Destressing with Action: Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventure 20

We had Sunny’s first post this week! I signed my lease and now per November I will officially be moving and I can already tell it will cost me a few blog posts here and there! There is quite a lot to do and I am super excited for it but it is also quite stressful. So much to do so many elements I need to account for!  Just one more month!  So… it is also important to relax! Luckily I could kick up my feet and enjoy 100+ minutes of great anime! In this week’s instalment of my anime adventure!

Digimon Adventure Episode 8

I love this show, it really is great!  there is no doubt about it! Once again this episode managed to show us what a character really is about while also making great narrative progress and the choices being made here are pretty smart and exciting again. However a few odd choices make this episode a bit harder to believe than last week’s episode.

Riding Ikkakumon, the group of  Taichi, Sora, Mimi and Joe make it across the water. However a Fortress is blocking their way. A military grade blokkade. A pair of Solarmon  which are a recolour of Hagurumon  will lead to an apelike digimon to fire at them with his special attack as well as summon hordes of tankmon!   When the group gets in trouble they are saved by Yamato (Matt)  and Gabumon. Lone ranger style, he plans to sneak into the fortress and take down Gorillamon. However with the hordes of Tankdramon out there he finds himself overwhelmed and has to rely on his newfound allies. Experiencing something new to him.. he thinks of them fondly as everyone helps Yamato get closer and closer to Gorillamon. Empowering Garurumon with the power of friendship he eventually manages to take down the threat Together they took down the fort and with a proud roar  of Garurumon atop of the tower.  Mimi and Joe now can take down the Tankdramon.. using their abilities to attack bigger crowds to their advantage and also giving us a cute Mimi and Joe moment that reminded me of Chopper and Usopp from One Piece! Yet there also is a fair bit of interaction with Mimi and Yamato! Could that be a thing?! Inside  however Agumon finds a secret lab that seems to contain a part of the ancient tablet with more information about the holy Digimon.

So this episode was Yamato’s episode and the way they let him use his crest .. at least the one he had in the old series of friendship was pretty sweet. The visuals used for the pacing and even that awkward focus on Taichi flickering smiling in Yamato’s eyes.. it feels much less like a rivalry and the beginning of an actual friendship here. In fact I believe we might be setting up to get “Ultimate”  evolutions already.  Everyone seems to possess the ability already this time their digivice has the symbol of their crest and the threat that is created this time seems much more real. While I like that concept it does worry me for Devimon, will he pose a challenge… will he evolve?! Was he just an easter egg?! Regardless we see the kids grow in a rapid pace and I really do like that.. given the circumstances they are in it seems like they pick up stuff at a believable pace. The fact that we also immediately establish Yamato’s roll as a sort of speedy infiltrator who breaks through the enemies lines really works wonders. However once more it is established he can not handle this alone from the get go.. everyone yet again has their role to play. This episode is action packed and the way the music is used was amazing. It felt so satisfying! Mimi got a good joke again where she got attached to the luxury of a towel.. Joe gets it destroyed by trying to use it as a white flag and while Mimi mopes, Palmon reveals it was actually Sora’s towel that Mimi just “took” for herself. Keeping that queenly quality intact.

Unlike last time however I do have a gripe with this episode. Joe and Mimi  fairly easily took down 20 Champion form Digimon. Tankmon even! These are Data Attribute Digimon who should be resistant to Vaccine Attribute digimon like Ikakumon. Togemon CAN be a virus attribute and thus be more effective but it more often than not is a Data attribute.  So it does feel weird how 2 champions and take down 20 without much effort.  They do make smart use of their Area of Effect style attacks..but it feels a bit much.  Where before all Digimon more or less can take down one digimon of their level. They do fix this somewhat by seemingly giving the “wild” digimon less special attacks to work with and we can see the chosen ones empower their digimon trough their digivice but I think 5 tankmon would have been enough.It is a bit of a shift in digimon logic towards more of a situation how Digmon works in the Digimon World or Cyber Sleuth games and while I appreciate that I felt it lacked precedence.  Had the Digidestined commented.. wow we are becoming really strong, I would have been fine with it but now a sense of the “frailty” of the classic Digimon is gone.

The frailty however is traded in for some pretty epic scenes  and much more grand scale battles.  You really sense someone wishes to see the Chosen Ones dead. It becomes bigger than your average monster of the week and I do really like that feeling. The chosen ones feel much more in the control seat this time around and this episode did make me miss the humility of the old show a bit!  Yet never was I not entertained.

Samurai Flamenco Episode 15

This episode both made so much sense to me and not much sense at all. It really does feel like something that would happen in a season change between Sentai shows again and while super clever from a Meta Stance.. in universe I could not help but to have some questions.

Masayoshi faces off against his look-alike who is revealed to only be his metaphorical brother. He has a tail!  They talk for a bit and after Masayoshi convinces From Beyond Flamenco he has a right to be there and the will to fight, From Beyond Flamenco commits suicide by letting Masayoshi shoot him. This causes all the evil to vanish but the drilll inside mount Fuji! By sacrificing Flamen Robo the group manages to stop the drill before Japan is destroyed. We see the classical ranger season close up with people giving up their power and returning to their daily life.. when suddenly the government comes hunting after the Flamengers. Pink Green and Black get arrested and Blue suffers a off camera defeat at the hands of the Prime Minister of Japan… being completely beaten.  The only one who gets away is Masayoshi who is aided by an american hero! He is declared an enemy of the state and we see people he used to be close with react to the news. Something is very wrong!   The Prime Minister wished to use the disaster to get re-elected..but now has a too low approval rating..but at 72% it seems he should be good! What is he actually planning! The show keeps us in the dark as Masayoshi tries to go into hiding. 

This episode was fascinating. It had all of the elements of how Sentai shows usually wrap up! It felt rushed, with a very odd plot-twist and with a ban on all vigilante activities in effect, Samurai Flamenco seems truly defeated.  It is a great way to go into a “third” season of sorts and it very much reminded me of the narrative structure of power rangers. The Tarantino like dialogue returns and their is plenty of enjoyable action and mystery. My favourite scene is how the flamengers say goodbye to each other in front of their decommissioned base with an epic power walk.. just for Masayoshi to return to visiting his grandpa’s grave. The new hero introduced is hilarious as well.  Trying to get Masayoshi away from the police safely he drives this super garish american truck! He sings the american anthem to calm Masayoshi down and in a way he really reminds me of All Might.. but with more Sentai camp.. there is a lot that works here.. if we view this as a Sentai show and watch it on a very meta level. It does indeed remind me of why Akiba -Rangers worked so well for me …but where that show stays very ridiculous this one sometimes  tries to eat a cake and have it to. 

There are so many logic leaps in this episode. Why did Fron Beyond Flamenco commit suicide, if the goverment wanted Japan to be in trouble why not decommision vigilantes as soon as Samurai first showed up, why give them award first and then brand them as enemies of the state.. that sounds like you weren’t clever enough to notice at first! It really does seem that the government had better options to betray the flamengers before.  If you want viewers’ approval why not evacuate innocents before VIP’s then you say it could not happen because the Flamengers asked people to fight with them.. I do not know but I felt like there were more effective plans. Overly complex plans are part of the Sentai Tropes, sure.. but the show always puts these tropes more in the context of the real world.. so this just felt weird to me! I bet all will be explained before long..but right now.. I feel things are becoming a bit messy.

While I deeply enjoyed the events that unfolded I had very big trouble with how everything unfolded. The villains were defeated very easily and Japan just turns hostile against Flamenco while he saved the town first. He goes from idolised to being completely hated again, and the evidence the provide for this is his conversation with Beyond Flamenco. Which proves he looks like a bad guy!? How?! A guy that looks like an orange disolving people with extremely acidic OJ exists as well as a monster that is the AK48 of monsters. Why would you assume that the fact that a copycat with a tail existing means the other guy is evil?! So many weird monster abilities have been shown yet no one in Japan thinks.. maybe this monster can mimic faces? Maybe they took his face to confuse us?! I had a hard time believing it all and as a result never gotten that settled into the episode! It’s a good episode..it just lacks that golden touch that makes this show into what it is.

That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime Episode 14

I thought Gabiru was going to die… but he did not! He got saved by Rimiru.Which is a shame! He gets a bit of a redemption arc this episode alongside the one he got last episode but I still really do not like him! It seems we are nearly done with him though! As the Lizardmen War arc is wrapping up.

Gelmud appears on the battlefield and explains to Gabiru he needs to die! He wants to feed the orc so many people so he can evolve once again.. into a full Demon Lord.  Transforming form an Orc Lord into an Orc Disaster. While Rimuru easily wipes the floor with Gelmud we see the Lord just stare at the one sided fight.  Geld the Orc .. likes the idea of becoming an Orc disaster and decides to eat what he thinks will get him there fastest. He decapitates and eats Gelmud! Who has been hinting at doing his masters bidding! Keeping that identity secret and taking it to his grave. Now an Orc Disaster Geld is only consumed by hunger even more!  This means Rimuru has no chance but to kill him.. and aided by the Ogre’s who now can’t damage the Orc enough because he is super regenerative …Rimuru at first struggles with this fight.  Showing us a new trick of letting the great Sage fight for him Rimuru becomes a dominating force once more but after the Great Sage makes a misplay and tries to burn the orc with the power of the Efreet.. to which he is immune, Rimuru has to take over.  His plan .. Devour the devourer!  Thus as Geld becomes more and more covered in slime and falling prey to Predator.. we see a flashback of him being a pretty good guy! But falling to sin! Rimuru reassures him he will take on that sin but that Geld needs to die!  After an argument we see Geld’s skin dissolve and with Rimuru promising to do his people right in the end..he gives up and gets consumed! People cheer as Rimuru is the victor. 

This episode delivered on a lot of good action! The Gelmud vs Rimuru fight was cathartic and the Majin got what he deserved. The Ogre’s versus the Orc disaster was futile but had amazing visuals and shows how amazing the Ogre’s are once again as they could damage him pretty bad…he could just regenerate faster.  Great Sage versus the Orc Lord was visceral and filled with all sorts of clean special effects that made it look very spectacular.  We see so many abilities being used it really feels like a battlefield, even if we are only seeing one versus one fights the scope of the battle is much bigger. While one sided like most Isekai the visuals still made it all feel exciting and I think that is important for an overpowered Isekai like this.  It’s fine to have an untouchable main character..but if we can not get the thrill of an equal fight just go ham and display some crazy abilities!  Something Isekai Cheat Magician does wrong for example. We get lightning bolts, dark fire, “Ultra Instinct Sign Rimuru” ,  We get Efreet Mode Rimuru , We get a clash of noxious Orc aura with a bright silver slime. While it might not be thrilling what we see on screen it certainly is badass.

I did enjoy the episode and the pretty visuals, I liked how Gabiru was touched by his allies giving their lives for him, the orcs doing the same for the king they believed in and Gabiru really wanting to save his allies rather than get himself to safety.. I liked the badass action.. but I missed the humor of the show. The only real joke that was made was Rimuru having his face resting underneath Shion’s boobs again.  Other than that it is mostly just a bit “witty” spiderman like banter. I missed those moments of Rimururu fawning over Souei, or people looking stupefied over how easy he actually ate a Demon Lord class foe. I also kind of disliked how both Geld and Gabiru both got completely redeemed. It’s nice that Rimuru doesn’t have a bad person in him ..but please let someone be a bit more flawed. Have Gabriu stay a selfish bastard and let him rot in jail.. let Geld actually be a war hungry ORc who did not rip off his own arm to feed children.. but lost it in a fight to eat a pair of children.  It almost felt a bit “christmassy to finish this episode and during the flashback I did find myself losing interest in this episode”

The badass action kept me glued to the screen for most of the episode so I can not say it’s bad.. it is better than fine actually, as the issue I had with this episode might have just been something I was not in the mood for! I wanted more badassness as a drug, but it ended with a moment of wholesomeness that just stopped it being perfect for me! I love Christmas, don’t get me wrong.. I just don’t want that christmas spirit all year long.

Flip Flappers Episode 10

Okay I was wrong about Mimi but the moment I saw that flashback I knew exactly how things went!  That’s amazing! And the implications! The implications! Well I am not sure about the implications actually .. but it ‘s nice to see it’s all connected.

This episode has a much simpler plot than most episodes! So here we go! Yayaka is recovering in the medbay and the evil organisation she belongs to attacks Flip Flap to get her back and also takes Cocona to get the shard that is embedded in her leg!  As the base is overrun the Amorphous twins reveal to Cocona that Yayaka became her friend for fake reasons while Papika got her memory back and remembers Mimi finally! This leads Cocona to believe she is also just a replacement for Mimi to Papika and no one really cares for her.. as she flees the base and leaves everyone who betrayed her behind.. we see a flashback of Papika and Mimi bonding and discover Mimi is not that amorphous girl.. no she looks very very much like Cocona.. hanging out with Salt the three have fun together.. with Salt romantically interested in Mimi.  Mimi and Papika partner up in the past as Papika and Cocona break up in the present.  When it turns out that Cocona’s grandma is secretly a robot belonging to the evil organisation and she orders her to be captured and anxiety attack triggers all the amorphous shards not fed to the evil machine to fly into Cocona destroying robot grandma and the other evil robots.. from a broken mirror we see Mimi talking to Cocona that Mamma will protect her now!

Wow.. Mimi is Cocona’s mother .. so I was right that Pure Illusion is very much linked to Cocona.. I was wrong about Mimi being evil though! But this probably means Salt is Cocona’s father?! He isn’t a very good dad then!  But well I bet he shares her (old)  eye colour hidden behind those sunglasses. I am almost certain of it!  I am slightly annoyed that it was yet ANOTHER break up episode.. that’s like 3 in 10 episodes or so and now Papika has to swoop in again.. but this time I completely understand! I get she felt like this. She is a test subject to both Flip Flap and the other organisation. I do not get why that other organisation exists yet though and this episode really made me intrigued. It’s like I have been tossed a very tasty worm and I am about to delve into it, hook line and sinker, I am a fish in this case by the way! It feels like we are really picking up in terms of story. Since the amorphous pieces allow you to control pure Illusion I believe these shards are part of Mimi?! She seemed to control Pure Illusion, and once they flew to Cocona she got her mother’s eye colour?! I do like this feeling of being so invested into something and I really hope she and Papika can work things out and that Yayaka is safe! I was so invested that I forgot to pay attention to what I particularly liked.

I do dislike how often Papika and Cocona split up though! I do get that Cocona feels deceived here.. but Papika has also proven to care for Cocona several times over. I get our protagonist feels betrayed. I just feel really REALLY bad for Papika. She tries so hard and gets so far.. but in the end it doesn’t even matter. I really would have preferred to see the conflict go in a way where Cocona wants nothing to do with Flip Flap but Papika can’t give it up and then Cocona taking her leave. Telling Papika she hates her feels a bit much after all the love the girl showed her.. and love I think Cocona should realise is sincere. The conflict of the last episode even dealt with that. That being said Cocona seems least aversive of Papika and I am glad at that, I just can’t escape the feeling that for a two protagonist series The orange haired girl sometimes becomes to much of a side character and her actions “stick” less.

I really adored the episode overall, there was a lot of enjoyable action and reveals and I was thoroughly entertained. My gripe seems big but I am also fine with this turn of events.. It’s more that I really would have liked Papika to be appreciated. It reminds me of a friendship I had and while I did not use my friends for a weird organization led by their dad.. I did a lot for a few friends and then none of that mattered..because I went to an event I really REALLY liked while they had to work. I was so villainized for it. Like myself I think Papika should have more leeway here.. and because it felt  the past did not matter I like this episode slightly less than I could have.

Hikaru no Go Episode 20

This was a very interesting episode to me! It clearly sets up events for an upcoming arc and it also feels like we finally have arrived at the meat of the story. Hikaru’s chase of Akira is brought to new levels.. but it comes at a price.. and I like it.

After meeting with the First Board of Kaijo School Hikaru is called out for being too whimsical! He finds out that Touya Akira already has become a pro and that if things do not change soon he will completely be out of his reach. Hikaru has to get serious. To do so he has to become an Insei.. with no patience in his heart he tries to register for the “december” exam. Given that we see it being fall during a few walking sequences that is only a few months away. There are problems though!  The registration has closed, Hikaru lacks a sponsor and he needs to log three games at least, to participate. A big wig in the Go world, whose name I keep forgetting, but we’ve seen him before around Touya Senior, takes interest in the boy and decides to sponsor him.  When Hikaru goes to tell his friends they tell him he can’t be an Insei and participate in amateur tournaments. Now he has to face a dilemma to chase his “rival” or continue to stick with his friends. With Mitani seeming to push him towards the tournament but Tsutsui being a bit more silent.

The episode sets up a very interesting Dilemma and I really appreciated the weight this episode had. It feels like we are finally not just getting an arc but also as if we are finally reaching the next stage of the  “main” storyline. Where the first few episodes almost feel like a first act, the high school tournament arc functioning as the inciting incident/ second act and where the internet go arc “wrapped up”   the introduction part…. this feels like the first act of a “meatier” story. As a result this episode has so much weight. Becoming my favourite watch of the day as a result. Hikau’s character traits make him very different from the other Insei candidates which results in him finally coming more into the role of the “actual” protagonist.
While I liked the tiny arcs it feels as if I could really use a bit of a bigger story. This episode provides that for me with some interesting visuals again to convey a time pressure and we got a very solid episode.

This episode once again had very little lows for me. I like the direction  it has taken throughout. The only dislike I have is how the third Go girl is introduced. She is a bitch of a bulky chubby..masculine female and the animation lingers on displaying her “ugliness” as a form of comedy and I would think this show is above those cheapshots. Sai does his childlike thing again…but this time I do think it makes more sense. I like how he gets excited about silly technology! I do not like it when he gets childish over Go! It feels conflicting with what we have seen of him before. This episode knows when to make him serious and when to make him silly better than the previous one. Another mild issue I had is something in the writing that almost feels like a mistake to me?! It’s the fact  that everyone is so shocked that Hikaru is taking the exam because Insei can’t participate in amateur tournaments. However becoming an Insei is hard and Hikaru at this time is not at that level yet. From what I understood at least people usually fail their first Insei exams as most do not pass their first Pro exam.. it feels more like an experience they need to go through to get good enough? So why does everyone assume Hikaru will become an Insei first try?! It feels a bit foreshadowing.. as if the characters have knowledge they should not have.  As if I enlisted to get a house  somewhere and people already started giving me housewarming gifts.

Most of my issues are mostly ponderings though, the only thing I did dislike is the “ugly focus” but since we haven’t seen anything of the character yet I will let it slide for now!  Hopefully they keep focus on her and don’t repeat the joke again and she is just a token to fill in a spot so the girls can play. Who knows if Hikaru becomes an Insei this early there might not even be a school tournament. I am at least very happy that the story is getting some serious meat on it’s bones!

That was a pretty great watch still! Obviously after perfect week I would have a few minor issues here and there this week..because in the face of perfection you can not help but stand out! Still it was amazing! Next week I will meet my sister and we will trash some of my old stuff I do not need to take to my new place. With the move happening somewhere in the next month you can expect me to miss a post here and there because real life stuff will get in the way.

As for blog content, you will see a new Anime versus Western TV show Cross-over (Part 1 out of 2) we will discuss the final Blood Rayne movie and we when October starts I will start doing a lot of Halloween themed content. Most of my content wil be about Spooky Stuff! Saturday Anime Adventure will keep going .. during the month.. as long as I am not doing moving activities..and since people mostly can help in the weekend, expect to see a few skips on that in the weeks to come! I will try to have a replacement ready though but time will tell! I hope you will have an amazing next week!