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All posts for the month August, 2010

Highschool of the Dead Episode 9

Posted by Alex on August 30, 2010
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The Sword and the DEAD.

Alex:Ah, the episode I had hoped this series would avoid finally comes. The episode where our main character develops his love triangle with Saeko and Rei.From going on a date to running down zombies, this episode manages everything, and it does it with  pretty awesome flair.
If anything good came out of this episode, Saeko became a little more friendly, actually holding a conversation and changing the tempo of her voice when talking. Not much to say about it though, it’s just your average character development episode coupled with getting wet and smacking zombies. And Saeko got a real sword, FUCK YEAH.

This action was as i’d expect from this series, epic, fast paced, and coupled with a piece of music that suits the mood perfectly,and putting fanservice aside, the animation in this episode. was some of the best i’ve seen from this series.

Luckily, it looks like this series is going to through us one hell of a fanservicely amazing ending, as we’re done with the mandatory fleshing out of the main characters, with any luck.

Nurarihyon no Mago Episode 8

Posted by Alex on August 28, 2010
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“Tragic Umewakamaru”

Mimi: An episode all about Gyuki’s past. It’s a nice change of pace, though I can’t say that anything was surprising. I figured that he had a tragic past of some kind, which is why he appears so cold and distant now. During his youth, he was very close to his mother, but she was devoured by a youkai called Gyuki. He defeated it and went on a killing-humans rampage after that, earning his reputation as the next Gyuki. Eventually, Rikuo popped up by his place and they engaged in battle with him coming out as the winner. Rikuo acknowledged Gyuki as being a very strong youkai, so he asked him to join his clan, which he did. Now I wonder how they are going to settle things in the present because Gyuki seems to feel very unpleasant about the current state of things. Or perhaps Gyuki is just testing Rikuo to see how serious he is in becoming the third heir. We shall see in the next episode I suppose~

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu Episode 9

Posted by Alex on August 28, 2010
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“Rule Fragment”

Alex:So to be honest, I can honestly say I do not feel like doing a proper blog entry here, i’d much rather continue playing through my copy of Umineko7. So i’ll be blunt.

Turns out those pink haired people from last time are also collecting hero relics and they’re a pretty dangerous couple, responsible for the murders of the whole forests villagers because theyu saw the dragon. The way they use the artifacts in the fight against Ferris and Ryner causes Ryner to snap and unleash the dangerous magic of his alpha stigma.

Is it epic? Yeah. Is it as good as it could have been? Nope.

Least this thing is twenty plus episodes, so it’s got much more time to expand on this, considering its not even the halfway point. Sadly, its looking like this will be one of those “will it do well or will it disappoint” anime.

I like the fact that they used a different extract from the song for the ED, though. Gives it a fresh taste, but I don’t like it as much as the first extract.

Digimon Xros Wars Episode 8

Posted by Alex on August 28, 2010
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“The Brave General Tactimon Draws Near!”

Mimi: My posts are going to be a bit slower now because I just started college back. I’ll probably do most of my blogging during the weekend if anybody cares yet. =P Okay, now, let’s talk about this week’s episode of Digimon. Yeah, it was mostly predictable, but it felt more decent than the others so far. Taiki ends up surrendering to AncientVolcamon and giving him a fake Xros Loader so that they won’t fight in the cave; otherwise, the cave would likely collapse on them. What a bright kid. So everyone gets imprisoned with a group of other Digimon, and Cutemon learns that his parents are indeed alive, but they were just transferred somewhere else. Eventually, they focus their efforts on getting out of the cave, and they dig their way out.

In the meantime, Tactimon receives word that they have been captured, and he orders their execution upon his arrival there. Baalmon also shows up, but he is only an annoyance to Tactimon. Why do I get the feeling that Baalmon is going to end up a good guy in the end? Although he’s evil at the moment, he doesn’t really get along with Baguramon’s guys. I’m still interested to see what will become of him.

Of course, there’s going to be no execution for our young heroes. Taiki and the others escape the cave, and he has a showdown with AncientVolcamon. He summons Agumon to help out, but all he does is stun him for a moment to allow ShoutmonX4 to re-cooperate from a big blow. It seems that Taiki will use these legendary Digimon every single chance he gets. I get this feeling that he shouldn’t use them that much, but ah well. Some of the attacks here are cool to watch; lots of fireworks and pretty lights.

After AncientVolcamon is defeated, Tactimon suddenly appears on the battle stage. Plot twist moment!  Dorulumon used to be on Baguramon’s side and attacked villages before. Well, it’s still not totally clear if Dorulumon was forced in the past or what, but he did do some bad things it sounds like. I’m sure Taiki and the gang will still accept him though cuz they’re just nice and forgiving like that. I think the next episode will be Dorulumon vs. Tactimon, so I’m kind of looking forward to it. At least, it outta be better than the average fight.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 9

Posted by Alex on August 26, 2010
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Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex:Screw the fact that this was cliched,  this worked perfectly.

Yeah. So by now its obvious that this show is gonna have to pull one hell of a climax to make itself stand out from the crowd of animes, but for what its worth, Ookami-San to Shichinin is genuinely completely enjoyable, if your willing to put aside your hatred of clichés and tsunderes.I cant say that for many shows with a tsundere in it, as there’s normally a much bigger problem in the background, like Shakugan No Shana.And honestly? I didn’t expect this show to be any better than your generic tsundere show, because J.C staff are behind it.

This episode was all about two things. Number one- Give Ringo some more backstory. Number two- Make a serious swimsuit episode. And hey, it pulled them both of with the charm and flair i’ve come to expect from this show. The scene where Ringo, the reliable character you can always fall back onto, shed a tear when she thought her half sister was going to drown was everything a dramatic moment should be. Talking of the drama, its not often you get realistic drama in anime. It’s perfectly realistic for a kid to  fall into the deep part of a swimming pool, and their thrashing to injure/knock unconscious a teenage girl who’s trying to save them.Its also realistic to need to give them first-aid, and for a lifeguard (especially in such a crowded pool) to take his time arriving.

But goddaaamiiiit Ookami-san, just be true to yourself so we can stay away from the clichéd scenes which are undoubtedly going to happen in this climax. We all know you’ll end up with Ryoshi.

Occult Academy Episode 8

Posted by Alex on August 24, 2010
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“Mamma AMI~ya!”

Mimi: Weak episode. Maya and Ami are at odds with each other through the next day, Ami gets kidnapped by a random green goblin called a chupacabra, the whole gang rescues her, and the two friends make up. That’s it. Not even using Kozue as a comic relief is successful this time; all she does is lose her glasses repeatedly and fall into pits. Ah well, at least the music and fighting is good….especially the music. With only five episodes left though, I hope there won’t be any more fillers like this one.

Some parts of this episode are pretty awkward though. When Ami gets bitten by the chupacabra in her back, there’s no sign of harm on her later on..her shirt isn’t even torn if I recall correctly. Then during the kidnapping process, Maya and Kozue don’t look all that surprised..or worried..they just stand there with half-confused looks. Later on when Maya offers her hand to rescue Ami from a lower floor level, Ami is hesitant on taking it even when she’s surrounded by the chupacabras. What could she possibly have second thoughts about? Just a weird episode.

Highschool of the Dead Episode 8

Posted by Alex on August 23, 2010
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The Dead road home

Alex:Lets do a calculation here.Busujima’s breasts have to be moving faster than a speeding bullet (which is 500 m/s) in order for it to travel between her breasts successfully like it did in this episode.Its amazing what anime characters can manage these days.I gotta give points to the creative fanservice, really.

But okay, 8 episodes in and I still see complaints everywhere. “There’s too much fanservice” “the zombies are too dumb” and so on. I wish they’d shut up about that, because HOTD is an action show, and it shines as one. Yeah, with less fanservice it would be better, but that’s the way Japan works. If I was raised watching hentei instead of porn, i’d want fanservice. Just like how american TV shows have stupidly hot females in lead roles. Its nothing more than a cultural difference >_>

The climax here worked well, as did the action. It wasn’t the best, but it, along with the amazing soundtrack piece they had, really made it feel like the characters were going to die here, and only  Takashi and Busujima would survive. Its not everyday I get swept along in an atmosphere like that. It’s also nice to see them get a change of clothes.

Review:Seitokai No Ichizon

Posted by Alex on August 23, 2010
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Hekiou Academy Student Council Meeting Log

Alex:“How do you spell Melancholy? It’s a surefire way to sell copies of your anime. I was thinking…The Melancholy of Hekiou Academy Student Council as our name!”

With an opening like that, you’d be expecting this to be some lame parody anime, -coughLUCKYSTARcough-, you’d be wrong. Whilst it is an anime based on parodies of other animes, it’s also funny. And by that, its VERY FUNNY.What happens when four pretty girls and one handsome guy spend most of their schoolife everyday in a classroom? If you were thinking “oh my god, not another harem” then you were right! Much to my amusement, Seitokai no Ichizon is NOT a harem, even though our male protagonist tries very hard to make it so, and he wants the good ending, where he gets all the heroines.

The twelve episodes mostly consist of the five of them talking and chatting away in the student council room, and to my surprise, it doesn’t get boring.They break the 4th wall and even poke fun at their own lack of character growth, but in actuality most characters have had their fair share of developments through learning about each others’ past or family problems. Whilst it’s not as dramatic as some Key works (go parody), the drama is often enough to change the pace of the episode, and it works. Be it dealing with the fact that Kurimu acts like a high schooler and wants to play in a sandpit, or Mafuyu refuses to put down her Portable System Player (put that together and see what you get) because she’s a games addict, or the fact that Ken wants to make everyone fall in love with him and to get a harem ending, they have enough quirks to make this anime worth watching.

That said, if your not into the whole breaking the 4th wall and accepting that they’re anime characters and they dont want to lose to popular shows, this isn’t for you, by a long shot. Every episode is chockfull of referances to Haruhi, Lucky Star, Death Note, Dragonball, Higurashi,Strike Witches, Kuroshitsuji, Internet Memes, the list goes on.They were just the most memorable scenes to me. If you’re looking for a good laugh, and an anime to poke fun at anime, give this a go; its worth it.

Alex’s Score: 7.5 Meeps out of 10 (Good)

(added .5 because I personally loved the parodies)

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu Episode 8

Posted by Alex on August 23, 2010
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“The Estabul Revolt”

Alex:This episode took a step back from the comedy to focus on the political side of matters, the revolt in Estabul of the anti-king nobles.It didn’t seem like it would change the plot of the story that much, and was rather used to show more of Sion, and the situations he finds himself in on a day to day basis, and it’s much more of an episode to flesh out all of Sion’s underlings, such as Claugh.

Sadly, it was pretty obvious from the moment I got my eyes on the Princess of Estabul that she would be a character who’d join Sion, and fight for what she believed to be true and fair like your typical princess.

However, they’re building up Miran’s character into someone who’s seriously dark, and myself, I’m loving all the screentime he’s got this episode. He’s still your stereotypical evil badguy, yet he’s slowly breaking out that mold as he commences his own plans, and appears to be playing Roland as he pleases. What’s truly interesting is that Sion notices this, and still seems to blame himself for it all.

Review:Eve No Jikan

Posted by Alex on August 22, 2010
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Time of Eve

Alex:In the future, probably Japan. Robots have long seen practical use, and shortly after, Androids came into common usage.

Eve No Jikan is one of the weirder shows to write about, because it acts like a series, but it remains an ONA, and as such, is shorter than a series, with 5 episodes of 17 minutes and 1 episode of 28 minutes. Short anime have a common issue, they can’t portray the right combination of character development, plot, and conflict.

Eve No Jikan, however, manages all three of those and a fair amount more, which is why its one of the better sci-fi anime around.

The animation is eye candy, to be simple. Its elegant, yet simple, and the character designs are all quirky enough to distinguish. There’s a fair amount of CG, which is utterly gorgeous when used alongside everything else.It also has its own fair share of unique camera angles and shots, and everything just “fits”. Being someone who’s fussy about animation quality, this show was completely fine. I can’t see anyone disliking the animation used in it.

Being an ONA, it has a limited soundtrack, but that doesn’t stop it from being impressive.Insert songs fit nicely, as does the finale’s ending song.Sound effects are top notch, and the voice actors are varied and talented in their roles.

The story is about a cafe which treats humans and robots as equals.Its thought provoking, and every episode you spend studying one the people  at the cafe.Be it the couple in love, or the robot who’s long abandoned by the side of the road, the stories are all thought provoking, and pull at the heartstrings when needed.

If your like me, and your fed up and bored with some of the modern trends, aka  harem/shounen/shoujo/mecha animes, Eve no Jikan is like a breath of fresh air and its completely unmissable.

    

Mimi’s Score: 9 Meeps out of 10 (Great)