「Tempest Turn」

I was anticipating some content to be skipped if this adaptation was going to make any headway with twelve episodes, but I wasn’t expecting five chapters to be sped through in a mere twenty minutes. It was a furious and pace and came at the cost of a lengthy flashback, which is unfortunate because it showed a lot more depth to Ingrid’s character. In addition, it would’ve provided another taste of the gruesome side of the series where Pandoras and Limiters are mutilated by Nova. From a production standpoint, I can understand why it was taken out given the limited time frame though. After all, Ingrid’s adamant enforcement of hierarchy between Pandora isn’t the main focus of the series, nor is her misinterpreted way of honoring her friend Marine Maxwell (Kasahara Akira).

Admittedly, I did find it unusual to see Ganessa filling Kazuya in on what happened a year ago, since there hasn’t been any indication she’s had a complete change of heart. It definitely seemed a bit out of place to see her so nice all of a sudden, especially when Kazuya’s friends Hiiragi Kaho (Ookubu Rumi) and Arthur Clipton (Okamoto Nobuhiko) were present just like the manga and could have explained it to him. If I were to guess, I suspect the decision to add Ganessa to that incident and tell the story through her was to put more weight on it. In lieu of seeing a bunch of nameless first-year students get slaughtered from a surprise Nova attack, hearing about it from someone who was there and lived to talk about it changes the perspective ever so slightly, especially when it’s a character I’m already familiar with. It also increased the impact in some scenes and helped offset the brevity of the one and a half chapters of flashback to a certain degree.

Much like the previous episode, one aspect of this adaptation that I continue to enjoy is the action. The manga’s artwork is really nice and depicts the Pandora fights really well, but there’s nothing like seeing it all in motion with the sound effects and voices. Even with the animation inconsistencies and the quality taking a noticeable dip in various scenes, it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment all that much. This is taking into account how Satellizer’s fight with Ingrid at night didn’t help that cause, seeing as AT-X’s broadcast never seems to look all that great contrast-wise. Still, from the use of Accel Turns and Tempest Turns to the anime’s version of Pandora Mode, there were enough flashy high-speed clashes going on to keep the tension up when it was supposed to be.

As the subtle purpose of Satellizer’s fight against Ingrid was to edge Kazuya closer towards becoming her Limiter, it was naturally his time to shine by leaving everyone in awe with his Nova-like Freezing ability that completely neutralized Ingrid’s Limiter, Leo Bernard (Shiibashi Kazuyoshi). While there’s still a mismatch between his character voice and character development in that the former doesn’t match up to the latter, Kazuya has started showing signs of becoming a reliable male lead in the series. Granted, that’s primarily attributed to his unique Freezing ability, but he deserves some credit for offering to be Satellizer’s Limiter when no one else would. In comparison, Noto Mamiko has finally started using her meaner-sounding voice for Satellizer, which has been quite a treat to listen to. It contrasts nicely to the one she uses for the Untouchable Queen’s girlish side and is why I gather she was cast for the role.

Anyway, next episode sees the arrival of Rana Linchen from Tibet, whom I wasn’t expecting to see until episode six or seven. Her relatively late appearance is why I found it kind of weird to see Hanazawa Kana with Mamiko during those promotional videos; however, “late” no longer applies given how quickly the anime’s covering the material. It’s already time for the love rival to make her grand entrance.

 

Preview

54 Comments

  1. The flashback would have made Ingrid a lot more popular…which from the production perspective might not have been the best option considering they would like Stella’s figurine to sell better (hence they needed “villians” for Stella to “pwn”).

    kaminakun
  2. I know ecchi-ness is expected in this show, considering the source material, but damn…. this show is making me feel more and more like a pervert. Nope, not even gonna pretend to hide boobies with camea trick…

    masso
    1. yeah, too bad about the armor pandora mode. but i do hope they would still somehow include it in the anime version, something like wearing it while fighting the novas or something later on in the series. wishful thinking i guess. anyway, its rather hard for me to watch it in my office because of d fanservice. cant watch at home either. gotta think of a way… hehe…^^,

      kaz
    2. I actually prefer this version of Pandora mode. There was something about the armored form in the manhwa that just bugged the hell out of me, maybe it was the mechanical design or the similarity to Bubblegum Crisis, but I just didn’t like the look of them. This version, I think, better represents ‘lethal overclocking’ because they are visually flooding their bodies with energy.

      Kurotetsu
      1. Even in the manwa so is Pandora mode not really the suits, but rather overloading the implants and the suits are there to protect the wearer from the side effects of doing that. They do pandora mode later in the manwa without the suits to. So the anime’s version of pandora mode doesn’t break that much with the manwa concepts really.

        Znail
    3. I think the change is good, as cool as the robosuits in the manwa are they’re a little too much of a ripoff from Bubblegum Crisis if you ask me. I think the anime did the right choice by changing it, and also they’ve made accel turn look pretty damn badass if you ask me.

      GP007
      1. yes and in turn they made pandora mode look like the valkyrias in Valkyria Chronicles.
        Even though it is similar to the bubblegum crisis one, imo they took out the Pandora Mode armor for the sake of more fan service.

        rasone0104
  3. It was kind of annoying to see the “uncensored” version so badly censored. Half the screen or more being black is the reason I don’t want to watch the censored, widescreen version. So why do we have to put up with it here?

    Murialita
  4. The last few scenes was quite baffling.

    “Thanks for saving me” LOLWUT??? Kazuya, you’re the one that saved someone (through your Freezing), not the one that got saved LOL

    entropy13
    1. Actually, she did. Ingrid decided to target Aoi, but Satellizer got in the way of that. And it’s the second time that happened as it happened in the previous fight too. Satellizer tends to rally her strength when Aoi gets threatened.

      Znail
  5. is it just me or does anyone else really hate kazuya? is he dumb? does he not know he’s f’n things up for her? does he have no bounds? he just walks into a girls room? he just reads her diary? he just keeps getting in her way… i don’t care how strong he is, he’s a freaking idiot. ruining this anime for me.

    waffle
    1. He’s a determined person and Satellizer doesn’t have a single friend at the West Genetics. When others see her as a trouble-maker or someone who is ruthless and shows no mercy. He sees her as someone kind and gentle. Plus, he didn’t read her diary he was tempted but backed down. With the last episode she could of continued to walk away and leave Kazuya be with the Pandora-hoarder but didn’t. She kinds of likes him as he’s the first person who she doesn’t mind having her touch him.

      Silentcid
      1. Aside from his walking in on her nude or burying his face in her tits in episode 1 he is one hell of a male character. He already is the most powerful Limiter and is loyal, honest, and determined. Quite the contrast from the unual male lead character that has the backbone of a pudding cup.

        Karmafan
      2. jumping ontop of her in the middle of a fight isn’t dumb? not only once, but he did it twice… i can overlook episode one since he’s a freaking noob and ruins her eyesight, but i’m still hung up on episode 3… you’re right, she didn’t have any friends, but at the same time she had her pride, and after that, she lost everything. again, ruined it for me. lol

        waffle
      3. I agree and disagree with you at the same time. It is true that Kazuya has a strong resolve of trying to do the right thing. But the problem is that everything he tries to do, he does it so incorrectly. Everytime he tries to help, he gets in the way. He has the right mentality but the wrong actions.

        Kazuya is just the kind of characters who makes himself look worse by trying to act tough.

        banzemanga
  6. The change that somewhat bothered me in this episode is that they removed the teacher threatening to kill Satellizer if she didn’t stay away from Aoi. It made it seem like the only reason Satellizer was pushing away Aoi was because of her being too shy to do the baptism. Otherwise so did I find this episode quite good. It flowed pretty well.

    Znail
  7. This anime is still peaking my interest as usual. In the beginning Kazuya seemed like a weak guy but I’m starting to change my opinion. He did jump in betweeen Ingrid and Satellizer to stop Ingrid from hurting Satellizer. Pretty brave knowing that Ingrid is ranked number 7 and could destroy a whole building side with a thrust of her weapon. Anyways, good anime with the plot developing. It might be quicker than the manga but it’s still good and the animation helps too.

    Zangkin
  8. I’m just a bit saddened that the flashback was so drastically cut short. Understandable given that this probably isn’t going to be a “full-fledged” series (24+ episodes), so they couldn’t spend 2-3 episodes on each fight, but it takes away quite a bit of the impact of the explanation as well as sadness and sympathy for Ingrid, IMO. Ganessa already being up and about is another huge change from the manga too as originally, she doesn’t get out of medical care for like…over a dozen chapters or so.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  9. It’s been a while since I read the first chapters of the manhwa but I think the anime is doing a great job of animating the manhwa so far. I think they could have done better at picking a VA for Kazuya but its not bad either. The only thing I wish they had really done better though was Ingrids part(flashbacks and everything) but I guess if it gives them more time for Satellizer’s past then it’s fine the way they did it. I can’t wait for the next episode! Hey Divine, how many chapters of the manhwa do you think the anime will cover?

    Justa_Dream
  10. Divine, since the manga is still in production, is there a specific point you anticipate will be the end of the season, like some major cliffhanger or something (assuming there will be a second season) or do you think they’ll make an anime-original ending?

    Bossun
      1. I posted last week that I thought it would end around the time the new character is introduced and maybe even up to it ending on a cliffhanger with the Show Spoiler ▼

        Instead they unexpectedly leapfrogged past a bunch of cool stuff and story and maybe trying to completely finish that event (in the spoiler).

        Karmafan
  11. I love this series! I don’t have to watch it in public so if it feels a bit like a very action-packed hentai at times (albeit a softcore one), I don’t mind. 😉 I’m really hoping we soon get to see what the ‘baptism’ is they keep talking about. Sounds like a bit more … ‘involved’ version of the Negima kiss-contracts. If someone wants to spoil it for me feel free but do use tags.

    Guardian
  12. I like this much better than IS but don’t like how quickly Satellizer fell for Kazuya, I thought she didn’t like being touched at all,
    I thought she had a traumatic experience that even extremely nice guys who wouldn’t make the first move without permission get no exception from. Does have anything to do with his 30% stigma body?

    jingoi

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