Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「Trigger」 by 尾崎雄貴 (Ozaki Yuuki)
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Series Rundown
The Plot So Far:
“They were weak. That’s why they died. We were weak too. That’s why we couldn’t save them. We’re different now.
“You chose to be an accomplice. That was your choice. You can’t go back now. |
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「FALLING」Stolen nuclear material. Homegrown terrorists. It’s a worse case scenario. Somewhere out there, someone’s sweating it out as we speak, racing against time to ensure these two things never come together. The problem is, you just never know. And how can you? They could be the friendly neighbor next door, the guy that you paid to mow your lawn, or Zankyou no Terror’s case, that new classmate in your high school. You’re dealing with a needle in a haystack in terms of the population and to top it off, they’re people whose sole purpose is to generate fear no matter what it takes and how long it takes to do it. There’s no guarantee of any pattern to find or any clues to point you in the right direction and it’s an unnerving thought that nightmares are made of. But, that’s the name of the game here. Zankyou no Terror‘s first episode is all about setting up that sense of uneasiness, and it’s readily apparent that things aren’t quite as they seem. In particular, Nine (a.k.a. Kokonoe Arata) and Twelve (a.k.a. Toji Hisami)—the main focus of this story—are far from your run of the mill terrorists. Contrary to the stereotype, they’re far from unwilling to standout (in fact, they do extraneous things to attract attention), and they don’t hesitate to recruit others they feel might be willing to join their cause. These are guys that are supremely confident in their ability to succeed and the scariest part is they’re not bluffing. Nine and Twelve introduce themselves as people with the uncanny, almost supernatural ability to plan everything out to the last detail, and it comes to a head with their successful demolition of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. At the same time, they’re also perfectly capable of fitting in as regular high school students, and the fact that they even broadcasted their intent beforehand (without masking their voices no less), rode motorcycles in broad daylight in the middle of it all and set up bombs without any masks or care for surveillance highlights just how much of a threat they are. That’s without mentioning the nuclear fuel they stole months prior. Perhaps the biggest thing to note however, isn’t so much our mysterious “Sphinx” duo (as they call themselves), as it is the third main cast member in Mishima Lisa. As a character with no real attachment to the world she’s living in right now aside from wanting to live, she’s the extreme example of someone dealt the short end of the bullying straw, then tossed into a blender of horrible family relations. The fact that someone of her mindset is now involved as an accomplice potentially makes things more grim than they ever were before, and the fact that she seems awe struck with our protagonists makes her a prime candidate for extremism in the fanatical sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up being the most destructive member of our terrorist trio, but question is, to which side? Considering that Nine and Twelve clearly have an agenda and message they want to send, Lisa might just be the X-factor that makes a difference between them succeeding, them getting caught after doing something too over the top, or them being caught because of her similarity to someone in our cast’s respective pasts. Needless to say, there’s a lot going here, and Zankyou no Terror’s starting things off with some great foundations. It’s not so much about the terrorism as it is the characters orchestrating them and the atmosphere behind everything, and Yoko Kanno does a great job here providing a complementary soundtrack to Watanabe’s psychological thriller. As of this first episode, the expectations are being met as one of the more hyped series (an original noitaminA one no less) of the series/year, and it should be a great ride—albeit a short one, as its only confirmed for 11 episodes at this time. Looking Forward: As the series progresses, here’s a few things to keep an eye on:
‘Till next week. Also, feel free to comment on the new post format for introductions. Following Stilts’ and Zanibas’ respective introduction of new post formats, I decided to shuffle around some ideas myself, so any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated. Depending on the reception, this might be a format I’ll use more often as the series goes on. |
ED Sequence
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ED: 「誰か、海を。」 (Dare ka, Umi wo.) by Aimer
This show is simply amazing! I also I liked the new post format 🙂 thank you for covering!!!
Loving the new format!
Unsettling, but definitely interesting. It’s scary to how effective terrorists can be. Thanks for the review, Zephyr, look forward to your weekly posts. 😀
About the formatting: I really like “The Plot So Far” and also the selected quotes. Not sure if we’ll need to continually see the series “snapshot” with # of episodes, studio, etc. If you removed that, perhaps you could do “The Plot So Far” at the beginning of each post (kind of like a recap), and then inject some of your favorite quotes into your write-up where you see fit. The side by side formatting is a little too busy imho.
Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines in terms of keeping “The Plot So Far” and quotes on the left for future episodes and just doing the series rundown for the first episode as an introduction special so people don’t have to flip back and forth to the previews/MAL/etc. in case they forgot the specifics about the show.
I’m still working on the margins a bit to make it look a little less busy as well.
I think a quick solution could be to just switch sides on the formatting so the review takes the primary left/middle sections and the sidebar is on the right. Personally I was thrown off when the review didn’t start on the natural left side of the page and my eyes were forced to scan multiple times before finding the review (rundown, episode title, back to paragraph start). If the focus (the review) is clearly placed where the eyes normally go I feel like that would cut down a lot of that busy feeling.
I do like the idea of having the extra information though, just not sure the placement is ideal.
Are you sure that “VON” wasn’t “ΝΟΛ” upside down?
Loving the new layout! All the critical info is right here so it’s much more convenient. Psychological thrillers are one of my favorites so I’ll be keeping an eye on this show.
As someone mentioned before the show’s atmosphere feels like the bank heist from Dark Knight. If anyone ask me to describe this series so far I would say is Nolan in an Anime formation. Helps with soundtracks by Yoko Kanno back up this show here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sGk00ImApI&index=2&list=PLQL62XB2IDF2RdlmXG0Clm7YxhG0doJft
The OST is literally fantastic. Glad it was released today so I didn’t have to wait a decade after the show aired.
Seriously though, bravo, Watanabe. I wasn’t a fan of Space Dandy but now you have my full attention. I only hope that this show doesn’t fall into a territory that’s too similar to Death Note. I can sort of see this show evolving into a bunch of convulted mind games, just like Death Note did with Light and L. I’m more interested in the characters and the situation rather than any mind games tbh.
How I’ve missed Kanno.
That said, it’s interesting to note that Watanabe seems to have hands offed on Space Dandy. If I remember correctly, the directors for each episode were generally different (or at least, it wasn’t Watanabe at the helm for most of them), so it can be said that Space Dandy isn’t generally a good reflection of an actual Watanabe work.
Zankyou no Terror however, should be.
That’s pretty strange as Watanabe is a big name for anime fans in the US. Oh well. Hopefully the rest of this series ends up a success like this episode.
Love the new format!
black out or not, the 2 of them really run the risk of being seen placing the dolls. One might argue that the confusion was enough to divert the people’s attention to evacuating the building, just seem a little sloppy where they might run into others like Lisa unless they are willing to kill that said person on the spot.
That’s the thing. I don’t think they really do care much about getting noticed, because they’re not pulling all the stops in regards to protecting their identities. They didn’t mask their voices for the vid, Twelve literally jumped between all the police/firefighters to get to Lisa without any mask or cover on his face, and I’m pretty sure they didn’t take out the cameras in the gov’t building either.
And it makes it pretty unnerving because they’re so confident that they’re just going ahead with things regardless. Though, it was mentioned in the premise they’re two children that shouldn’t be alive, so it’s quite possible they don’t have any actual identity that can be searched up to begin with. Would also explain why they go by Nine and Twelve, as their supposed names they gave could very well be false names.
I agree with Zephyr, I think in the summary it mention that they were two people who don’t exist and yet they do. I think the reason they don’t care a thing about their identities is because according to the world, they don’t exist in the first place. It’s obvious they were help prisoner in a secret facility and probably experimented on, and they don’t seem to have actual names, so, I would say they have no official records anywhere. Even the facility is gone from what we can see.
The animation, Yoko Kanno’s subtle soundtrack (which was rather nice being a complementary piece) and the introductions to the characters were all nicely pieced together into a compelling premiere episode, and we even go that ED by Aimer. One image that stood out to me though was that skyline view after the building collapse, it sent chills down my spine just thinking back to 9/11.
In terms of the summer season so far (i know its early being 1 1/2 weeks in) but Aldnoah.Zero and Zankyou no Terror have without a doubt lived up to hype so far. I found that while Terror and Aldnoah both have their differences in terms of introducing a setting/plot, they both served to prove how a good foundation for a series can be achieved with just one ep.
Im liking the new layout Zephyr, definitely a keeper
Yeah, the Aimer ED was surprising.
I’m with you on the 9/11 flashback as well. As someone who’s been in NYC all my life, that was probably the first thing that came to my mind when seeing the initial poster art, and it was the same feeling again after seeing the gov’t building go down here.
I’ve lived in NYC all my life but happened to be out of the country then, I was flat hunting actually, and those scenes of the rubble crashing down and people running from the cloud of debris were practically re-creations. I would understand if people had an issue with it since it might still be a raw wound for them, but otherwise I thought it was a bold decision to do it and felt it was executed very well.
I wondered what people were talking about when this anime was claimed to be “shocking”, despite being aware that it was making a comment about terrorism. ….then I read your synopsis and realized the 3 high school students ARE the terrorists! :O
I wonder what “VON” was supposed to mean? I know that pronounced in Russian it means “Get Out!”. Hopefully they’ll explain that later on.
If we are playing the language game it also translates roughly as “of” in German, as in Karl von Bismark (Karl of (house) Bismark).
No idea really what it’s supposed to represent at this point.
Yeah, I was wondering that myself. I was looking at the OST and noticed that one of the songs was named “von” and that the singer for one of the songs is Icelandic. Looking at what “von” is in Icelandic…
Von = Hope.
Things are starting to make sense all of a sudden.
In my opinion, both “get out” and “hope” could work with the terrorist ideology of the show. However, because of the scene with the fence where they lose their
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
https://randomc.net/image/Zankyou%20no%20Terror/Zankyou%20no%20Terror%20-%2001%20-%2011.jpg This is clearly the sequel to Samurai Flamenco
I didn’t read the summary on the Preview page so based on the title, which I only knew what the terror part could possibly mean, I thought it was going to be about some horror type supernatural stuff.
I can’t think of an anime where the protagonists are terrorists, I know I’ve seen some, but the names don’t come to mind. How often do we actually get anime with terrorists as protagonists anyways?
This episode sold me, the hype came through.
LOL! When he mentioned liking curry, I couldn’t help but smirk at my TV >_>
GO GO CURRY
@Zephyr:
GO GO CURRY! You must go on the 15th and commemorate on my behalf \o/
Sadly I don’t have class around the area anymore. -_- I did eat there last week though.
Code Geass?
I got a Lelouch and Setsuna F. Seiei feeling from the protagonists. I hope they have more depth.
Animation: 10/10
Art Direction: 8/10 (personal tastes)
Story so far? …..for now i’m disappointed…
The protagonists are straight up terrorists (thought they’d be different with the whole “Wake the poeple from their slumber bit”). No remorse for the lives of others. Both are mentally unstable, both have trouble communicating with other people. Female character has no business being a character in the show.
I’d tag this as a Josei in genre, so it’s just not up my alley tastewise.
Josei…LOL
you’re an idiot
And he is an idiot for calling it josei… why?
So far I have seen nothing that wouldn’t happen in a more action orientated josei show and the two main characters seem to be almost josei main character archetypes with a happy-go-lucky light haired boy and the serious dark haired guy (take No.6, K and Karneval for example).
Because it’s not a very gender oriented show? And wait…No. 6 is Josei?
Archetypes don’t dictate the genre of the show, it’s the subject matter. I believe the show is about humans, not specifically girls.
When I think Josei, I think Kuragehime or paradise kiss. Those are very female-oriented shows. People need to stop talking out their ass.
First of all Josei is not a genre but a target demographic. Second josei doesn’t have to be about girls. A lot of Josei manga have no major female character. And even if it had to, the central point-of-view character (a.k.a. the one whose thoughts are voiced) is Lisa.
I can only tell you to broaden your horizon a little. What you think is female-oriented is not nearly everything that is aimed as woman. I already mentioned a few examples but to throw another big name in, watch Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East).
Also, don’t forget that Zankyou no Terror runs in the noitaminA block, which was especially made to go beyond the typical male demographic and featured a lot of Josei shows in the past.
I’m not yet calling this a josei anime myself, simply because there hasn’t been any statement regarding the target demographic, but yeah, I can completely understand why someone would think it is a josei show and think there is no reason for laughing at them and calling them an idiot.
Broaden my horizons? Did I say anything that indicated that I judge a show by it’s genre/target demographic? I don’t even pay attention to that stuff when I pick up a show.
Since you brought it up though, how is eden of the east Josei? I’m not saying that it isn’t, but while watching the show, nothing really stood out to me and said “wow, this is targeted towards women.”
At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter to me, the show will be judged off it’s own merits, not how it does/doesn’t adhere to some abstract standard.
I just thought it was stupid to just slap a label on this show after one episode based off some trivial stuff like archetypes. I can go through several “non-Josei” anime and make up some BS reason as to how it’s demographic could be women.
That is probably the problem. You can’t tell from watching a show what it’s target demographic is. The one who decides that are the creators, manga publishers (if a show is based on a manga) or the network. They decided that their target audience for Eden of the East are young woman, so it is josei.
I admit that my comment about main character archetypes was off, since they don’t decide what the target demographic is.
That’s why I brought up that it runs in the noitaminA timeslot, which is one of the few timeslots that feature a lot of josei shows. Again, I’m not saying that Zankyou no Terror is josei, since their hasn’t been any statement regarding the target audience.
This is a good argument. If you had mad this point right at the beginning I wouldn’t have had any complaint. But your comment was just laughing at one word he used and insulting him without giving a reason why you think the word he used is stupid.
fair enough.
I just didn’t feel like there was a point in giving an explanation to an OP that seemed to have spent very little effort to watch the show in the first place. It would have been like trying to talk to a wall.
I do see both EofE and ZnT as josei shows. Both have extraordinarily smart, handsome male characters who know what they want (and that’s what many females find the most attractive in guys), while at the same time the main female is a modest mouse what makes them easy for women to empathise with.
Note that the stuff I said about Josei and broadening your horizon also counts for you TitanAnteus. Depreciating a show because you think it falls into a genre or target demographic you normally don’t like will make you miss a lot of great shows.
No remorse for the lives of others? They evacuated the building before destroying it so that nobody would die.
I’m looking forward to the game of Shogi between the detective and Sphinx! So far, Nine and Twelve have shown extreme confidence in themselves; it’d be nice to see the detective give them a run for their money.
Of course, at some point he is probably going to find out the dark secret behind Sphinx and might actually become a pseudo-ally in bringing the injustices he uncovers to light.
Ah. I see what you did there. Didn’t think of it that way myself, but a very fitting comparison.
Definitely one to follow going forward; even if not as explosive as Aldnoah’s opening there is a good dose of thriller here that makes for a nice change in between the psychological Tokyo Ghoul and sci-fi Aldnoah. For some reason too the animation and setting screams Coppelion which isn’t necessarily bad as it’s highly unlikely Zankyou will be a train wreck.
Hopefully though this doesn’t turn into one of those “kids from institution escape, possess powers, seek revenge”-type stories as has been alluded to by chatting between Nine and Twelve. Want there to be something a little more to Zankyou than well worn tropes, no matter how well handled.
Mugen, Jin and Fuu got reincarnated!!
Joking aside, without question the best first ep out of all the shows premiering this season (Space Dandy doesn’t count since it’s technically a continuation). Definitely looking forward to the second ep.
The story seems very simple in design, two experimentally created children of unknown reasons escape and seemingly fail to integrate into normal society, so they commit acts of terror in retaliation. To prove their existence? To damn the world they don’t belong in? Who knows.
The girl they recruit has a similar issue of belonging, so naturally she gravitates towards them. I see the direction of the show leaning towards existential exploration (nothing new, but always welcome) of the characters.
To me they don’t seem like two lost children, they don’t have that desperate air around them. They seem like two higly trained operatives running a complex mission, they know every name and try to blend in a school as to go unnoticed or to recruit more people to their cause.
But I think the plot will move foward without going too much on why they are there, but what the consequences of their actions will bring. One can hope so.
They may seem composed, but hinted by #9’s nightmares and #12’s double sided personality, they’re probably not as calculating as you think. Their above average attributes are most likely the product of human experimentation, but that’s just a guess.
The one word I could think of after finishing this, was….Riveting. This series had me so enthralled from beginning to end. I was amazed at the animation, the writing, the music, the characters (well, Lisa needs some work ), it was all really good.
When I first heard of this show, I just couldn’t see how it was going to work. Telling the story of, and essentially glorifying the exploits of a couple of terrorists, especially ones that are working on the scale of 9/11 is extremely hard and I didn’t see how you could do it. You had to somehow make the audience connect with these main characters, and it’s pretty hard to connect to someone who would kill innocents in such a way just to get their point across.
However, somehow, this show managed to do that. To see the background of Nine and Twelve and to see what they can do, you get the idea that they are the product of some sort of government covered-up project that involved experimentation on children. This, and the fact that you can see both do have a sense of morals to them, gives the characters the depth and sympathy they need for the audience to connect. Both 9 and 12 are extremely smart, almost to a superhuman degree. Nine’s ability to see every corridor of the building in his mind, and Twelve’s way of remembering the name of every single person he meets. You just want to know what happened to these kids and what kind of cover-up are they trying to unveil to the world with their attacks?
I like the detective already too. He reminds me of the detective in V for Vendetta. As for their new accomplice, Lisa, there’s really not much to her. A bullied girl who seems to have a weird mom that texts her every second. She keeps throwing up and I constantly wonder if she’s either bulimic or pregnant. However, it will be interesting to see how she contributes to the plot.
This series looks like it’s going to have multiple layers and mysteries and I can’t wait to see where it will go from here.
+1 for the new format
+10 for the show
Can anyone translate the texts that Lisa received from her mother? Just curious 🙂
As far as I can tell, it’s a long string of obsessive check-ins. For instance, when she’s at the outdoor toilet at school, it’s a string of ‘Have you reached school?’, ‘How’s class?’, ‘It’s nearly recess, isn’t it?’, ‘Is your bento tasty?’, etc.
From a thread on reddit (which i got off a thread on mal)
10:21 http://i.imgur.com/9V3igWc.jpg
How is class?
How is class?
Soon time for lunch, right?
Are you getting along well with your friends?
Does the lunch taste good?
10:24 http://i.imgur.com/5zZDCgo.jpg (last message is the first message from the previous screenshot)
Why did you leave so early today?
It’s important to eat your breakfast, you know.
Are you at school yet?
Are you at school yet?
13:13 http://i.imgur.com/0Bl49YG.jpg
Take care.
Be careful out there.
Did you eat your lunch?
Did it taste good?
Were you headed to the Tokyo Government Office today? (NB: Unsure about this one, not clear on what exactly a 都庁 is)
When will you be finished there?
13:15 http://i.imgur.com/59y0HSr.jpg (only the two bottom messages are new)
When are you coming home?
Will you be able to come home soon?
Read more at http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1223943#VSY4PSEbY1ZeQtGm.99
we can all breathe a sigh of relief because this series delivered. Dont doubt the pedigree; do not doubt the pedigree of watanabe-san…especially since he is very passionate about helming this project, saying that this has been something he has wanted to get produced for years now. I gotta give it to this series; when animation can orchestrate action scenes that convey the tension that live-action set pieces can, you know you’re cooking. The sense of motion, the camera angles, and depth of field within those action sequences where phenomenal. Wasnt it absolutely harrowing to watch those building’s collapse from the explosion? it truly felt like a real terrorist attack. Zankyou no terror sure has some talented realist key animators on their team. Usually, i feel that some anime’s dont really convey that proper sense of momentum, speed, velocity, and tension when riding a vehicle; but when i saw twelve riding on that motorcycle, everything from the way the action was framed made me feel like i was watching live-action to which a few anime are able to do. Ive got big hopes for this series as this was my favorite premiere of the season, right up there with barakamon, space dandy, tokyo ghoul, and aldNoah. I said 4 months ago that this summer was going to be excellent and so far it’s turning out that way. the year of 2014 started of quite weak but unusual to the normal trend of seasonal anime, each season has improved on the last and it’s showing with this current summer season. Now im waiting for tokyo esp to show me what its got 🙂
Hmm… Somehow the art is reminiscent of Red Garden…
After watching only the first episode I can already tell you the worst part of this show will be. It’s only 11 episodes long.
Serious note: I too had shivers watching that tower fall and how it just imploded in on itself. My parents had talked about how they could recall in detail where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with when John Kennedy was assassinated. I could never truly comprehend how a moment like that could be crystallized, then recalled in such detail and I couldn’t relate to that at all until 9/11. :ends seriousness
It will be interesting to see how they play this out, but it almost feels like the plot of the show will be about the journey Lisa takes in all of this and who she becomes. She might die, she might not – it will be an interesting ride either way.
I’m liking the new format.
I was expecting a lot, but this episode still left me with nothing to complain about. Now I can’t wait for more.
The new format is great! Love how you writers are always trying to improve things for us 😀
This new format is extremely well done and a keeper in my opinion. Loving how informative and organized it makes the whole post look.
As for the show itself, I don’t even know where to begin. It’s really interesting to see sensitive topics(?) like this touched upon and it definitely offers a take on a matter otherwise left alone. I think it really does fall upon how our main trio is characterized and where they go from here, but I’m liking the possibilities so far.
I find that OST sounds very Sigur Ros-ish/Olafur Arnalds-ish. That plus Agent Fresco frontman in Von.
Didn’t expect that from Yoko Kanno. (in the good sense!)
Somehow the style of this (animation, pacing, etc.) felt very nostalgic for some reason. Maybe I’ve just been missing Watanabe’s style since Sakamichi no Apollon (skipped out on Space Dandy for now).
That aside, great first episode. We get the major players introduced, and introduced well, and enough mystery to keep us interested. I’m actually kind of excited that it’s a short series too, hopefully to keep a very tight focus on events.
Forgot to mention, also really liking the new formats from the different writers! Agree that the key series info probably isn’t needed after the first episode though, other than that nice!
I’ll start by saying the animation for this is superb. Absolutely loved it and it feels like movie quality level animation. The story is pretty bold, as the main characters are terrorists that pull off a twin towers type attack, right down to the crashing rubble and cloud of debris that people are running from. I’m sure this will strike a nerve for anyone who was there that day, but this didn’t seem to be exploitative in any way. Maybe a touch too scene for scene, but still executed very well. Overall this looks to be really fantastic.
one of my highest expectations to the summer and it really was fantastic, as expected from calibers like Watanabe and Kanno. indeed looks and sounds great.
the only thing that bugged me was that…how easily 2 teenagers commit two major terrorist attacks (stealing the nuclear bomb and setting the terror attack later on).
sure, the world is dangerous and everyone, even teenagers nowadays, suddenly might turn to do a terror attack or something crazy (today it’s too easy for someone to even get a gun. USA still struggling about it and some other countries had terror attacks and so). but not in such a way.
I don’t know what those 2-3 MC had been through, or the training they got, but committing these two mega-terror attacks for only 2 teenagers? it just seems unreasonable and absurd.
let’s take death note as an example of 2 teenagers (though college students but never mind). in death note we had Kira and L, two genius. but even they…didn’t do anything alone. L was a prodigy detective and he had the police/secret service trust so he leads action but others around him helped and took care of execution. as for Kira, well, he also had an “execution unit” using the supernatural element of the death note.
here in ZnT (it’s Zankyou no Terror, not Zetsuen), it’s seems way too bizarre for 2 teenagers doing everything alone (it’s not that easy to plan and execute 2 mega terror attack with only 2 people) whatever the circumstances they had for doing it.
I think having a bit more older MC would have been great and help this series. sometimes the Japanese series stuck to much with the school student and environment. maybe it’s their way to access the audience..but here it’s a disadvantage I am afraid.
I now imagine this series with older MC…this could almost be like those american series like “24” or something, but in an anime way. it could’ve been even greater. not that it’s bad now. obviously Terror in resonance is not only looks and sounds good, but also has something fascinating behind these characters’ actions and behavior that really makes me wanna know more about them and what drives them and everything.
first thing first.
Where they got the Explosives anyway? Money? Black Market? it grow on Trees? They stole it from Military? They found it on the Way?
So, this possibilities is big. And in no Secret Service no Alarm bells are ringing?
As i said somewhere, in Animes the Police are showed as dump or a mini-yakuza thing. Except for ghost in the shell
I won’t be surprised if the two spent some time off screen preparing for the explosives prior to the attack,
Some explosives could be made from daily use/common stuffs, such as fertilizer.
BTW, the flare-creating explosive really looks like thermite, the raw materials that required to make a thermite are easy to get. (just an example, I am not sure what exactly they used for the explosives)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite
Is there another, as yet unseen, member of sphinx? If not, how did 9 & 12 get the crane to destroy the power feed? Or does one have a precognitive ability so that he knew that at 15:00 all power would be lost? If that’s the case, it might explain why 9 & 12 were in a special, well guarded facility.
… And the show lives up to its hype! This is another solid premier. It’s a tense show, with great pacing. If there’s never a dull moment, and each second is gripping to watch, that’s a solid way to build a show.
Mishima’s definitely going to be the pair’s maker-breaker: ultimately what makes Sphinx succeed, or get caught. Or both. I can tell it’s going to be a thrill to watch that unfold.
My expectations were high before the series started. Now , they’ve skyrocketed. Looking forward to the rest of this…waiting a week is going to be so hard.
Liking this format so far. Can you also add air date on the left side? I think this will be very helpful for readers when episodes are available (as opposed to looking for the summer schedule, then looking for the specific anime).
As for zankyou no terror, this seems to be interesting, I’m looking forward to next week’s episode.
Ah yes. I’ll do that.
Very, very good premiere. Not quite emotionally invested yet, but it definitely has my attention. It looks like Lisa is suffering from some form of either anorexia or bulimia, but I’d wager there’s more to it than that. Those texts are quite disturbing..
Also, quite like the posting style. I’d keep both the quotes and story so far sections, but lose the ‘series rundown’ from the next episode on. Maybe also add a section where you keep theories about the series or questions you want the series to answer.
Interesting take on the formatting. Maybe you should color the quotes the signature RC blue? (Wow, we have a signature blue now – trademark it!) I think that would work nicer because it leans a little green right now. Also, can you “middle align” the first column? It would look less top heavy because your post is longer than the info on the side, does that make sense? It looks off balance right now lol.
In terms of the episode… OMG IT’S FUNIMATION o_o You said you never got Funimation shows and now you can feel the painnnn… of taking caps lol. Or maybe it was just me and the shows I had to blog =( You might be luckier for this show.
I liked the first episode =) It met my expectations in terms of shock and wow factor, but Lisa was definitely an outlier which was interesting. To me, she was an outcast anyway so what does she have to lose? The show reminds me a lot of Monster (saw it ages ago though so my memory might be fuzzy =S) because you have a villain and you know who it is but he’s impossible to catch and he coerces people into doing all the bad deeds for him. I feel like that’s the psychological aspect of the show because you really see how people change just on influence and words alone. I feel like Lisa is going to turn into that person and allow Nine and Twelve to manipulate her.
Lisa has a Sony Xperia just like mine. Neat.
Yeah, I noticed quite a bit of products in the show. Computer was running windows, Nine uses an iPhone. That and selfies being taken by everyone at the gov’t building.
Welcome to the present day.
So glad to be able to watch Tokyo Goul plus this back to back on Thursdays. Both deal with interesting “transformation” themes of normal people as well as showing us the the nitty gritty of a different classes in society.
With Watanabe Shinichiro at the helm I’m expecting great things from this one. I don’t know if I’ll ever able to cheer for our MC’s since they are in fact terrorists but getting insight into how they became that way is what I’m really looking for.
I’m glad they had the sense to not name the MC’s 9 and 11. I think that might have sparked a little controversy (along with that image that looks similar to the twin towers in the backround).
I can’t imagine I have much to add to what’s already been said, but I am so glad to be hearing something from Yoko Kanno again, and I felt that the choice of artists for OP & ED have very similar sounding voices – smoky and a little mysterious. Which goes really well with the whole feeling of the show.
I’m hoping they keep the group to just the three of them, so we can see how they develop/what their goal is rather than spending too much time on lots of characters.
KANNO YOKO
SOUNDTRACK
DROWNING
WHERE AM I
PARADISE
It seems like you guys have been having fun with layout and coding. When is RandomC going to be responsive? When are large screenshot links going to be faster loaded?
this.
I dont mind, if they try out modern styles. But they should not forget the bandwidth limit use of the Server
someone still need to pay the Bills… your not living from donation…
i haven’t watch this yet But what is wrong with that guy always smiling kinda of creepy
Despite them placing the toys around, it didn’t hit me until I saw Nine standing outside the building. I gasped and goosebumps crawled all over my body when my mind caught up that the building in front of him is the one they blew up in the trailer for the series.
Twelve’s happy-go-lucky attitude did give me the impression he’s covering up his “true self” if you will, and boy, that glimpse we saw when he was talking to Lisa after tossing her the doll was exhilarating! I want to know more~!
With the government building crashing down, I couldn’t help but feel reminded of 9/11 and that seemed to intensify the emotions even more. I’m relieved to know I’m not the only one who thought this!
Loving the blog layout, it’s very clean! Looking forward to seeing more blogs regarding this show, it sounds like it’s only going to get better from here on out!
Hey, I reckon it might be the feel, the smell, the images you get in your mind. Reading a great best seller is like spending time with fascinating new friend. The time passes quick, but the memories last forever!
It’s interesting that the explosives flared up first and caused an evacuation. It doesn’t seem like they’re out for blood so to speak at least this time. Anyways I’ll be looking forward to the reveal of their motivations. I need a reason for all this terrorism no matter what it is.
It’s really hard to buy the whole “well intentioned terrorists” thing but i will agree the way the bombs worked is peculiar, they caught fire first to raise the alarms then started blowing up, but there are two problems here, the time between the alarm being raised and the bombs exploding was very short and not enough to evacuate a large building like that (as the whole scene played in real-time with no cuts) and no matter how well intentioned you are blowing up a building that way is 100% gonig to cause casualties (even if you didn’t mean to) .. we saw the parts collapsing and falling while the people were running in panic, that debris surely did some casualties.
The question why is the series trying too hard to make us sympathize a bit with the main characters by portraying them as well intentioned terrorists, it’s hard to sympathize with them until we fully know what is really going on and why they are doing what they are doing so i guess we will have to wait and see.
It definitely one of the most interesting shows to air this season, but i also sense it’s going to be quite controversial, i mean it’s a show that starts with the main characters stealing what seems like a nuclear device (or nuclear waster that could be used to create a dirty radiation bomb), then they go ahead and blow up an important building down-town (in a scene that really resembles 9/11 minus the planes), if that aint controversial i don’t know what is (and i thought the cannibalism in Tokyo Ghoul was the most controversial thing we will see this season, silly me).
All that said it seems there a lot more going on here than just mere terrorism, the flashback of them escaping from what they called the “Institution”, the obscure warning they uploaded on the internet, the way they call each other “9” and “12” also indicated there are other “numbers” out there (like the kid they talked about whom they couldn’t save), from this we can guess they might be trying to get back at the government for something that happened to them back in that institution, or there is something even bigger in play here, but so far we really can’t tell the significance of the bombing they did or why they truly did it, more of a reason to keep watching in order to find out.
The animation, art style and music are all superb and fantastic so far but i only have one criticism, it seems to me that the series writer/director is trying too hard to not show us and casualties caused by the two heroes actions, i mean the way the tower collapsed 100% must have caused civilian casualties, yet we were shown none, even the operation they did at the beginning, i don’t think something like that could have worked without killing someone in the process (probably off-screen) .. so why are they trying too hard to hide the bloody consequences of the two main character actions, in Death Note they never hid the fact the Light’s actions were killing people left and right, they didn’t shy away from that .. so i hope they either show that here to one degree or another.
I’m also interested in the detective character, seeing i just mentioned Death Note and Light we might actually have an “L” character here, the detective seems to be portrayed as the smart type (playing Shogi and all, against himself too XD), hope we do learn more about him soon .. Death Note became the phenomena it is becasue of all the mind games between Light and L .. hope we get that here soon.
Ghost_Zephyr have you thought of differing the font size of the main body and your side panel? That’s one of the best practices if you want to make it work. also, having 12px font in 2014 is kind of… I wonder how many of the readers have to use zoom to easily read that, as I do. The recent standard is 16px, with the minimum being 14px.
Hmm I checked the site on another computer and it’s not THAT bad – a matter of the font loaded if there’s no Arial available.
I wonder what are the anti-villain protagonists motives for their atatck – or rather attacks as I presume more is to follow. Their backstory glimpses seem to indicate they have been imprisoned in some kind of government institution as a kids, escaped while others did not make it.
They also seem to have something bordering on paranormal abilities (mathemathical mind and photographic memory, respectively).
The biggest unknown is Lisa, though, as she is pretty likely to be destabilizing factor in their plans.
And the Tokyo Police deective with liking to shogi might be a Law and Order side point-of view, interesting.
Let’s remember it’s a japanese show, targeted at Japanese audience. And for most of the outside world 11/9 is of course something terrible, but at the same time something that just happened in the past in a country far away, which they most probably won’t even visit during their lifes. In this light, I wouldn’t call that decision “bold”.
Closest terror incident was in 1995 when AS decided to fulfill doomsday by sarin gas on subways.
That episode just went by too fast. I was riveted in my seat the entire time!
I still question the motives of the main characters, are they performing these attacks because they are rebelling against the government? Perhaps the Institution they escaped from was a secret gov’t run program?
The show will most likely explain itself in another episode or two.
Finally got around to watching this show.
Love it!
Not much to add to what people have already said, but I do wonder if Lisa is/was abused at home. At first, her mom could be seen as over-protective. However, people who abuse control the person they are abusing by wanting to know what they are doing at all times of the day and with whom. Or perhaps her mother is protecting the abuser by always wanting to know what Lisa is doing.
On the bombs, the cat inside me wants to know. My guess is that they were filled with magnesium as the sprinklers only made things worse. Also a small cube of magnesium can melt through a large diesel engine with no problem.(Thank you for the demonstration local fire department) So the steel supports of the building would be no problem if the bombs were placed at crucial support junctures, which seems to be the case.
Can’t wait to see where the 3 teenagers go from here.
God, that was kinda weird. When I was in Japan we stayed in Shinjuku not 1 block from that government building (we used it as a marker if we got lost). They did a great job of recreating the area, but god that just brought 9/11 forefront as I spent many days in New York around the towers before they fell and my mother was a volunteer paramedic dispatched from Philadelphia.
Now, this is gonna be a good one.
Great animation and interesting characters. Not much to say about the first episode rather than it was pretty interesting.
Am eager to find out about 9 and 11’s pasts, as to what lead them to committing these terrorists’ actions.