Random Curiosity

Preview

「水碧む」 (Mizu Aomu)
“Azure Waters”

I had the great fortune of being able to watch this episode of Mushishi with the weather outside my window being in sync with the weather on my screen. The rain motif was also quite fitting for marking Mushishi‘s return to tragedy after having indulged in the happy ending for some time. Since it has discussed mothers protecting their children for so many episodes, it’s only fair that at some point Mushishi shows them fail. It hurts as much as one might expect.

As last week, on watching this episode I can’t really blame people for being wary of the mushi-shi. They are so often bringers of bad news that nobody really wants to hear. They are storm crows, heralds of ill omen, even if most, like Ginko, are only trying to help (and one must admire Ginko’s stalwart dedication to his patients). I’m sure many would prefer to be left alone to feel good about their swimming ability or their superhuman endurance or their hunting skills, but the mushi-shi just have to come and pop their bubble. Yet it was not just Ginko butting his nose into other people’s business; Yuuta’s mother (Orikasa Fumiko) also knew, deep down, that something was wrong with her son. It was interesting, though, how the focus was less on any specific personal harm to Yuuta and more on ‘fixing’ his problems so he could be accepted with his peers. It’s telling of the communal nature of society that the greatest fear is ostracism. Yet Mushishi reminds us that the most important part to making friends is still that most difficult first step: reaching out with goodwill. Incidentally, Yuuta’s bonding moment also made me feel happy for him, which just made his end hurt just that much more.

Yuuta’s fate was not necessarily surprising, and I don’t think the intent was ever to shock the audience. Azure Waters is reminiscent of stories of selkie and similar mythologies, and those almost always, as a rule, end in tragedy. I suspected what was coming, but I still felt those pangs in my chest. The sight of a mother grieving over their child must be universally heartbreaking, especially after watching her try so hard for him as a widow. Mushishi mixes two of its big themes—motherhood and loss—painfully effectively. Yes, Mushishi has dealt with mushi giving humans fleeting second chances before, and the lesson is always to be glad of opportunities rather than regret them, but on some level one still feels the urge to curse the mushi for their fickleness. What the mushi giveth, the mushi taketh away.

One must keep in mind, though, that both Yuuta’s and his mother’s wish was for Yuuta to fit in, and that was what he did, even in the end. Azure Waters stresses all individuals being part of a greater, unseen system. All water may seem different, but all water is the same. Life, like water, runs in cycles. One may be reminded, especially, of The Travelling Swamp from season one. The Travelling Swamp was about the end of a cycle, and the mushi leaves the human behind. Azure Waters is about the renew of a cycle, and the human host is taken with the mushi. In both cases, though, we should look at the greater whole, and that is undying. Water, as river, as clouds, or as ocean, is not destroyed; it is transformed. In the rain, or in our hearts, Yuuta lives.

Preview

「剣士の碑」 (Kenshi no Hi)
“Swordsman’s Memorial”

More Cool than Overpowered

As much as I hate all the jokes about Kirito being overpowered, I can’t deny that there’s some truth to it. Which is why when he showed up last week to take on an entire guild to buy Asuna some time, I wasn’t sure if I’d be disappointed with what he was going to follow up with this week. Luckily, every single second he was on screen was pure bliss (I enjoy looking at Kirito, okay? LOL). Staying within the boundaries of what’s believable and providing enough cover for roughly three minutes, it was also cool to see what he learned from GGO translating into being an even bigger badass within ALO. Also this.

Also, how can you not feel bad for Klein? Not only did we not even get to see his face amongst the sea of people but judging from the sound effects it sounds like he was doing work back there! I mean, I get that he’ll be the running joke till the series comes to an end but sometimes I wish we got to see more of the honest and loyal salaryman turned swordsman. Oh, and to the commenter who pointed out Yui’s awesome smirk last week, I hope you enjoyed that close up of her thumbs-up as much as I did!

Roles in a Party

This is on a complete side-note but seeing how not much really happened this week except for the obvious secret that Yuuki is trying to keep from us (we’ll talk about that later), I just wanted to touch on just how well the show depicted that boss battle. Reminding me of all the struggles of trying to stay in formation while trying to do your specific job back during my MMORPG days, I personally felt a little tinge in my chest watching everyone do their job to create something magical. From the tanks in the frontline to the healers in the back, it got me all nostalgic about the games I could play for hours straight without a care in the world. (Question To the Readers — Have you reached that point in your gaming life where you just can’t get back into MMOs? I know I can’t but that’s what 10+ years of RO will do to a person :/)

Yuuki and The Sleeping Knights

I absolutely do not like where things are heading. While it’s one thing to not let Asuna join the guild because they’re just disbanding because of real-life priorities, it definitely feels like something much darker is hiding in the shadows. At the moment though, we don’t really have much to go on besides that whatever the reason may be, it’s a difficult topic for everyone in the group to talk about. A topic so difficult that it can make the happy-go-lucky Yuuki break down into tears.

Looking Ahead

As much as I don’t want anything sad/bad to happen next week, I can’t help but feel that we’re in for an emotional rollercoaster. With what feels like a Death Flags going off left and right, I can only imagine just how crazy things might get. Hopefully I’ll be completely wrong but it doesn’t feel like it :/

‘Till next week!

「冬の日、心の所在」 (Fuyu no Hi, Kokoro no Shozai)
“Winter Days, Where the Heart Is”

I lost it when Saber teleported in.

Moe, Moe, Kyun~

The queen of the tsunderes has finally revealed herself and it looks like there’s no chance she’s going to slow down. I mean, can you imagine how much effort it took to not only ask Shirou to eat lunch with her but to offer a seat right next to her? Sure it may have been under the guise of “eating in the wind probably sucks” but we all know Rin really wanted c:

Seriously though, this week’s episode was a great one in terms of giving some more personality to someone who originally came off as something of as an Ice Queen. While it may be inherently a part of her mage life to keep nearly everything about herself a secret, secret’s don’t really do much for us, the audience. Which is why little things like Rin trying to apologize about Archer nearly killing Shirou really help establish her reputation as someone more than a mage with a soft spot. Because after all we’ve heard about mages and the way they live their lives (ie: being as effective as possible) it’s nice to know that Rin hasn’t succumbed to that and is truly a kind-hearted person. Sure we may see bits and pieces of it slip out whenever something dangerous rears its ugly-head around but it never hurts to see someone being honest with themselves — am I right?

Unlimited Budget Works

While it’s up to debate just how much money ufotable is sinking into this show, I think we’re all in agreement that everything in the show looks fabulous. And as much as people have talked time and time again about the stunning visuals, I can’t help but highlight the scene where Saber teleported into the school. It may have only been a few seconds but it was so beautiful I literally felt my jaw smack my desk before I realized my mouth was open.

Caster Does what Mages do Best

Just like any good spell caster realizes, a mage’s true position is always the backline. Giving them a clear vision of the battlefield as well as having time to react to whatever might be heading their way, it looks like Caster is abusing her position to its full potential — something you’d expect someone trying to win the Holy Grail would do! Which honestly makes it difficult to fault her for her tactics because as underhanded as they are, they are pretty effective. That said, when you have someone so powerful manipulating things from the shadows you have to wonder what kind of person could be her master. And while we still have no clue who that person may be with the exception that he or she also attends the same school as Shirou and Rin, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were also someone who could fill the role of “frontline nightmare” because what better match could there be?

Show Spoiler ▼

Looking Ahead

Wow, what an episode. Taking care of the Shinji problem in one fell swoop it looks like the story is ready to move on to the Caster problem. Even though I can’t even fathom how they’re going to deal with someone as tenacious as her, I’m willing to bet Archer, Rin, or Shirou will have some trump card they’ll pull out of their sleeves. However, you have to wonder whether or not Shirou and Archer will be able to get over their grievances. Because judging from the preview, it sounds like Archer’s contempt for Shirou is growing ever larger — which makes you wonder if he’s going to go out and attempt to take him out again. Anyways, see you guys next week!

Preview

「変わりゆく戦場」 (Kawari Yuku Senjou)
“The Changing Battlefield”

An action-packed first half leads into a contemplative second half that delves into what makes Shiroe tick.

Don’t Tell Me The Odds

There’s a small line early on where Shiroe gives the odds of them beating Luseat of the Seventh Garden as 50-50. There are two things I like about this. First of all, odds of 50%, 30%, 20%, 10% (& etc) always sound more intimidating than the million-to-one chance, since we know those crop up nine times out of ten (trope!). The human mind isn’t equipped to deal with numbers as big as a million, but we can wrap our mind around one-in-ten, or in this case, a coin toss. That makes it feel more real.

Secondly, they’re decent odds going in are going to make them even more depressed next episode. As we all know from trying to pick the good anime when a season starts, expectations factor heavily into reaction—a highly sought after show that flops is much more disappointing than a low-expectation flop. Here they went in with relatively good expectations, and after two more raid bosses showed up, it’s looking bleak. Their original optimism will be a poison to them now.

Raid Tactics Done Right

The one thing I miss about MMORPGs is raid strategizing, though I don’t miss the timesink required. Allow me to indulge myself though. It’s impressive how quickly the Silver Swords adapted to the 90-second CD sword sweep attack, going from two insta-kills the first time to none the second. What I liked was how believable it was that they’d be able to do that, because they’ve proven their prowess in previous episodes, and even then, they didn’t get it right the first time.

That Evil Poison Root and the following spinning blade throw of doom was rough. I’m guessing it needs to be hidden from or out-of-ranged? Or possibly interrupted. Either way, it appears the poison makes Luseat temporarily ignore aggro, so that’s going to be an interesting one to see how they best. I don’t know the best plan without getting to test things out though.

Shiroe damn near stole the show when he realized the number of Shadow Vanguards that spawned from the armor fragments were equal to the number of people who had attacked Luseat in Black Knight mode. His solution was correct—have the highest DPSers do the damage while everyone else either buffs or handles the Shadow Vanguards. I did give thought to whether I would offtank or kite the Shadow Vanguards instead of killing them, because that would potentially let them burn down Luseat without him constantly healing. I don’t disagree with their plan as they did it, though … offtanking or kiting them could end in a rout if the offtank or kiter went down, whereas letting Luseat heal a little bit and then just burning that health away again is safer. They might want to revisit my plan if the arrival of Taltaulgar of the Fourth Garden and Ibrahabra of the Third Garden is on a specific time limit as opposed to another trigger, though.

Speaking of the raid boss adds (hax!), I have two hypotheses, one of which is the time limit one I mentioned above. The other is that any raid boss who was not defeated elsewhere (assuming Luseat is the final one) would join in on the Luseat battle … kind of a “Finish the whole damn dungeon!” tax. Or the encounter could be unwinnable, but I don’t believe that. Personally, I would have already probably already brought a Legion Raid (96 people) and zerged the fucker down, but I’m less clever than Shiroe, so I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeve to beat them. After they get over how terribly owned they got.

The Introvert’s Dilemma

Shiroe’s backstory was a little too much tell instead of show, though I don’t know how they could get around that with a character like Shiroe, who plays his cards so close to his chest. I was struck by how well he embodies the introvert’s dilemma. Shiroe clearly needs significant time alone, and it’s the more gregarious characters around by far. In his guildmates at Log Horizon and his other friends, he has found people who understand that, and are there when he needs people. When he was a little kid though, he was lonely without his parents alone, despite his introversion. I don’t think he would have been sitting at the dinner table chatting about his day. Likely he would have watched TV quietly or played in his room. Yet having them there would have abolished much of his loneliness. And that’s the dilemma—introverts need people, but we don’t always need them right here. We just need to be able to get to them when we’re rested up and ready for social time.

Not Good At Being A Child

Shiroe also struck me as someone who wasn’t very good at being a kid, though maybe I’m projecting. Now being an adult? He seems fairly good at that. But being unusually intelligent and withdrawn can be rough as a child, especially when you’re dealing with absent parents. It reminded me of a line from Ted in How I Met Your Mother:

You know what? I’m done being single, I’m not good at it. Look, obviously you can’t tell a woman you just met that you love her, but it sucks that you can’t. I’ll tell you something though, if a woman, not you, just some hypothetical woman, were to bear with me through all this, I think I’d make a damn good husband, because that’s the stuff I’d be good at. Stuff like making her laugh and being a good father and walking her five hypothetical dogs. Being a good kisser…

Maybe I am projecting, but the young Shiroe who became used to feeling like he wanted to die doesn’t feel like a soul well-suited for childhood. He feels like the type who would have loved to skip all that childhood stuff, but wasn’t able to. Now that he’s here though, he has to deal with the baggage from that childhood he wasn’t good at, and all those small failures he couldn’t avoid.

Lies and the Third Party

I’m not sure how I feel about Shiroe’s lies during his search for the third party. Look, Shiroe is effectively a politician, and no matter how much we howl about how politicians should be honest, that’s poppycock. Lies and half-truths are useful tools in the political game. They need to bring benefit with them, though, otherwise you’re just being a liar. Here, I don’t see the benefit aside from reducing the possibility of a leak, but what’s the damn point if Shiroe can’t even trust those closest to him? And they might see something that he’s missing. He accurately realized that he wasn’t worried about Minami, he was just running away, pushing them away for no benefit. I hope he comes clean with them, for it will make him an even better leader.

As for the third party that brought them there … well, that’s the central question of the series, eh? I’ll just leave that one as is and let the answer come in time.

To The Moon (Test Server) Again

When Shiroe first said the test server was on the moon, I thought he mean the servers themselves were actually located on the moon. If that’s the case, that’s @#%&*$ing stupid, though even if it’s just that the test zones were based on the moon, that’s a bit silly as a testing environment. Wouldn’t they want to test the zones players are actually going to play in? But I digress.

As for the scene itself, wasn’t there a part on the front we missed again? It would almost feel like a waste of time, save now we know what Shiroe was thinking about, and that he was drawing strength from Akatsuki in much the same way Akatsuki drew strength from him. I still feel like something is missing, but it was better the second time around.

Looking Ahead – Never Give Up, Never Surrender

You’re crazy if you think the Silver Swords and Shiroe are going to give up. Totally crazy. They’re going to whoop that boss and come how with all the gold. Believe it!

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Action explode-y raid time leads to character introspection, with Shiroe as the subject this time #loghorizon s2e9

Random thoughts:

• “One raid boss at a time. That’s the rule.” But this isn’t a game anymore, sir. I still think the Silver Swords will triumph, but there’s no guarantee anymore. Reality is under no obligation to give you a path to victory.

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: The allure of magic, Import, don’t recycle, Impostor syndrome, and Save it for your daydreams. For book updates, sign up for my mailing list.

Preview

Ichibei versus Yhwach is turning out to be long string of one-ups: each of them reveals some new power and his opponent proceeds to counter it with another ability. It’s almost like watching two kids trying to name the biggest number or two guys trying to out-flex each other. Yhwach first restores the power that Ichibei took from him (how is that even possible?) just because “everything in this world exists for his taking”. A very angry Ichibei then blasts him with hundreds of attacks that Yhwach blocks with his Blut armor. Ichibei is only momentarily deterred though as he calls a powerful hadou spell with an extremely long name that summons what looks like a gigantic dragon spirit to destroy his barrier. Yhwach then reveals that his Blut restores itself by consuming everything it touches, which in this case is Ichibei’s own body. Ichibei of course doesn’t care at all as he simply overcomes his predicament with pure force by pulling out his arm, taking some of Yhwach’s flesh along the way. By releasing his shikai Ichimonji, the tip of his brush seems to change into a blade as he prepares to write yet another even more powerful stroke, though no doubt Yhwach will find way to survive it as the plot demands that he stay alive for now. Yhwach hasn’t actually shown all that many offensive abilities, which is usually a sign that he is hiding some truly crazy attacks that will be unleashed once the good guys expend themselves. Ichibei may be an incredibly strong beserker, but he’s played many of his hands already.

「動乱」 (Douran)
“Disturbance”

Well it looks like the series is finally reaching the point where Samonji clashes with Holmes/Garp and Cayenne with Zarl Lontar, as the stage is set for a finale with an army of new Trail Kriegers on both sides. What comes as a bit of a surprise are the circumstances that got us here. Cayenne won’t give up on the war, disobeys orders, and starts a radical movement within the Arandas army that wants to continue fighting. Caught in his movement is our stoic captain, whose opinion on continuing the fight is still somewhat unclear. On the Ingelmia side, Zarl’s role has been replaced by Lontar, who’s manipulative and cunning in a different way. Within Unit 8, Tokimune has long since “graduated” from the reckless, disobedient, dead sister-obsessed pilot and has become a respectable main character. Together, all these developments suggest that the story will conclude around Unit 8 stepping in to get Samonji out of Cayenne’s court-martial-worthy actions, especially now that Suzushiro is in charge. In all likelihood, Izumi will have some involvement in this regard as well, seeing as he’s been promoted to a higher position of power within the Arandas army.

Looking back, I really can’t say any of these developments came as a surprise; however, it’s become rather apparent that Argevollen isn’t going for shock value whatsoever. Up until now, the writers have hinted at the direction things were heading early on and gave viewers plenty of to let each new development sink in. Just take these past three episodes for instance, where there’s been a clear shift of focus to Samonji and mention of the “noise” within the U-Link System. It’s probably no coincidence that this episode highlighted Jamie as the noise in Argevollen that’s kept Tokimune alive all this time. From that, I get the feeling that there will be a similar noise in Perfevollen’s U-Link System that will bring Samonji around—likely from Reika since Perfevollen is the end result of her original experiment. For now, it’s just a matter of finding out how all those moving parts come together in the final three episodes. I have very little doubt that the war will end in some sort of a peace treaty (even if it’s under less than ideal terms for one of the sides), so I’m just curious to see what Suzushiro does to help her beloved captain.

Preview

「チームワークが生まれない!」 (Chīmuwāku ga Umarenai!)
“Can’t Foster Teamwork!”

Another week, another strange episode of Amagi Brilliant Park. I know I sound like a broken record by now, but it does seem that Amaburi has no regard for what genre it’s supposed to be as long as it can make people laugh. Some weeks it even decides to mix and match to create a show that swings between moods in bipolar fashion, making you sit back and question exactly what you just watched.

Despite the strangeness—keeping in mind, as always, that this is supposed to be a show about saving a theme park—the story was built out of very familiar tropes. Let’s have a show of hands—when the big red button appeared, who wasn’t expecting it to be pushed? If Latifa hadn’t strictly warned everyone not to push the button I’m sure nobody would actually have bothered with it. There’s just something about forbidden fruit. And one doesn’t just introduce a juicy Chekhov’s Gun like a big red button and leave it un-pushed. It was so blatant, in fact, that part of me suspected that it was a bit of reverse psychology on Latifa’s part, but she’s too much of an honest girl for that (or is she?). I’m glad that the button was pushed, though, because fairy-tale Maple Castle transforming into steampunk Colditz Castle was awesome. Apparently, king of Maple Land was Dr Doom. The sheer over-the-top nature of the transformation and subsequent siege had me chuckling heartily just from imagining all of it going on in suburban Tokyo. My heart went out, though, for General Moffle, who still can’t catch a break. Even breaking out a Noble Phantasm was not enough to earn him any dignity. Thus the old war adage: cannonballs do not respect rank.

Unfortunately, the ad hoc war was not the main focus of the episode (I could have watched more of that), but rather about the Elementario girls, and not even about them having to sabotage the castle from the inside, commando style. Their plot was one from an older, cheesier time, when party members had to take turns displaying their unique capabilities in completely contrived scenarios (though, ironically, none of their capabilities have anything to do with their elemental affinities). They gave some flimsy excuse for why karaoke and DDR are part of the security system, but what does typing speed have to do with entertainment? It would almost been a parody if only they didn’t play its resolution so straight. Needless to say, we aren’t supposed to take this segment too seriously, and the important part is the Power of Friendship getting them through their Prisoner’s Dilemma. It does seem, though, that none of them really overcame their weakness, and it was more of one member overcoming for the others. I’m not sure that’s how ensemble performances actually work. Really, if you can’t sing or can’t dance, then maybe this isn’t the career path for you.

Oracles of the future ~ looking ahead

And so Latifa slowly but surely claws her way back into the narrative, even if this week she mostly just served as part of the Greek chorus (but still being cute). As the princess of the castle it was suspicious how little she actually knew about it, and one wonders how long she’s actually been in this monarch job. What does Latifa hide? That’s probably going to be the big plot climax for this anime.

Notably, this week is the first in a while where we weren’t given a real hook for the next episode. All we had was Latifa and Isuzu being pensive about the secret that they apparently share. They’re keeping something from Seiya, and secrets are always a plot wild card. Is it something that will make Seiya feel betrayed? Make him question his work ethic? Send him into a traumatic coma? I suspect we’ll find out soon. Next episode may be the start of the final stretch of the plot (like, whats this tree?), but this is Amagi Brilliant Park, so I’m not taking any conclusive guesses. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me all season, shame on me.

Full-length images: 03, 11, 14.

This week’s bonus: is this code? Cryptographers of the internet, unite in fruitless effort!

Preview

「巫女の懐胎」 (Miko no Kaitai )
“Conception of the Oracle “

PSYCHO-PASS 2 continues where it left off last week with the snowball effect of revealing secrets. Last week, it became clear that Kamui was using holos of the children that died in the plane crash… this week, they take it one step further and explain that their bodies are actually what make up Kamui’s body. Yes – his body is constructed of dead corpses and his brain is actually seven different brains put into his head. This could’ve made for some pretty graphic scenes, but the true takeaway from this is – Kamui is undetectable because Sybil doesn’t recognize him as an actual “person”. That wasn’t a big surprise by any means but it confirms where he came from and why I kept thinking that his personality was so creepy and didn’t follow any logical patterns of a regular human being. In some ways, he reminds me a lot of Sybil itself because the Chief who represents the system is also a jumble of different people’s brains, only on a much larger scale.

What was further expanded on this episode was one of the questions everyone had since the beginning – how does Kamui make people clear? It’s a question that I’ve been theorizing for so long but this episode describes it rather simply and quickly. Youhei says that Kamui’s methods as a mixture of drugs and meditation and he acquired these “skills” by obtaining forbidden medical data. Uh… Well that’s a little disappointing. Up until this point, I thought there was some trick to it rather than just some form of therapy, so I’m not too happy with the way that was revealed. I guess they’re trying to spin it off as something that only Kamui can do, but all these steps seem like logical means to lower one’s own Crime Coefficient, even without Kamui’s help. Predictability is not a bad thing, but in this case, I felt like I wanted more out of it.

Now the biggest surprise to me this week didn’t have much to do with Kamui himself, but rather Mika. Oh, Mika… you just had to butt your nose where it didn’t belong, didn’t you? I applaud her for following her instincts to investigate Tougane (that’s the only thing I give her credit for), but there were so many other steps she could’ve taken afterwards that didn’t lead to her written report. I don’t want to say she deserves it because she’s doing what she thinks is right, but after harboring so much hate for her character – I wouldn’t be honest if I said I wasn’t secretly happy she got what was coming for her. That just makes me sound like a horrible person now though… so let’s just say that digging into this case is going to get you into trouble. Without saying “Oh, it’s so obvious that Tougane’s mother is the Chief“, I think Mika could have done more digging before jumping the gun to face the Chief herself. Mika is so concerned with clouding her PP, but I think that will all change once she actually sees what Sybil is. What are they going to do with her exactly, is the better question because up until this point, I still don’t know what Sybil is planning for Akane and team.

The other revelations this week weren’t too shocking – with Tougane’s mother being the Chief (a lot of people called that out early) and even Kamui’s goal of taking down Sybil and changing the system. However, I found it interesting that the Chief is not actully the mother of Tougane in that sense, because he’s artificially created. And Kamui, also not being a true “person”, the two contrast each other in terms of the influence that they have. I love that it mirrors the first PSYCHO-PASS season in this regard because Kogami was also compared to Makishima a lot. However, this season has two “antagonists” that play these roles and I’m not particularly keen on either one. It makes sense now why Tougane is so obsessed with Akane and why he keeps measuring her Crime Coefficient. Although there’s a bigger plan in play, he’s probably wondering why her CC doesn’t sore with him reporting to her. Tougane even went as far as to talk to Jouji about it; but I never thought Jouji was similar to Tougane at all (in terms of affecting others’ CC). I still think it’s because Akane is special and she’s not just another inspector. Hopefully we’ll see more of Akane in action in future episodes; with Mika gone, she’s the only inspector of Division 1 left.

Another announcement that I’d like to make (thanks to Zephyr) – the movie trailer for the PSYCHO-PASS movie is out! Be warned! Watch it at your own risk… I think there’s a good chunk of spoilers (for season 2) in it but some exciting shots of characters as well.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: I’m a little disappointed that Kamui’s methods to clear someone’s PP is so… Simple =S it wasn’t such a big secret after all. This is what Mika gets for sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong >_< Should I feel sorry for her? #pp_anime

「選んだ扉」 (Eranda Tobira)
“The Chosen Door”

This episode is pretty much everything I could ask from a good writer.

Though not as action packed or necessarily central to the story as this episode is, it does something fairly important that not so many anime are interested in doing nowadays. Way back when, it was usually expected that most, if not all, of the characters in a show had some kind of backstory; you were supposed to know at least something about how the character became who they were, and what that meant about the kind of person they would be in the midst of the plot. True, some stories overdid it a little and perhaps you can think of a few where the focus was lost a little because of it, but I think Yona is doing a solid job with Yoon and Ik-soo’s story.

In the first place, not that many narratives today are all that interested in fleshing out parent-child relationships unless there’s some shock factor or negative twist, and while that’s fine, it’s nice to see a positive relationship between a child and their parent-figure. Parent and child or brotherly, the fact is that Yoon and Ik-soo are a family of sorts, and they look out for one another in their own special way. We already knew that Yoon looked after Ik-soo’s clumsiness, but now we also see that in exchange, Ik-soo provides companionship and care for his intelligent and capable charge.

For the first time, we’ve also been exposed to the state of Kouka outside of Yona’s palace and the Wind Tribe. Yoon grew up in abject poverty, so much so that he lived in a desolate and run down village, constantly on the verge of starvation. The fact that Ik-soo traveled around giving away (and being robbed) his worldly possessions to the needy also seems to imply that at least in the not so distant past, Kouka was suffering terribly. There’s not a whole lot said about the cause, but we can definitely wonder at the state of the country and whether or not this had to do with King Il’s reign.

Yoon becomes attached to the traveling priest after an attempt to rob him goes awry, and after giving Ik-soo medical attention, Ik-soo teaches Yoon how to make straw sandals. Though the boy lives alone and in poverty, he’s a gifted child; not only does he learn the craft quickly, he is also literate, and as he tells Yona, he can remember a book after reading it only once. When Ik-soo leaves, Yoon takes it upon himself to earn an honest living as a seller of sandals, but when the priest returns sometime later, he realizes just how lonely he had been since Ik-soo left. Yoon ends up accompanying Ik-soo into hermitage, where Yona and Hak have now found them.

The relationship is simple and sweet; Yoon is an amazingly smart kid who longs for companionship and Ik-soo is the overly kind and rather useless person who ends up taking him under his wing. Simple though it is, it’s quite heartwarming, and it makes the fact that Ik-soo wants Yoon to leave with Yona all the more saddening. Clearly Yoon is going to be important to Yona’s destiny (and personally I find their relationship to be quite great, they’re a bit like siblings), but that doesn’t make leaving Ik-soo behind any less sad.

Preview

「闘争の鐘」 (Tousou no Kane)
“The Bells of Contention”

The day will come when the courage of men fails, and when you look behind those men, you will find one thing: Chaikas. Soooo many Chaikas.

Catching Madness

This episode brings up an interesting theory—what if all those who were there when Emperor Gaz were driven mad? Perhaps not just by the act, but by Gaz on purpose. Only heroes that were absent (like Claudia) seem to have gotten off okay, while the ones who were there were varying degrees of screwed up in the head. Most of them I would be willing to say just have PTSD and/or were seriously unnerved by a powerful madman who laughed as he died, but Hartgen might be a different thing entirely. He came back a changed man, and now wants to become the next Emperor Gaz. I wonder if Gaz didn’t soul jump and lodge away in Hartgen, and then wait for a Chaika to show up to help reveal the Gaz within and reclaim his old power?

That seems unnecessarily convoluted, but it’s just a theory for now. It’s equally likely that Hartgen became disillusioned for the same reasons Tooru did, and Black Chaika-oneesama (Tange Sakura) (P.S. I knew it! I should have trusted my seiyuu sense. Can’t mistake that voice) got to the best pawn first. And then created a whole lot of other pawns. Is there any girl in this world who’s not a Chaika? That’s Emperor Gaz’s real plan. World domination by Infinite Chaika Works.

Small Girl, Big Sword, Big Pain

The meeting between Vivi / Nikolai and Gilette, much like the Red vs White battle, is something I wish was shown with more gravitas. Time constraints prevented that, but it was done well within the bounds of what they had. I expected (hoped) Vivi would get through to him, but I didn’t expect her to take off his hand first. We finally got to hear the old Vivi again, the faithful girl instead of the cold half-Chaika, but it was all confusion and pain.

But Why Didn’t They…?

I must admit to having a fairly … direct tactical mind. And bastardly. When it’s a serious fight, rules are things that other people follow, and if someone tells me what to do, my first instinct is to tell them to $@#& off. I feel like our three protagonist groups could use some of that. Why didn’t our Chaika just blast the gate down when they got tossed in the tunnel? The Gilette Squad did that. Why did they let Vivi and Nikolai fight Gilette instead of going all enemy-of-my-enemy and ganging up on the Black Chaikas? And why did they meekly do what the Black Chaikas said instead of, I don’t know, shooting them! You have a Gundo Chaika, I watched you shoot people with it. Shoot them! It might not work, but c’mon. Shoot the floor out from under them, or shoot the ceiling so it collapses on them! Why don’t you just shoot them already!? (trope!)

Versus Red Chaika, Versus Shin-nii

Of the last two battles, the one against Red Chaika was more compelling. Not because it was better—Red Chaika was an idiot to stop attacking our Chaika and gun for Tooru instead. That’s beyond an amateur mistake. That’s Magic Combat 101, Lesson 1: Attack the squishy casters first! Especially since Chaika has virtually no close in defenses, as we were reminded during the next battle. No, the battle was compelling because Red Chaika admitted defeat and said that she also had something to protect. It sounded like she didn’t want David to die for her, nor (absent) Selma, so she gave up once beaten instead of struggling futilely. That’s quite the change, but one that was hinted at for some time.

As for the Shin-nii battle, they just got rocked. A small part of me was like “Maybe they have a plan…!” when Chaika was grabbed, but no. Just failure. At least they’ve never gotten overpowered, I suppose, and when Tooru beats Shin-nii, it’s going to be really satisfying.

Looking Ahead – Final Battle Incoming

With only two episodes left, it looks like the final battle will be in or near Hartgen’s place, though I still feel like ‘ol Gaz himself is going to show up in some form. Only two more episodes though, so it’s rapidly coming to a close.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Editor: “Another Chaika?” Sakaki-sensei: “Everyone’s Chaika!” I’m starting to think Sakaki just didn’t want to think up more names.

Random thoughts:

• Don’t just stop to banter until you’ve gotten to the next stage, Vivi.
• I liked how Tooru didn’t say whether we wanted a war or not. “I’ll keep your words in mind.” That’s a good answer. If he had decided immediately, it would have felt like a capitulation to Chaika rather than his honest decision.
• “Shock … Chaikas!?” You’re really out of touch, Chaika. We’ve got Chaikas for days.

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: The allure of magic, Import, don’t recycle, Impostor syndrome, and Save it for your daydreams. For book updates, sign up for my mailing list.

Full-length images: 09, 12, 22.

Preview

Episode 08

Episode 09

But there is someone else she finds herself involved with – the creepy new addition to the cast: Shimida Hideo. We see him at the start of episode 8 with Tamiya, who instructs him to become involved with the newly badass Shinichi, as Tamiya claims he is a key part in the future of their parasite species. After transferring, he goes straight up to Shinichi and they have their first confrontation. From there we see the back and forth between them, which ends with Shinichi saving the delinquents from Shimida’s bloodthirsty ways. It was certainly an interesting moment, considering how on the surface it does seems like he is saving Shimda more than anything. Little do they know…

But this Shimida character is a curious one. We know that he’s been sent here, but other than that not much is given away about what he intends to do, if it is anything else than just adapting to living a human life. He confesses to Shinichi that he hasn’t taken a human life, but his claim is contradicted not long after when he murders an innocent girl. Why? I’m not quite sure yet, but at the rate everything is going, I’m sure things will become clear fairly soon.

The last character – and the most prominent in episode 9 – is Tachikawa Yuuko. We’ve seen her as Murano’s friend in the background for the past few weeks, but she now has the focus, and it’s all surrounding the arrival of Shimida. To put it simply, she has a crush on him, initally at least. That doesn’t last long though, as she quickly sees him for who he really is, noticing early on that there is something off about him, before watching him change faces in front of her very eyes.

What I loved most here was how Tachikawa is indirectly tied to what is going on with Shinichi and his dad right now, as it turns out that her brother is the man who drew the artists’ depiction of the parasite that killed Shinichi’s mother. Slowly but surely, all the characters are connecting together, becoming more and more involved with what is going, even if they aren’t aware of it yet. But Tachikawa is certainly one that is aware of the situation, as she manages to piece everything together and come to the conclusion that Shimida is one of those body shifting monsters. She decides to confront him before telling her brother what she knows, which was not that the wisest decision, but it provided us with a tense final scene – that’s for sure. Tachikawa finds great courage and tells Shimida straight, but it doesn’t end well. Thankfully, Shinichi and Migi are aware of what’s going on, as evident by Shinichi’s newly found screaming habit.

If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that next week is when everyone will become even more involved in what’s going on. Shinichi, Murano, Kana, Shimida, and Tachikawa are effectively all on the same spider web right now, and I suspect that next episode might see that web come crashing down. It won’t be pretty, but nothing much is with this series. I suppose that’s what makes it so enjoyable to watch every week!

Preview

「魔道勉強(スタディ)と安息日(ホリデイ)」 (Madou Benkyou (Sutadi) to Ansokujitsu (Horidei))
“Study and Holiday”

It’s been an uneven path to here, but finally the magic is explained, the plot is progressing, all the characters are introduced, and it can all work side-by-side as they dial the ecchi-funny up to eleven. This is the show I always wanted Trinity Seven/i> to be.

Ecchi, Hilarious Fun

Over three-fourths of the episode was devoted to ecchi comedy, and I’m totally okay with that! First and foremost because it was a lot of fun—from Lilith being surprised that Arata was being diligent to teasing Lilith, Lilith tsukkomis, embarrassed Lilith, and Sora talking about Lilith being ecchi, it was hilarious! And when I put it that way, it makes one thing abundantly clear—Lilith is the heart of this show. Or, if not the heart, she’s what makes the comedy work. Everyone else is crazy to one degree or another, while Lilith is the only sane man (trope!) who exists solely to get flustered and react to their nonsense. Like Kazama Kenji in D-Frag! (Takao best girl), the comedy just wouldn’t work without her around, so she’s vital to nearly every single scene. Sure, Mira can fill in on occasion, but even her scene was aided by Lilith waking up. You could get rid of nearly any other character, but without Lilith, this whole thing doesn’t work.

Not Just PLOT, But Plot

The other reason this episode worked so well was that there was actually plot going on. Arata is still badly in need of some training, but getting it all done through a quick montage and lots of laughs is the absolute best way to do it in this situation, because the whole episode actually propelled the story forward without being a dry, boring mess. I think it’s important that we, as viewers, actually feel the passage of time, otherwise we don’t feel the weight of whatever just happened (in this case, training / learning). The old DBZ training arcs were a stretched out version of this, as is Haruhi’s Endless Eight arc, though in that case it was heavily overdone.

But a training montage wouldn’t have been enough, so when someone interfered with the warp drive and Arata, Mira, and Sora ended up in the past (I assume … traveling through space, time, it’s all the same thing), that tantalizing glimpse of not-Hijiri was enough to get me going “Uhhhh, next episode please?” Which is a nice place to be when the plot for this series has struggled so much.

Lilith Confirmed for End Girl?

The one thing I don’t get is Yui. I can see why the rest of the girls haven’t jumped Arata’s bones yet (or vice versa)—tsundere (Lilith, Mira), not in touch with her feelings (Arin), probably not interested but likes to tease (Levi, Sora), trapped in another dimension (Liese), no real interest (Akio, Selina)—but Yui keeps baiting him pretty hard. I feel like she would already be having him take responsibility at this point.

But maybe the reason is that Arata has his eyes on Lilith (when they’re not on rescuing Hijiri), and he might actually be—gasp!—a good guy beneath all the perverted teasing. No complaints really. Aside from that Yui snarl it’s actually reasonable that he hasn’t gone full Itou Makoto (School Days) and bedded every haremette in the show, despite his clear sex drive (it’s still weird that that’s weird). Plus, after linking this Arata x Lilith scene to the past Arata x Hijiri scene … symbolism! Lilith end confirmed (not really, but probably).

A Mages’ Thema

Levi is Envy, Invidia. Yui is Greed, Avaritia. Arin is Ira, Wrath. Liese is Sloth, Acedia. Akio is Gluttony, Gula. Mira is Pride, Superbia, which is the same as Arata’s. Lilith is Lust, Luxuria. First of all: Lilith-sensei hng~! If only a mages’ thema were what they’re closest to instead of furthest from, because an ecchi Lilith would be fantastic.

That aside, all of the Trinity Seven seem to fit with their thema being their opposite, aside from Mira. Levi doesn’t seem to envy anyone, Yui isn’t greedy at all (is that why she hasn’t claimed Arata? Hmmm…), Arin isn’t one for hot emotions, Liese acts quickly, etc. The opposite of gluttony would be … temperance? Well, Akio used to be a nun, so I can dig that. And Lilith-sensei is definitely pure. But Mira seems full of pride rather than being humble as her thema would seem to suggest. They do say a magus’ thema is usually their opposite, so maybe Mira is the exception, but do I just have her pegged wrong? Is she actually really humble? Give me your opinions in the comments below, sports fans!

Looking Ahead – Blushing Mira

I am looking forward to seeing what’s the deal with not-Hijiri, but let’s face it, the promised spate of blushing Mira scenes is the real draw. And can we get her in this meido uniform too? Thanks.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Plot, magic, comedy, ecchi … this show has it all, finally. Mostly the ecchi-comedy, but not complaining! #trinity7 08

Random thoughts:

• I’m surprised by how well the gradually dere-ification of Mira-chan has gone, given my skepticism when she first started blushing at Arata’s antics. She’s held out long enough to the point she has started wearing adult pantsu, ufufu~. Good restraint, Trinity Seven.
• Sudden bath scene! …and Sora is totally naked, isn’t she? Oh my.

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: The allure of magic, Import, don’t recycle, Impostor syndrome, and Save it for your daydreams. For book updates, sign up for my mailing list.

Full-length images: 06, 19, 25, 26, 35, 42.

ED4 Sequence

ED4: 「TRINITY×SEVENTH＋HEAVEN」 by Hikasa Yoko & Yuzuki Ryoka

Preview

「セカイ樹の種I」 (Sekaiju no Tane I)
“The Seed of the World Tree I”

Welcome to Makina route, or should I say, the Grisaia no Kajitsu Adopt a Classmate Foundation. It’s great! There’s a streamlined process where you receive a generous sponsorship, pick up the little girl of your choice, and are then free to engage in that completely appropriate parent/child relationship you always wanted.

…

It’s great!

And remember, all characters portrayed are over the age of 18. Of course.

Makina: twice as many episodes for your route

As I noted last week, Makina’s route is probably two episodes because they also take the opportunity to develop Yuuji’s background as well. Even in the original visual novel, The Seed of the World Tree was the one where we see most of Yuuji’s shady organisation and the sordid work he does there. This episode of the anime, Makina route though it may be, devotes a fair chunk of time to developing Yuuji, even if it just mostly narrated exposition set to a montage of Yuuji and Makina jacking Amane’s bike and going on a road trip. Most notably we see Yuuji show sentimentality for a figure of his past, the one he calls ‘master’. We don’t learn a lot (because we need to save something for the sequel), but we do learn that: she took him in, they were close, she is dead. There must be more tragedy behind that but for now it’s enough that we get some exposure to Yuuji’s relationship with his master. Considering that Makina’s story is very much about parent figures it’s important that we at least know something of Yuuji’s own.

Of course, we can’t have Makina’s route if it’s just Yuuji, and fans of her character would be pleased that we had plenty of Makina just being Makina as well. We have Makina getting being silly, Makina wielding a gun bigger than she is, Makina growing an apple tree. That last one may not seem very interesting, but this is a story called The Seed of the World Tree in an anime titled Le Fruit de le Grisaia. This stuff is obligatory. The good thing about having two episodes instead of just one is that we can have fit all that in and still have time for explosions. Yeah, people and property blow up a lot in this anime. Going by Hollywood, I guess that’s a plus.

Two episodes, however, isn’t enough to solve all of Grisaia’s troubles, even if it goes a lot of the way. It had fairly heavy narration, when it would certainly have been more interesting to be shown things like Yuuji living with his master, or Makina’s kidnapping incident. And the narrative had a reliance on convenient exposition machines like Chiziru and Yumiko to deliver knowledge into the hands of the protagonist (I do wonder though: where does Yumiko get her ‘pocket money’ these days? She’s supposed to be dead). The budget also seems to be straining a bit, especially in far shots.

Overall, though, I did ask for more episode time per route, and that’s what we’re getting, and it is a good thing. We got a lot more space to set things up before the big twist. It’s a pretty good hook too. What’s the deal with Makina’s sister, their mother, and the bombing? Why does anyone want Makina dead? What’s Yuuji going to do? I’m interested in seeing how everything’s going to be played out in the next episode. Even though I already know what’s going to happen! I can actually honestly say that I’m looking forward to next week’s episode, even if just out of curiosity, and Grisaia can chalk that up as a success for the team.

Full-length images: 12, 21.

(This week, The Seed of the World Tree I. This week, Etrian Odyssey V is announced. Coincidence? I think not.)

End Card

「絶望を斬る」 (Zetsubou wo Kiru)
“Kill the Despair”

Just when I thought things couldn’t look any more grim, they do. I don’t normally cry watching anime, but I nearly did this week.
And I say almost because that romantic subplot just seems to manifest itself out of thin air. Nonetheless, I am still sad. I wasn’t a huge Mine fan in the beginning, but I started warming up to her once a lot of the original cast members were killed off. Her situation with Seryu was also an interesting one and I loved seeing them finally get a confrontation a few episodes back. As much as I love her as an individual though, I haven’t completely warmed up to the fact that she and Tatsumi are ”a thing”. And maybe they’re not! But I refuse to believe that Akame ga Kill is meant to be a harem (and also reading some spoilers, it’s clear that it’s not) so it’s a shame that this ship was so short lived. Although I don’t really care for Tatsumi either way, I very much appreciate how he’s not paired up with Akame and instead, he chooses a secondary character. I also love these types of pairings because I’m a huge fan of underdogs and to me, Mine is an underdog. As brief as their romantic encounter was, at least there’s some sort of romance inclusion at all in the show.

I wasn’t expecting Mine to die because… well I’ve read spoilers (and if you’re reading the manga, please remember to keep everything in spoiler tags; I feel like the readers have been a fantastic job of it thus far so keep it up. Yay for amazing readers!). The shock hit me pretty hard given all my love for her so I was close to shedding a tear or two. I imagine that a lot of people may be unsatisfied with this ending though because it guarantees that we’ve derailed the anime into an alternative ending. The manga and anime are worlds apart now and being a non-manga-reader myself, the ending is seemingly very rushed. I’m not sure if these are the intentions of the mangaka, but with everyone dropping like flies and characters lacking development, I think the anime writers are just trying to conclude it. Period. It almost feels like they got tired of following the manga after given direction that it’s going to be an anime-original ending so they thought, “Well they have to die eventually!” Unfortunately, this also means that we get a lot of short-lived plotlines and characters – like Budou and Shura who were both written off in consecutive episodes after being introduced. This time could’ve been much better spent expanding on Mine and Tatsumi’s relationship or even Kurome and the Jaegers.

Speaking of Jaegers, Esdeath has certainty proved herself this week. That was one spoiler that I managed to avoid so it was a shocker to see her “special ability” to freeze time, literally. No offense, but I don’t really see how the two are connected in a scientific matter… but hey! I learned not to question the world of anime much. It was still pretty awesome to see both Susanoo and Esdeath forced to use their special abilities though and provided a side show to Mine and Budou’s combat (even if I thought the latter was the better showdown). That also means that Esdeath is even MORE overpowered than before and it leads me to believe that she will live to see the end of the series. I feel bad for Susanoo for being left behind but I find his sacrifice a worthwhile one for the team. As much as I love the guy (even if he’s not human), I spotted his death flags a mile away.

With the end of this episode, it leaves two less individuals on the Night Raid team and next week… it’s no secret that Kurome is probably the next to go. I don’t know how that’s supposed to tie to the plot since the Jaegers have been pretty much sidelined lately, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the goal is to just kill off more characters by the finale. At this rate, the show has lost a lot of continuity jumping around between these plotlines; I’d be satisfied just seeing the Prime Minister stabbed by the end of the series. The pending finale is appearing less and less appealing to me as all my reasons for watching are being killed off one by one. Please don’t just kill off more characters for the sake of it! There’s still a month of the series left!

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: What an emotional episode for #AkamegaKill. I think I’m on the verge of tears myself =( I wasn’t expecting such losses so early! And by so early I mean, we still have a month left T_T Nooooo… I feel so utterly depressed after this one.

Full-length images: 08, 13, 20.

Author’s Note: Since there’s probably going to be a lack of a formal announcement, I thought I’d make a small note here that it is officially RandomC’s 10th Anniversary today! On Nov. 24th, 2004, Omni started this blog as a venue for him to talk about anime/manga and stuff… and today, we are a full community of anime viewers sharing a common interest. It’s been a full decade already, and regardless if you’ve been with us for a day or all 10 years, I’d like to thank you on behalf of the staff and myself for visiting our site. You’ve helped make it what it is today and we only hope that we can continue running this site for another 10+ years. We love you all =)

Preview