Tag: Episode

Animini: Hikaru no Go Episode 24: Akira Vs. The Oza

The Merriest of mornings to you my dear Island Guests.  My anime adventures this week have been.. lackluster, with a great start on Monday but after that it’s .. been .. okay. Luckily Hikaru no Go lifts the level with another amazing episode and I do mean amazing there is just so much to appreciate in this episode again. So many layers and subtle insinuations. I really love that a lot about this show and this episode might even take it to another level.

The Summary

I have said before that I have trouble writing a summary but this one leaves me in quite a pickle. The entire episode is dedicated to the match between Akira and Oza and through clever dialogue , facial tics and looks  we can tell how the match is going. As someone who can not play Go and has no real idea how the territories work still I am quite amazed with how I can follow a match on so many levels. Not only do the students and pro’s following the match offer exposition we also get told about facial tics of Oza while we already know Akira’s!  Thus we constantly see a shift in balance. Akira and Oza are having a very close match while Hikaru tries to move through his own match to watch the spectacle himself. 

Hikaru soon wins his match but is kept in place.. by formalities. Meanwhile we see Akira make plays that challenge Hikaru to come closer as it were.. almost as if he is taunting him.  Hikaru finally walks into the specating room just in time to see one of the final taunts before the match balance begins to shift. Akira is put on the backfoot after dominating for a while. However  He is not satisfied anymore with just winning.. he wants to soar beyond Hikaru’s reach and begins to play super aggressively.  For a brief moment he seems to put Oza on the backfoot again. Yet as the onlookers are distracted by the fact that it is starting to snow outside..then  Oza strikes back.. and finishes off Akira.. forcing him to resign and now having been defeated by not just Sai but by Oza as well.. how he reacts happens off camera.

The Positives

This episode really did a lot for me! I loved this episode! It was so subtle in everything. Let’s begin with the way how the music alternates between its three main themes. The Heroic theme signalling how strong Akira is playing, the excitement team signalling he is losing ground and the sad theme to clarify the match has been fought.. but what was strongest was the end for me. No emotions no reactions, when the match is over.. we do not get tears.. we get no prolongation of the sad theme. We get silence.. with just a visual of snow falling in the background. It tells us how Akira will feel.. without showing us… without making us hear it from his mouth directly. The visual of the snow beginning to fall.. almost as the white stones Oza is using on the board almost seems like a omen.. of Akira’s defeat .. it makes sense and it puts levels in perspective. Akira has lost to one of the strongest players out there..but he did not get washed such as was the case against Sai.. leaving us with the notion that Akira IS not infallible and it keeps Hikaru’s dream alive and probably also keeps Akira from turning into a full on Antagonistic character.

What might be better is how subtle we are once again clued on Hikaru’s amazing progress.  He fought the same girl he had his first match against (I think)  the one he lost to pretty badly. Now he manages to win.. but that is not even it’s true strength. Hikaru plays this match very distracted yet he still won. He is SO good now that he  can beat the girl he lost to initially while being distracted, once again showing how insanely fast Hikaru progresses.  The way  he looks at Akira’s match.. wanting him to soar once again makes him a bit of a counterpart to Akira. Where Touya is shown to at least pretend to want to blow Hikaru completely out of the water and to  become unreachable , Hikaru wants Akira to do well.. yet we also see him kind of content.. not at first.. but we see him go outside and be a bit of a kid again. Almost as if we see him allow himself to take a bit of breath. I do really like how subtle everything is but also how there is such a sense of progress even when it’s not about our main character.. we still get that amazing measuring stick.

The Negatives

The show is super subtle it does tend to juggle with too many characters, Akiri, Mitani, Tsutsui all seem to have completely vanished.. and while I hope we will see some of them again, I do think a few of the new characters aren’t as strong. I still don’t know how that guy besides Waya is called. He is never referred to by his name except for maybe once or twice subtelly.  He has his own arc like thing though .. with his wish to be a pro and his time as an Insei coming to an end. Touya’s older friend is there as well.. but again I do not have a good idea of his name.. he is just there to spectate. There are many people active here.. and while it makes sense for so many to be interested in Akira and I do remember the characters but they have a bit of that “who the heck are these guys”  vibe.

While the visual references in this episode are great,  there is a bit of a lack of pisaz sort  of speak. The snow falls against a pitch black sky No details. We get very sterile and clean environments, and sometimes characters lack detail when there really is no need for them to lack such detail. I get it’s school and it will look clean.. but everything looks just a bit too clean. The match part between Akira and Oza is fine for a location where we spend almost half an episode I at least would like just a BIT more of “set dressing”  I get it from a manga panelling sense that lacks a whole lot more space but the backgrounds can be a bit bland. Add an interesting cat poster.. or  a ticking clock on the background.. a mani neko or heck even some transparent images of the match you are talking about. Saki and Beyblade are examples on how boring scenes can be made more interesting.. If people talk in imagery down in the stands we get these detailed still shots.. for example they say Akits is on the offense.. in Saki or Beyblade they would have depicted him as a Samurai running in for an attack. While it clashes with the subtle tone of the rest I don’t think it would be detrimental as the worlds already are spoken.. no need to be subtle about that. Offer us an interesting visual to break that monotony.

The Score 

While that last point might seem like a big negative.. it isn’t really. I enjoy the show thoroughly so that last point doesn’t keep this episode from getting my highest score. After all I deeply enjoyed this episode. It is simply a discourse between the genius moments in the show and the “regular” exposition. Like I said this show is very VERY good on  cinematic level..when something is going on… when LESS is going on the show can feel a bit… on a budget…and while it doesn’t make me enjoy the episode less I do  realise it has the potential to do better. Both itself and other shows not that much older show how it can be done. Cowboy Bebop which is even older has a lot of grey visuals as well but it just adds something in the picture so a background is always interesting, so it’s more that I want more of a good thing than I think this is bad.

I thoroughly like  the outcome of this match.. but like I said last week.. it has been set up to not really matter.. or so I thought..the implications for Hikaru made me enjoy this episode so much more! The clever little hints on what is going on really sing! When it began snowing I first felt like… awww shit Akira is going to lose.. and when the music stopped I was like .. Holy Arceus.. he really did lose!  Followed by.. Oh wait this is actually really good at Hikaru.. aww look at that he is so happy and Hikaru isn’t losing who he is just in this pursuit.. this was an important match! I am happy! This is a good episode.. This is better than a good episode. I hope this show can keep it up!

Animini: Revolutionary Girl Utena – Episode 1- The Rose Bride

Many Geared Greetings to all visiting these islands! With Flip Flappers being finished we were given two suggestions for shows to watch one was Magical Girl Raising Project… suggested by Senpai Irina the other was Revolutionary Battle Girl Utena suggested by Mari I opted to watch the classic first.. I miss a lot of the fundamental shows here.. yet after one episode I am not sure yet if I made the right decision. I did enjoy myself, in a slightly, clinical, way. 

The Summary

Utena is introduced to us in a fairytale style animation that immediately reminded me of the stained glass scene from beauty and the beast it tells us the story about a princess that was once save by a prince that smelled like roses.. her parents died but she was save.. as a memento he have her a ring that would allow her to find him again. She was so impressed .. that she did not fall in love with him.. no she wanted to be a prince herself to save her own princess. This heads on approach is kept on throughout the episode as after we see our backstory we jump to present day. Where Utena is a girl at a pretty snooty looking school. She prides herself in wearing a boys uniform instead of a girl one..to the chagrin of one of the teachers.  In the gardens of her school Utena discovers a dark skinned beauty by the name of Anthy. She is being slapped around by some Bishounen boy Saionji , shocking Utena who feels drawn to Anthy. Utena’s peppy friend distracts her and provides the exposition on who is who and what their roles are.  All very straightforward and clear.

We cut to Sionji being part of some super elite School Council who seem to live in a castle up in the sky or close to one.. I could not really work that out yet.. and he is the owner of Anthy because he won the last duel.. whoever wins the duel owns Anthy who is better known as the Rose Bride. When the green haired pretty boy hands a love letter he got from Utena’s bestie to his friends so she can be mocked.. Utena in a fit of rage challenges the man to a Kendo match.. he notices she has a ring and instead duels her for the sake of Anthy’s ownership.. for  this cold water has to be splashed on her ring in some secret place and more secret locations are revealed.I will be honest that went a bit fast for me.. I am sure I will familiarise myself with that location sooner rather than later.. but I still had questions when this episode was done.  Bringing her Kendo sword Utena did not expect her new rival to draw a magical sword out of Anty .. the sword known as Dios gives up the sword to whoever owns the Rose Bride.. while her sword gets broken Utena still manages to win the match by knocking a rose out off her rivals chest pocket, while he had to do the same to her. Anthy then is reunited with Utena saying she is now her property.

The Positives

I like how modern this show is , even though it stems from 1997 it is pretty relevant with it’s themes to this day. We get a dark skinned romantic interest to a woman claiming herself to desire to be a prince and rescue her own princess. Utena clearly is into women and very much into Anthy. I want to watch a bit more Yuri shows so this does play into that agenda pretty well. While the visuals look a bit off by today’s comparison I do really like the colour use in this school. Lots of weight and regal colours give the show a sort of luxury and vibrancy that make a nice balance with the somewhat more somber, Hikaru no Go and More grey tinted Cowboy Bebop.  It even offers a nice change of pace from the very natural tones of Natsume. It does bring me back to that sailour moon vibe but it feels more “unique”  and since I do dream of a rich girl finding me.. I can dream away a bit of finding my own Utena. (I can’t tell if I am into Anthy as I have not seen enough) 

I really do like seeing the more classical style of battle as well, there is an impact to it, you don’t get as much in modern anime. Even though it is just slaps and punches for the most part here the hits really make a connection. Which helps immediately feel bad for Anthy who has the potential to be a super interesting character as well. Utena herself having pink hair is always a plus and even her basketball action is pretty entertaining in that same connecting way. I ADORE how petty she can be.. not wanting to play Basketball for a certain team afraid she might get boysweat on her. I can kind of relate.. and it seems that  we get a person that is very confident with the person who she is rather than the shy, reflective one or the bubbly happy go lucky girl that usually make up the dynamic in Yuri couples..There are the dramatic ones as well but so far I feel that Utena might become one of the most relatable for me.

The Negatives

I am not sure if this show is for me.. based on this episode. While there is much I admire about this show , so far there is much less I enjoyed. I find everything to be a bit too “on the nose”  The second Utena sees Anthy she immediately gets trusted into a situation where she might wonder Anthy’s relationship status, all the girls in school take turns into letting Utena take turns in using their towel and Utena says “sure it’s your turn”. Coming off a bit strong there..I knew she would be Yuri ..but to literally take turns into “what girls towel you use”  kind of feels gross to me. Doesn’t she have a towel of her own?! Why would the other girls take their towel to spectate a basketball match.. which is against guys by the way. We see Utena kick the boys asses, we see her stand up to the teacher about wanting to wear a boys uniform so she can feel like a prince….yet she wears short pants underneath…which kind of makes it NOT a uniform anymore and thus WOULD put her in violation of the rules unlike she claims.

I also feel uncomfortable with Anthy being the property of Utena and that doesn’t have anything to do with the pigment she has, I am generally a bit uncomfortable around characters that lack free will.. not persé the hypnotised once but characters who just accept their fate even if they are miserable. Utena owning a bride now again feels a bit too “in your face” Just like the rose theme is a bit overplayed, the school logo is a rose, her ring has a rose, Anthy likes roses, Utena remembers the smell of roses and Dios has a rose on the hilt.  I do not mind roses being the source of power.. but let the rose  be iconic to the school council.. not also the school, not also the ring.. AND the sword. It all feels a bit to obvious This I will acknowledge is probably a first episode problem though as puzzle pieces fall in place I most of the time will stop minding them..but I would have thought it was stronger if Utena remembered a eye colour or a look.. over the sense of a very specific rose. It all feels just a bit stiff..like a tutorial in a point and click game!

The Score

Some anime really need to get fired up and you will need to give it a few episodes before it gets going..maybe it will pick up.. but for some reason I feel a disconnect with this anime so far. I love that the hero really reflects me in a way.. though I probably would not walk the same path. She walks to the sound of her own drum and her own ideals and I very much respect that.. if that theme is highlighted I will  surely grow to like this show. Yet I am also a bit weary that she might beat up every boy with too much ease and become a bit of a Mary sue. I can relate to how her mind works so far..but it feels to me as if the show in the first scene tells you “yes she is gay” and the next scene.. “did you know our main character is gay?”  I kind of would like to grow into a character rather than one point of relatability becoming an hyperbole of itself. I can’t judge based on a single episode but this will be a show I will either hate or love and so far I am not convinced of either side.

Simply for existing, going this route and writing characters like this is already pretty amazing. Giving her pink hair makes it better and since I see no signs of a revolution yet I suspect a lot more will come into play. At least I assume she will take a stance against the system at one point.. rather then being revolutionary in the “you have never seen someone like this way”  I suspect her to be revolutionary in the sense of LeLouche or V rather than the newest Dyson Vacuum cleaner or latest Iphone. I am content with what I saw.. but this might very well be one of those ball gowns you see that looks amazing on other women..but you know on you it will just not work!  To be continued.. for now.. it was fine.

Animini: That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime -Episode 19- Charybdis

Steam Powered Salutations and engine sounds driving out my frustrations. Slime has been in a slump during this whole Charybdis mini-arc and in this episode we get the finale. One big final battle filled with cool visuals and people making their last stand.. Let’s close this arc off in style… or turn Charybdis in Sin from Final Fantasy X and have the OP character that is NOT the main character oneshot it..that will close it off as well. The weird thing is .. I kinda like that it went this way.. but also not?!

The Summary

Rimuru’s troops fight Charybdis and the Megalodon in this episode. Along with some troops sent by Gazel Dwargo on Pegasi the final battle goes relatively smoothly showing how far everyone has come along. Turning those Megalodon into mince meat within the first four minutes of the episode. Only Gobta’s group of tiny goblins  struggles and a disappointed master looks onto him, finishing the creature off. Shion, Ranga, Souhei and the Pegasus Knights take down the other Megalodon and Souhei is called a dreamboat again. I love how into him Rimuru is still and he is an insanely capable guy!   When everything is said and done and the sharks lie in defeat Sin.. I mean Charbdis is beginning to shoot it’s scales at people swarming them and cutting them up.   It is time for Rimuru to step in.

Rimuru fights Charybdis on his own but doesn’t manage to do enough damage because this monster has “ultra” regeneration.  Rimuru uses a new ability called gluttony to absorb all the cells and the group now can go for all out attacks… which is skipped.  We see people laying on the floor all tired out and Rimuru guesses that they did no more than 30% damage to  the thing. The monster yells the name Milim in frustration and Rimuru realises the thing is not here for him but for Milim.. seeing that Phobio is inside he now asks Milim to join the frey and take it down carefully.  Trying to save Phobio.. she one shots it and saves Phobio and Demon Lord Carrion shows up t o take back his apprentice.. after shoving his head through the floor hard.  He seems like a swell guy and calls himself the king of all beasts and happily enters a non aggression pact with Rimuru. Milim is happy she did Milim stuff. So all is well that ends well.

The Positives

By the brief summary and some critical lines you may have already noticed I was not the biggest fan of this episode, but in fairness.. I do like this episode best in the current mini arc. There are lots of satisfying actions and Milim is actually fun in this episode and USED for what she is set up to be used for. I like how she is eager to fight and the irony of Rimuru denying it from her because he suspects the creature is after him. Rimuru has been very central and this form of “arrogance”  is somewhat entertaining. I don’t like it from his angle..  but more on that later. I do like this episode from Milims angle though.. her apathy and not caring if people die is something I kind of enjoy! She can sleep while peoples life are in danger.. because Rimuru orders her to stand down. It’s on him.. and because of this weakness on his side I really liked it as a positive on hers.  I also quite like how Charbdis who is said to have the strength of a Demon Lord gets squished so easily.. showing that that analogy might be true.. but demon lords vary so much in power.. it does not say anything. I do enjoy that kind of power scaling. Especially since RImuru was not good enough to face it. It implies higher stakes later on.

I really enjoyed a lot of the fight scenes.. though most of the truly satisfying action was against the Megalodons instead of against Sin.. I mean Charybdis. Glutonny was sweet to see as well and Carrion’s raw physical strength also had a nice impact. I was not bored this episode. Shion Souhei and Ranga making a stand against the scales wasn’t bad either.. so in terms of events.. all of them provided ample entertainment.  Milim’s final attack was a bit lackluster.. but hey she was holdhing back so  that actually works for me.. it can be lackluster if it’s meant to be I guess. Though it did not feel satisfying.. I can live with this .. I think!  The fact that Clayman is being outed as the possible instigator in this event is also interesting and will help drive the plot further. So there is excitement on both a visual and narrative level. However.. there is a big problem.. with the engine that drives this episode.

The Negatives

Where this show really fails for me is with consequences.. there are non.. for no one. If Rimuru  was not in this episode nothing would have really changed..okay Phobio might be dead.. but he would not because that is not how this show is written. Rimuru makes a tactical error in this episode assuming it is him the calamity creature is after.. as a result HE wants to be the one to deal with it. I already think this is a bit out of character for RImuru because the entire idea of all these alliances and bonds and stuff is so he can keep everyone safe and the reason he adopted Milim in his village is to keep the village safe from big threats beyond him. Yet for some reason he wants to fight for himself..  his followers kind of made him. The fact that Phobio is inside does not change that image so letting Milim fight now.. fits neither mindset. Not the mindset to look like a strong leader, not the mindset to keep everyone safe. To make matters worse they make a joke that people do not believe Milim is a Demon Lord and she is just one of the tools at Rimuru’s disposal.. so this plan was useless TWO TIMES over. 

A bad plan I am fine with.. but then let there be consequences.. let Ranga die in the attack , heck even Shion or Souhei, let the city of Dwargon be mad that he risked their lives while he had such a weapon. Let there be something.. but no everyone gets neatly potioned up and when Milim one shots the monster everyone is okay with it. So what is the point of this episode then?!  Rimuru doesn’t seem to learn from his misinterpretation, Milim doesn’t change and no one is hurt and no trust was violated so the status quo has not changed at all since they met Milim.. everything is still the same.. like we are trampling water. To add insult to injury we also see Treyni walk up to the group unscathed. Her sister told them they were fighting the calamity but would lose.. but losing against a giant calamity style creature .. apparently also means walk away unharmed.  So all we get is entertainment ..but with no impact.. I am happy to be entertained. I also like the intro and outro.. that keeps me entertained as well.. and this last arc is basically just like a 60 minute intro song.

The Score

I did like what I saw.. I just did not like what I saw between the lines.. and for an episode it was still entertaining.. it just was very superficial and empty.. like the eggshells of a cool painted easter egg sitting on your plate in pretty colours. This episode is really greasy Kebab.. as long as you eat it you enjoy yourself.. but as soon as that final bite has been taking the regret and the slightly icky after taste comes in. Does that make Kebab bad food.. no  not really!  So I don’t think it is really a bad episode either.. It’s just a bit to fillery for my taste. Not as in.. not relevant to the plot.. but it has the same circle of no consequence a filler arc has.

 I am happy this did not turn out to be the final story in the first season because if that was true I will be honest I would probably not return for season two. So I am kind of happy this stuff happened the way it did now we can move on , into better and more epic things.  I love that it’s light.. but I also loved that I cried for Shizu.. I love when the village grows and when new monsters get added and I want more of that.  So all in all I have very mixed feelings about this episode. It serves my needs very well.. but it is also nothing. So  I will just say that it is okay. Depending on your mood and your need for continuity this can either be a perfectly fine episode to turn your brain off… or a frustrating one if you want to see anything in terms of character growth or overall development. It exists.. and for a show you hold dear just having an extra episode can be good enough.. for me  that sentiment went out of the window with the last two episodes though.

Animini: Samurai Flamenco – Episode 20 – Boy From the Past

Joyous Salutations , my dear Island Guests, we have entered Steampunk Month on Paradise.. however just because our palm trees have turned into metal and our pool is now heated by coal and steam vents.. doesn’t mean we will stop with providing you our weekly anime! The Animini shall continue.. however I will immediately admit.. that with this first episode within anime Month.. I am not that pleased. I am not that pleased at all. Where I liked the set up of the villain last week, I think it’s current execution is not something I particularly enjoy.

The Summary

The episode picks up where the last when finished. Masayoshi is greeted by a young boy named Hajii and that explosion we saw last time.. it turns out it was Masayoshi’s apartment. I did not realise it because.. I haven’t really paid much attention to the outside of his apartment building if it even has been shown before. I do try to pay attention to this show so I do feel that explosion at the end of the episode missed a bit of impact. I wanted to see Masayoshi react a bit more.  The two have a mexican stand off and the boy tells Masayoshi a tiny bit of his background story before vanishing. He tells Masayoshi he plans to cause misery to Samurai Flamenco. Masayoshi is being taken to a hotel to spend the night where he orders a curry. Hajii calls hims room  and tells him he poisoned the curry and will soon treat Masayoshi to a colourful chain of events. Plus offering a lot more backstory. He was the young boy that was part of the group of ruffians.. I even described him there I think.. Apparently he found the word Flamenco to be really funny.. and he decided to be his rival.. long story short he wants to be his complete opposite.. so no justifications he just is pure evil! To offer Samurai Flamenco the best possible foe he can have.

Because of the phone hint Hajii gave Masayoshi the model deduces his first target is the Flamengers.. and this indeed is true.  Blue gets his cardboard cutout of Red Axe being torn. Blacks Grandpa gets pushed over, Green gets his book  cut to shreds and given to his little sister, Pink gets her hair cut off. and Red Axe gets hit by a truck and put in the hospital. We also see someone get pushed off a stair and ..kind of hurt their ankle I guess.  While I do like the power display here.. something feels off in how these are scaled and follow each other up.   Masayoshi goes to the police but no one believes a highschool boy can do this.  There is no trace of a bomb in Masayoshi’s apartment, no poison in the curry, and the boy is said to have died from a disease over a year ago.  Even Goto won’t believe his friend and the two get in a huge fight.. causing Goto to break all ties with Masayoshi and throw him out.. because he found it unfair that Masayoshi called him out for being a hypocrite. Masayoshi sits on a riverbank and waits for Haiji to  call who shows up on an island in the river. When Masayoshi swims to him to proof he is real and not a figment of his overworked mind.. he finds no one there.. we see Masayoshi lay there wondering if this villain is hin his head.

The Positives

I do really like how Hajii is set up as the Joker..  he is evil just because he can and he wants to be the opposite of Samurai Flamenco.. being evil just for evil sake is great. I also love the mind game that is being played here.. if that is the route they are going for..  Samurai Flamenco has very much dependent on all his allies, so the way to fight him.. is indeed by taking his friends away from him.. making him seem like a madman.. It will also reduce his chances to be world president.. which I already found dumb.. so I am all for that.  Overall Masayoshi’s struggles in this episode have been done really well.  I have so much empathy for him.. from simple things as wasting a perfectly good curry due to a tease.. to slowly losing his sanity.

I also like the fact that Moe did not get killed in this episode.. for some reason I had the feeling that she might be killed off and that would have completely ruined the show for me.  While I do not like this episode .. they at least managed to keep it salvagable for me.. but given that I mention this as a positive might give you an idea for what is about to come next.  To linger in the positives for a little while longer, I do like the idea that this young kid is just to smart for Masayoshi.. if he is not a figment of his imagination and faked his own death.. and is just playing the man I do think that is a really REALLY cool villain concept and probably something that I would see myself as .. as a villain as well.. that would be how I’d work as well. However I do not think the villain works here.. It works along with Masayoshi but not with the show, not with the universe.. not after that episode I should have kept as my final episode. I do love the concept .. but it’s like a concept car.. they all look really cool but if you look a bit closer it makes no sense at all! Still it does look super cool on a photo so that is still a positive.

The Negatives

I am sorry .. I have a LOT of negatives with this episode! I kind of hated it! Not in terms of flow .. but I just found it to have zero credibility and consistency. Let’s immediately drop in with the scene that utterly ruined this episode for me and that is Masayoshi’s fight with Goto. Goto believes Masayoshi is just overworked and is imagining this guy. Masayoshi tells him he is a hypocrite.. because he wants to cling on the illusion that his girlfriend is still alive and will come back.. but he doesn’t believe Masayoshi saw a real guy. That is hypocritical indeed.. and it would have been a super powerful scene.. had it made any sense..  but let’s look at this closer. Goto saw a guy transform into a Guillotine Gorilla while standing next to Masayoshi… he used a pink  Hummer to dislodge a Missile made by a man who turned himself into a giant puppet. He has been saved by his favourite Sentai and he has seen an all American Hero turn into an alien. Had he had a telescope.. he could even see his friends IMPRINT on the moon.There in my mind is just NO way that .. a young boy .. flying under the radar is THAT unbelievable to him.. that it results in a friendship ending fight.

Then there is the attacks on the Flamengers.. which are all super petty and silly. It makes Hajii feel more like Butters from Southpark playing Professor Chaos.. ripping a cardboard sign and a book and cutting of someone’s hair.. tipping a grandpa.  Then Joji is hit by a truck?! That just feels super inconsistent.. at least build up in gravitas over a bit of time if you do that.. but no everyone was hit almost at the same time..And they are HIT at the same TIME.. same day within minutes of each other.  Yet the police and GOTO!!! Explain this as.. You guys go t some weirdo fans that will do weird shit. NO!  Had it happened over days.. I could have seen them going that route but there is no way you can make Masayoshi the boy that cried wolf like this. It doesn’t fit into the world building at all..  the entire world wants this guy to be president for Arceus sake.. Even if I would belief Masayoshi himself is turning into a villian so much things would not make sense. The Flamengers fought monsters.. they are highly trained.. yet Red Axe can’t jump away from a vehicle.. Black doesn’t notice an intruder.. while his father is walking on soft soil.. Pink doesn’t chase the guy that cuts her hair and just screams?! They are basically meant to be like Masayoshi so this passive behaviour also is weird. The next two episode better offer me one Distortion World of an explanation because right now this feels SOOO badly written.

The Score

Despite me hating how this episode is written there are a few things going for it that keep it from getting the lowest score in my system. This might still be salvaged..I can see Masayoshi distracting the Flamengers.. to cause the atttack to happen.. if he really is the villain himself.. but then .. Joji makes no sense as he never answered.. So that route is out of the window for me.. I must hope Hajii is at least real.. and he is just tormenting Masayoshi but even if that happens.. everyone else here got the serious short and off the stick. I might be able to justify Goto’s action because he loves his girlfriend so much.. but I still kind of find it bad writing when you know that your friend saved earth from the aliens ..and you fought alongside him twice.. to prevent the end of Japan..that this whole girlfriend thing outweighs that. It doesn’t feel right we always seen Goto as a realist so to weigh this.. THIS heavy.. Eeh..

If you are simply out here to see Masayoshi’s adventures .. this is a good one.. if you are like me and think also from the mindset of the other characters.. this episode made SO little sense to me.. it kind of felt to me as if the show said.. “well this all isn’t relevant anymore lets toss it in the bin shall we” and I do hate this episode for it. For me this is the single most worst episode of the show so far. It doesn’t ruin the show for me but I do feel as if this was  very very bad day for the writers. Sometimes a cool concept should just stay a cool concept.. I would have loved this as fan fiction.. but I hate that it’s part of offical Canon.

Animini: Digimon Adventure -Episode 13- Garudamon of the Crimson Wings

Konichi-what’s up with these super spoilery episode titles? I mean.. I know some people never saw Digimon and might not know what is about to happen next.. but with a title as did I sure as heck was suspecting a Sora episode. Yet after last week I somehow expected Digimon to begin falling apart for me as well.. yet I saw one of my best episodes yet.. one that made me squeee so loud my downstairs neighbour asked me if it was alright.

The Summary

I am going to do these Summary sections a bit different from now on .. talking more on what I feel about certain plot points.. then using the positives and negatives section to talk more about the consequences of those choices and such.. because.. I have to use this section to gush a bit! We see both parties traveling forward on the way to the ford that contains the holy digimon still.  When Yamato’s and Sora’s group encounters a flying fortress shaped like a giant queen bee. It turns out this huge fortress is a digimon called cannon Beemon. It is in the process of capturing FunBeeMon and turning them into Waspmons.. with the dark Miasma to create soldiers for.. what I assume is Devimon. Sora, being the kind girl, wants to save these helpless creatures but ends up crashing in the woods with her partner.. where she encounters a single terrified Funbeemon… I LOVE FunBeeMon it is one of my favourite digimon!..Even if it evolves into a wasp.. it’s so cute.. and this anime makes the digimon super cute as well.  I am so happy they chose this.. plus it offers a very easy crutch to tell a Sora story… all enemies in this episode are Airborne. She has the only flyer in this group!

To take Joe out of the equation temporarily the series decides to give him air sickness.. because of this he lacks the strength to evolve Gomamon and gets into trouble. This means even Yamato who follows the belief of “we are so important , we can’t risk ourselves for everyone”  has to be involved. This same behaviour is seen with the rescue attempt.. as soon as they got Joe.. Weregarurumon punches a hole in the floor of Cannonbeemon to make an escape. So they can put Joe on the ground safely as he is out of his league. Cannon Beemon. Then Joe gets a great role as well not making him useless throughout the episode. He and Ikakumon will work as the “artillery station” using Harpoon Vulcan to keep the Waspmon away from Sora.. who can not leave innocent creatures behind. Yamato joins her.. knowing Sora by now.. and that she will save the Funbeemon. He comes up with a plan where he goes inside the monster.. while Sora distracts and fights Cannonbeemon. When we see the monster has the strength to blow up a mountain.. Sora wishes for the strength to protect these sweet little innocent creatures..her love for all that is living and pure allows Birdramon to evolve.. and we see Birdramon Super Evolve into Garudamon. It defeats Cannonbeemon in a spectacular way and we see Funbeemon lovingly say goodbye to the group as they travel into the new area.. no doubt seeing Zudomon in Episode 15!

The Positives

Once again this series really understands how to set up a conflict. You need to keep the focus on Sora so choosing for flying enemies is a great choice.. not just a single flyer.. because everyone has ranged attacks.. no this time they need to enter a flying fortress.  Joe can indeed function as heavy artillery as is displayed at the end of the episode so giving him motion/air sickness makes sense. It fits his character and you take out a character from the action in a non intrusive way. Old Sora struggled with love.. she was kind of cold and in the end her love for Biyomon pushed her to activate her crest. This time.. we see a Sora whose heart is filled with love. She cares for everyone.. and this was established prior to her own episode.. allowing it to work even better. It feels like a much more powerful emotion worthy of Digivolution.  We see a much more heroic Sora that has her own sense of justice. That pursues her ideals.. hard. Not as reckless as Taichi.. but a lot more proactive than Yamato. The idea of having Cannonbeemon be a flying fortress you can enter.. also opens up so many possibilities for cool encounters in later segments, plus having Joe struggle can be a great hook to activate his crest of Reliability!  Awesome!

The show also does some amazing power scaling. My favourite scene is the evolution into Garudamon. We first see Cannonbeemon blow up a Mountain when facing Birdramon.. the Mountain is miles and miles away but it blows away a huge chunk.. causing a shockwave to reach all the way over there.. then Garudamon arrives and instead of dodging this time it uses its own attack and a short beam struggle follows. Cannonbeemon’s beam however is fairly easily overwhelmed showing how immensely powerful Garudamon is! I am a sucker for these types of visuals in Shonen situations.. Beam Struggles are fun on it’s own.. but Beam Struggles we can power scale… Woop Woop! There are a few scenes like this troughout the episode.. that really makes us realise how much impact some of the attacks here have.. by applying the attacks to things we know.. and can imagine what force it would take to damage them.. it all makes the hits so much more.. real. Great Job.. great action!

The Negatives

This episode does fall in the pitfall again of having too many things scale though. Birdramon  takes up half the screen, the log the chosen ones are sitting on takes up a quarter of the screen .. so now you have to draw the digidestined into a  eight of a screen or so… it results in a few very ugly looking shots where there is no facial detail and thick outlines.  Even some scenes where the destined are bigger  have no facial details.. as if they just blew up the other art to give them perspective.. it really REALLY stands out.  To a point where I feel as if two animation themes did this.. and the cheap team did the non exciting scenes.  The scenes that matter look absolutely breathtaking.. but there are also a fair few scenes that look a bit clunky.. as if they think.. this is a kids show.. they don’t care. I HATE that excuse.  I am not sure if they did it for that reason.. but it left a bit of a blemish on this episode.. that honestly for me is not that bad since I don’t care about visuals that much.. but I noticed and I know for a few of you that is a big thing.

And that’s about all I dislike in this episode. The pacing was great, the action was superb and I LOVE FunBeeMon’s voice acting. It sounds super familiar..but I could not place it.. but I could just hear the joy and fear in it’s little voice.. great job. I do like how they take Koshiro’s laptop away little by little.. meaning he will not have the KNOWLEDGE he has had so far.. setting up for a great episode about him that undoubtedly will be next. The flying bee fortress setting was new and fresh as well. If I had to pick another nitpick..the final fight could have had a better endshot.. now the head of Cannonbeemon just kinda falls off and it looks a bit more comical than it does epic..but since there were people on board I do get why it did not fully explode. I would have loved to see Garudamon rip off the compartment with the Yamato and the Funbeemon and then see the evil fortress explode in a Death Star like explosion.. but that would be asking for a cherry on top of my cherry.

The Score

While admittedly this one will be on the lower end of my highest score I did still decide to award this episode just that.  I don’t mind the visuals that much.. I just notice them and wonder.. would it not be better to draw these things big and scale them down?!  But I have no idea about animation, let alone animation budget so who am I.. if these faceless weird Chosen ones help pay for the visual spectacle in the actual battle scenes I will take it for granted three times over. I really like how music is used in this show as well! It constantly lifts my spirit or brings me down.. when I need to be.. I am not a big music girl and I keep being surprised how much investment I have in it.

Digimon Adventure will be Digimon and it has a fairly high level of colour by numbers, when it comes to it’s overarching plot.  Episode 14 we will see MegaKabuterimon, Episode 15 will show Zudomon, I have no doubt in my mind and in that manner you could say the show is lazy.  Yet in a way this show is also a legacy show.  While also bringing Digimon to a new audience.. they indeed are probably best served with this level of structure.. while the audience that has been on this journey before will just love the ride for showing us all these classics and without delay and just offer us that other kind of fanservice.. you know the one that makes you go Wooo Demon Mayan Bird Thing that I know and love!.. Instead of Wooo Boobies. I can imagine this show will get stale for newcomers to the show that are of the age that they will read my blog…but for kids that where as old as when I first watched the original and for long times fans.. this just consistently an amazing series.

Animini: Natsume Book of Friends – Episode 3- The Mysterious Person at the Eight Fields

Konichi-Well the second part of my anime week is a lot  stronger than the first half. While Natsume gave me the least impressive episode I’ve seen so far I must say I am really starting to enjoy the message this show packs in it’s end of the episode! I took a fist full of feels to the face yet again.. albeit maybe a little girl first this time! I still felt the impact though and as I heard this show really picks up in a few episodes never to let me go again.. so if this is the weakest punch.. I am sure to be in for one heck of a ride.

The Summary

Natsume is tired and depressed, giving Yokai their name back has completely drained him of all his energy. Since the friendly ones tend to come visit him at night and beg for their name back he hasn’t been sleeping much either. Nyanko-Sensei is still upset that Natsume is making the book of friends thinner every night and throws a tantrum as it will lose it’s power to control these spirits little by little.  To make Natsume’s situation even more annoying for him he can’t sleep in class either because a strange person has been asking for him. A boy going by the name of Tanuma.  For some weird reason though each time Natsume gets kind of close the boy disappears. Natsume hopes this man can see Yokai too.. and remembers a woman he once met who seemed to be able to see Yokai as well.

A cow and a cyclops Yokai knock on Natsume’s door but unlike the others they do not want their name back. There is a Yokai killing humans on the prowl blessing areas with holy magic.  Since Natsume has the reputation to help Yokai they ask him if they can kill this human. After a bit of investigation Natsume begins to believe this Tanuma boy is responsible for causing serious pain to the Yokai .. killing some and banishing the weak from their home. Taking pity on them he decides to confront the man responsible for this. Meanwhile he flashes back to that woman he met before .. telling the audience in a way about how she was not actually a woman but  Yokai trying to connect with him.. he feels betrayed and chases her off.  Yokai always made his life so difficult so he is not sure who to side with. There are some good Yokai out there.. that do not deserve to be killed but he doesn’t exactly like them either.  A huge cow geisha Yokai joins him in the quest to kill this Yokai hunter.. forcing Natsume to compel it by using its name to save Tanuma.. but then he discovers it was just a weak priest. Tanuma’s father.. who tried to keep the place safe for his son.  When Natsume confronts the young man in the hope to form a genuine connection the man admits he can’t see Yokai either.. but sometimes he sees shadows. Natsume tells Tanuma his secret.. including fondly remembering that woman from before.

The Positives

The episode is a bit boring, in the sense that the conflicts all kind of just meander on.  There is no real sense of threat and in a way that is this shows and this episode’s great strength.  We get a rather vanilla story.. that doesn’t really matter in the long run that provides a very form of subtle exposition and  character development. It truly is unique. During this episode Natsume stands and a proverbial crossroads several times and takes the less interesting path of the two a few times and when it happens I feel kind of frustrated.. yet five minutes later there suddenly is a payoff to this thing that seems like a wrong choice. Ah.. so you wanted to highlight that Natsume is seeing Yokai less and less like evil spirits and more and more like humans.. and the journey he goes trough in this episode is him coming to terms with that fact.  Getting a hindsight on his past actions and seeing it through the lense of new found discoveries. That is a very static approach but it also is very interesting.

I loved the Yokai designs for this episode as well. The priestly cow.. the mid tier cow was adorable and the cyclops old man would make for a fine cookie serving minion!  The high level cow thing  felt intimidating and I love how the studio plays with its shape to make it feel intimidating. Those steel blue eyes give it a heartless quality it does seem to possess.. yet it’s cow nature also gives it something tranquil.. which it also seems to possess as it doesn’t seem to have intentions to hurt Natsume.  The classical scuff marks on the mid tier Yokai made me feel compassion with them.. normally that.. slightly singed look is played for comedy.. and while it is slightly the case here as well it also really conveyed there creatures were helpless and meant no ill will. Seeming them suffer the same stuff as Ash does in the Pokemon anime.. invoked a completely different reaction and that is creditable to the solid world building this show does.  It still is funny.. but in a N’awww .. you guys way instead of a “Hahaha Oh my Arceus Ash you never learn.. kind of way”..  I also REALLY ended up caring for the Yokai pretending to be a human just to be social and help Natsume.. her look was just weird enough to suspect something is up.. and her voice acting when she begged him for forgiveness felt sublime.. I really felt that she did not want to lose her precious friend.

The Negatives

The episode is a bit boring, in the sense that the conflicts all kind of just meander on.  There is no real sense of threat and in a way that is this show and this episode’s greatest weakness. While there is an impact to what Natsume does, it really all just pan’s out in the last five minutes.  Especially the first 9 minutes felt a bit like a slog to me. In hindsight not as much but during those first few minutes I wasn’t all that entertained.  The long Neck Yokai looked pretty amazing yet at the same time she invoked a sense off “I really wish that chased him or tried to harm him”  for a bit. It’s a very cool Yokai design.. I just loved to have it do something. In a way the same goes for the big cow.. but it gets “sit boy’d”   before it can do anything. Again that isn’t bad.. persé.. a golden gun is still worth a lot.. but it would be kinda cooler if you saw someone fire a golden bullet out of it.

The only Yokai that actually get to do something is Ushi and the Old Man.. again I have no idea how to call them.. but the mid tier priesty looking fellows I… felt bad for them in the end.. but I will be honest and tell you, there were minutes I have wished for some gruesome fates to befall them because they can REALLY be annoying in the first half. They function as Natsume’ cheerleaders and are just being loud and telling him how amazing he is.  In the end it feels earned but before that it just feels insincere and irksome. They are just being loud! That’s a trope I really dislike..  but well like I said I did feel bad when they got hurt so somehow they ended up growing on me. In a way negatives also a strength and we can see it that way. Still imagine me really wanting new shoes.. but the pair I have is still too good to  reasonably to replace and I am maxed out since my shoe cabinet is full. So my best friend Bean decides to stick a huge meat fork in my foot.  I bleed all over the shoes and finally can throw them out.. after a while I don’t feel the wound anymore and I got the new shoes and they are amazing.. but do I really say Bean.. you did a good thing? Or would I also be sour for those first few minutes of pain?!

The Score

Last episode I explained how I normally dislike “second episodes” of a show.. their exposition heavy, character establishing and world building plots often feel a bit “mandatory” ..we see the main character decide they will follow the “heroes path”  we see the elements we can expect.. in other words it’s kind of like looking at the solution of a jigsaw puzzle by looking at the front of the box. It can be pretty but it doesn’t feel all that satisfying. This third episode is THAT second episode.. just in the end we open the box as well.. pour the contents out on the table and lucky us we find a corner piece straight away! What a delightful feeling that is! I still feel kinda weird for staring at the box of the puzzle for a good 10 minutes I wish I would have taken more puzzle time.

This is one of those episodes that tells me I will love the frig out of this show.. but it does lose my love a bit because it has the one that explains to me why I will love it. Like an entertaining synopsis.. or the Star Wars title crawl.. there are amazing elements but when is all done and over no one will say that their favourite part of Star Wars was the title crawl… although with The Last Jedi… I kinda liked it most.. but you know what I mean right. This episode does a great job at establishing Natsume’s mindset.. but as a Pokémon fan.. and a creature fan I kind of wanted to see the amazing creatures do more things instead.. It’s brand Vanilla flan.. it’s the best you can do with Vanilla Flan.. but it’s still just Vanilla flan. I prefer chocolate!

Animini: Hikaru No Go -Episode 23 – The Room of Yuugen

Konichi-Wow … this episode sure picked up some serious slack from the last one! Hikaru No Go bounced back strong with this set up episode. Easily one of my favourite views of this week so far, I am happy that I can be very positive. This episode really made me happy and I am so eager to see what happens next week! I really mean it.. this is one of those episodes that makes me regret doing these in a weekly format i just wanted to press on! But NO! Pinkie contain thyself!  We shall walk the path you paved for once.

The Summary

This week focuses on Hikaru’s journey through the Insei School.. or club.. I am not sure what it is. I am going to say school as there are classes, and Hikaru is learning and growing. We see him pick up more losses that eventually turn into a couple of wins. Which are played off as flukes.. but the audience knows better. Hikaru is catching up; he is just downplaying himself.  That subterfuge however is reinforced by the fact that Hikaru really knows NOTHING about the Go world whatsoever. He does not know what it really means to be Insei, he struggles to comprehend how the world of pro’s works and he has no idea how to move upwards in the world of Go.. he is literally just there to play games.. and we can see him winning games.  Waya becomes Hikaru’s mentor of sorts, showing  him the ropes and teaching how things will work. He also is proof that miracles can happen without him even knowing.  At the end of the year only three people can take the Pro-Exam.. which seems like a pretty trivial fact.. However it’s established that Waya only holds the sixth seat in the Insei group.  Another Insei passed the test..  so I guess Waya was at least seventh last year?!  That means he got to participate despite his ranking? That could be interesting for Hikaru later on.

There is a second story though as we see more of Akira again , taking his first steps in the world of the pro’s. I think his journey is meant to be the opposite of Hikaru’s .. as things seem to be going fairly well. He hasn’t played any matches yet but people think very highly of him.. however where Hikaru has that fire in him driving him to be pushed forward we see Touya being depicted as empty.. lacking passion.. skills but no heart.. while Hikaru is more in the Heart.. but lacking the skills needed to progress. He is facing off against an Ouja.. i  think that was the word at least.. some high ranking pro player, who first thinks he will go kindly on Akira.. but after Akira is shown that Hikaru is trying to catch up to him.. his passion is reawakened.. he hates the boy now and wants to make sure he will forever stay out of reach rising higher than anyone..  this new drive makes him super confident when facing his new foe.. which insults the man.. and he plans to crush Touya.. Hikaru is playing his Insei match at the same time as Touya is playing his exhibition match.. but with some luck Hikaru will be able to see the second half. The match between Touya and the pro is about to get started and things get serious pretty quick. .and we see Akira place a stone.. in a very dramatic manner. Ending the episode.

The Positives

This episode was very VERY good! I really adored all the elements that came into play and the many MANY ways the writers give themselves to tell this story. Where the school tournament arc for example basically wrote itself to have only one possible outcome with Hikaru losing to Akira as it would end the story otherwise, here we are seeing so many options open up. Hikaru can make his way up the ranks.. get drafted for the Pro Exam.. The most obvious route.. However what Waya said opens the possibility that Hikaru gets selected for the Pro Exam based on his more “mysterious” qualities  and his potential. He can take on the role of the rising star with a mystery appeal. Yet Waya’s  oldest friend and number 1 of the Go class tells us also that you do not be an Insei to take the pro-exam. While he says it, it turns into a deadline for him.. but here we could get a Journey that reflects Hikaru’s journey with the Haze Middle School Club.. he stops being a Insei and goes take the Pro Exams on his own accord. Once again being forced the ties that he formed there to move forward. This episode hints that Hikaru is getting better.. but also keeps it’s foot in the door to say it is a fluke.. as the guys he played all made some mistakes Hikaru claims to have been huge..  yet is it?! Or is he underselling his own talent again… and is his comprehension of the game rising so much that he thinks small mistakes are big ones. This is something I am super happy to see.. anything can happen this episode opened the field completely!

The animation is amazing as well.. something simple as how victory and loss stamps are being brought into view.. to show the “power level” of future opponents is done very well. When Hikaru is distracted we see a match being played with no focus on the board when he begins winning we see a close up of the board just seeing the frustration of his opponent from losing to a weaker opponent.. but could it also mean Hikaru is actually catching up?!  The way Touya places his stones makes me fairly confident he will win. Regardless if he will or not.. the way he placed these stones are like the “old” Touya.. Not the angry and broken one.. but the one who will do anything to reach that certain level he aspired. He feels like a final boss! Taking more traits similar to Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh as he steels his heart and wants to prove he is the elite one. We do see a form of arrogance sneaking into the boy. He is slightly moving towards a more antagonistic path. Where he will go I feel depends on his first steps as a pro and I do like that. The music is spot on in this episode as well!

The Negatives

The weak points of this episode are view and I have talked about them before. I do not think the writers have great comedic timing. Right at the beginning of an episode there is a lot of frowning faces that are played a bit to comedical.. it does keep things light and it’s very anime yet it doesn’t hit.. it’s airy.. and whimsical.. it’s not funny though.. while the visuals seem to indicate it should be.  I do think Waya and Hikaru bounce off each other better comedy wise than any other before.. so it has improved.. but that third guy.. that is a bit of the random add on of the group that joined in the comedy moment it just felt  like a big miss to me. “I Lost to Akira as well…Teehee” .. isn’t really a joke. In Hikaru and Waya the comedy can arrive from their persona.. they have traits that allow you to be funny.. otherwise it keeps feeling shoehorned in to me. 

The other negative is that pro-player turning into an absolute cartoon character. You can already see in his design he is not a good person.. but he even does the whole face change thing. “New Plan.. I’m gonna Crush Him” while chasing from a friendly smiling face to an evil face. I don’t find that it fits the style of the series so well and I kind of feels it goes a bit against its philosophy as well.  It might be weird as an analogy but in a way this show has a somewhat similar mentality as the main characters in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. The characters are all very differently but bound together by their desire for an amazing fight. To grow and to fight better opponents.  This has extended to virtually everyone in the Go community so far.. with a few scammers as possible exceptions. The fact that we are dealing with a high ranking pro being so petty towards young Akira seems strange for saying something as simple as what he did. Not being nervous to face a pro?!  I get that it might be insulting from everyone else.. but Akira plays his father all the time probably so it makes perfect sense he is not afraid. It’s nothing to major but by making him this two dimensional  I feel like he is going to lose. and we lose a bit of that otherwise superbly build up tension.

The Score

Not liking a guy that is just providing a single match of course is not a reason to discredit this episode because what it mostly did was setting up a path towards a bright and exciting future. The somewhat forced first three minutes, and the mentality of this particular player do keep the episode from getting a perfect score but I love how this show .. for the most part.. manages to be a reflection of it’s own self. This episode clearly being a Hikaru.. showing so much potential and room from growth with a few rough edges here and there that come from “quirks”  in personality that do not seem to match with the bigger picture.

The episode is back to it’s stellar direction, great cinematography, great audio direction and the way the episode flowed as amazing. Each scene mattered and felt like it was just in the right place at the right time.  Offering us exposition in a natural way but also giving us some room to let those news ideas breath and put them into perspective of the bigger picture. It gave me some Prince and the Pauper vibes.. where we see Waya rip on Hikaru’s lack of talent while Akira gets extra pictures taken and lauded as this new prodigee. I love how this episode established contrast. I would have just loved it a slight bit more.. if we just played a little bit more with said contrast. We are bound to see the situation flip at some point so I woild have loved to see them have just a bit more fun with it and build in a bit more tension from Akira’s end. If he loses now.. it’s because  a petty man that is his superior tried to hard.. if he wins good for him and it will truely show his level.. either outcome however I kind of feel is okay for Touya and that just makes it a bit less exciting.

Animini: That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime -Episode 18- Evil Creeps Closer

Konichi-well-this-hasn’t-certainly-been-my-best-week-for-anime everyone! I haven’t been impressed with Slime for a fair few episodes now ..well two to be exact.. it just feels longer because of the move.. but still this current chain of events of Slime feels a bit Meh to me. Where last episode could at least keep me entertained.. This episode was the equivalent of shaking a can of cheap peanuts to check if there are more. “This can’t be all right?” I shook the can with all my might and no additional peanuts dropped out.. it still was a fairly okay snack.. but more and more Slime is devolving into just that for me.. a snack! Bear in mind though I watched this after that shower, and after Digimon and Samurai Flamenco had such “bummer” episodes. 

The Summary

Phobio, that beast guy ..is really angry at Milim for insulting him and punching him. Everyone in his beast troup thinks it would be best to discuss a peace with the Slime creature because they have craftsmanship that completely blows theirs out of the water.. but Phobio can’t seem to let his thirst for vengeance go. He wants to attack the village.. in his own name so he doesn’t involve his Lord.. but also that.. by doing that he can tell his lord that at least something .. happened?!?   He wants to make his lord proud..but because Milim is there and she annoys him.. peace was never an option.  Two members of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance show up.. being Tear and Footman who tell Phobio he can be strong enough to be a demon Lord by freeing the creature Charybdis and claiming his power.. hungry for vengeance the beastman things on this and eventually agrees. Sending home his troops because they should not be involved. He then follows the two masked Majinn to a Mysterious cave.

Clearly the two are setting him up to be some kind of sacrifice to release this powerful being.. which I think.. ends up working.. as we see the creature take flight just a little while later. Tear also killed some young dragons which they fed to Charybdiss so it can spawn 12 Flying Megalodon.. so now we got one organic sky fortress that is rumored to be the son of Veldora with 12 flying sharks heading for the village of Rimuru. The Dryad try to stop him but seem to be growing weaker by the minute.. so Treyni’s sister tries to contact the village.  She is covered by a murderous aura.. which apparently comes from  Charybdiss being close.. so there are a few trust issues at first. Milim offers to take down the Calamity class creature..but Rimuru’s followers ask her to stay out and let Rimuru resolve this instead. To prove his worth to the humans so they can establish trade roads in good trust. Rimuru doesn’t seem on board with this idea but eventually asks Milim to stay out of this, making everyone else fight at a mountain that is at a crossroads to Dwargon Rimuru and whatever direction the monster is flying in from.  Battleplans are being made and that is where this episode ends.

The Positives

I am not happy with this episode!  There is so much wrong with it.. and I mean SO much! It is however not without it’s merrits. Eren and her group finally get some nice interaction with Rimuru which I had been craving for last week.  The hot-tub scene this week is actually pretty funny with the humans liking this village so much they basically are taking a vacation in town and the girls taking a bath so much that even Shuna is beginning to give up etiquette.  The comedy this week is quite solid! The jokes with Milim are also fairly succesful.  Her drive to prove herself to her besty and not being able to hurts her which feels in character.. but now she is adapted enough not to cause a tantrum. So we just see her switch in her battle outfit.. and then being upset. I do like that! It makes sense Milim would wear her battle outfit underneath her clothes just so she can clobber enemies! I had a good chuckle.

The manipulation that Tear and Footman do towards Phobio is also quite nice, the dialogue is nicely written and you can sense them testing the waters to find the correct buttons to press.  Digging deeper and deeper getting underneath his skin, eventually you know there is no more escape for him.. they successfully manipulated him into doing their bidding. His troup caring for their leader and trying to talk him out of it also made this scene a lot more interesting… they do make them a bit too “goody-good”  for my taste.. because with this mentality the conflict of the week before would never really have happened..  but all in all they do a good job of fleshing out this group and making you feel that the bigger evil took a win here today.  Ill intent has prevailed.  I do think Phobio could have Ill intent enough.. but making the Harlequin Alliance more depraved gives us something to worry about in the future and I do like that.  Rimuru establishing his beef with the Demon Lord Leon was also one of the episode highlights.. Unfortunately that is also where those end.

The Negatives

Jeez-Louise there was a lot of stupidity in this episode. While some scenes were very strongly written .. the big picture is completely messed up and kind of angered me. Let me start with the very idea of Rimuru fighting Charybdis without Milim. That feels insanely stupid..instead he is going to risk his own citizens and that of his only ally… just to proof their worth for a trade deal?! .. How about protecting the lives of everyone in this village?!    Didn’t you adopt Milim into the village for exactly these kinds of situations?!   What’s the point of her being there if you are not going to use her?!   I do get that for the tension arc in the show you need to pull these kinds of Shenanigans …but that could have been done so much better. Say for example that Charybdiss can absorb the energy of Demon Lords.. so Milim CAN’T be there.. or make clear that it is after her and it will become super powerful if it succeeds. Rimuru so far always wants to fight using every strategic advantage he has.. so no using your nuke ..at least as a backup seems.. odd and just done in favour of the show’s tension.

Other than that.. the episode was also quite boring. We did not see what happened to Phobio, seeing him being consumed by darkness and transformation would have been super cool, we do not see the fight of the dryads against Charybdis. .not getting a sneak peak of its abilities, instead we just get exposition and bathhouse scenes. Why does Charybdis have to have flying sharks, it seems kind of random.. and I do like random but this doesn’t feel whacky enough.. the design of Charybdis is very otherworldly so I would have loved to see matching adds… just big sharks.. is kinda boring. We do not see what happens to Phobio’s group, we do not see Tear feed Charybdis those dragons, all the important stuff happens trough exposition and we get  “the girls having a holding the breath contest” or “Rimuru talking about trade routes”. I like both scenes but when you find out what was happening at the same time.. I can not help but feeling quite screwed over.. you showed  the wrong thing. I get the other thing is harder to animate but this really felt like a cop-out.

The Score

I had a few chuckles with this episode of Slime.. it still has its charm and I still want to see the rest of the show.. I do feel like next episode it will pick up again..but this block of three episodes has been fairly weak! They all have something to offer.. stand alone and it has enough charisma to sell itself.. but that doesn’t change the fact that it made some big fudge-ups in terms of how the story is connected.. character roles and overall narrative flow of things. It feels a bit directionless… as if the writer was throwing stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Thus Milim feels a bit like an overpowered Jarjar and Rimuru’s actions don’t make that much sense.. and that is a shame, because there is so much you can do here.

I do feel that the writer tried to take a page from Oda’s book and create a long lasting epic, in the same vein as One Piece.. with introducing new hurdles to overcome. I do feel that letting Rimuru go after the Demon Lords instead of all this new stuff would be more satisfying. Now we get one Demon Lord  awakening an Eldritch abomination basically to fight Rimuru, while another doesn’t even seem to know he is a slime sending a footsoldier to deal with him. Which could make sense..if not everyone has heard of Rimuru.. but both the dwarves and the humans also heard of a slime defeating the Orc Lord.. and since the demon Lords still are in an Alliance and can’t interfere with each other,,, this seems a very improbable chain of events. Oda makes the world move separate from the main characters as well but he writes them as to how they interact with the world.. here everything moves seperate but it’s written how they interact with Rimuru and we get a less cohesive world as a result.. and in this episode that caused a major conflict for me that made this one of my least favourite in the series so far.

Animini: Digimon Adventure -Episode 12- Lillymon Blooms

It’s a new week my Island Guests! I doubt this week will be as amazing as last week but let’s give it a shot! Given the episode title and the set up of last week it was not that hard to figure out what this week’s episode would be about and how it would end. Yet.. something happened.. after this episode ended , it got under my skin! I ended up feeling really REALLY blue and bummed out. It wasn’t because it was a bad episode either.. I mean I would not call it great…but … well let’s just explain while I blog.

The Summary

In the previous episode we saw Mimi plummet to the depths of the ruins she was exploring with Taichi and Koshiro. She now is all by herself.. Palmon’s vines can’t grow up high enough to get them back up, or even communicate with the pair upstairs. Because these ruins are so deep and brimming with a strange energy they can not even use their digivices to communicate.  All of these little elements used .. have been established before.. Palmon’s lift.. the energy in the digiscript, the way digivices work.. once again showing a good plausible set up for this scenario.  Koshiro, with some lag,  works trough the interference to translate these runes and find out of there is a way to save Mimi, while the latter searches for a way up. Both parties soon discover that this place was once an ancient factory for mechanical Digimon. A soundbirdmon makes his way into the ruins and awakens a pile of deactivated digimon.. including Andromon.. the Ultimate level machine Digimon.. many fans of the series know and love. Like in the original series though he gets corrupted and tries to eliminate Mimi. She however is saved by Guardromon. Earlier Mimi uncovered a dusty body of a digimon.. and Mimi being Mimi, wanted to make it shine and polishes it off and smiles to it.. this act of kindness makes him her guardian!

Togemon is no match for Andromon and quickly gets critically injured ,  but Guardromon uses his missiles to attack the environment and collapse it onto Andromon. Thus highlighting that a lower level digimon can take on an Ultimate by fighting smart. It knows Andromon is not defeated yet so he flees with Mimi! Resting up in a little safe haven he gives her a little flower to reassure her and promises he will help her go to the upper levels of the ruins again.  Meanwhile Taichi and Koshiro are descending into the lower levels of the ruins , not knowing what awaits them.  Just before Mimi reaches the elevator Andromon catches up with her and he and Guardromon fight.. leaving Mimi’s new friend Critically injured. Taichi and Koshiro save her but Kabuterimon is easily tossed aside. Taichi evolves Agumon into MetalGreymon.. and here we see a new element come into play.. match-ups! MetalGreymon while super powerful has slow attacks that Andromon can easily take out on the account of having a gatling gun!  Metalgreymon is defeated.. and just about Mimi is about to be killed, her guardian Guadromon grabs onto Andromon and stops him. Andromon then kills Guardromon.. and Mimi feels tremendous pain and anger. These pure and raw emotions trigger her crest of Sincerity and Togemon evolves into Lillymon for the first time. Having no option but to kill Andromon. Using her attack to consume him in leafage.. makes the android snap back to his old self.. just to realise he will die for his sins. Mimi cries and the trio enters the elevator upstairs right after Mimi places a little flower onto the also overgrown corpse of her Guardromon’ friend.

The Positives

Wow… a Mimi episode. A Mimi episode that did not portray her as shallow but as a genuine and lovely bubbly girl that just loves when things are pretty.  A girl that has never faced too much adversity but now is finding herself on an adventure.. and an unwinnable one at that. In this episode the group experiences their first massive loss. While they won in the end they could not save Guardromon. Sure it kind of happened with MetalTyrannomon before.. but that was the noble sacrifice of Ogremon.. it had something heroic. The way Guardromon lost his life felt desperate.. and futile. He did not keep Mimi safe for longer than a few seconds! Yet he wanted to try anyway.. and the last thing he remembered was her genuine smile!  Such a powerful thing! It really embodied Mimi’s Crest well.. but I never would have expected for them to go the negative route and let her experience sincere pain and grief. 

To accompany this episode that packs a serious punch.. is this odd.. pacing and direction. Normally we see the classical three act structure .. where the heroes face a big problem, flee , strategise and return to a fight just to do well but be surprised by a hidden ability that forces them to “awaken” into a new shape or form. This episode does not really do that.  Togemon does not just get defeated it gets put on death’s door.  This is the second time this happens to Palmon.. so I am kind of afraid she might end up dying even if the show continues long enough.  However in the first act.. the enemy is already temporarily beaten and out-strategised.  The second act has no analytical part at all. Mimi is not that type of character, she makes friends and gets taken along for the ride and that is executed quite literally when  Digimon carries her. The third act shows the group suffer complete defeat.. there is not really a moment where tides look to have turned.. sure Andromon goes down one time but there is no epic music beat.. no victory song.. the normal music just drones on. We know this isn’t it. Even when Guadromon gets killed and Lillymon finally arrives, we do not get the regular digivolution theme.. instead the transformation happens to a much more subtle piece of music.. showing it’s too late! The group has survived.. but they haven’t won!

The Negatives

For some reason seeing the friendly metal man get taken down and lose his life made me extremely sad. Sure it is sad to see an episode from the very concept of it but the way it was done .. that final goodbye.. it landed very hard for me, which can be deemed as a good point.. but there are deaths that make me cry that feel like a good cry.. this just bummed me out.  In a way the odd pacing of this episode is very powerful but it makes it also a very unsatisfying episode.  That kick of feel goodness the show has given me so far is nearly completely absent from this episode. Gone are the bright colours, the hype music, the music and imagery synergising. Even the digivolution sequence of Agumon this time felt “off” as if it was forced in.. He had to kill Digimon that were nowhere near his level.. but he could not waste time.. so he could not show mercy. As a result though the fight felt kind of more uneasy than satisfying. 

Andromon I know as one of the best and most amazing allies of the digidestined so to see him snuffed out like this felt.. “wrong”.. In a way I really LOVE that they did this. There is no shooting lethal attacks into someones face just to break whatever spell makes him evil! No .. he got corrupted and they have lethal digimon.. so they had to put it down. Because they are the ones that need to save this world… there is no plot magic saving the good guys. There are bigger stakes at play than a single kindhearted digimon.. he needed to die for the greater good. This stuff is my jam..I love that morality where a good guy needs to make choices and sacrifices. Yet at the same time.. because the original Digmon series exists that gave us our shot of Dopamine.. this course of events feels completely unsatisfying. I love that they went this route.. but I did not enjoy myself persé in this episode. I suffered a bit and actually felt bad after the episode and had to take a long shower to get back a bit. So this one will be hard to grade again.

The Score

Death are a part of anime, and even digimon has richly used death in the past. Some deaths in anime even really hurt.. but there can also be a sense of beauty to it.  This one however did not give me any positives. It is very well written and I really appreciate them going this route in hindsight but I REALLY REALLY REALLY did feel bad from this episode. Not crying my eyes out bad.. just “I can experience no joy” kind of bad. So there is no way I can give this episode a perfect grade. I can’t even say this episode is very good. In a way it is.. but I can’t shake that terrible feeling this episode gave me. On it’s own I think this episode would be horrible.. like if someone sees this as their first episode of Digmon I don’t think they would ever return. The pacing is off, the music is unsatisfactory , the action feels dulled and the colours are super grey, it feels off in every way.

In the bigger picture I can see how it is designed to be like that.. how it is meant to contrast with the other episodes. This episode did confirm that only Taichi and Yamato will get those stock digivolutions as the Togemon digivolution happened without the cool animation and that is a bit of a let down but hey.. Taichi is the leader and Yamato is the second ..  I can live with that. Still though in an episode that bummed me out so much I can not help but crave for seeing that satisfying animation.  In the end I chose to grade this Okiwi.. but it is the wrong grade.. on many levels. It’s both worse and way way better than that.  Yet it is the only way I can express my feelings for this episode. I love the direction.. I hate the episode.  I love the journey. I hate the events. There was enjoyment there but it was dulled by that sensation of being bummed out to my very core.

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?!