the subtle differences in character personalities more than the fights in this show, so far. Satsuki obviously is smiling more like a mentor in her bouts with Ryuko, Gama could be a rager with no personality that's simply muscle, Mako could just act like a spaz, and never say anything that's on-point and audience-pleasing in an insightful way... but they all manage these things.
SAOH-NO! - Other than the butt-and-what shot shown in the parts that were cut, I think taking those scenes out actually hurt the show, in the fact that it really felt as if it needed a return to the game which defines the majority of our excitement.
Otherwise, I actually find "Kirito" and Asuna's stupid little romance kinda sweet. They don't mind making them boringly lovely-dovey. and I appreciate this here more than the non relationships (or the one between Saucey and Spiral) in a certain ninja show... at least they're TRYING.
I liked how Kirito resisted the idea of the killings. It's absurd to start off, it isn't easy or common, and just because it's happened... doesn't mean it would again so easily. They gave the idea that they thought it might be a hoax, or just someone imitating past events... I can deal with that. It was at least a bit more original than "OH NO, THAT AGAIN?!? LETS FIGHT IT!"
I got a small kick out of the opening show segment, as it reminds me of AGI VS DEX Hunters / Wizards in Ragnarok Online. Totally a big thing when I was playing back in the beta days... especially when dex reducing cast speed was dis- oh, never mind.
As far as them reminiscing over Eincrad (or however it's spelled)... I accepted long ago that the world of SAO, and all these MMO games for these youths, is pretty much something of the ultimate thrill seeking gig. Much like how every child in a medieval story wants to be a warrior, even though being a warrior means facing death ALL THE TIME. I think they're drawn to it, even if it's not a purely admitted facet.
People became idealized versions of themselves, even after they got their real faces in the fake world. They lived out lives their parents / spouses would never let them dream of, and they dropped out of the expectations of school, applying for desk jobs, etc. SAO isn't perfect, but I'm kinda glad they went this way, instead of making everyone fear the evil, vicious world. It's more youthful than reasonable, but that's ok.
I do get a kick out of the fact that most of what I see around the internet (on Miiverse, in a few comments on websites) are generally never as negative as the views of SAO here. There's some real fans of it! I always go into things, expecting people to tear the show apart, but peeps eat up the events of the show like it's high-tier entertainment. I'm... at least glad it works so well for it's intended audiences.
Inuyasha: NARAKU MURDERED KIDS IN A FLASH! Eesh. I was actually quite shocked at that; it was pretty horrific. They barely had time to even be scared.
NotKikyo was fine as a plot device, and I'm sure Takahashi-san had SOME of this stuff for Kagome figured out, since she's much into folklore and fairy tales. I'll buy that Kagome is mysterious; A re-incarnation of a very unique woman, conveniently born into a family with an old mystic grandpa, and the only person we know of who can leap from present to feudal times. She's mysterious in a bunch of subtle ways, not like some over-wrought gothy chicky, but more like a person surrounded and oddly comfortable with peculiarities.
I wish I became a fan of the Manga years ago. This is easily a show where it feels like the episodes are almost a bonus to manga readers, rather than a show expected to exist on it's own. I think that's kinda fine, really, because I think it's better than no animation at all. But it's been a good while since I had an anime as a companion piece to a manga I was a fan of... I don't think the Gunsmith Cats Anime could count, since it was an original story....
----
------
And then we move on to the shows I did note!-
Dragon Ball Z King Kai - I don't really remember ever seeing a part of this episode! I know a lot of people in this thread were laughing at how light death SHOULD feel in DBZ, but I think this ep did a good job at showing how much it hurt the characters, still. It was a great bridge between Dragon Ball, and that Z that signified a new tonal shift afterwards.
I actually enjoyed Chichi's crazy motherly devotion, it's... not like most anime girls who we meet young get to grow up to be like her. Mothers are normally written with more wisdom, compassion, or understanding for their spouse... She's fanatical for her kid, and shows no sign of wussing out among all the increasingly ridiculous power that the fighters show off.
And then Bulma kept a level-headed-for-anime smarty girl way about her, and it actually felt like the writers / creators CARE about these moments! Like they found them as fun to write as the combat or jokes. So many modern shows feel like they don't know how to express themselves outside of their best elements; DBZ K here did a job at showing that there;s more to characters than just "so... what's their power level?!?"
And then on the Goku letting Vegeta go thing... I didn't really find it that stupid. Goku is a child at heart, and fighting in Tenkaichi Budokai matches was basically his (deadly, vicious) form of video games. He and his wife both have tunnel vision that only sees the true importance of their own desire, even if everyone else should be involved in how they weigh their decisions. So... Good deal!
Kill La Kill: I expected more, actually. I liked Last week's ep more, because it did was KLK does best (to me, so far): ride out the absurdity by giving you cool eye candy and seemingly one-time fun that is worth remembering the episode for.
Satsuki being a boss little child is fun, ok. Gamagoori's age revelation and SM Goku Uniform is... hm. It's not what I'd expect of him., so that's cool. MAKO'S FAMILY REMEMBERED THE EVENTS OF LAST EPISODE?!? OMG! That's... sorta nice to see. That kinda stuff is normally treated more casually.
I think I somewhat enjoy the subtle differences in character personalities more than the fights in this show, so far. Satsuki obviously is smiling more like a mentor in her bouts with Ryuko, Gama could be a rager with no personality that's simply muscle, Mako could just act like a spaz, and never say anything that's on-point and audience-pleasing in an insightful way... but they all manage these things.
SAOH-NO! - Other than the butt-and-what shot shown in the parts that were cut, I think taking those scenes out actually hurt the show, in the fact that it really felt as if it needed a return to the game which defines the majority of our excitement.
Otherwise, I actually find "Kirito" and Asuna's stupid little romance kinda sweet. They don't mind making them boringly lovely-dovey. and I appreciate this here more than the non relationships (or the one between Saucey and Spiral) in a certain ninja show... at least they're TRYING.
I liked how Kirito resisted the idea of the killings. It's absurd to start off, it isn't easy or common, and just because it's happened... doesn't mean it would again so easily. They gave the idea that they thought it might be a hoax, or just someone imitating past events... I can deal with that. It was at least a bit more original than "OH NO, THAT AGAIN?!? LETS FIGHT IT!"
I got a small kick out of the opening show segment, as it reminds me of AGI VS DEX Hunters / Wizards in Ragnarok Online. Totally a big thing when I was playing back in the beta days... especially when dex reducing cast speed was dis- oh, never mind.
As far as them reminiscing over Eincrad (or however it's spelled)... I accepted long ago that the world of SAO, and all these MMO games for these youths, is pretty much something of the ultimate thrill seeking gig. Much like how every child in a medieval story wants to be a warrior, even though being a warrior means facing death ALL THE TIME. I think they're drawn to it, even if it's not a purely admitted facet.
People became idealized versions of themselves, even after they got their real faces in the fake world. They lived out lives their parents / spouses would never let them dream of, and they dropped out of the expectations of school, applying for desk jobs, etc. SAO isn't perfect, but I'm kinda glad they went this way, instead of making everyone fear the evil, vicious world. It's more youthful than reasonable, but that's ok.
I do get a kick out of the fact that most of what I see around the internet (on Miiverse, in a few comments on websites) are generally never as negative as the views of SAO here. There's some real fans of it! I always go into things, expecting people to tear the show apart, but peeps eat up the events of the show like it's high-tier entertainment. I'm... at least glad it works so well for it's intended audiences.
Inuyasha: NARAKU MURDERED KIDS IN A FLASH! Eesh. I was actually quite shocked at that; it was pretty horrific. They barely had time to even be scared.
NotKikyo was fine as a plot device, and I'm sure Takahashi-san had SOME of this stuff for Kagome figured out, since she's much into folklore and fairy tales. I'll buy that Kagome is mysterious; A re-incarnation of a very unique woman, conveniently born into a family with an old mystic grandpa, and the only person we know of who can leap from present to feudal times. She's mysterious in a bunch of subtle ways, not like some over-wrought gothy chicky, but more like a person surrounded and oddly comfortable with peculiarities.
I wish I became a fan of the Manga years ago. This is easily a show where it feels like the episodes are almost a bonus to manga readers, rather than a show expected to exist on it's own. I think that's kinda fine, really, because I think it's better than no animation at all. But it's been a good while since I had an anime as a companion piece to a manga I was a fan of... I don't think the Gunsmith Cats Anime could count, since it was an original story....
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Sailor Moon Mondays: Sailor Moon S: Episode 92:
So after some waiting, they have finally arrived into full view, ladies and gentlemen, this first couple of yuridom, Haruka Tenoh and Michiru Kaioh. I have been thinking a lot about these two knowing that their proper debut was coming up and addressing the following with no real amount of hyperbole but this relationship is one of the most important to not just say Sailor Moon and not just to anime but to all of fiction in general. A heady statement perhaps but certainly one with merit given how much of a watershed moment this was and still is. Yes, yuri shows and manga had existed since the 1970s and the anime world had already seen properties like Rose of Versailles and Oniisama e for example and this was clearly building off those earlier works but this is relationship that got pushed into the mainstream and probably the most shocking thing about it is how little fanfare there was surrounding things. Still, these two have gone on to exert an incalculable amount of influence on romance in anime and was really ahead of the curve given that Western animation has only recently begun its flirtations into the LBGT sector some two decades later.
Anyway, so that is some of the grand metatextual background but what about the episode itself? Well, as it happens, it is a damn fine episode, whomever said Sailor Moon R was the best season, I can not agree to this. Three episodes in and I am already enjoying Super so much more then R.
Everything feels like it has been elevated to a new level and also they finally found some footing on some characters that even by Sailor Moon R they were still having trouble with. Minako is a prime example; I have lamented how much the 1990s anime series had screwed up on her character and even Crystal could not capture her early greatness as they changes much of her backstory and gave important moments to others. The anime series did however anticipate the direction her character trajectory would take and indeed would do it first with the Nurse Minako episode giving her a bit of a makeover and making her the true ditz of the group. Indeed that characterization has stuck as we have Sailor Moon shunted into the rare role of straight man and foil for Sailor Venus. It is a comedy duo that works out a lot better then I expected. They both go a bit boy crazy after meeting Hakura who is apparently fresh off the set of Brother Dear Brother and a lot of this is taken directly from the manga but quickly goes off into its own direction. We get some establishing facts about Hakura, she once dreamed of being a racer but had to sacrifice this dream for a cause a cause she will given anything towards. Portents of the future, no doubt. Anyway, in short, this was and effective debut for the duo and a damn fine episode, highest recommendation to watch.
Sailor Moon Mondays: Sailor Moon S: Episode 93:
RIght, so given that Hakura got the spotlight in the last episode, it is only natural that Michiru get her own focus episode next. This time Usagi is feeling like she after feeding Mamoru some shitty and burnt cookies and wants to make an earnest effort to improve herself, of course, this being anime Uasgi, she is a bit of a hot mess that is hard to teach, so her friends just kind of walk away from what would be a waste of time. It is here we learn that Michiru is the artist of the pair, not only an accomplished violinist but also a skill painter, which is a talent I don't think her manga counterpart had. She is unsure of what she wants to be in the future but we get more muttering of a dark path and soon we get the villain of the week and the further establishing of supposedly antagonistic intent on the part of the Outers but it more a narrow focus on a singular goal and a general apathy towards helping the inner scouts so that they can examine the crystals before returning them. It is a bit baffling to the Inners this attitude but it all hints at the darker nature of these two.
Anyway, recommended episode.
So after some waiting, they have finally arrived into full view, ladies and gentlemen, this first couple of yuridom, Haruka Tenoh and Michiru Kaioh. I have been thinking a lot about these two knowing that their proper debut was coming up and addressing the following with no real amount of hyperbole but this relationship is one of the most important to not just say Sailor Moon and not just to anime but to all of fiction in general. A heady statement perhaps but certainly one with merit given how much of a watershed moment this was and still is. Yes, yuri shows and manga had existed since the 1970s and the anime world had already seen properties like Rose of Versailles and Oniisama e for example and this was clearly building off those earlier works but this is relationship that got pushed into the mainstream and probably the most shocking thing about it is how little fanfare there was surrounding things. Still, these two have gone on to exert an incalculable amount of influence on romance in anime and was really ahead of the curve given that Western animation has only recently begun its flirtations into the LBGT sector some two decades later.
Anyway, so that is some of the grand metatextual background but what about the episode itself? Well, as it happens, it is a damn fine episode, whomever said Sailor Moon R was the best season, I can not agree to this. Three episodes in and I am already enjoying Super so much more then R.
It isn't just the absence of Chibi-Usa either or the addition of Korra and Asami here.
Sailor Moon Mondays: Sailor Moon S: Episode 93:
RIght, so given that Hakura got the spotlight in the last episode, it is only natural that Michiru get her own focus episode next. This time Usagi is feeling like she after feeding Mamoru some shitty and burnt cookies and wants to make an earnest effort to improve herself, of course, this being anime Uasgi, she is a bit of a hot mess that is hard to teach, so her friends just kind of walk away from what would be a waste of time. It is here we learn that Michiru is the artist of the pair, not only an accomplished violinist but also a skill painter, which is a talent I don't think her manga counterpart had. She is unsure of what she wants to be in the future but we get more muttering of a dark path and soon we get the villain of the week and the further establishing of supposedly antagonistic intent on the part of the Outers but it more a narrow focus on a singular goal and a general apathy towards helping the inner scouts so that they can examine the crystals before returning them. It is a bit baffling to the Inners this attitude but it all hints at the darker nature of these two.
I will be honest, there are times that I am surprised that the Inners didn't go all Homura on Sailor Moon and her troupe given the general extremist attitude they display and the destain they have for the Inners
Gucci Messiah
Banned
Ronda Rousey wore a DBZ shirt.
i'd let her kick my ass
I don't get why you keep hating on the first episode and say it gives no reason to watch the next one. If it bothers you so much then...don't watch next week? If it's not that big of a deal then continue to enjoy the hatewatch. This is such a silly complaint to me because there are so many good shows out there, be it anime, live action, western cartoons, etc, that have boring/exposition heavy first episodes but turn out fine. SAO 2 isn't nearly as bad as the first season, especially once we get to the next arc, but it's still average to below average. Not the worst thing ever or even bad, just flawed.
That dub though
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