Tag: Episode 17

Digimon Adventure Episode 18: The Battle in Tokyo Against Orochimon

Hello Little Lights, while I am trying to recover from my health issues I decided to start getting back into blogging slowly by tackling some easy to handle content! It is time to continue picking up those anime I was watching again! That way when I am forced to stay in bed, I  can at least get something done!  So yay!  We start with picking up Digimon again. Since becoming a VBlogger though, this will be more of a reaction blog to the episode than an actual review!

The First Act

I chose a bad time to burn out on watching anime as episode 16 is a direct continuation of episode 15, the enemy at the end  evolved  into Orochimon, from eyesmon! Luckily I am quite aware of the “digidex” and which Digimon evolves into what.. and how! So I did not feel lost! It would be kind of bad if I got lost in a kid show anyway I guess!  Anyway in the last episode the chosen kids fought Eyesmon in the fake Tokyo and after defeating it , the creature evolved. They had discovered that Eyesmon was responsible for the Tokyo blackouts  and this week we kind of see why?!

Orochimon has the power of EMP roars, which is treated as something way more serious than it should be… I loved how Digimon up until this point was very cleverly written and once again this power up does connect to everything going on in a very thematic way, but just like the last episode it feels a bit cheaper than before. It fits but it’s less earned. Kochiro’s laptop only flickers a bit while in the real Tokyo suddenly all sorts of light bulbs begin to burst as it is stated that the EMP roar affects the real Tokyo in the same way. Then why did Koshiro’s laptop not go poof?! The eight heads of Orochimon over-power the chosen ones and it is time to flee. Yamato however wants to solve this now, for a reason that has yet to be revealed as I react to it! If I were to guess I would say this is where Takeru and maybe Kairi come in…after all the group is with 6 right now… perhaps they need… 8?!

The first act ends with the party becoming separated again. Yamato and Taichi end up alone  due to the recklessness of Yamato. Orichimon does some shenanigans with water that destroy his “dimension”   Since they are in his dimension now, that is located more closely to the real world time flows differently here than in the rest of the digital world or something as is explained by Koshiro who works like a fine exposition tool, when the other four are discussing their lost battle and try to come up with a strategy. It is nice to see the four non leaders together and them dealing with problems that come with that. Without Yamato and Taichi we see the group depicted as slightly more fearful and less motivated, as a group should be without their leaders. Morale has dropped!  So the episode handles that pretty well! 

The Second Act

We begin the second act with a super lame visual of Taichi, Yamato and their Digimon sitting in some sort of underground location that looks quite similar to the location where the others were.  However the details of this picture are laughingly sparse. I get that it is hard to draw in details from a distance, but if that would be the problem I would not have chosen this shot! It lingers for a fair few seconds as wel so it kind of killed the gravity of the situation for me! It just looks a bit to yankee for me and I let out a chuckle rather than being concerned for their welfare. It is followed by a rather cool visual of Orochimon’s heads creeping past the location searching for them. I like how the sky is coloured white.. like empty digital space rather than some gloomy cloud that reflects their emotional situation. Normally in nearly every scenario.. in a situation like this the sky would be ashen  to reflect the despair .. but here the rules of the digital world stay in place and it doesn’t just start to rain to enhance emotions. So we are looking into a pretty somewhat strange sky!  It helps sell the alien world thing a bit more!  Something this show does quite a bit better than the original!

We then get a lot of focus on Hikari and Takeru, which makes me believe we may say two new chosen ones soon!  Hikari even sees an actual digimon! The mother of the family makes a very VERY strange decision though.  Because her car is glitching out a bit and stuck in traffic  she decides to abandon it and take the train back home?! What?!  Are you even allowed to abandon your car in the middle of the road like that?! And obviously people will stampede towards the train station.. so why would you let your daughter exit the car in a dangerous situation like this. Stuff just exploded not too long ago! Not so great parenting there! Of course Hikari gets trampled and separated from her mother. Also why is Takeru being left home alone during a black-out!  These parents are not very good! 

The second act concludes with a great team bonding moment from the chosen ones! The leaderless group says what they appreciate from their Digimon and tell each other stories on how they have grown and how they should not be scared.. because they have come a long way since coming to this world. We see Joe take on his Faux Leader persona and how it cheers the others up!  It is very wholesome to see and it makes sense! He wants  to be the Senpai and now he can when everyone is at a low!  We also see the strength of Sora and how proud she is of Biyomon, we see how Koshiro thinks his digimon is the coolest and we see Mimi tease Palmon that she is only the prettiest Digimon when she evolves. I loved these moments! It is followed by a strong moment of bonding  between Taichi and Yamato as well. Where the rest of the group kind of at times tried to slow down Yamato for reason, Taichi understands that sometimes you just have to step up, so when Yamato wants to fight to save his brother, even with chances not in their favour Taichi not only lets him he joins him!.

The Third Act

The third act and thus the climax of this episode is the battle against Orochimon! It quickly becomes clear that Takeru and Hikari won’t join the squad in this episode. However, I am beginning to see more and more similarities to the first episode. We have an enemy that evolves several times, a fight between a superior force in a realm that is somewhere between the digital world and our one.. and Yamato and Taichi who are the big focus. The rest does show up just a little into the fight.. but they accept that in this fight they are the support. It’s left up to their two leaders, which I think is a fitting end for the “Tokyo Blackout Arc”.  I suspect however that this fight will not conclude it.. something will happen here that brings back Takeru and Hikari to the digital world before it is over. I am sure of it!

The fight itself is quite nice as well, after a few failed attempts from Yamato and Taichi to do it alone, they do realise they need the group! Yet at the same time that group also realises they lack the sheer offensive dominance the other two have.. so rather than just fighting along, they distract the metal heads of Orochimon that it uses for defence.. Zudomon also shows some defensive skills, spinning his hammer around like Thor!  Kind of cool and nice to see everyone take slightly different roles in this fight.  Energy attacks do not seem to work on the snake’s water blasts so MetalGreymon and AtlurKabuterimon take a Melee approach that seems to work.  Sometimes a weaker attack is better than just the main attack! The classic show fell into that trap where everyone basically ended up spamming one attack! So these fights feel much more alive.

The fight is concluded by MetalGreymon… but hey Taichi has the goggles and it’s a digimon rule. Everyone got a moment again and even with Takeru and Hikari getting scenes here and there, it never feels too thin spread. Everyone is there and has personality, the music, the digivolutions , it all synergises once again and the battle ends on a high note!  We know have seen how a single Ultimate Digimon can still be on par with 6, so even Devimon being just a Champion for now seems possible..because unlike the old series there seems to be another force behind this all. Like how we have seen Omnimon in the first three episodes.. something is pushing them to this level.. and now yet again.. even after killing the Digimon, something changes. A new countdown shows up..towards the destruction of Tokyo.. just like in the first three episodes, and I am excited! I know I am watching this late..and not maybe not that many are into this series to begin with.. but I had fun again! I just needed to recharge my battery a bit!

For those who do not use Twitter, I have been currently having a lot of health issues that is completing consuming my energy pool or making me forced to stay in bed. As this is going on I can’t reliably put out blogging content, though I am slowly trying to get back in the swing of things. However since I have been quite unstable I can’t really tell you guys when I will be back full force! My apologies! I’m trying to recover as fast as I can! For now.. time for a bit more rest!
Shine on Little Lights! Oyasumi!

Animini: That Time I got Reincarnated as A Slime -Episode 17- The Gathering

Dear Island Guests.. Last episode from Slime was a fairly weak one that was very much saved by it’s good first half. The second half of the episode was very bad and bland however and to be honest I half expected this week’s episode to be the same. I was thinking with Milim  being introduced this show might have lost his shine  for me.. but what is that.. this week brought a glimmer of hope.   For this week I found Milim.. quite entertaining.

The Summary

Rimuru city has rathered the attention of several groups of people, this includes the humans of two countries and some of the demon lords. In this episode we see a lord travel to Rimuru to speak with him followed by those three human adventures that fought the Efreet along with Rimura and Shizuna. Like always these adventurers get in trouble but this time they seem to be rescued by  the mercenaries of another country!  As they prepare for a big battle Gobta steps in wanting to eat the creature that is giving them trouble.  He easily defeats it and the surprised humans are invited to join them at the village.  Before they arrive though there happens to be a little scuffle in town as a henchman of another demon lord shows up.

Phobio punches the face of Rigurd.. angry that he hurt the minions of her besty Milim beats the living daylight out of him.  Rimuru, wanting to prevent war, scolds her for it and she cries as she has to miss lunch!  Eventually he allows her to have lunch anyways as negotiations start. They don’t go well as Phobio refuses to believe a slime can be that powerful and he just wants to rule over the village instead. This doesn’t happen of course creating tension between Rimuru and the Demon Lords. Milim gets tricked into telling what she knows about these people in return for a new weapon.  A little later the humans arrive and they start negotiations as well seemingly going quite peaceful, talking about establishing trade.  Rimuru also wants the mercenaries to become his underlings and pretend like they defeated the Orcling with a friendly monster ally that kind of helped them in order to give him more favourable propaganda. The Merc agrees and joins team Rimuru.  We end the episode with a conversation between a demon lord and female clown discussing the release of a creature whose power can rival that of the Demon lords and with an evil grin the episode ends.

The Positives

This was a much better episode than the one that came before and it has to do with a much better pacing. I might have told the story out of order a bit above but that was mostly done to put all events on a kind of similar timeline.   However since we are dealing with two events.. three if we count the final scene we have a much more narrative episode.  Apparently the creators here can only keep a single plotline interesting for about 10 minutes and that is fine…. because of the comedy element you can not overplay your hand and need to drop a situation faster than you would in a drama situation and this episode does that very nicely.  The last episode.. not so much where the first part was the battle with Milim and the second part her settling in.. however the flaws she had were the same source of comedy for both thus it felt stale. While Milim is still that same character, there is more comedy than just her. Gobta one-shotting an immense creature, Rimuru not being able to convince a guy he is so much more powerful, the shock of the humans when they discover a slime is in an alliance with the dwarfs. 

The Milim comedy in this episode is pretty nice! Her explosive character and immense power here bring a contribution to the escalation of a situation.. yet in turn also provides usefulness. It’s an exchange.. The character is not just a detriment to the city.  I do like how the city advances. I told it before. .and in this episode we do see that happening again. We also see Shuna take a bit of a role as Hostess for guests in town and diplomatic meetings, so it is nice to see her step up. Overall all the characters really progress for the better in this episode and that is where the strength of this show lies. It’s a show about progress, getting stronger and a prettier village better roles. The comedy  is there to make it “not boring”  the action is there to pick up the pace and make stuff happen.. but by now we are actually watching to see a slime build his little “kingdom”  This episode really plays into that and it’s a very good episode because of it .

The Negatives

It is not an excellent episode though! There are some oversights I am willing to forgive but the fact that Eren and her group almost get no attention from Rimuru and kind of act reluctant to go back to him in the first place feels weird. They were on quite good terms, bonded together and they cried over the loss of a mutual friend. Here they are just background sprites and that bothered me quite a bit. The episode is pretty densely packed with content so I get why it happened but at least acknowledge them a bit. Gabiru being fine when he was punched by a Demon Lord seems a bit odd to me as well.. it turns out he is actually hurt and just toughing it out sure, but I am not sure if that is in line with his character or skill level. Then again they do make their potions so okay..  There does seem to be some inconsistent power scaling though.  It makes sense since everyone is so powerful, but I wish there was a bit more logic.

Milim is mostly fixed for me in this episode. She loses the skimpy outfit, her behaviour is less obnoxious. She isn’t exactly great though. Her being more powerful then Rimuru is not played into very well, the fear they have for Milim isn’t done very well.. she gets really downplayed in this episode. Sure she is easy to control but basically it is the group sitting on on nuke with a short fuse. Yet here she is just being treated like a spoiled child that can be pacified with a Sandwich.. it kinda takes the tension and the role of the character away. I can get it fading over time but the second episode after her introduction it’s a tad fast. Now she more feels like an exposition bomb. I was also quite annoyed that Eren was glossed over completly! I really like her character and her party.. yet this week they are just means to and end to string other characters together.

The Score

A much better episode, than last week, yet still one that has it flaws. It is however a very feel good episode and this is just such a smile inducing episode. I really love how the village and the little country grows and these new alliances are great and making enemies along the way makes sense. I just feel like there could be a little bit more consistency and care into the details, into the roles characters have. Let Milim be that nuke and seriously mess up things.. don’t half and half it. Let Eren be welcomed back into the village as the adorable klutz that is Rimuru’s link to the human world. Let Gabiru be the loser that constantly gets punched around.. don’t let him though things out.. put him in the hospital.. make it so that they constantly need to use potions on him!

That however is much more a gripe with the series as a whole then with this episode specifically.. on their own these offences aren’t that big. Sure I know it could use a bit more care, but I smile widely still. I loved the clumsy Eren scene , even if she wasn’t talked to by Rimuru, I loved seeing Vesta being so proud of his achievement and growing into another person. I love the small fixes to Milim showing that this really is a show about progress. It all felt satisfying from beginning to end! All those other gripes I have .. just stem from taking the cheap way out just a TAD to much rather than going for the well written option. So it’s a great episode but to cheap to be a star.

Animini: Samurai Flamenco – Episode 17- Ultimate Prime Minister

Hello island guests this is my second Animini review! The series that used to be Saturday Anime Adventure.. but now in small parts!  Today we pick up where I left off with Samurai Flamenco before my move started and that is episode 17! I was not disappointed. I have learned however that I should never play a Sentai in real life! I will get in way over my head! Poor Masayoshi!

The Summary

Masayoshi is welcomed by Goto who knows the police will soon strike to arrest Masayoshi so we are immediately plummeted into some action. Using some weaponised stationary he and Masayoshi manage to escape! Given a new suit Masayoshi is brought to the “base” of the resistance.  Mr Justice as well as Kono are there and tell Samurai Flamenco that he has to stop the Prime Minister right now or every other Sentai will be locked up forever due to a new “Anti-Hero” act coming into effect.  So Goto and Masayoshi try to disrupt his final speech!  Going back to the stationary gadgets of old as well as a new Flamenco suit to get the job done!

However things are not as easy as they may seem! For the Prime Minister is not just a regular prime minister! It is revealed that much like From Beyond Flamenco .. he is a Flamenco too! The government building is on his side and creates a monster for him to combine with! Turning into a sort of Buddha Sentai! The power of his suit increases along with the support he has as a prime minister, thus getting 100% would give him the ultimate power. As he seemingly fights the terrorists the public recognises him as a strong leader and the suit goes stronger. Easily defeating Masayoshi and Goto! However in his final speech he confesses he fooled the public and it is revealed Kono filmed it all with sound.. and thus he quickly loses support. A half unconscious Masayoshi defeats his foe. Then it is revealed that they were all fooled! Mister Justice is actually “Alien Flamenco” an evil force that has took over the world leaders and a 100% powered Prime Minister seemed the only thing standing in between him and world domination! Can Masayoshi clean up this new mess?!

The Positives

I love this episode! I really really really REALLY do! It brings back that old classic Samurai Flamenco with the weird gadgets and the humanity behind the hero. Yet it also managed to combine it with the wackiness of the Flamenger part of the series, as what happened here was absolutely absurd. A roller coaster of plot twists keep the episode interesting and it is backed up with a pretty good fight! A fight that shows Masayoshi with his true friends and hits just enough callback buttons to old episodes to be super satisfying. The Flamen-girls join the fight and we see an improved Mari who willingly takes down the henchmen, finally showing the character has evolved. Moe has a cute moment of not doing anything which suits her very well but it is called out and I am grateful. Seeing Masayoshi and Goto fight the Prime Minister together is also very satisfying.. Even Goto saying he is a Flamenco Policeman felt great.. he finally is an official part of that team and I have been waiting for that. 

The conclusion of this fight is also great. We don’t see the classical “hero finds more strength”  trope that often accompanies this type of fight. Instead we see the enemy get taken down by a politician’s worst foes. The Press.. and Hubris. Of course Masayoshi still gets his finishing move but the Prime Minister already was done for through other means and that  really works in this episode’s favour, sometimes you just have to be the smartest , not the strongest.  The fact that there are many Flamenco in there and it has some deeper meaning reaching even into outer space gives some John Wick or  Saints Row vibes.. where the plot in following installments keeps getting more and more ridiculous! Kind of like Machete and Machete Kills  as well.  I really like when a franchise/series has fun with their IP and I do really enjoy that vibe with Samurai Flamenco as well.  Where the Flamenger part strayed too much from the core message this storyline is much more akin to the series core identity! So I am a happy little girl!

The Negatives

I don’t have a lot of negatives with an episode that I loved this much, let that be clear. If anything I would have to fault some of the music choices earlier in the episode. While the music during the fight is really great … The music leading up to the fight did not match the scene at all. In fact it fit so poorly that I found myself checking if maybe somewhere an add had opened up. It isn’t mixed in that well sometimes even overpowering the dialogue. The fight of the Flamen girls also seemed a bit sloppier in animation than what they used to be.. as if it was the  rushed part of the episode. It isn’t bad but there is a lack of “impact” in their hits. When compared to Masayoshi’s fight or the earlier fight with Goto against the cops. 

These are small gripes though and do not really affect how I feel about the episode. I am not sure if I like Alien Flamenco’s design.. and I know I dislike his spaceship’s design which are slightly bigger gripes but it would be something I just have to get used to. It’s a sligt bit “too” alien and too square. It doesn’t really remind me of a sentai villain. If anything I’d say it would be more fitting to one of those newer Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Series.  I will probably get used to it but for now I find it a bit meh and generic. 

The Score

This is definitely among the better episodes of the series for me! It had some really great moments so far and this episode is almost constantly great, except for maybe some elements I do notice but do not care for THAT much. The show goes into , what I would assume it’s final story arc, super strong and I look forward to seeing the show conclude on a similar level as this.  

I do think with five more episodes there might be still a bit to much show left to let this Alien encounter linger for THAT long, so there might an arc where Masayoshi has to live without being a hero after.. but I do not know.  I look forward to seeing the show conclude as I think the show is reaching its zenith, I am a bit worried about how things will be wrapped up as the show can’t keep up this Formula 1 tempo it has going right now so while this episode does take a risk for the future on it’s own I was very entertained! Highest score in my orchard.