Tag: Episode 2

Pinkie Plays: Final Fantasy VI Return of the Dark Sorcerer (Episode 2) The Level 1200 Boss

Welcome to another gameplay post with my little lights! I have been steadily taking you on many of my gameplay journeys and the result so far is .. a bit so so! I am having fun and have a lot of games to explore in terms of people liking and interacting with the pots! But I am having fun!  Recently I started a little Romhack of Final Fantasy VI .. called Return of the Dark Sorceror which retells the story of my favourite game with other characters. Last time I discovered this game was kind of weird, meeting characters like Cloud and Mr Meeseeks.. what will I find this time?!  Well let’s find out

I am experimenting with a new type of featured image that will blend in more with my upcoming YouTube Idea

Serin and Ronan

The second session with this game fills me with a sense of ..  I do not know..  I really wanted to play again.. but now I booted the game up I can’t help but feel… meh?! As the novelty of a weird Rom Hack has already lost a bit of shine and in a way it does. at What used to be Figaro castle but now called by yet another name  feels… dry.. and not just because it is in the desert. Nothing new is really being done here. Serin is just a king.. though they say he is an alchemist. He also has a brother.. but the change made is that he is a half brother.  The dialogue with Kefka is virtually exactly the same as before.  The first minutes of my second sesion feel a bit like a deception..the weirdness is gone and instead these are just name swaps. It is a bitter pill to swallow after taking the extra effort to get my characters here. 

The tale of Serin and Ronan is told through a cutscene where the dad is dying of being poisoned and we see the classic events unfold.. but here I think it would have been rather easy to change it into something a bit newer and more impactful. The majestic theme of Figaro Castle has been replaced with something a bit more generic and peppy! It feels pretty Final Fantasy … but there is no weight! … In the first game I could feel Edgar’s pain and Sabin’s as well.. here though because these characters are not someone like Cloud.. and they lack that tongue in cheek humor.. I feel they are more weak imitations of the originals. I might have preferred it if they were the original characters… Let’s hope the events coming can change my mind.

Serin wakes up later that day and smells smoke! He immediately thinks.. the cook has set fire to the castle again. Which apparently is a thing because as soon as he talks to a guard about it the guard takes it rather seriously!  Not this time sir.. it is Kefka he  set the castle on fire with some spells! It is time to escape the submerging city!  Serin asks a guard to hide his magazines before some called Elenor finds them. It’s Funny enough but a lot of Dialogue is still repeated and the music that plays while the castle is burning is really a miss!  It’s tonally totally off! Of course I do like the fire animation and stare at it for a while.. but hey.. I need to press on! 

The Zombie Cave

The Escape scene once again has some pretty bad music.. that is NOT this  Rom Hacks strength, but we do get a nice extra battle against some Magitech armor .. it is pretty challenging and I get to see Serin in use for the first time.. it turns out he indeed does play like Edgar.. but with other abilities based on “pills” with him being an alchemist. He can for now use a bow Weapon much like Edgar could.. but he can also confuse enemies, which is a lot more helpful early on than Bio Blaster. Aurora learns the spell Virus to cause toxic damage so this is a nice way that the two don’t overlap! Kekfa  is left with his face in the dust as things seem to proceed fairly normally for now! Making my way to the caves goes pretty easily as I do know this game pretty well and we get a new sort of event.  Apparently this cave is filled with beings that can cast the Zombie status…that’s fast!  Also a random guard called Hector joins the team! He is Allergic to Chocobo’s so he is always late!  Hey I got a friend who is always late.. perhaps she is allergic to her car!   The game also commits a grave sin!  They REPLACE the Chocobo theme!  Boooooo!  Inside the cave Zelda music plays.

That is not all they have in common though! The creepy wall hands also show up as enemies and some creepy voodoo dolls! Now I am beginning to like this stuff again!  I do like the creepier music vibe here.. as we use the Zelda Dungeon music remixed in a much more ominous version! That is the better way of sound design..my head screams dungeon now and the tone screams dark which is reflected by the enemies.. of course they are also kinda hard to deal with! The Wall Crawlers can leap up and walk across the wall.. making them untargetable for a good while. The voodoo dolls want to cast horrible spells on me but seem to always be low on magic.. maybe I need to remember these things because at a later level they won’t be so weak?!  We encounter a lot of enemies and struggle on.. eventually making our way through the caves.. in the final room Hector decides to leave us saying it is lucky we did not encounter any zombies… Apparently Jinx is a Final Fantasy spell now.

We get in a fight with a ginger zombie.. and he immediately casts the status on Cloud. I know I have the items to heal it with me .. but since all these item names make no sense to me like Tulaberry Aqualine Echo Herbs and Karma Jolt.. I have no idea how to cure him.. I need to let him be a zombie and restore him once the fight is over. Annoying..there is no need to change the name of the potions! We make it through the cave and now it is time to look for the resistance! I know this game is fairly hard so I decide to head to “Not Sabin’s” Cabin to restore and I find Echo Herbs in the Field.. which cure Silence and Aqualin.. which cures poison.  After sleeping in the hut a old man shows up and tells Ronan.. the not Sabin.. went away after Raditz…. has slain his master. OMG! OMG! OMG! .. Raditz Actually got a kill!  I am so proud of him!

Spain!

Raditz is said to live up on mount Zephyr.. a mountain up north of where I am at now. I don’t see the town near or maybe I missed it as my mind is only focussed on one thing! Raditz!  I am gonna fight Raditz! For those who don’t know , I am a big BIG Dragon Ball Z fan and I do love the character Raditz a lot so I would love to see how they did him in this game!  I rush into the caves and discover some interesting new monsters.  Like Ferocious birds, big swine.. and Vega from Street Fighter.. a lot of them! Would that be two Vegas or two Vega? I don’t know.. I just beat their scrawny touchie and I know just how they would sound like when they slowly fade away. Kind of like a seal dying I mean not that I would not know how a seal dying would sound but I could imagine it would be a bit like Vega’s death cry.  As an immortal moth I don’t need a death cry.. but maybe I do need to work on a Kaiju cry?!  I like Wrrrrrryyyy but that is taken already!

It doesn’t take too long before Aurora gets petrified by fighting a Cockatrice. Of course that is the one status that I don’t have a cure for!  So while I am looking for a savepoint to use my Shelter that looks like Inky from Pacman .. I get attacked by a Predator! Of course he is here, he must have come with Raditz from outer space!  I do manage to beat it with just Serin and Cloud and we find a save spot!  Since Predator outlevels me I farm the caves dry for treasure to get a few levels as we go along! I have a shelter left before the Raditz boss fights anyway!  Serin finds a new weapon! I also find a Moogle Salesman that sells me the cure for petrify.. instead of soft… it’s Tissues! Uhm.. sure?! I also picked up a nice blade for Aurora! It powers up strikes if you use MP and she is the only character with MP sooooo yeah!  Then it is time.. I see a familiar long haired man with black and brown armor hopping about! Oh boy! It’s Raditz fighting time!

Raditz

However .. this game likes to throw me a curveball and Raditz summons two Saibaman saying that a real Saiyan can easily defeat these! Oi, YA know those things are the exact same power level as you right?!  Raditz power level and that of the Saibaman both clocks in at 1200!  Well I guess there is the boss then?! Nope! Raditz is but I bet you can guess what the function of these Saibaman is in a fight that takes place right before the Raditz fight! “Yay this Saibaman is super close to me and glowing like a lamp! I love it. I am gonna call it Ed and make it my best friend the whole wide…………BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Ouchies!”  The Raditz fight starts and of course I can’t scan him.. because why would I! This means Raditz gets a free turn because I have to send Serin into Ether up Aurora who drained all her magic in the Saibaman Fight. Cloud bravely takes on Raditz.. but we weren’t strong enough! I wipe out and I see Serin crying at our graves!  Oi! Why does the generic sprite swap get to live?!  Luckily XP is retained so I go back.. buy the magic weapon again..but give it to Cloud this time.. he can’t utilize its effect but it has better stats then his current weapon.. he will be our main DPS.  While fighting our way back he also learns the new Limit Break: Blade Beam.

 Okay…so it’s rematch time!  This time I managed to kill at least one of the Saibaman without it exploding in my face and I invested a bit more money in potions at the shop.. rather then buying those tissues right now. This means Serin can offheal if he needs to!  I discover Raditz is super weak to the Virus spell.. I guess a weakness for viruses runs in the family! This time I luck out a lot. Aurora blocks a lot of Saturday Crashes so she can attack a bit more often.  Raditz also attacks a lot more into Cloud this time around whom I can keep healed with Aurora. At one point though Raditz begins screaming about Saiyan pride and Not-Sabin shows up!  Raditz uses a Double Sunday to blow away the party but . Ronan keeps standing. He fights Raditz as hard as he can..eventually realizing he has to use the Ki-Blast combo technique his master taught him. A big beam is fired and Raditz is critically injured..but he teleports out! The battle has been won.. and the journey to the resistance can resume! But that .. is a story for another time.

If you are reading this and are like “come on girl, play some actual games”  well I have a Kofi that helps me buy real games! I am not asking you to support it.. I am just Saiyan!
If you like me playing through some of these weirder Rom Hacks though .. let me know in the comments! Comments are like my lamps!  I love staring at them!

The Return of the Dark Sorcerer Series

Pinkie Watches: Zombieland Saga Episode 2 – I <3 Hip Hop Saga

Hiya! Sweet Little Lights! As a VBlogger .. a Kaijuman and and a Moth.. I have developed a bit of an unhealthy sleeping pattern.. actually it’s heart medication that kind of inhibits my ability to sleep but.. now that I am a virtual presence we glam that up a bit! It means I am not having a Saturday Morning.. so my anime block has been torn to shreds. So as a true VTuber..but for Blogging I decided to make reaction videos to anime I am watching.  Not in any particular order either.. just kind in whatever order I feel like.. or at any time I feel like them. The Anime I chose to test this format with is Zombieland Saga Episode 2! I felt like something cute and silly..after those nasty thingies happened in America!

Annoying Guy..Funny Joke!

Okay so this is me reacting! To this episode! I notice that the title is  I ❤ Hip Hop Saga. I do not like Hip Hop music myself… I oftenly don’t like the rhythm and the atmosphere. A lot of female Hip-Hop singers do what I call a lot of voice stunting…in changing the pitch of a tone while keeping it going. I do not find that pleasant.. like a flickering light! I don’t know wether to go or not! It confuses me and creates a bit of unrest!  The episode starts with a lovely chaotic recap that I quite enjoy! I really do enjoy these 20 second blitz of information things! I have a good memory so a recap should be funny and this one nails that brief so yay! 

We then get reintroduced to everyone again yet the names still do not stick to me! I am in awe by the design and the character quirks that shine through.. I know two names of the girls.. one of them being the main character.. the other being the one that is still zombified. The manager tells the girls his plans again and I must confess… I find him annoying! If I was a zombie I would probably bite him..he shouts at one of the girls for not reacting to him ..congratulating them for waking up… man. He is quite a bit of a  Peepee-head. Kind of like this little kid with a Gigan-shirt I greeted recently… he just ignored me so my laserbeam put a hole in his shirt where Gigan (and kind of where his major organs)  used to be… well now he has a reason to ignore me.

The opening that wasn’t in the first episode is not what I would have expected.. big Kaiju fights and Sentai stuff.. I assume that is a joke and it won’t be in here… could this show get any more awesome? I might die if it would be THAT awesome.. I am immortal now though so probably not! The music has a bit of a Jojo opening vibe to me.. the level of surrealism has that as well. The manager is too prominent in it though! I do like that very thick paintbrush outline though. This thing is my kind of jam! I do not like the slew of text at the beginning of the intro though it gives me One Piece trauma’s.. I stopped watching that show when half of each episode was the intro and all those maps and flashbacks! A pretty solid opening all in all but I don’t think it will stick in my head very well!

The manager continues to be super annoying and by now I would shoot a laser through his head.. but I would break my laptop .. but Oh my this guy is really vexing me! I do love how he is voice acted.. but the character is becoming annoying to levels that I actually am beginning to dislike this scene. He teases the characters about being a zombie and shows how they must keep the fact that they are zombies hidden. I wonder if all those humans have Anosmia or that zombies do not smell! They look fresh enough to smell.. but then again no one really says these rotting corpses stink.. so do zombies not stink?! I like how this anime brings up important philosophical questions like this. As the manager of a tropical resort most questions I get are all the same and with such obvious answers. Like “Can I leave my towel on a Poolbed in advance” or “Did you see my son.. he was wearing a Gigan shirt?”. I just wanna watch anime here and murder this annoying character manager guy!

Ai’s Great Escape!

The scene gets a bit funnier at the 5:00 minute mark. When a girl who I know is not named Saki or Sakura.. but the one with most of her face bandaged gets in an argument with Tatsumi! That is right I just learned the name of the manager. They talk about their knowledge of Saga and Tasumi tells he loves the region and knows everything about it.. when the girl insists he tells something he freaks out and tells her she should just use Wikipedia and that isn’t Friggin Wikipedia. He just wants to make them idols!  I like how the girls can see through him.. but also how he brings in a fairly valid argument! I for sure am not very interested in factoids about the Saga region. The girls have to perform at Saga Castle the next day and now have to train!  All the girls except Sakura think there is too little time.. but Sakura knows how this man works by now and she just agrees! He is just this odd! It was good for a chuckle!

Bandage face is called Ai! She is kinda cute!  We do see her personality a bit more established in the next scene where only Sakura is trying to learn some dance poses.Saki just stares menacingly while the one who is still a zombie is biting white haired zombie girl’s foot! The blue haired girl has funny faces in the mirror and I just love her design so much! I want to hug her and possibly meet her during a speed date! She seems playful and well spirited.  Ai however just stares intensely at Sakura. As we move to later we see the bitey zombie whose name I knew but forgot to bother white haired girl again while Ai hugs a pillow.. I hug pillows a lot! I relate so much!  Saki the biker girl then has the greatest interaction with Sakura! She threatens her for not remembering who she is.. doing the whole High School gang skit! Bullying her for being a goody two shoes. It sells her character so well .. and we get a softcore Yare Yare Daze.. followed by.. I bet my Tamagotchi is dead by now! That made me laugh! The girl cares about her Tamagotchi even in this situation!

Ai chan and Juno which is the name of the White Haired girl.. try to escape the mansion.. which makes sense.. so would I.. well I would love to be an idol so maybe not!.. But well I expect a normal girl would behave like this.. the bitey zombie is named as Tae-Chan. We get a funny scene of Sakura trying to stop the girls and ripping Ai apart, her arms detaching like Legos and her eyes popping out! It looks so clunky yet very satisfying! Great scene! Sakura decides to go with them so she can convince them to go back.. but the girls just want to go back to Tokyo when they are harassed by a bunch of rappers. This is so silly but I love it! A cop would show up.. and wouldn’t you know it is the cop from the first episode. Ai steps into the light asking for help and reveals her Zombieness.. the cop shoots and for about three seconds the girls just stare at the window he just broke.. then everyone begins screaming in a hilariously timed scene! I love that comical timing! I am laughing so hard I nearly knocked over a lamp! 

The second concert

Next we get the semi-emotional bit of everyone being bummed out being a zombie! Ai and Juno in particular, because they were just shot at. Sakura has a talk with Saki who wants to take over the world.. I am not sure if I like how overplayed her delinquent persona is. She wants to take over the entire country she says.. which feels like a really easy but cheap bridge for her to become an idol and take over the country. That way what annoys me more is that Sakura, when asked why she follows the sunglasses guy, doesn’t tell Saki anything. She told Ai and Juno earlier ..talking about wanting to see if her memory returns on stage. Saki can’t really object that even.. since she said Sakura SHOULD get her memory back.. it feels very weird that it is written this way! However we can’t linger too long as we move to the make up scene. Blue girls and ancient Japanese girls call each other by name.. but for some reason my brain doesn’t lock on! The names fade as soon as they come in! I do like how thick the make-up looks! I also like how the two Metalheads came back .. showing that Death Musume already has some fans! It feels slightly heartwarming and reminds me of my first followers Mallow and Emma!

As the concert starts the girls are surprised that their name has changed from Death Musume to Green Face.  Well or at least Sakura is… is this going to be a thing that their name changes each episode?! Tae is still a zombie and is pretty much set on eating the crowd again.. when Sakura struggles to set up a show and the traditional Japanese girl just does some sort of fan dance everything seems super awkward.. but then a random element of the show is brought back.. if you pull to hard on an arm it falls of. So while  Sakura tries to restrain Tae.. her hands some off and as she falls on the ground her head bounces off into the hands of a guy eating dried squid.. who feeds it to her with her eating it constantly! The girls play it off as some magic trick but Saki has fun with this chaos and wants to keep Tae’s head separated. She gets into a fight with Sakura which turns into a rap battle.. mostly because they start yelling insults and text to each other while Kotaro beatboxes over it.. caught by the rhythm the girls commit to this line.. while blue girl gets riled up and begins clapping and shouting YO YO YO YO!   Traditional Japanese girl.. picks up an instrument I do not know the name of and plays some strings to give it a bit of a traditional tint… of course the crowd loves this and Sakura vents what has been bothering her. Even to the audience.

The concert is done and the episode is wrapping up! Just as i feared Saki’s way to take over the world is by becoming an idol.. but okay I guess I did not have to expect deep writing here! She has gained some admiration for Sakura who also explained her situation to the girl now and  even if everything feels quite forced I had a lot of fun with it. I loved the jokes!  There was so much humor that really worked. Saki bringing up the Tamagotchi even during the rap was a great callback and a lot of the humor is recurring. I really like that, it gives lines weight.. even though they are funny you can sense Saki is really annoyed that she lost her precious Tamagotchi! Her best comment was that she liked Sakura.. because her head was so egg shaped and she was a nice person so she reminded her of a Tamgotchi!  The Tae-chan joke is used fairly well as well and even the little blue girl just fizzes with energy while Ai and Juno feel defeated so others can spotlight on stage.. it felt… Balanced and well thought out!  I had  a great time today.. BUT.. I also feel like this show won’t be funny for THAT long. I had a blast.. but it kind feels like a free fall ride. The first drop is super exciting but if it would go up again just to go back… each subsequent drop will feel less amazing.
Oh well! We will see that later!

Animini: Revolutionary Girl Utena – Episode 2 – For Whom the Rose Smiles

How delightful to re-acquaint ourselves again , my dear Island Guests. The first episode of the absolute classic Utena , did not float my boat all that much. I had fun watching it for sure, but it was a bit direct in it’s themes and I did not have much fun with world building yet. Look and behold the second episode did way better for me! This episode pleased me quite a bit and I now look forward to see more! Not only did I got to understand the world a bit more! I was also introduced to one of my favourite anime pets yet!

The Summary

Utena is picking up her normal school life again when she is reassigned to a new dorm..or people are assigned dorms.. I am not sure , because they had school before.. would it not make sense to get a dorm room before you start school?! Regardless.. Utena is send to a dorm that her bestie tells her has been out of use for years. Which is quite strange, while her bestie glomps on to her Utena walks both of them to where they have to part ways for now.. moving into her own dorm it looks quite cozy.. until she opens the door that is supposed to lead to her room, which turns out is a mouse infected hellhole. Utena closes the door quite shocked and waits for a bit, just to find out Anthy has since almost cleaned the entire room and it is livable for them to live together. Utena is amazed by the coincidence of them living together and Anthy explains to her there is no coincidence.. since Utena has won the Rose bride.. They are now engaged and have to live together according to the rules of the student council.  Utena doesn’t want anything to do with this engagement and Anthy is being quite vague with her.. until she introduces Utena to her pet Chuchu!

Chuchu is like a mini-monkey mouse thing. It looks mostly like a monkey but it is mouse sized and seems to have mouse ears. It loves sweet things and it is just adorable! Utena much like me takes a shine to the little creature and gets  to be lucky enough to befriend it. Anthy explains that others who wield the rose signet will come to challenge her to be engaged to Anhy, while  the student council president reveals they want the power of Anthy to start a revolution. The latter happens in a cutaway of course. Every student council member neatly coded by the colour of their hair. Saionji wants to dominate Anthy again so he comes to visit to challenge Utena to a duel and asks Anthy to go into submission.. he should own her.. Anhty refuses and Saionji steps on Chuchu and treats it badly, he challenges Utena to a rematch and she agrees , planning to lose it to be done with this weird duel stuff. The dark skinned woman seems upset but she can not disagree with Utena and tells her to do what she wants. The duelist fought on the same location again and now for the first time Utena pulls out Dios.. even though she still plans to lose with it.. during her fight she seems to become possessed by the spirit of the prince and finds new zeal.. defeating the green haired vice president in a duel . Having shown a new power.. the actual president becomes intrigued by the girl. Back at the dorm when Anthy asks why Utena won. The pink haired woman in a male school uniform informs her she did not want Chuchu to be bullied so she had to win. Anthy then smiles and the episode ends.

The Positives

This episode was soooo much better than the first. Utena isn’t drooling all over Anthy now and clearly takes a colder stance towards her.. mostly because she is so much more than she bargained for.. this makes Utena feel much more human. I also like how cold she reacts to the whole engagement thing. It isn’t real to her, which makes sense since she doesn’t understand how this new world really works. It does wonders for how the plot goes and  makes it all a bit more subtle. She is much more a sweet human being now rather than a carbon copy of a fairy tale trope. Anthy also isn’t as “submissive”  while she still really is in service of Utena; the girl doesn’t speak out some feelings or answers. She hides her thoughts a bit but we as the audience get to see there is more going around her head. Which gives her a lot more depth and at least shows me she can think for herself. The duel is also a bit more interesting, because Utena plans to lose I can wonder, does she indeed plan to lose but regret and come back later, does she find a reason to win?  Even knowing the show’s premise a bit from the opening.. with this episode I feel like it can go several ways. It keeps the plot more engaging. The mystery in the end made me want to see more.

Now.. let’s dedicate an entire paragraph to Chuchu!  I love it!  It doesn’t speak so it’s less annoying than Kon, it has loads of personality and its finally something that has nothing to do with roses. If the pet would have been a bee.. or a humming bird or something that goes for flowers, I would have found it all a bit stale.. but no this shook that up for me.  I did not expect I needed to see a monkey mouse fall into a piece of cake today.. but I did!  It is really good! I also like that Chuchu becomes the center of Utena’s affection…for now, once more it’s very humane that you bond with a creature  at least a bit faster than with a human.  I have an easier time to believe a girl who knows another girl  for a day or so would have an easier time finding zeal and passion in protecting a pet from being kicked as keeping up an engagement you may or may not be invested in. Utena probably does have those feelings toward women.. but she needs to grow into such a bond. While with something as cute as Chuchu such a bond can be instantaneous. No I don’t believe in love at first sight.. so Chuchu really is a great engine for character motivations for me now.

The Negatives

I have very little negative to say. From a story perspective a few things do not make sense to me yet, such as the meaning of the castle in the sky, what the location is the student council meets and why none of them have chosen to talk to Utena yet on how she got that ring.  Yet this episode showed me we will ease into it and it is a mystery that we will probably solve alongside Utena.. so while I at times feel lost and some elements feel disconnected, I think this show aims for it to be that way. It wants us to wonder what is going and and slowly link these things that make no sense together..  together.. I did notice that the prince came from the upside down castle. Could Utena be from the upside down world. Utena and Anthy almost feel like inversed names of each ofther as well.. but not really.. just kinda. Anyway there is still a lot of ideas floating up there.. but I don’t dislike that as much as i did in episode 1.

If there is one thing I disliked it’s the music. The version I am watching has those chorus songs translate as well and they just seem so random.  The whole Utena walks up the staircase footage while talking  about the Apocalypse and Shangri-la already was weird but then during the fight scene we get a chorus droning all sorts of fossils.  Trilobite Ammonite.. etc. The heck?! If this is because they are fighting in a school I think this is really forced. It’s kinda funny and random but seeing Trilobite randomly pop up in my screen as a weird really distracted me and pulled me out of the fight. I could do without those. Also Utena walking up a stairs is not as interesting as a magical girl transformation so I would like if they don’t stock footage that to often.. but I am probably out of luck there! I am not even sure how I call this flaw.. over stylised maybe?! Kabutops, Meowth Magnmite.. Mudkip Lairon Meditite…. See I told you that kind of thing was distracting.

The Score

Chuchu and a much more human Utena push this episode much much higher up then the previous one. This was very good! I like the improvements they took and I adore how the world is coming together but the characters do not just blindly accept their faith ,,they are human above all and that will pay off later. When characters fall in love I will like it better because it feels as if a human becomes in love.. when someone gets hurt or is lost, I will cry because a human is lost. In this second episode Utena shed off that skin of a character that makes things happen.. and Anthy kind of broke the exposition dump trope.. saying something have to reveal themselves. With more and more magic and mysticism bleeding in I also am becoming more intrigued to how his is followed up.

The  odd choice on what to turn into stock footage and the bizarre music choices do knock it down a peg for me though. Storywise I think the show is on a very good track to become more a show I can get into! I do feel this might be a slow burner for me and I will not be sucked in right away and it might take me a bit to give these odd choices a place but hey if the episodes stay like this by episode 5 there is no way way I am dropping it early so that is one Distortion World of a change. Very very good episode that took away many many doubts I had after episode 1. 

Animini: Cowboy Bebop -Episode 2- Stray Dog Strut

If you have read my latest Natsume Book of Friends  review you’ll know I often have issues with second episodes of anime. These are usually exposition dumps that have very little interesting stuff to tell in favor of fleshing out the world.  Cowboy Bebop takes a bit of a different approach and I like it!  It isn’t a flawless second episode but we got no exposition dump here.. instead we get Corgis. 

The Summary

Spike and Jet travel to Mars where a new bounty rests on the man named Abdul Hakim! Using Bounty Hunter TV we discover the universe knows roughly 300.000 Bounty Hunters and an 8 Million bounty is sure to attract some attention right?!  Hakim allegedly stole a precious lab-animal. Spike decides to go to shady pet-shops to track the man when he eventually wants to unload the precious pet.  Spike quickly slips up however when  Hakim seems to have used a proxy to make the sale. Seeing a “worthless” Corgi sitting in a box the petshop owner with a turtle on her head values it at just 200k which apparently in this world is nothing… maybe it’s even just 200.. I am not sure how much the currency of this world is worth and heck it might even be called K… *Checks around if she accidentally summoned a movie blogger* 

Hakim walks into the store and tries to take the dog back.. but Chaos ensues.. the dog escape and Spike pursues Hakin.. eventually the dog Jumps of a bridge onto a boat and when  Spike leaps in to pursue.. the dog latches onto his face causing him to miss the jump and the dog escapes from Hakim.  Jet and Spike don’t care much for worthless Corgis so they use the dog as bait.. only to lose it  to some scientist who made a super sonic dog whistle van.. as all dogs in town chase the car, Hakim steals a car and Spike goes in pursuit with his airship.  The scientist snare up all the other dogs but the Corgi escapes, it seems super smart..almost like a person.. it can not escape Hakim however.. who basically  Chloroforms it with an Aerosol (And I know Chloroform doesn’t actually work like that.. but it’s a detective novel/film noir trope,, that I think fits the setting)  The scientist start using guns on Hakim and Spike.. who tries to use his landing gear to bash the roof of Hakim’s car open. This makes the Corgi wake up who jumps on the wheel.. pushes some buttons and then falls out the window once Hakim’s car gets harpooned by the dog whistle van. Spike chooses to save the dog and forsake his bounty. Hakim turns himself in.. and Spike gets himself a genetically engineered super smart Corgi…even though he dislikes dogs.

The Positives

For those who have followed me for a while and actually read what I write, you probably know I love randomness. It’s a big elementi I try to incorporate in my life as much as I can… so when I see what i believed to be a dark Space Western with some dandy elements ..be all about chasing a Corgi I was amazed. It felt so random and nothing like a second episode normally is. We get no long tales of Spike’s tragic past, we get no flashback to how he and yet met.. no we get a guy who goes and tries to earn some money and ends up with hyper intelligent Corgi instead. I love it! The weird pet shop lady, calling all the animals her babies but looking like a heavy smoker and boozer  felt almost out of place.. but also not.. THere is a turtle on her head that nobody questions.. which is kinda amazing and seeing a Corgi do that classic bridge leap to land on some canvas instead of the human characters?! I certainly haven’t seen that before! This episode was entertaining with a capital E.. Maybe a capital N as well. 

The character designs were amazing as well. Abdul had so much flavour, the Petshop lady even more.. even the random mook who had to sell the Corgi had this design element to him.. kind of looking like a young Leorio from Hunter X Hunter. Last week I complained that the grunts looked a bit like “video game mooks” which instantly told you how easy they would be to deal with.  This week we have some new grunts but there is a sense of design in them, unique hairstyles different body types even a bit of personalities.. as a result you can push them way further and get a much more interesting chase in the end. I also love the design elements in Mars so far.. taking a more Chinese like approach in design it feels a bit like Macao City… the Chinese Vegas but more seedy and filled with underhand deals and earlier .. opium trade and the likes. It is also established as such.. on Mars “Everything” is for Sale. Under the counter shops are everywhere , and people don’t take kindly to you asking questions.. unless you show you are a cool guy. I like that money isn’t the only rule here.. Spike adresses an arms dealer based on his passions and it works, it lifts these characters from cartoon characters in a stereotypical town to something a bit more real.

The Negatives

I really enjoyed this episode but it also does feel a bit sloppy at times, because of how weird the plot is.  The Corgi can bend his shape to operate a steering  wheel but can also latch onto a face and for whatever reason Spike and Jet have a dog collar in it’s size on board..while they don’t really seem to like dogs. Jet seems to be fine with him.. but he calls the Corgi a Mutt anyway. When it hopped onto the steering wheel it kinda felt to “liquid” also Hakim not yanking it off his steering wheel feels off! If I was driving a car.. and Arceus have mercy on the soul who is in the car with me,  I would not allow a dog to make me crash let alone push it several buttons on the wield why I just quietly tell it “stop it”. I would punch the dog of my steering wheel.. and No that doesn’t make me cruel I am driving on a bridge while being shot at that just makes me sensible.. and sometimes this episode misses that sensibility making the characters cartoony… it’s very entertaining but it isn’t “ engaging”.

I am willing to believe this dog is hyper intelligent.. I just don’t think ti can change size… To make this episode a bit more powerful I would have at least liked to see Spike and the dog bond a bit… I am pretty sure they are going to keep it..but now it staying on Bebop feels kinda un-earned.. I would have loved a brief scene where the dog found Spike a half eaten Peking Duck in  one of those take away boxes that he could finish.. or stealing him some actually food out of a restaurant.. heck even a look would have been fine! Just something that makes Spike want to save the dog when it falls out of the car later on..That is not really a negative though ..but more of a suggested approvement. 

The Score

I really liked this episode a lot LOT more than the first one, and that already was great.. yet I have to give this episode the same grade. This episode is a lot muddier than the first one and a bit more clownish. It is really something I want to see in this series.. the ability to have fun with itself  but I can not escape that feeling that there is a lot of rickety parts either. It’s kind like comparing A Tardis with Bell and Teds Payphone time machine. I’d probably have more fun with Bill and Ted but if you ask me which is the better time machine it will be the Tardis. The payphone is a bit of a joke so it lacks that same wow factor and I think that is a good summary of those episode as well.

I loved this episode and I am super excited to see if they will keep the dog and name the dog. I am super curious to see if the dog will live and heck.. I am also super curious to what other worlds are out there.. what else Mars has to offer and what is in store for the crew of the Bebop. This is quickly turning out to be one of  those cases that Science Fiction really works out for me and Mari pointed me out why. One of the few sci-fi shows I really like is drawing HEAVY influences from Bebop to a point where I now feel that Firefly really copied HARD.  The way these characters are, the banter, the level or airiness and the whole Cowboy/Space world building it clearly was a love letter to this. So seeing a prequel to one of the greatest Sci-Fi shows ever seems to become quite an enjoyable ride.. but who knows.. which of these two will be my favourite Sci-Fi Serial in the end?!

Animini: Natsume Book of Friends -Episode 2- The Dew God’s Small Shrine

I had a lot of reactions to my first review of Natsume, my dear Island Guests. After telling I thought it was very good but a fairly predictable first episode I was told the good stuff would start a few episodes in.. so I was fully prepared for this episode to be even a bit bland.. as usually Episode 2’s of series are my least liked episode (exposition and such)… I was not prepared for what I was about to see when I watched the second episode of Natsume!

The Summary

Natsume and Nyanko-Sensei  are growing a bit closer together as Natsume continues to deal with Yokai in his daily life. We begin the episode with what I assume is a potential romantic interest for the boy asking him for a signature to do a Trial of Bravery in the old School building.. a ghost hunt of sorts! A hunt that I am sure will be one of the next few episodes!  There Natusume sees a Yokai that chases him and attacks him thinking he is Reiko again. Nyanko-Sensei saves him because the spirit trying to kill the boy wants the book for himself.  We see that Natsume’s daily life has changed since he became his lucky cat “pal” . There are two types of Yokai in his life. Those trying to kill him and those who come and talk and ask for their name back.  One of these is the tiniest cute little Yokai guy who is described as the “Dew God” A former rain god that has shrunk in size after losing followers. We also discover Nyanko’s real name is Madara. 

When Natsume tries to give the little guy his name back, he discovers his grandmother did not take to great care of the book and two pages are stuck together.. if he tries to peel the apart and give Dew’s name back.. he might cause him imense pain or even death.  So the only way to solve this is to find this other Yokai that is stuck to his page as well. Natsume lacks time at the moment and will visit the shrine of the guy later. On his way there he meets and old Lady named Hana who is nice enough to give him a peach. She turns out to be Dew God’s only follower.. his lore is told and she experienced it and is thankful for the mircale a man has caught still. Praying devoutly every day.. even though she is sick and doesn’t have a lot of time left on this earth. Natsume searches for the other Yokai..which turns out to be quite hard because the Dew God only gives him a poor drawing to go by.. this causes the hunt to go on for several days but eventually the little guy tracks the Yokai down and Natsume can give them back their names.. the Dew God thanks him.. but tells he is dying. Hana died and with his last follower gone.. a god will die as well. Natsume tells he will be his follower and worship him but the Dew God refuses.. telling Natsume that they are friends.. those should not worship each other… he then fades.. finally coming eye to eye with Hana in a form of afterlife.  Thankful for what she has done for him. Reliving their missed  opportunity encounter.

The Positives

I did not expect this episode to impact me already!  That was such a sweet but also heartbreaking episode.  I mean there is still a lot to be established here but as far as second episodes go I have never been as deeply emotionally affected like this one. I went misty eyed! I managed to not cry.. .but I really came to like that little guy in the span of a single episode.  The idea of a god dying without worshippers was something I was quite familiar with by playing the game Sacrifice WAAAY back in the day.  I beat that game with every single god and had a blast!… So when I heard Hana had died.. I was afraid for the little guy.. and without remorse he was taken from me!  I liked the message he left with a lot too.. friends do not worship each other , they are equals. Even though I am not familiar with Shinto religion and the idea of shrines and paying offers, the end scene of Natsume leaving an offering for something that someday might be in the now empty shrine was a nice little sentiment.  If we do not appreciate things they might be gone before we know it.. so let’s already be thankful for whatever blessings might be bestowed upon us in advance!

I like how we are exposed to Natusme’s social life in a rather organic way. Tired from all his adventures and releasing a spirit he ponders over his relation with his legal guardians, telling how much he appreciates them and can not bother them with this little quest of his. It does feel like a fairly genuine string of thinking though.. I am so tired from the job but I can’t bother anyone with what is going on at my work right now for it would make my loved ones worry. The subtle way he wants to sign something to help the female classmate and pronounces her name are all much more subtle cues to tell a story then him going all hearty eyes telling in his mind she is his secret crush.. this also leaves more room for liberties.. maybe I read it wrong, maybe the two are just friends.. maybe something awkward happened between them.. there is so much more you can narratively do with this approach and it also feels a lot more natural than how anime crushes are conveyed normally. This is a great episode that really plays on emotions in a sensible way. Also those peaches Hana was known for and gave to Natsume looked SUPER TASTY! So some nice visuals and creature design as well!

The Negatives

I struggle to find anything negative about the second episode of Natsume. Yet I can’t fault it that much. The comedy with the drawing was funny. The attempts from Madara/Nyanko to off Natsume in his sleep had chuckling and the story elements nicely clicked together. If I had to nag about something.. and I set myself up for that it’s that getting the little guy his name back and him fading away happens fairly close next to each other.. but I am not even sure that is correct. We see a day pass but for all we know it could be several days. Still it felt a bit “coincidental”   that the old lady died JUST after the quest had been complete.You know.. storybook pacing and such.. still I probably would have enjoyed the episode if that did not happen.. so it’s not really a negative!  Reee! Let me try again!  Sound?! No I loved those Cicada’s in the middle of nowhere? The  plenty of flashbacks? No those were quite lovely!  Darn it! Oh wait maybe this!

So in the school Natsume encounters a Yokai that gets stopped by Dragon-mode Nyanko/Madara  it then turns into a fluffy ball with an eye and floats away. That plotline is not pursued at all anymore, it’s just a random fleeing Yokai.. which I would have liked to see addressed a bit more.. but I am sure that it will return in the next episode or in a few so that way it would be more awesome! But if it just vanished from here on out.. that would be a negative. Hey I’ll take a potential negative point over having non in a section where I am supposed to list negatives!  I am also sad the Dew God and Hana are gone forever.. I liked both characters .. but that is what made this episode so impressive already.  Yeah.. really that is it.. this episode already was quite amazing. 

The Score

You don’t need to be paranormal to see what grade I am about to give this episode . There is this thing between me and second episodes that always is a bit iffy. There are a few series of which I don’t mind the second episode.. but there are very VERY few series of which I love the second episode.  Samurai Flamenco being a Noteworthy exception.  However I am going to call it and say this is my new favourite second episode of a series! So that is pretty high praise! It’s my tribute to a show which one day might even become better.. and I am actually pretty sure of it. 

Natsume’s Grandma seems like a horrible person though! She steals Yokai’s names and takes bad care of the book and she tricks people into fighting her by offering them food when they need to eat. I am not sure what kind of person Reiko is but she seems like quite a Bit-Choo-Choo train to me! An interesting specimen still and I want to learn more about her.. but I think I would hide a lot of tabasco in her tea if I ever got to serve her some.  She’d probably beat my pink face in or send Yokai to deal with me… but yeah! These are just some random thoughts! Really REALLY good episode! .. Now I am off to find some dissapointing peaches in the SuperMarket.. but i really want one!