Tag: Reviews

Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventure 11

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!

Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventure 10

Hello Island Guests, the week is all over again! So I watched some anime again!
This week I had a few issues that prevented me from watching Saki in the evening so I did not make any progress with that! Yet for Saturday I finally have gotten myself some Unicorn Fruit Loops and I poured myself a cold bowl of milk and I watched five anime!

I actually really liked this episode of BNA , the past two were so so with an increasing fear of things going south at the end.  While this episode made me worry even more about the future I actually had some fun with this.

As we slowly so the plot begin to unravel  we see that Allan Silvasta is trying to create a cure to turn beast man into humans, which upsets Shirou because he does not feel he is something that needs to be cured. Alan however tells him that part of the Beast Man Genetic code has a defunct that turns them wild and feral when they live amongst other species of  beastman. This is called Nirvasyl Syndrome named after the city where Shirou once lived. Where the event actually happend. The humans attacking the beast man city where also lead by a Sylvasta causing the god wolf to go feral and attack Alan and his cure development production line. Michiru stops him and he goes renegade. The mayor also finds herself in a lot of trouble after the minister of Japan betrays here.. who also has contact with Alan. Shirou seems to team up with flip, Michiru with Nazuna and  who knows what happens to the Mayor.. in the end we know little as we move towards the finale of this series.

This episode to me succeeded quite well in building up tension, it also put the last two episodes a bit in place. We needed those elements  because they all play a critical role in whatever deception Alan is up too. Even now I am not fully sure what he is up to.. or if he is even that evil. It fits that cyberpunk dystopian undertone that had been in this show without the actual cyberpunk element. This was enforced by the synthwave music during the explanation, the apparel of all the medical droids and tech devices that stopped Shirou. My favorite scene was in fact that synth wave supported exposition scene. I am not sure he is that evil because he did not mistreat Michiru in any way either, would she be something in the way he could have easily dealt with her there… so this is a strength that can later turn into a massive weakness if it turns out her is like , evil-evil.  I do think I can understand his motivations though and I do think that is what a show like this needs. It is on that political side of the spectrum.. that should deal with grey areas and not make it very black and white. I do fear this a fake out but for now.. I do like this set up.

What I liked less about this episode is the fact that it once more is almost entirely a single set episode. The last episode was the room where Nazuna was being scanned the episode before it was only the terrace where Michiru had a talk with mamma Melissa and episode 6 mostly took place on the square.  BNA can feel very static at times. Almost theater like which is a problem if you are trying to show how people in the city are slowly going crazy. We see this in episode 1 until 4 that is true but after that we have mostly been having very tiny self contained stories where these elements drift to the background a bit. Alan’s talk is so convincing his betrayal of the major seemed odd. It seems as if the show could be resolved without action but trough smarts and that it might be a battle of health versus basic rights which could be very interesting to see people struggle with that.. but it also feels like they are going to backpedal out of that idea. Like watching a circus actor do a really interesting stunt but there is a safety line and a net and they drew a target on the net for them to drop in as well.  It takes away the tension.. so the way the Major was framed or seems to be framed had to be my least favorite moment of the show it felt confusing to me.  Could you just not stall her out bureaucracy is a thing and she knows it so you could have played that string.

All in all I had a sweet time with BNA Episode 10. It wasn’t amazing and the episode themselves really begin to creak with the building pressure of the approaching end. It doesn’t do much wrong other than suffer under a to strict countdown. I do still quite like this show but I think it will be a solid 7 out of 10 and maybe a 6 or even a 5 if they really fumble ending for in the long run. This show is like a taco,  but in some bites there is to much lettuce, in some bites we only taste shell… but this bite was pretty well mixed.. however those last two bites are bound to be overstuffed. I am happy I had a good bite .. but I am at the point where I can enjoy it less, because it is such a sloppy overall experience.

Episode Score

I really enjoy this series and this episode was no different. Samurai Flamenco and Slime is what get me out of bed on Saturday! Super excited to watch another episode! They consistently make my day!

We see a very natural continuation of the Samurai Flamenco and Flamenco Girl dynamic as it slowly reaches it rupturing point. Maya wants to be in the spotlight so much that she pushes Masayoshi away using her cruel and harsh techniques. She is a hero for fame while he is a hero for justice. It makes the two non compatible and doesn’t  adhere to Masayoshi’s code.  When he is cast as an extra on a Sentai Show and he can finally make it big in that industry he also begins to see the darkside and the hypocrisy of that world.. he begins to see what he does is fake. Meanwhile Goto is given a “fake” job as well forming some project that deals with the Flamenco fighters in a PR stunt like thing.  Even as a blogger I have dealt with that.. why am I doing this struggle, I think most of who ever pursued anything ungraspable can relate to this struggle. A postumes gift from his grandpa on his 20th birthday offers us some origins of the Samurai Flamenco concept and on Masayoshi’s values as we see him return to his ways with new found confidence and making sure he follows HIS path! Kudos!

I think I had one of my favorite moments in the series when Masayoshi got that gift from his grandpa. It shows so much goodness. It basically validates that Samurai Flamenco should exist.. because Masayoshi believes.. he is a symbol for justice because that is the value Masayoshi pursues.  While he loves Sentai shows.. he always to an extend knew they are fake and he has to find his own way in the real world that is real.. while he can be inspired by them he isn’t a 1 on 1 copy of them. Most of all he won’t have his treasured values be corrupted by someone who looks at it from a different angle. The separation of Girl and Samurai was also very strong in my opinion! Both value their dream to much to give it up for the other, even though one seems more noble than the other I am very happy they did not make Maya flip like that.. No one should ever have to comprise on their dream! Placing Goto in a similar situation as Masayoshi made this episode even more relatable, the two seem to reflect of each other. Both are unhappy and struggle with their job, both have partner issues and question if what they do now is the real thing.. it gives the episode a strong sense of theming throughout.. they mirror each other with some different choices. 

My biggest gripe was this episode was the exact same as I had with the previous episode. Goto’s girlfriend who only exists in text messages. I can’t read Kanji and the subtitles are a bit slow to follow it all because they only appear after a whole message is being typed and since we have never seen her it lacks any form of impact. Sure he stares at her umbrella with that cute octopus a lot which shows he cares for her but it is still pretty hard to care for a character you have never seen.  Maya crushing on Goto gave me a good chuckle when she rolled around with her Dakimakura of a uniformed man saying she needed more but again her relationship with Goto is from afar with him being unaware of it.  So as far as the “romantic” subplots go  I do still feel rather un-engaged.  I am not sure if I should be engaged by it but these moments are fairly frequently present so perhaps I am.. I am not sure! I would prefer this to be a bit more minor or at least be told through dialogue with Goto telling Masayoshi his girlfriend blew him off again or something. It would impact me just that bit more, I could “hear” in his voice that he is hurt… in text not so much.

While not as strong as the last two episodes this one still was very good from throughout it’s entire runtime.  It deals with a lot of stuff that needed to be resolved in a very human way. The writer seems to really understand what drives these people and Goto Maya and Masayoshi all seem quite real to me. Representing something like the Realist, The Dreamer and the Idealist yet all pursuing the same keyword “justice”.  It really dig how this episode highlighted that to us and how  we can be different while being the same and it doesn’t mean blindly having to support others if it endangers your own desires!  Being able to understand the mindset of characters is super important in a show that is THIS character driven. This episode nails that brief yet again and provides some good entertainment to boot.

Episode Score

My least favorite episode of Slime so far that still was a very enjoyable experience to me. If this is going to be my “low point” Slime might even become a personal favorite of mine.

In this episode Rimuru, Rigur, Gobta Ranga and some other goblins and tempest wolves have reached the dwarven city in order to trade for knowledge in craftsmanship. However when some Ruffians at the door give Rimuru a hard time an act of self defence and trying to scare them off results in a small disaster with people massively losing their minds and soiling themselves in fear leading to the slime and Gobta being imprisoned. After helping the security forces of the dwarves with potions and saving their lives in combat with some underground monster, whose name I forgot on the account that it is fought of screen. Rimuru stays behind in jail but is released after the potions helped them in the battle and he is to meet a great blacksmith, using his devour and copy skills he makes him a few magic weapons and earns his gratitude and a trip to an elf host club where he is hugged and held as pet under some blobs these woman carry themselves.. as a mysterious figure approaches the club. 

This episode was a bit “simpler” in nature than the other three episodes, less is set up and it’s mostly enjoyable on a comedy level that just feels satisfying and cute.  My favorite scene is where Rimuru goes out and makes swords for the master blacksmith, from the way he talks to the showmanship on display it just felt great. You can really see this former salaryman starting to love his new life as a slime and finally getting some respect. The fact that Rimuru’s power comes from something other than sheer combat force and more so on a reliance in strength pays off once more!  It really endears me to this character a bit more. As a 33 year old myself I find traits in him of a person who has seen and experienced the other side a bit..that insignificance that a teen doesn’t quite get.. so yes I really loved that.  I also really enjoyed the innocent of Rimuru in jail, not breaking out as well as getting in trouble for performing to well in a certain situation. It reminded me off classical D&D adventures.. this stuff happens a lot there! So I really liked the jail bit as well, especially since there was no way to hold Rimuru properly since jails and slimes don’t combine. But yes that just felt so right to me.

Kicking in an open door, the scene I did like the least was the scenes where Rimuru was lewding the elves. I get it to a certain extend.. he is a predator after all and he likes the concept of boobs and all that since he never experienced any so to a point I could get behind this. Still I have some questions.. for example it does seem that Rimuru is really prone to share slime biology so I would imagine that it doesn’t have that high of a libido in the physical sense. A lot of girls think the slime is cute and hug it like a pet underneath their breasts but I sure as heck would not cover myself or my breasts in slime..let alone sentient slime. I guess they were paid but even then.. why would the dwarves think a slime is interested in elfen women? It doesn’t really seem like the first thing you think of when you see a slime. Most of the goblins and all the wolves stayed behind so Gobta and Rimuru could visit the village, why did they come in the first place then? Clearly Rimuru is strong enough  to hold his own ? Maybe because they want to follow him? I do not know but I lacked the sharpness  from before, like how comedy is more set up for comedy’s sake again.. which isn’t bad.. just not as awesome as some stuff it did before! 

I had another blast with Slime so while I can point out a few flaws ..it’s all more in the “less awesome than” category than the actual flaw category. I just like the world building of this show a lot , while the humans seem like total jack-asses this show puts a light on the other races still. I just liked the goblins a bit more than the dwarves and well .. the elves felt a bit to Twi’lek like for my generally Gray-Sexual like tastes.  It’s was still perfectly enjoyable and I laughed and got excited. I felt good and cheered up while watching and want to watch more of it. So that’s always a good sign.. a very good sign!

Episode Score

I did not like Tower of God Episode 3 a lot, I felt the plot droned on, had poor pacing and little interesting character development. It felt very colour by numbers to me, not surprising me and just feeling like a bootleg Hunter X Hunter. 

I planned to give this a chance untill episode 6 but after today’s episode I think I am going to call it quits right here. While this episode definitely was better than the last one.. I felt overwhelmed by not giving caring about anything and I still think the writing is extremely lazily! Given that the big cliffhanger on episode 3 basically is the same cliffhanger as the one we got in episode 4 as it had no pay off before. When I started Saturday Morning Adventures I decided to follow very strict rules to make it feel like a Saturday Morning show line up .. I had to put a bit of effort in my shows and give each show at least 6 episodes to win me over. However I found myself so painfully uninterested in this show that I am pretty sure 0% of those watching Pinkie’s Saturday Morning Channel is having a good time with this show..because I am the only one I am doing this for! So why waste more time writing about it after todays episode? It’s just not for me!

While I take you to this episode I will explain my feelings as to why I will drop it. We continue to crown trial in this episode and Anaak has to defend her crown from a few assailants. Including that sleeping guy whose name I forgot.  We see the two bladed samurai guy take out a lot of people while the little lizard girl uses her special weapon to defeat the sleeping guy who turns out to be  powerful mage . While it’s nicely brought visually it lacked any impact for me, we already knew she had a blade similar to Bang’s because the same logo has been shown several times.. so that was not much of a reveal. The sleeping guy being a mage did nothing for me either..mostly because the only trait the guy had so far was that he sleeps a lot. Obviously he must be powerful… but the fact that he is a mage.. well that is nice but it didn’t do anything for me, he had no build up yet so he could do anything and I would believe it, it doesn’t tie neatly in the sleep theme either so it doesn’t feel rewarding.. for example say if he woke up super grumpy and turned into a barbarian like rage.. THAT I would have found rewarding.. here it felt like just a power to give him a thing. I know liking a character theme to their powers can feel a bit forced, but at least I would have felt something. It felt like he was really meant to be impressive.. but he did not actually hit anything nor was it show how powerful his magic could be..its just there. Anaak’s whip is nice but it felt like something that would be in Bleach.. and now this show had two shows  I saw heavy influences off and both are better than this show (for the most part).

Bam’s sword begins to react to Anaak’s sword and she wants to kill him because those blades belong to the princesses of Jahad, of which there are 13 named after the months.. +1 I guess. His blade representing March and hers April. Okay.. that’s neat I guess?! A bit boring flavoring to be fair. Leaving the throne to eye up Bam gets Anaak disqualified though so her group can leave the arena without being killed, just as the group with the sleeping guy  retreated seeing Anaaks weapon. Conveniently this happens to all the important characters. Once more contributing to me how forced this plot feels. Everyone has to make it out alive Due to the animation style you can sort of tell which characters are important as well, though I cant tell extactly what.. but side characters seem to get al lot less love and attention. After big Deus Ex Machina 1 and 2, Bam’s group participates in the game. When Khun uses his magical bag to beat all 6 opponents with a knife and wind skills.. making him feel even more like Killua to me.. both are air elementals as well. Unlike HunterXHunter his powers aren’t really explained.. he just absorbs a huge spell attack with his bag, can clone items in that bag and he can conjure up Tornado’s from Arceus knows where. When a guy EXACTLY  dressed like Zorro from One Piece showed up..next to a shadowy guy who proclaims his powers were that of a rubber body I completely tuned out. Thats 3 shows it mimics now that are better than this.

Every fight so far felt completely inconsequential to me and stakes extremely low.  Obviously Anaak is important so she can not get hurt so BOOM , disqualified, obviously sleeping guy was build up so he could not stay and fight to the death even if he wanted to, and obviously Rachel isn’t going to kill anyone who matters in this next trial so that set up of her character will not pay off at all. To me this show is the equivalent to someone setting up a line of domino’s and then live streaming topping them over, some creations are creative and look nice but we can still tell what is going to happen with very standard type characters that just seem to be  taken from random shonen shows and put together again.  While this show isn’t particularly bad I just find it very VERY uninteresting.  Like a german car! It goes vroom, it is fuel efficient and it does what it needs to do.. but it will never surprise you. It can go fast enough to keep you somewhat entertained but to me it lacks any form of own personality..it just took what works well from others and makes something that is okay.

I feel if this show had focused on one battle at a time and let us learn more about a characters abilities as we go on I might be more into it.. now it’s basically Deus Ex Machina solving problem one, into the fortunate event solving the second. It’s a show where the characters are powered up by the plot to drive the story fourth because the story needs to be move forward. I feel  like the characters are completely interchangeable with each other Anaak could be on Bam’s team instead of Rak and nothing would really change! Khun could be replaced with the sleeping guy.. and instead of the magic bag he would just dream up chocobars for Rak..it doesn’t matter. I can’t help but feel like I am watching an okay fan fiction turned into an actual anime when I watch this. The visual style feels to layered to me with characters being on a different layer than the world making me feel even more disengaged.
No need for an episode score for this one because Tower of God’s status is:

Today i saw Aa nice set-up episode with some minor flaws that most likely will be among the lesser memorable episodes in the series for me. Yet also an episode that tells me that the guys responsible for this really know their cinematography and storytelling. 

We return to Hikaru after two episodes of Akira just to be introduced to another addition to the cast.  Mitani is a guy from Hikaru’s school who solved their Go puzzle poster which was seen by Akiri .. who apparently was not a part of the Go club despite constantly being their. Surprising even the captain. After eating some Ramen when Akiri runs away angry again Hikaru finds out there is another Go Lounge nearby where he conveniently meets this Mitani guy, quite a promising Go player who plays matches for money! Yet what makes him different is that he cheats! After beating Tsutsui in a match by once again cheating he runs off again not interested in the Go club! Hikaru chases after him to challenge him to a match and change his mind and his ways.

I love the introduction of the new character Mitani , while arguably seeing him in the Go Café felt a bit to convenient I love what he brings to the table and how his motivations to play are so different from the rest. Mitani is a poor guy who plays Go for money because he wants to buy stuff he can not afford otherwise.  Since he is poor and can not afford to lose money  he also resorts to cheating, something Hikaru did not have to deal with before.  Something that makes him truly unique. Go isn’t a passion for him, neither in the good way nor the bad, it is just a thing he happens to be good at and can make a buck with. He is also a pace disruptor and manipulator, in his duel with Tsutsui he eggs the guy on to make moves faster and faster.. in order to force him to to think of his move in Mitani’s turn instead of his own, by calling him slow. This results him to not pay as much attention the cheaters move who then tricks Tsutsui into making another move, disqualifying himself. I also like how Sai finally speaks up about not having been able to play for a while that was what started this whole thing in the first place so I am glad it was at least acknowledged.. the show really answered the questions I had as a viewer..why isn’t that a thing? I also feel that facing a cheater could be both interesting to Sai and Hikaru as an opponent due to the unpredictability of it all.

Akiri gets completely duped again though. Hikari makes her angry again and she leaves upset and no one chases after her, despite how much time and effort she has put into helping this Go Club and how much she provides. By now I would even expect Tsutsui to follower her and given how important this club is to Hikaru I would have loved so see at least some decency towards his lady friend who supports him so loyally. I really feel for the poor girl  and as a result I do think less of the two boys so that is a bit  that  could be improved upon.  The pacing of the go matches this week also felt a bit off, they did not feel exicting or tense they just happend.  That cinematography though.. how the camera angels in to see Tsu locked in though.. in order to also distract the viewers attention of the board as if we are watching trough his eyes.  The way the camera does a frog perspective shot from the Go board in the go parlor to show what part of the field Mitani’s opponent is counting.. showing what is in his sight form a reverse angle to emphasise that this is all he sees. I really loved that. 

I was impressed by this episode of Hikaru no Go but from a much more clinical perspective. What impressed me is more on a technical level than the actual episode itself.  The writing the cinematography, the way stuff is set up smartly. For the actual events in this episode I feel less excitement it, I wasn’t bored exactly but like I said I doubt I will remember this episode for to long, it just feels a bit irrelevant.. considering what’s about to happen next. The whole Sai committed suicide over being tricked into “cheating” and all raises the tension for next week’s episode for me! Meaning I will probably only remember that part of the encounter in the end. It’s too good to be just mediocre though so this week we are happy with the new review system and will use one of the new rankings to the maximum effect! 

Episode Score

Another Week’s worth of anime done! Real life me had a bit of difficulty coping with humanity as it is right now, spread across all factions ideologies and belief I see so much mean spirited behaviour as each other. I considered getting of Twitter but I opted out of that for now. I had a family event Thursday and my father really shunned me a bit which..always was the case but after not having him seen him for almost six months this time it hurt a bit extra. Which resulted in a bit of Somatic Stress Disorder Nausea that still lingers a bit. While I love the summer, the heat in this case did not help. So if I was more silent to you this week or missed a post.. I have in a bit of hide away mode this past week.

In more positive news! My blog Aniversary is coming up and I am looking for ways to celebrate! If you have a good idea please leave it in the comment or poke me on twitter…while the profile lasts of course! I hope you had a great week though and I wish you all an amazing next one as well!

Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventure 7

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 Saturday Anime Adventure (Week 1)

Hi Island guests! Earlier I talked to you about how having unlimited access to anime and media to critique it on, has opened it to nitpicking and devalued appreciation. Why would we bother with a 7/10 show when we can watch a 9/10 one.I said I would love to get a format reminiscent back of Saturday morning cartoons.

A format where I have to work myself around anime instead having access to everything at my convenience. For true love doesn’t bow to your every whim.. you have to put some effort into it. This is the story of that quest…

Setting Up

The adventure began with laying down some ground rules and a schedule. Like how I have my fictional tropical Island I would now have a fictional anime network as well. Anime of my selection would air the way I would want to, yet be sorted out in certain time slots. I opted for a five series time slot which I could expand upon later. Running from 9:00 until 11:30 (in order to fit it in with my medicine imposed insomnia or occasional night terrors, I put it a bit later in the morning). Five series would air at the full hour mark. Midway down a series (around the 11 minute mark for anime) I would pause the anime and play some Japanese commercials on youtube for about 5 minutes.

I am not allowed to pause the anime earlier, nor am I allowed to go backwards if I miss anything. If i need to get something, I need to step away and let the anime run.. except for during commercial breaks. During the commercial breaks I would make notes for the blog, refill my drink and schedule bio-breaks. Obviously I can not skip ahead either. With this set up I have about 3 minutes to make some final notes and set up the next series. If I am late for example I start at 9:05 I will have to skip my episode until the anime runs as if it was started at its original time slot. So in this case five minutes in. Each Sunday I report to you all about my little adventures.

Pinkie-TV-Guide

Originally I browsed for the first five random picks I wanted to watch. Which ended up being Hikaru no Go, BNA, Bofuri, Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens.. and the second season of Ducktales, (from where I left off). Turns out the the second season of Ducktales isn’t on Disney + yet, which I discovered in the middle of my watch, so as a sensible tv network I had to fix this by adding in a double episode of what came prior. So for the next six weeks my schedule ended up being the following.

9:00  AM : BNA (I really love studio Trigger Stuff)
9:30  AM: Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens (Because I love card game anime and YGO)
10:00 AM Bofuri (Because cute girls with shield sound adorable to me)
10:30 AM Bofuri (So the Pink Network could correct their stupid error)
11:00 AM Hikaru no Go (Because I read Iridium Eye’s compelling review about it)

Having bought some cereal the day before, I was ready. The japanese commercials were set up, my phone was on silent as Saturday morning cartoons were back! Sitting on the couch I eagerly waited for the nine minute mark and pressed play.

BNA Episode 1

The moment I pressed play I realised I made a pretty rookie mistake. I forgot the milk with my cereal, so I ran to the fridge while the opening credits played. It was weird to see how a first episode had an opening in the first place. That isn’t that common.I couldn’t tell you if I liked it because I had some cereal prep I forgot. Luckily I was back before the main action started.

A Tanuki girl that looks kinda to human compared to the other beastman out there is fleeing from some racist humans. They end up trying to kill her when she is fleeing to some sort of beast city. Mind you guys that I am telling this from my headspace while viewing this. I know the name of the character now but not at the time.. nor do I think the first episode ever told us. When things seem dire for the main character a weird scientist lady shows up.. which suddenly is a weasel like creature, which we later find out is a mink. She has some henchmen as well. A fight breaks out between humans and the animal-people and the tone for the series is set. 

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this episode, though I can not help but feel it is kinda heavy on the racist allegory. In the same way X-men can be a bit jarring in it’s world building as well. Even in the first half of he episode. After the rescue I am positively surprised that the mink isn’t like a best new friend but some sort of shady figure who extorts those she rescues for all their money. Like what we see in a few american shows when they smuggle chinese or mexican people inside the United States. We then are introduced to Animacity home of the animals as some happy place, but what seems like a terrorist attack happens just as the little Tanuki girl enter, which leads to my favorite moment in the show.

A huge tv screen drops down on the crowd in the city which were looking at the screen for the cities tenth anniversary.(Which kinda felt a bit exposinatny for my taste) and the Tanuki girl tries to save an old goat.. the face on that goat made me smile so hard. Also when she is yelling crap crap crap.. when she is about to get crushed really amused me. She is saved by a crying wolf who is blisteringly fast while the old goat still has his 10/10 face. Amazing I loved this moment. Tanuki girl is accused of the bombing by the wolf, who seems like some sort of private detective but she convinces him it was some sort of other wolf she saw earlier. Using his nose, which was a really cool visual, he pursues the actual terrorist.

The episode concludes in a big epic fight that like other Trigger feels quite over the top. Yet I feel could have been a bit bolder. It felt very visceral and violent though and the punches have this nice connecty feeling and characters can bulk up to the extreme. Visually this is why I love Trigger so much. The bad guys are hired by humans which triggers the wolf into wanting to kill them. The Tanuki girl catches up and stops him.. revealing she was once a human to setting up  a mystery for the next episode.

All in all a fine first episode. I wasn’t as amazed as I would like from Trigger but it is definitely I will enjoy seeing again next week. There is plenty of stuff. My rating of this episode is a Peach out of Pink.. it’s on the right track but it could be pinker!

YU-GI-OH SEVENS EPISODE 1

The moment this started up with a big commercial for a new form of card game named Rush duel I knew I was going to have a rough time. It did not help that my second serving of cereal had to much rice thingies with to little milk. My mouth was getting dry as in horror I saw the main character bursting through something.. with a giant mecha..while holding some Yu-gi-oh cards. In the second scene we see him trying to install some new duel rules and I began to really regret putting this on the list. I could have put the new pokémon season here.

The opening did not help either, many of these characters look super generic and referencing to old shows a bit.  I liked the girl with the purple hair in it though..so perhaps there is some hope. After the intro we get a glimmer of hope though, the world building seems quite interesting with a Kaiba Corp clone really bogging people down with super strict rules, enforced by camera robots. Breaking these rules will get you a strike and getting six strikes will get you banned from dueling.  While trying to install the new rules.. and he failed Yuga the main character failed and now has five strikes. All in all fair.

This attracts the attention of three peers. Gakuto looks like the Seto Kaiba from season 1.. but with purple hair and the demeanour of Bastion Misawa from GX.. but more snively and whiny. He is the type that is afraid of breaking the rules and he annoyingly yells it out all the time. Tatsuhisa is a blue haired kid who has the power.. to do a sparky thing to disable electronic devices. He duels an ancient tablet under the city that spawns a crowned man .. but he lost and got six strikes due to it..due to the prophecy written on this tablet he now thinks Yuga might be the one to activate it. Romin is the purple haired girl.. she plays music and doesn’t know how to duel.

That is all the characterization we get in episode 1 because we have to move into a rush duel. Yuga installs his new rules but they have to be implemented or such.. but a guard droid spots him and he has 6 minutes and 66 seconds ( which ISN’T even a legit time expresion and just is there to tell us this new Kaiba Corp is evil i’d guess) to implement the rules by a live action programming. Luckily his duels can be fought in that time he says. Which basicly involve a weird form of dueling with three zones instead of five and where you can always draw five cards, and summon and tribute as much as you want in a single turn… like Yu-Gi-Oh needed more speed?!

While the duel itself was entertaining enough, the ace monster of the main character feels insanely gimmicky (it powers up 300 points per any of the seven attributes) an ability Yuga called road over 7 or something. The duel disks also changed into a seven, It’s the seventh series and the series is called Sevens. Well Sevens is correct as there are a lot of them not subtle either. My favorite moment came just before the hero summons his ace though, when Blue Eyes white dragon makes it return. Too bad it’s massive 3000 attack gets hit by a 7000 attack ending the duel in one turn after it was summoned. This show is going to have some serious pacing issues.

Now this might sound super negative and in a way it is, but there is some merrit behind the concept of rush dueling. If they make better duels than this, the format could be interesting for the anime allowing for some more storytelling on the side. It’s like a really ugly oyster.. it still might hold a pearl. For now however this gets a Salmon out of Pink. It can be called pink.. but you could also say it’s a soft shade of orange.  There is a charm factor in there.. but something about it is really Fishy.

BOFURI EPISODE 1

No more cereal, I can pay some serious attention to this one!  Immediately I find the main character Kaede very appealing. There is something about her mindset that I really dig. Gaming with your friend but then being left alone to your own devices is something I can relate to fairly well. While I have absolutely zero interest in her school live, we jump into the virtual world of the mmo she is about to play very soon and I really enjoy the way she over simplistically builds her character. I like the concept of being so Noob in strategy  that the devs would not realise how broken this is. It’s nothing special.. but it brings me back to the age of classic Dragon Ball. Which is a good thing.

Kaede choose the handle Maple, because I assume that is what her name translates into? Unsure though.I enjoy how she is depicted as a newbie in the style that I would act as well. While I am a gamer MMO’s can at times feel overwhelming to me and instead of reading a 40 page guide on how to Cleric I prefer to pick up  skills as I go. Also I love the concept of this MMO not having a tutorial, it would bring some sense of community, which I feel a virtual MMO should be about.. so points for world building. We see how Maple is super slow.. she doesn’t want to feel pain so she goes for a full defensive build..which makes me wonder why they even feel virtual pain in the first place that seems kinda cruel.. point retracted from world building.

Soon after we get my favorite scene in the episode. Maple encounters a cute bunny enemy which she completely outstats. She is just having a lot of fun letting it attack her and playing with it, just enjoying how it relentlessly tries it best. I would play an MMO like that as well. Just having fun, enjoying the animations and the cute creatures.However in this MMO your skills are developed situationally which I think is a cool concept. When she after a long time of playing accidentally kills it she is actually upset as she bonded with it.  That did happen to me.. when I played a MMO once.  Since Maple plays at night she dozes off while playing which triggers a number of defensive boosts. I found this set up pleasing throughout the entire episode.

To gear up she is told to go to a dungeon as she lacks money to buy crafted items, under explained that you should not clear dungeons alone we see her do exactly that, locking her up into some more insane upgrades ending up with her getting some amazing gear since obviously all drops are now for her! I would love to be able to play an MMO that way! This is how I want to play I absolutely adore it.  Her eating the monster because her weapon broke was funny to me to and felt as if the cooking mechanic kinda was exploited. Fun fun fun fun fun!

I’d rank this episode a Bubblegum out of Pink. Cute adorable and exactly in line with my mindset, there is little gripes I have against this one.It might be a bit to pastelly and lack true colour depth.. but  for a Saturday morning “cartoon” this is what I want.

BOFURI EPISODE 2

Forgive me for the length of this post, this is about a whole weeks worth of blogging in one. But starting from second episodes I can be a bit quicker so next weeks installment will be a bit more brief. As now I do not need to talk about set up as much.  Episode 2 of Bofuri  started with me missing the first minute. Due to set up issues.  I dropped in to see Maple eating some bugs to raise her explosive awareness and acquire an enemy devour trait she puts in her shield.

The first half of the episode revolves around a PvP event, I love how Maple due to being such a Noob is able to  outplay many enemies, simply based on how her mindset is so much simpler. Enemies strategise wrongly against her, and she ends up easily being able to take them down due to her non gamer build. That really is something special about this show to me.  I also really love the set pieces. The locations are quite pretty, nothing to special but there is a way they work with lighting here that really makes it stand out to me.  I also really like how Maple starts drawing in the sand during the PvP event .. Jeesz I wish we could get mmos like these. That concept of “just have fun” is something I deeply DEEPLY appreciate in Maple. The drawing scene while she casually dismisses some enemies just to say “back to drawing” was my favorite moment of the episode.

Which is why I like the second half of this episode significantly less. This focusses on Risa or Sally as she is known inside NewWorld Online.  It’s about her start in the game and while obviously that was a point that needs to address this feels like a more normal brand of gamer. Sally doesn’t dump everything into a stat. she is more of a min-maxer that tries to go for an optimal build. This vexes me for two reasons.. she sees how powerful Maple is.. so if your goal truly is to never get hit by anything, why not try to experiment in the same way as Maple did?! Secondly we see her solo a boss as well which invalidates the whole concept of Maple being so strangely OP.. it kinda feels like it’s “Just an easy game” now.

That being said, I do like how they play together, like true friends should. Maple even wears her newbie gear to they kinda look like they belong together, which I appreciate. Sally helps Maple fish because her dex is to low.. and Maple needs scales to get  cute white shield she wants. It felt wholesome .. the idea of discovering something cool while doing that fishing also quite appealed to me. I hope Sally doesn’t rub of Maple to hard and she will do her own thing in building her character.. but I do not mind them having moments. I am also surprised how the anime keeps putting in a lot of content in each episode. So far both episodes feel like 2 smaller episodes strung together .. and it’s pacing that really pleased me.

Not as good as the first episode but still among the best I watched this saturday. I rate this one a Seashell Pink out of Pink. It’s like a mario game! It’s cute, it’s fun and you want more of it… but when you find out this is a water level, you can not help but to prefer to have seen something a bit different.

HIKARU NO GO EPISODE 1

A young boy with two shades of hair finds an ancient relic from their grandfather and then becomes possessed by an ancient spirit which prompts them to become the king of games, by creating traps for their opponents.  Haven’t I seen this plot somewhere before? It even ran around the same period as Yu-Gi-Oh. Starting in 2001.  Come to think of it Shaman King aired in 2001 as well. I guess ancient spirit buddy cop series were the Isekai show of 2001.

Now unlike Yu-Gi-Oh I have not a clue on how Go is played.. and after this first episode I think it’s about surrounding an enemy stone with your own and you win if you get 4 or 5? But I am not sure yet. Anyway this first episode of this anime felt like  a bit of a mixed bag for me. With some highlights and some lows.  The lows mostly taking part in the first part of the episode. We see Hikaru find a go Board in his grandpa’s attic along with a girl.. he sees blood stains on the board while she does not.. he then hears a voice and gets a vision of this spirit.

An ancient Go player that got cheated out of a coveted position in the king’s court, which made him drown himself.  Having last possessed an ancient Go player from the Edo period this spirit now wants to be able to do some divine move so he can rest. While a fair set up I can’t help but feel what an incredibly sad figure Sai is. Not sad as in tragic but as in pathetic. His suicide is something that really made me dislike him. I get that I might miss a cultural significance of importance and honor here but man. The way he cries when he can play a match again trough Hikaru, his goal.. it all just feels kinda.. meh.

Hikaru on the other hand I understand, playing games to get the spirit that possessed you out of your head while also letting him help you with your homework, I really like that form of synergy as  base to start a show out of. I personally do not buy that you are send to school just hours after you collapsed into a catatonic state that lasted long enough for paramedics to come pick you up and rush you to a hospital even if it  had no medical but spiritual grounds. I’d figure people would tell him.. take it safe stay home today.Even when he starts to vomit  out of nowhere and talk into nothing.. he is still forced to make a test….  So I had big credibility issues with the first episode. Which could have been simply solved by establishing Hikaru as a “Boy who Cried wolf” type of character, as is though this is one cruel school.

The second half focussing on a match against youth prodigy Akira whom he randomly encounters in a Go Café.  The way things are framed, the way the game is paced out, the back and forth from camera angles the way we take a peak in both players heads as well as Sai’s really makes for an interesting mixture for matches.  It feels like what makes Yu-Gi-Oh  great.. without the stupid shenanigans which dragged it down again. The fact that Hikaru can count so fast on a Go Board and picks nuances up quite fast gives potential for the future as well.  I love the character design so far as well. It doesn’t feel as lavish and zany as some of the other early 2000 stuff. Making it much more based in reality. In a way making the characters, except for Sai much more relatable. Not an amazing first episode but a nice solid first match.

I’d rate this a Piggy Pink out of Pink. At first glance it looks a bit dirty but than you stare in it’s eyes for a bit longer and you can not help to be endeared. If the tone moves more towards that of the second half of this first episode.. this show can bring home the bacon for me.

Week 1

Now with a Whole  weeks worth of blogging we end on a quick sumary.
Favorite Watch: Bofuri (Episode 1)
Favorite Moment: USAGI SAAAAN! (Bofuri)

Least Favorite Watch:  Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens (Episode 1)
Least Favorite Moment: Sai Crying (Hikaru no Go)

Cereal: Brandless Choco Rice things.. with a monkey on the box!
Bowls Consumed : Two
Favorite Commercial: Sweater Chicken