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「奈落にあるもの」 (Naraku ni Aru Mono)
“What Lies in the Abyss”
For such an earnest and seemingly old-fashioned anime as this often seems to be, No. 6 has quite the talent for slapping the audience in the face occasionally. Seeing a baby being nursed by a dog is certainly a first for me, anime or otherwise – and that’s just for starters.
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「境界面上のシュタインズゲート」 (Kyōkaimenjō no Shutainzu Gēto)
“Open the Steins Gate”
I’m going to go against character and make this post a brief one, which is fitting I think in that this penultimate episode was one that pretty much speaks for itself. And I’ll start with a confession – I finally caved and re-watched the first episode before I watched episode 23.
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「割れた鏡」 (Wareta Kagami)
“Broken Mirror”
Over the course of three seasons Natsume Yuujinchou has consistently delivered superb examples of what is generally referred to dismissively as “filler”. Except that the filler for this series – such as the previous two episodes – is very often among the best the show has to offer.
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「秘密の花園」 (Himitsu no Hanazono)
“Secret Garden”
Take a good studio, add a good director, throw in some good characters and an ongoing manga and what do you get? From the looks of things, the potential for a very good anime-original ending that just might satisfy some very nervous fans.
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「等価の書 / 連理の書」 (Tōka no Sho / Renri no Sho)
“Book of Equivalence / Book of Connectionr”
Well, there’s no denying that this was a pretty lightweight pair of stories for Dantalian no Shoka this week. But you know, I think this is a face that the series wears well – I find the series quite charmer when it shows its warmer, funnier side.
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「災厄の舞台」 (Saiyaku no Butai)
“Stage of Disaster”
Even though it isn’t always working for me, in a way I really admire NO.6 to sticking to its guns. Nine episodes in and it’s still preposterously theatrical, comically sincere and terribly muddled. But at least it doesn’t sell itself out and try to be something it’s not.
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「存在了解のメルト」 (Sonzai Ryōkai no Meruto)
“Being Meltdown”
There should be something to please everyone in this week’s Steins;Gate. It’s a near-perfect blend of the hard-core character drama of last week and the plot-driven intensity that marked the end of Suzuha’s arc.
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「秋風切って」 (Akikaze Kitte)
“The Fading Autumn Wind”
This was definitely an episode for the hard-core fans, but I think it’s nice to see Natsume’s progress in building a normal life take the spotlight.
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「假面」 (Kamen)
“Mask”
A-1 steps up to the plate with some outstanding anime-original material in episode 20 of Ao no Exorcist. I’m assuming this was anime-original anyway – I’m sure someone will correct me, if not. But more so than the last couple of episodes, this anime-original story seems to set the table for a real conclusion of some sort, building on some old plot points and adding in a few new twists and ending with a major cliffhanger.
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「調香師」 (Chōkō-shi)
“Parfumer”
Huey and Dalian are back in the saddle on Dantalian no Shoka this week, with no reference to the Flam and Hal interlude of last week whatsoever. And they deliver a solid if unspectacular episode, whose most impressive feature may be the body count.