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!
Hello again Island Guests it is time to watch some anime again! Last week we dropped Tower of God that really felt like a nothing show to me and replaced it with Flip Flappers this week! Karma must have been with me on that call because I think I had the best Saturday yet!
I loved this episode of BNA , I really did I am actually beginning to feel some sense the story may be a bit salvaged for me yet! While I previously thought it would end up going nowhere with a super rushed ending I feel like everything falls into place a bit more naturally than I had first anticipated.
The episode begins with Michiru going to see Nazuna, who is throwing a big Live event where she can be the idol she really wanted. She and Michiru even decide she will sing “their song” .. that is the one that is on ending of each episode. Apparently Allan has told Nazuna to confess she is human so that Beastman can see they are not that different after all, and that their symbol of hope can transcend species. This should relief them off the stress between human and beastman relations and should prevent the virus. Meanwhile Shirou tries to prevent Nazuna from doing exactly this.. aided by Flip that mafia whale we saw in the first few episodes. Shirou beliefs that seeing their idol is a false one will actually trigger Nilvarsyl-Syndrome and allow Allan to force the beast man cure onto people. So he and Michiru face off as things become increasingly clear and agenda’s all fall into place. We even see characters from episodes that I deemed throwaway make a return to at least make these episodes a bit more digestible in hindsight as well. For example the major is rescued by Pinga. Nina flip is at the concert so that might deliver some tension still as well. When Michiru stops Nazuna from confessing after a tense episode the weird priest dude unmasks her and triggers the mutations in beastmen causing them all to go feral. We see this plunge Shirou into a deep despair and he too succumbs to the syndrome as he becomes a giant wolf mutation. When Michiru tries to knock some sense in him she seemingly gets killed and that’s where we end the second to last episode of this show.
This episode did a great job of putting everyone into the mix for the final fight, nothing felt to forced or convenient unlike earlier episodes. It finally feels like the show is paying off and that results in a very satisfying and tense build up to a conclusion. I think this episode featured every single named character at least for a bit. Most plot points have been revisited and the sequences felt properly tense. The twist on the main character slapping sense in the deuteragonist was great! My favorite ..but most feared scene as well! I really did not think he would “kill” Michiru. Of course her state is most likely not dead but I am genuinely worried about her! All tools at the disposal of the series seem to be used in this episode and I felt almost completely satisfied by this episode. I still think this series could have been a lot better if it had more time to tell this tale but with the allotted time left.. I was pleasantly surprised how dense yet manageable this episode felt. It didn’t use as much cheap gimmicks as some earlier episodes but instead banked on plot treats without forcing in a ton more exposition unlike the past two episodes. I loved the some of the fight moments now that there was more at stake. Shirou’s immortal body made some of the earlier fights a tad dull.
The episode did not really have a lot of negatives, Pinga being there to rescue the major felt a bit forced, and water purifier boy was a bit obnoxiously present in the first part but all in all this was an episode I really enjoyed a lot. I do hope that Michiru isn’t actually dead or it will really sour the last episode for me , because I don’t really care about most people’s fate but Michiru I really want to live. I also noticed how a few beastman look a bit weird like Flip’s Killer Whale form. Finally I am not sure how I feel about how the ending is used in so many episodes as a relevant song. On the one hand I really like that the anime score matters to the series itself, on the other hand I find it a tad lazy since most of the times when Night Running plays characters just sit down.. or in this case just fly over a crowd it feels a bit like “dead air” with a mellowness that doesn’t really fit what Nazuna wants. As an Idol I expect her to sing something a bit more peppy. I get a vibe the singer really wanted the song to be made into a plot point for some reason.
This episode gave me faith back in this series and I hope for a conclusion that I can at least great as fine-apple. This series will probably not make any list of favourites for me any time soon but overall I had a great run so far. This episode makes me look at the final episode with hope instead of despair and I did not think it would be able to do that. If I had to change anything I might not have let Shirou change .. I am unsure if his Immortal Body blessed onto him should actually be prone to this. I liked it for now it build tension but whether I love this episode or think it is fine shall be only revealed to me next week.
This show continues to surprise me! I loved this episode a lot! I’d say this is my second to favorite viewing of the day due to the incredible progression the story makes, the development of all characters and the overall world building. This show is great.
In this episode we see how Samurai Flamenco and Flamenco girls move on after their separation in the last episode. Mari has recruited her fellow idols into two new Flamenco Girls, Ruby and Sapphire and is teaching them the art of dickstomping. She is also trying to make moves on Goto who blows her off. Meanwhile the promotional guy whose name I can never remember puts out a bounty for 10 million yen for the reveal of Samurai Flamenco so everyone is after him. Luckily some Office Supply store decides to sponsor him and makes some office supply secret weapons for him.. like a Pencil case that can launch eraser that work like riot bullets or stapler Nunchucks which which he can staple enemies together or to the floor. Him getting silly sentai weapons is once more, advancement towards his journey to become an actual sentai. Mari recruiting two more magical girls makes it so that she is well on her way as well.. and when Goto saves Samurai Flamenco now even he seems very deeply involved.
The best moment in the episode to me .. is basically.. the entire episode where Samurai Flamenco is being chased by fans and social media people trying to unmask him. One Salaryman in particular seems to be riding his ass quite heavily and despite the danger to his own identity and safety Masayoshi says he has to take these risks because there is a small chance people actually need his help and that is his entire purpose! He is such a great hero at least when it comes to mindset.. he is aware of his flaws and embraces these and we really see that model just trying to do right by the world! I love it so much! The way how the characters design slowly evolves is reflected by how Masayoshi evolves but that goodness in his heart is the one constant that keeps him the same character nonetheless. He grows but he doesn’t change. He simply adapts which makes him into a much more respectable character than some Shounen heroes who learn a new technique and suddenly act all heroic and noble out of nowhere at all. Masayoshi has his zeal and it seems unwavering. The one constant element in a show where a lot can happen and it just feels really really strong in this episode! I got so much respect for the man! His new gadgets are hilarious as well! Bless him and bless this show!
The element I liked a bit less was Mari, she threw herself at Goto and failed because text-girlfriend showed up again. While she seems head strong and has her own sense of justice she got so bummed out from a simple rejection that I thought it messed her character up a bit for my taste. She manipulates her fellow idols with kisses, can flirt and manipulate everyone.. but she isn’t that much of a spoiled princess. She had more important things to do.. this made her a bit more shallow… now don’t get me wrong she always had shallow traits but still this whininess she has to it seems contradictory to how Samurai Flamenco left her and how head strong and determined she is.Text-girlfriend annoyed me a lot less her text were kinda cute this weak but darn that woman can type fast. Also I am unsure how the Flamenco Girls dye their hair in a lighter shade, do they use spray on hair paint? I am not sure but that would really limit story options when a character is held up a bit.. it might result in a bit iffy moments later on.. though I think this show is clever enough to make it work but in a show this sensical that stood a bit out to me. And yes I know this show is weird.. but everything that happens makes sense within the confines of the world at least.
I really loved this episode , it introduced so many new elements to the story and nothing felt rushed. It is funny how each episode also follows the structure of famous sentai tropes but takes it in a very low key real world way. The episode with Red Axe for example was the fake Ranger while this episode reflected the hypnotised innocents. It’s a cute way to see that not only Masayoshi is a big sentai fan but the creators too. It feels satisfying on all levels and I was happy I saw this! This is better than just very good! So this episode gets my highest seal of approval!
This was another good episode of Slime! It was a lot of talking which was new for the show, but I was surprised how well those talks paid off! I was quite invested in them.
The story picks up where we left it of in the last episode with Rimuru still being in the host club! He’s being quite cute with the ladies when suddenly Vesta/Bester the minister steps in. He is surprised Kaijin finished his order revealing he set him up to fail on purpose. When Rimuru gets a prediction from a Roma like woman who shows an image of a woman he is allegedly meant to be with , Vesta interupts by trying to ban the slime from the club and pouring his beer on it. Which makes Kajin punch the guy and a trial starts.. which of course has been bought. The hero king Gazel Dwargo who watches the trial however intervenes and instead of a life working as slaves the dwarf artisans get exiled and adopted into Rimuru’s community instead. Vesta gets fired for his antis.. because he also faked injuries and the king orders a mysterious hooded figure to follow our beloved slime! It’s very powerful.
I liked this story better than the last episode! This one had some weight to it, yet still showed a lot of charm. This story reflects Rimuru’s life on the other side, where his life as a salary man had him suck up to his boss, be the one to entertain and not be one that is entertained. He was a guy that was afraid to step up for what is right.. while Kaijn does it without a second’s hesitation. It polarises these worlds and once again it reminds me of D&D. As a Dungeon Master myself I see a lot of these people who are oppressed by the shackles of daily life, who break free in the world of fantasy and just are unleashed. Kaijin represents that a bit for me while Rimuru of course kind of depicts the real life aspect of it. I really like world building like that! We flavour our fantasy worlds like that.. so stuff like this would happen in fantasy worlds! My favourite scene would be the speech of the king, he cares for his retainer and helps the dwarven blacksmith make up his mind.. using the trial to make him stick to the oath he made to Rimuru. The talk with Vesta afterwards telling him he severed bonds with a potential powerful ally using the potion as an example was very satisfying and him fearing the slimes power asking it to be shadowed made me excited for the next episode. The teasing with the mystery lady was also kinda clever.. how will a slime be with a girl? I was intrigued!
This episode was great, though the talks could go on for a bit long. While we establish a trial is unfair it just kinda drags on, the talk about recreating the swords was given in the last episode so I find it unlikely that they would discuss it again. I see why you want to bring that element back and remind people but it felt a bit expositiony. The episode feels a bit like a setup episode and those usually aren’t the strongest in a shows lineup though this one had a strong twist at the end. My least favourite scene is when Rimuru gags Gobta in jail and tells him to call out for his tempest wolf partner to free him. As he did not want to get him involved in this trial.. which makes Gobta completely useless in this story.. he came for no reason at all other than a few gags on how much he sleeps. Now not everything has to be destined so I do not mind him doing less than Rimuru but taking him for nothing felt a bit silly. He could at least have woken up and had a bit of story or character added to him. Now he’s just there!
I liked this episode better than the last one , but I can see people easily being a bit bored by this one as well, so I would not be surprised if people would put this up as their least favourite episode so far. For me it reminded me of the D&D trope of the trial for misbehaving in a town .. that I oftenly see happen. I liked that it was more narrative and less slapstick than the previous episode. While the episodes get the same grade this one is very close to being a grade higher while the last one was very close to being a grade lower..so within the grade they are about as far apart as they be .. an amazing episode regardless.
Eeeeeeeeek! Oh my Arceus! This show has pink trains/street cars! Also that art-style that surrealism … I think I might be in love! Forgive me if I use some terminology wrong I am afraid to google the correct one because I would not want to spoil myself but my! I loved this first episode.
We are introduced to our main characters Cocona and Papika. Papika seems to be some sort of witch/magical girl that flies around on a surfboard followed by her robot with a brain in it called Bu-chan. She apparently is looking for a partner and tries to find one manually while an Organisation tries to stop her from being silly but she escapes and quickly finds Cocona. A run of the mill schoolgirl who has to make a big decision for a follow up school or something.. I could not quite get what was going on.. but something like that! Stuck in her choice on where to go, she is bothered by her one friend who is a lot looser than she is.. picking a handful of schools including a boys school . She decides to seek out some peace and tranquility and finds a concrete sewer pipe thing in the wooded area near the school. Papika had been sleeping in there waiting for Cocona to show up.. suddenly the organisation activates Bu-Chan and he takes them into a blackness.. using the concrete pipe to dive into Deep Fantasy.. I think that was what it was called. Transported to a snow world the two discover this new magical world with sweet snow. Having snowball fights and making snowmen! At night when they try to camp in an igloo they are attacked by some big creatures that cause Cocona to lose her glasses. Chasing the creatures Papika ends up in a deadly situation when suddenly a power awakens in Cocona that allows her to save Papika.. the two then are returned to the real world where Papika returns the glasses of her presumed partner who refuses to go on more adventures with her.
That plot seems to make no sense but that is basically what happens! Darn I loved this! The way how Papika flirts with Cocona was cute but forcefully making it funny as well. I dislike the lewding stuff, but this felt innocent even if it might not be! I liked how managed to display so many of the tones it might have in a single episode. We saw the cute slice of life stuff from Cocona, the weird CGDCT stuff from Papika with the snowball fight with her and her robot, the Yuri stuff between the two girls and of course surrealism that reminded me of Kyousougiga blended with Madoka. Kyousougiga as in it felt very much like a world that was “designed” to be weird like how the world behind the painting was created. The Madoka elements came from the monsters, the way the powers are used and also the implied darkness when Papika is being whipped and seriously injured by these attacks. Visually I got some Liz and the Blue Bird vibes, that picture book, casually coloured in aesthetic. I really like that they do with the eyes, they felt super unique and particularly crazy and surreal contributing to the whole atmosphere. The harder colours and brighter colours on the characters really makes them stand out and like it feels genre wise I also feel design wish it is a bit of a mishmash of styles.. which I really could appreciate. My favourite scene is the one where Papika tries to seek some closeness with Cocona in a build igloo. She knows why Cocona is there even if Cocona doesn’t know herself yet and she just runs with it! Having had that one meaningful gaze. The school-girl however is much more uptight and shoves her off. It was cute and unlike some other shows it did not feel to forced Tsundere or something. Just cute and funny!
Negatives are up next, but I already told you I have fallen in love with this first episode so there isn’t a whole lot for me to tell here. I guess my least favourite scene was the cliffhanger of Cocona telling Papika she won’t be going on more adventures. Which isn’t really bad but that was a bit of a generic ending.. it makes total sense for the character to say it but we all know she will have a change of heart or be dragged in anyway. So I always feel this rejection bit is somewhat pointless. There would not be a whole lot of show if she never saw Papika again or went on an adventure with her nor would they reveal her powers if she isn’t going to use them! So while I totally get it and in character it makes sense I don’t think they will fool anyone into saying ‘OMG did she just reject her.. will they not go on adventures?’ So I might have appreciated it if they just went…”well obviously these two are going to do stuff together let them just accept it so we can focus more on the stuff you want to watch this show for’.. but that really is a nitpick here!
I LOVED this! I almost had anime girl eyes sparkling while watching this! There was something there that just caught me and from the first scene I already knew.. okay this is one of those shows you are going to love! Love at first sight! Everything so far tells me I am going to love this show, the animation, the world building , the themes, the tones. It all sang to me. Having read Mari’s review of the show and having seen GalvanicTeam’s YouTube video I knew I was going to like it a lot.. but this first episode made me sad… sad that I put it in my Saturday morning lineup and that I am going to have to wait 13 weeks to be able to finish it! But it will be weeks that I will cherish because I love this! Highest Grade obviously!
Oh my I did not expect THAT to happen. Hikaru no Go manages to give me one of my favorite episodes so far, after perhaps “the beautiful battle”. This episode was intense, heartbreaking and really made me warm up to Hikaru again whom I had begun to cool of a bit too over the past few episodes. Man this shows creators are good at dragging me back in when I am about to fall out!
In this episode we see Hikaru and Sai rush to the Go-Lounge to stop Mitani from cheating any longer, but when they come in they find Mitani already dueling a drunkard for 10.000 yen. Believing he is an easy target, Mitani forgoes any handicaps and plays the man, seemingly to easily win over him fair and square. Yet then the man suddenly reveals he is not that drunk and it was a ruse to win the bet! He switches hands and suddenly starts playing seriously, cheating himself to claim a swift and harsh victory over Mitani! Revealing he has been hired by the lounge owner to teach the boy a lesson , crushing the boys spirit in the proces. So now Hikaru and Sai turn on this man.. trying to win Mitani’s money back for him.. losing his money briefly and being betrayed by the few people he trusted should be a lesson enough! It turns out plenty of people were aware of Mitani cheating, but when they made small bets, the’d happily sponsor him knowing how poor he actually was. Like a grandparent would sponsor their grandchild in need, simply because e played with them. However when bets grew bigger the lounge owner could not stand for it anymore and hired this guy..who brutally took all his money. Sai and Hikaru face off against the man hoping that giving him the money back would let them join their club.
Jeesz what talk about a lucky stroke on episodes! This episode was incredible as well. The whole Sai/Hikaru Dynamic is enforced here! This really felt like a match for Sai in the end, while in the last episode I’d say both would have a stake in defeating Mitani. This subverts the problem of either underusing Sai or not letting Hikari fight any relevant battles on his own the duel with Mitani would have caused.. either way would have left something to be desired but this way.. I was 100% on board. Such a great call! It also made Mitani a lot more human simply by facing himself a sort of “adult version” of himself.. a “if you keep going on this track you become this guy” vibe so much narrative room has been given for the character to develop. It also shows how the main character does not drive the plot.. it happens on it’s own like an actual living world. Without Hikaru , Mitani would still have learned his lesson.. just quite possibly harsher. In Yu-gi-oh or Beyblade or name your sports/game anime bad characters usually are only redeemed by losing to the main character, they stand still when the protagonist isn’t involved in their live. Both Akira and Mitani so far have not been bound by this. While Akira wants to face Hikaru and get strong enough to face him it is not as if he can’t grow without Hikaru. The world lives without the main character and this episode highlighted that with the duel between Mitani and the cheatbusting guy!
Sai’s duel against this guy was a bit of a let down as most of it is skipped. Now this comes with the sport so it is perfectly understandable but I would have liked to see the main gain some despair during the duel not only after, I would have loved to see the forfeit happening rather than the pan the camera to reveal a shocked face but like with most episodes today that is just a preference rather than an actual gripe. The only true negative I had was the shopkeeper using an exposition thing to ruin a beautiful scene. When Mitani loses he comes up 20 yen short of having the full amount of 10.000 yen and Hikaru wants to lend it to him ..but Mitani wants nothing to do with him lending it from the shopkeeper. When he finds out it was the shopkeep that set him up however he puts back those 20 yen and asks it from Hikaru.. making him the lesser evil of the two. Also stating that Mitani now plans to never return to this place after finding out. A bit later when Mitani left the old man more or less explains this and it took the shine of that amazing imager that really represented Mitani’s character.
That could not ruin this episode for me though! It was beautiful! The clever twist solved narrative problems and also made me embrace Mitani in case he does end up joining the team. While I still feel this shows pacing is a bit off, resulting in a bit of an up-down-up-down-up episode structure.. in terms of enjoyment this episode was definitely an up. In fact it was one of the biggests ups I have had with this series to date. I was really engaged with the matches and the stake being something more than “honour” this time really made me relate to it a lot more. It wasn’t just about the love for the game or the honor of a match, Mitani plays to be able to enjoy his life a little, to not be so dirt poor! Hikaru played to redeem a guy.. and to win him over, while Sai had his code his memories involved. Highest praise! Highest grade!
And with that another is done! I had a great week! Thursday I had lunch with Fatima Minusima (Fake name from an earlier blog) which was great to see her again! We had a good talk and it was nice to catch up in this social distancing time! Friday I went to the zoo and head diner for a friends birthday! One of my best friends I shall name Hub-Hub Pilana. I saw plenty of weird types of ducks at the zoo and I had delicious tapas and a pink cocktail! So it was a good day! Yesterday I saw the movie Unicorn shop with my lady friends.. we had a girls night with some wine, snacks and this delightfully odd chick flick. At the moment of writing though I had a big fight with a friend! I will probably have to cut her out my life! She gossips about my health situation, both mental and physical behind my back and tries to force me to adhere to a standard I am unfit for. She literally gives me nightmares when she is like this and last night after I found out she has done this.. it was the same. So I offered her a chance to apologise because she really hurt me but those calls have gone unanswered.. so next week I think I will start with a friend less, but a brighter cleaner future ahead! May your next week be clean and bright as well!
It is time to discuss anime I watched again! Week 7 of bringing back Saturday morning cartoons was a bit different, I allowed myself a break to make some delicious Omelette Au Fromage, with cubed bacon and spinach filling. It was a really nice way to celebrate two new shows adding to the line up. Welcome “That Time I reincarnated as a Slime” and “Tower of God” to my lineup! I was happy with both my rule-break as well as my new additions because..those were the best part of my Saturday morning
An albatross flies over japanese skies and is threatened to be shot down for not having the right documentation.. he claims he can’t help it because of instincts.. but because of being awarded human rights he needs passports and proper regulations. He goes to land in Anima city..but he crashes due to a storm coming up.. and what do you know.. he crashes straight onto Michiru’s bed. It’s been a dream of Michiru to fly so seeing her first flying type beast man fascinates her. Quickly bonding as he invites her for a flight… at that time we see the Mayor asking Shirou to look into some flying beast man terrorists… jeez.. I am so surprised! BNA is SO lazily written at times. The colliding plot lines thing happens in EVERY single episode. It invalidates so much of Michuru’s life for me.. I don’t believe that this would happen EVERY single time we see the tanuki discover something about herself. This really annoyed me!
Good! This series used to be like that too my guy!
The lesson in this episode also doesn’t land for me at all. Basically it says beastman are annoyed that they now that they are seen as equals in human society have to follow their rules while it sometimes goes against their instincts. They are other life forms that should be held to other rules. I strongly disagree. I mean yes I get that birds should be allowed to be migratory..but if you have the power to look human, this is nothing but mere safety precautions. If I go to a muslim country I can’t expect them to allow atheist to break some of their religious laws simply because I do not believe in Allah! If I go to India I do not go and eat a cow.. simply because I have a doctors note that says I should eat more red meat. No a country determines the rules. Those rules can be crooked and may require change.. but this really pales to issues real people are having here! The Albatross can even freely fly across the country.. he just has to go to the ground and fill in some paperwork to do so.. to get a tourist visa. So his reason to become a terrorist and threaten the Major of Anima City to bury his people who got shot while ignoring a 3 minute paperwork job really did not land. It really made the world building seem flimsy and poorly thought off. I get someone has needs.. but because of the entire plot of the episode they proof this rule is valid!
Shirou by now also just exist to punch guys Michiru hangs out with
Of course the whole encounter is deeply tied in with the church as well.. who most likely hired a terrorist to kill the human financer of the city.. The blond bad guy who owns the chemical comany.. just so they can save him.. in order to be granted asylum. We get the obvious fake out, like really obvious, and Michiru learns how to make wings and fly. Nazuna can turn into a better more shiny bird though and the Priestess Death Rube.. as Nazuna is also known as is now the hero of the city. Like always.. the life and development of Michiru is given some love and attention.. this feels like her and sprouting wings seems fitting and in line with her nature. It’s as if someone created a really amazing character and loved it very much..but then threw a very cheap world around her. The episode was watchable, the new character design was pretty sleak.. but it also feels super obvious. I’d say this is about as enjoyable as riding one of those really cheap fair. .haunted house rides. It looks really cool from the outside but inside it’s filled with plastic spiders and easy to predict moments that completly kill any immersion you could have had. BAD Episode.
I suspected they might be the same person..clearly I was wrong
Score:
This one is a bit of a mixed bag for me. In general a second episode of anime I always find rather underwhelming. Episode 1 usually is an amuse bouche of what is to come and in episode 2 you often have to do so much ground work in a setting that it oftenly is not very action packed. This episode felt like that at least for the first two thirds. The third act was very strong. The first act mostly depicts how Masayoshi struggles being a hero and while I had a lot of fun with seeing it , not a lot happens. He scares a guy by sneaking up on him and scolding him for littering and he prevents a woman from putting her trash outside forty minutes early. Which she did because she wanted to sleep in. While it is fun.. we do not see a payoff to this directly, it comes back in the third act. Which in hindsight makes this a lot better.. but while viewing it I couldn’t help but frown. At this time we suddenly feel very distant from Masayoshi. Goto hears some complaints and just sighs and we see them bonding as bro’s for a bit until we move to the second act. It isn’t a bad act..but due to the way the obnoxious hook is let go.. it felt kinda unrewarding (about 8 minutes in)
You should not have such faboulous hair in the rain either!
While hanging out Masayoshi’s agent shows up. Ishihara has a new gig for Masayoshi being an extra for some idol girl group.. which based on the opening credits and what happens next will gain some importance later on. We see the his tale that he feels uncomfortable being a model being validated here when he has a hard time to contain his nerves. Which is a nice way to establish his character.The episode really does do a great job in setting up Masayoshi as a character… it just doesn’t do a whole lot of anything else. We are introduced to the idol girl Maya who admittedly is quite cute and I can see here becoming very important to Masayoshi! To calm his nerves we see him sing/mumble a sentai song which she does seem to recognise. Singing about an axe, I am not sure if it’s an actual sentai show .. but the axe comes back in all three the acts. Unfortunately Maya’s fascination with our protagonist is kinda brushed off and glossed over. I am sure it will come back but now about 15 minutes in I have yet to see anything happen yet.
An accurate depiction of how wild this epssode is so far!
The third act makes up for this with a very cute resolution of the first act. Goto invites his new friend for sushi to talk about the complaints concerning Samurai Flamenco asking him to shelve the idea for a bit. Which obviously Masayoshi doesn’t want to do. Goto asks him about why he wants to stop these petty crimes and again I see a call back to Tarantino like dialogue when they begin to talk about Umbrella theft.. which is very common in Japan. You just take an umbrella for the rain. Masayoshi never uses one.. because he once stole an Umbrella of a young boy who got the flu from walking through the cold. This made him vilianise himself so hard he can not let go of any petty crime. Rules exist for a reason and he wants to keep them all. There is a beautiful pureness to this. Goto got drunk from their outing and on their way out.. he notices his umbrella is gone.
Awww shucks I bet this would make great Yaoi
However there is a cute strap of his girlfriend on that Umbrella which makes it worth more to him. We see our boy play the noble hero getting Goto his umbrella back. It brings the two closer together. It’s beautiful and funny to see how the hero will not even run a single red light and his justice is done within the complete confines of the rules. ..except for vigilantism I guess..but he doesn’t really move on the turf of law enforcers either.. he just gives offenders a stern talking too. It was a beautiful way to wrap up this episode and gave it the kick of action that it needed. I kinda wish the first act and the second act were swapped as I think that would have been even more beautiful and a bit less fragmented. All in all a quite enjoyable episode.. that suffers from having to much to set up.
I got nothing.. can you think of a funny for this one?! Too invested in the last part to screen cap!
Score:
Foovay recommended this one to me and I must say , this was my favorite watch of the day. It was also the weirdest. There were so many tones and voices in this episode. We begin with the death of the main character. I mean .. that is not a spoiler .. you need to die to be reincarnated. This actually happens rather vicious and bloody. Thirty Seven Year old virgin Satoru is having an outing with a coworker and his new girlfriend when a random assailant charges at them with a knife. Satoru jumps in front of his colleague and saves his life.. at the cost of his own. As he lays there dying he wishes he would not feel pain.. complains about heat and cold and worries about the safety off his hard drive and electronic devices. This all registers with a voice in his head who grants him these wishes for the next time he is reborn. He shall have a body that feels no pain, heat or cold and one that will be a predator! This all leads him into being born as a slime! I really felt for the guy that stab looked so painful and not comedic at all! I was really surprised.
You are on Pinkie’s Paradise! Rejoice..also do my dishes!
Through a lot of surreal visuals we see him move into another world and discover some of his skills , talking more to the voice in his head which sounds an awful lot like a computer voice. I love these types of visuals, it really made me question what was going on.. and that is a sentiment that I really like to feel. The revelation that he is a slime is always not very dragged out. Which is nice, the title spoils that to us already so it’s kinda good that it doesn’t linger. This moves into some Bofuri-like cute moments of the slime dissolving a flower just because it’s the only fun there is to be had and slowly discovering it’s abilities. This would be my favorite moment of the episode. There is just something about characters experimenting with their new bodies or powers that really charm me. The slime also emotes wonderfully well a lot better than i expected though it is nowhere nearly as cute as the Dragon Quest slimes. Based on the opening which we find at the ending of the episode this time, he will later transform into a boyish girl person thing akin to Kirito in Gun gale. I might be wrong though. I am pretty sure a slime would be genderfluid.
I know right.. that last joke was funny!
The final part of the episode we have the little blob learn how to see using magical perception.. having eating some magical rocks he can learn that ability I would assume. The Dragon Veldora gives him this skill if he promises not to be scared of him… which is a very nice moment and my second favorite moment. The dragon has been so lonely and is very happy to have someone for company for a bit. It seems that the slime will be on the “bad guy” side.. but it doesn’t (yet at least) depict the dragon as evil. He might lie.. but he could just have been put here for being a monster. He destroyed a town sure.. but he had been sealed away with a lot of force. I see a lot of promise in this format. I do like the visuals and the designs so far as well. Our main character being of a somewhat older age makes him credible to some life experiences and gives him much more proper motivation to try a different lifestyle than say.. a 14 year old who got hit by a truck. The way skills are used might be very fun.. it looks to be and I can not wait to see more! This could be a very interesting show to me with the right amount of cute, intrigue and magic and trippy visuals! Next week I will find out more.
That’s a dragon who breathes air! Beware!
Score:
I thought this would be a Isekai.. but it seems it is closer to a magical fantasy action show. Bam and his dear friend Rachel are from ..the other side of some gate.. but the semantics aren’t fully clear to me yet. They do seem to live in a world without a sky. Rachel who dreams to see the stars one day therefor wishes to climb the legendary tower of god.. on top there is basically god but also whatever you seek. However to climb this tower you must face some tough challenges in many life or death situations. Bam gets a magic sword that is into him.. or something and so he must explore and prove his worth! His friend went ahead and now he works hard to catch up.
For lots and lots of love! Or money..whatever I find first..
This at least seems to me to be the plot of the show and it feels very different from what I have seen so far. Both designwise as storywise the story seems to follow a few different beats as your run of the mill anime! Probably due to it’s Korean influences. We see a skeletal bunny be some sort of trial master. In honesty he could be a character from Hollow Knight.. he looks exactly like that.. just larger or with more human dimensions. Ban is given a trial that people even on the 20th level have issues against so it seems he is being treated unfair. This draws the attention of some princess. This whole scene fascinated me.. I think her name was Jahad but that might be a title .. I am not sure yet. She objects to him doing the trial but to Ban, Rachel is his entire world.. so she decides to give him a royal blade. Without thinking a moment longer he walks into the trial! He will see Rachel again. So far I like Ban, he is more silent than your usual main character nowadays.. we really get a great sense of his determination in this first episode.
I am pretty sure that is NOT an Eel
My favorite moment is when Ban is trying to break some orb in the area a giant steel eel lives.. or at leats thats what it’s called. We do not see his strikes persé.. we see why he strikes. We see the reason of his strength, which I found a lovely poetic scene. We also see his cries call out the eel thing again.. signifying we see a man with a deep passion here a deep care for the woman he is after and he will not easily be stopped! Yet his cause will also put him into danger. Jahad and her navigator.. see things going awry so in a burst of desperation to ask the sword for help.. he does so and she answers. Hugging him unleashing her powers.
Where is that shadow coming from, she is litteraly bathing in light!
For now it seems like she accepted him simply for being pretty! I do hope this remains true! I would love for an all powerful sword to be so petty! With the sword unlocked he clears the trial and is immediatly booted in the next trial! A surival game where half of the trialist have to be eliminated. This begins to introduce us to some characters I saw in other peoples screenshots and the opening credits so I bet episode 2 will be important! I am at least hungry for more even though I am not the biggest fan of the character designs yet. Except for the sword lady!
Well at least it will be easier to walk on then!
Score:
This episode was never going to be as great as episode 6, that episode was so amazing so this one was bound to let me down a bit but boy…. this was a rough one to finish. While it does a great job a setting up Hikaru’s desire to stand on his own two feet and not be depended on Sai as much I feel like that was already established in the previous episode. So this episode just really focuses on validating that. In a way where nothing happens. They start to found a Go club in their own school and somehow Akiri is in it but the club is not official yet and they need new members so they make a poster.. which people remove which angers Hikaru. While it seems in line with his character to get into these tantrums.. he himself did not care about Go before at all so I’d imagine he could at least relate to others a bit more. Hikaru was the worst thing in this episode if I am honest.
Okay , the poster wasn’t very good either!
We see him lash out at Akiri for no reasons as all and it comes at the cost of his drive to learn the game. He is improving but he overshouts that emotion all the time. When Akiri asks to be thought to play the game he goes ape-shit at her when she makes an illegal move. I felt so bad for the girl, his unwillingness to teach her seems to clash with what this episode is about .. making new people enthused about Go. I know this is a bit the way their established relation goes but if that is true why would Tsutsui teach Akiri instead. See her get into this.We cut away to a while later and you’d expect her to be upset. Instead she just takes Hikaru’s verbal rage and makes a nice colourful poster which is cute and I am happy to see more Akiri but it all felt so inconsequential.
I have known these rules for a week! You are Trash Akiri! Ignorant Trash! A WEEK!
Akira meanwhile notices that Hikaru doesn’t come to the Go “café” anymore so he decides to join his school club in order to face Hikaru in tournaments. Reason is that Hikaru blows him off for a duel as he wants to meet him on his own strength. Which is the best thing this episode does.. but doesn’t Sai have a problem with this? He wants to perfect the divine move and the strongest opponent he can currently face says he has gotten a lot stronger. Last episode we see Sai beg to play and now without him mentioning a single thing we see him stick by Hikaru’s call to do everything himself . I really would have liked a more 50/50 divide here.
That outfit doesn’t look very becoming on Akrii
Hikaru was told to learn from how Sai plays to better and that synergy made the last episode so beautiful he could begin to see the flow of the stones..so why is that suddenly turned to 0 so hard. The whole Akira’s Go club not accepting him because he is to good and taking their spot makes sense and I think the whole difference between those who play with passion and those who play for credit can offer interesting plotlines in the future.. but that thing relegated to be a voice over while he walks through a hall and we see trophies. It just didn’t land.. nothing really did in this episode for me. I am glad Hikaru is coming into his own but for me he took a step back from where he was last week. This week some of Hikaru definitely lost some Moku. At least I think that is the term! Not awful just very meh!
His best weapon is his Blue Eyes…wait wrong anime?! Huh!?
Score:
A bit of a disappointing week. Now before people go all defensive, the episode of Hikaru and Samurai Flamenco can still end up being amazing in the bigger picture, they just did not offer me much as stand alone episodes. I still really like their respective series and their potential. BNA.. however is really showing it’s cracks. I just can’t get over the same trope being used each week. It’s weird how these last two episodes took such a nose dive for me. Michiru is still an amazing character and I would love to see more about her life, I just don’t think this world is clever enough let alone the main story thread. Maybe next week I will be proven wrong though.
Such a nice Screenshot from Slime to cap things off with!
Pinkie's Paradise 