First Impressions / FRACTALE

「旅路」 (Tabiji)
“Journey”

This may have been a character-oriented episode, focused on Nessa and her hide and seek pranks on board, but it was made much better with Phryne around. She’s still a marvel to me, given how blunt she was when she asked Clain if he loves her, and this time around she comes off as be a bit of a tomboy who doesn’t seem aware of how attractive she is. Her assertiveness and indifference to changing in front of people and having Clain on top of her were a refreshing change from the stereotypical embarrassed or screaming reaction I’ve come to expect, making her one of the coolest female characters of the season. She’ll just lay there and stare Clain down, until he blushes like a girl and gets off of her. That’s a win in my book.

Clain on the other hand I wanted to stuff a sock into for interrupting Phryne right when she was about to explain something about herself, Nessa, and the foolish cycle that the Monastery continues to repeat. The poor girl was ready to pour her heart out and spill out all the goods, and our dumb protagonist had to jump the gun on consoling her. There was plenty of time to do that after we got to be demystified about the Fractale System even further. I don’t doubt that was intended to be a plot-related tease and/or foreshadowing; however, it came off as a reason for me wanting to see Clain get smacked around a little.

I could have seriously done without the sight of his fundoshi, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make a full-length shot of it to imprint it into the minds of everyone. I sort of reveled in his misfortune when Chikage and Tsunami “womanhandled” him and stripping him of his pants though. The first time was admittedly awkward, but the second time at the very end felt so warranted in light of how he interrupted Phryne. The same goes for Enri’s kick to the face at the dinner table. I thought I’d be sick of her abuse and perverted remarks by now, but I’m really not, especially when Takamy joins in to call Clain a pervert too. It’s become a running gag that works for me.

I was probably subconsciously expecting a bit more out of this episode after the one-week break, so it came off a bit uneventful in the grand scheme of things. While it did go on to emphasize that Moeran is taking the fight to the Granites family by showing how she’s spying on them, I can’t shake the feeling that the story has dumbed down to the Monastery versus Lost Millennium. Having two sides pitted against one another wasn’t really what I was expecting from this series, since it seems to simplify what could have been a lot more intricate than that. Of course, I do feel it’s too early to say that there won’t be interesting twists along to come, so I’m definitely not holding that impression against the remaining six episodes. There’s still plenty of time to “impress” as far as I’m concerned.

P.S. I doubt I’m the only one who got a laugh out of Clain pulling out his iPod-like device to “jailbreak” the ship’s pre-Fractale computer system. What do you know, it works with a click of a button too.

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「サリーガーデン」 (Salley Garden) by AZUMA HITOMI
Watch the ED2!: Download, Streaming ▼

40 Comments

      1. No its not. The melody is the same, but the lyrics are actually different. They’re both kinda love songs, but “Down by the Sally Gardens” use “she” and the new one “you”. And yeah, the new one is in japanese.

        Karl
        Reply

      3. Ah ok, my mistake.
        Btw. they’re is something that still bothers me. The “new” titel in the credits is just “Down by the Sally Gardens” as you say, but theyre is still the name of William Butler Yeats. He just wrote the original “Down by the Sally Gardens” poem. Why is his name still in the credits? The melody wasnt composed by him and the new text isnt part of his poem.
        Why the change anyway? Making the Ending more “japanese”?

        Karl
        Reply

  2. You’re one of the few who I’ve seen said that they like Phyrne! I guess what you said were correct… it is a nice aspect of her that she’s sorta tomboyish and is a no nonsense type of girl. And I didn’t realize that Clain had interrupted her… tsk, Clain.

    Khal
    Reply

    1. I don’t think you “get” it. It’s two middle aged people built like brick shithouses declothing a teenage boy *twice*, while a young child deliberately misinterprets any action of his as perverted.

      But they’re all female, so it’s all good!

      Speaking of Lost Millenium regardless of gender I still don’t find any of them either sympathetic or likeable, bar the grandmother (?)/youngest daughter. At least the central trio are well thought out and a pleasure to watch. I mean, how dare Clain be inquisitive and concerned about the reasons for Phryne’s seemingly rash actions. How *dare* he.

      And finally, I think the comparisons to E7 are apt. There was another series ruined with a host of fist-to-the-face worthy characters who saw fit to test the naive young boy’s patience to the limit for no good reason, while locking him out of the loop and then BLAMING HIM for being locked out of the loop.

      Hoping for better things from this series, or I’ll just be watching OGIN and Wandering Son.

      J Jay
      Reply

  6. I have a feeling something big is going to reveal itself soon. It’s like I can’t shake the feeling there is some more complex idea behind the plot and they are just scratched the surface with it. This show has the potential to be well developed and complex with ideals that could make you ponder about things.

    Fading Moon
    Reply

    2. OH MY GOD YES. I was waiting for something great to happen since there was a break last week but while I was watching this episode I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching a not-as-great version of Eureka 7. (It should be noted that E7 is my favorite anime and so it might not be great to other people, just me. >.>)

      I really hope that with the last six episodes this show really turns around and becomes the game changer it promised it would be because right now, it’s just an enjoyable show and really nothing more.

      Solarguardian
      Reply

  13. I guess I’ll have to say that Phryne is the BEST female lead for this season. Last season’s was Hitagi Senjougahara of Bakemonogatari 🙂

    It might sound weird but I’ll put watching Fractale on a higher priority than watching Infinite Stratos. Though I have to admit I still like IS, I find this anime’s story and plot more meaningful. Also, the characters here are “way better” than those in IS. I guess those characters in IS are just too stereotype for me and Phyrne and Nessa are refreshing.

    1. Fractale
    2. IS
    3. Gosick

    The Story You Don't Know
    Reply

    1. How is this female lead even interesting to be #1? I would say the best female leads this season are:

      1. Gosick (Victorique)

      2. Freezing (Sattelizer)

      3. Zombie Desuka (Yuu)

      Madoka so far has been wimpy and wishy washy but I bet before this series ends she will step up her game and join the list.

      Karmafan
      Reply

    2. Oh, I made that list as my favorite animes of the season. Which I will fix:

      1. Fractale
      2. Gosick
      3. IS

      IF you make it a list for favorite leads, then Phryne and Victorique leads by landslide. Sattelizer? Just another generic tsundere lead female for me. I’ve never watched the anime but I’ve read the manga and stopped reading it. Why? It was just another generic manga with a wimpy protagonist and an overpowered tsundere in a twisted plot that really leads nowhere 😛

      You may say that IS is just another generic harem with lots of -deres in it but I watch it for the mecha

      The Story You Don't Know
      Reply

  16. I still have high regards to this series, the best thing probably is episode 2 that really made me hooked to this, but after that something starts to feel strange, my overall impression is its a light-hearted series then they introduced mass-killings and it still feel very much light-hearted. I’ll still be keeping tabs on this series since it gives me a good initial impression, hopefully in the next few episodes, things will eventually pick up

    Ghostalker
    Reply

  17. They need to spice it up more. The character building is fine but it ends up slow. If this was a season without several very good shows, that would be fine but right now Fractale is being pushed down by its rivals. I think there was some poll on the season’s anime and Fractale was not in a good position

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

  24. Somehow it feels like Nessa is the personality/character/soul? of the other Nessa in ep3-4.
    Half Nessa 😛
    Or it couldn’t be that Nessa is like Ayanami Rei?

    So Phryne’s mother has purple hair?

    iron2000
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *