I’m slowly but surely getting caught up on everything in-between streaming sessions of the fantasies de la finale, but I’ve concluded that Juuou Mujin no Fafnir is most likely going to be dropped within the next week. Of everything I have on the docket, it’s the show with the least number of episodes I have watched, because they’re really pretty bad. I mean, this season is full of magic/supernatural school shows, and even Absolute Duo has tolerable elements in it. Fafnir has none. But I am a fair man. I’ll try to suffer through another episode or two and pass judgement next week.
Moving on.
“Shakugan no Shana ULTRA BLONDE”
The later-starter of the season, Iscua looks well and means well, but as I alluded to in my lazy post:
It’s basically Shakugan no Shana with a bow and arrow instead of a sword, and Noragami without Hiyori. I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far, so judgement reserved, but I am not expecting much from a show that starts out grimdark and pivots on its dick.
I don’t have especially high hopes for it, but it does have a cat girl, so we’re making small victories here.
First Rating: 7
Sub Group: Horrible
“Stupid Sexy Usagi Nanoha”
httpss://twitter.com/tldranimu/status/571801859595350017
In terms of character and plot, Absolute Duo is absolutely abysmal, really. It manages to hold on to a flimsy story that has only really been interesting since the introduction of Lilith, and even then it’s really just that token rich blond exceptional girl trope, latching on to the main character, and creating a rival for Julie, despite there already being rivals who just sorta gave in. The show promises some kind of mastermind plot underneath, but there has been barely any movement on it and we’re on episode eight. Ten bux it’s a rushed ending where everyone wins. Or everyone dies at the hands of Usagi Nanoha. Best end.
“Are we there yet?”
As I lazily alluded to in my lazy post, my trouble with Log Horizon’s second season has basically been the fact that too much shit is going on for me to figure out how much I want to care about it. Shiroe plots tend to be easier to follow because they either revolve around A: The city and guilds or B: Understanding the world. Last season’s ending introduced us to Nureha, Plant Hwyaden’s leader and acquaintance of Shiroe. That set up made her out to be more involved in the second season, but so far we’ve only seen her a few times as elements from the Chinese server start to shift over. Still, with so many episodes focused on the full raid, and the adventures of Horizon Kids, I feel like we’ve wasted most of this season on character development and less plot development. That isn’t always a bad thing, since Log Horizon has such a detailed universe that like any real-world MMO, you can drop in new characters on a dime. They’re choosing to develop out more of the characters we have rather than drop in a bunch of new ones. Not a bad thing. I hope this means we can expect a third season though, because I feel like there is much more to tell, and with few episodes remaining, I’d hate to see them cram something big into a few episodes for the sake of a cliffhanger ending.
“I’ll take my tea in the playroom.”
I can’t help but think this entire show is a test drive for Sunrise and Fukuda to see if audiences can stomach another season of Gundam SEED running pretty much something similar to the plot we’re getting here in this show. I mean, just replace everyone with SEED or SEED Destiny counterparts and almost all of it lines up. I mean, your villain Embryo’s voice actor was Rau Le Creuset from SEED for fucks sake. But with some of the shit they put Ange through, it might be 2HOT4U on television. After all, would we want to see Lacus in the same position? The answer is yes, obviously, but I digress. Sunrise doing what Sunrise does best, Sunrise things for Sunrise guys. But fuck if I am not still watching it to see how it is going to end, because I don’t even know. Seriously, shit keeps just happening for whatever reason.
“Wake up. Why don’t you put on a little makeup?”
So it seems when you get three Martian Katas up against Inaho, he is unable to get himself out of that jam easily. Of course, part of the problem was having PTSD besides you, being mostly useless, but it seems that MacGuyver moments only happen during singles fights. Aldnoah’s second season has effectively been the Slaine Troyard Power Hour, consisting of his power grab and consolidation as Inaho and friends still waddle around on Earth, waiting for that final confrontation. Credit where due, at least this season is more interesting than Code Geass S2 with the stupid fake brother, but like the end of Code Geass S2, this show is going to accelerate towards a blow-out ending when Inaho goes DOUBLE GEASS and puts Slaine down like a rabid dog in front of Asseylum. I don’t think he’ll get the opportunity though, I get the distinct feeling that DOUBLE PRINCESS is going to back-stab someone before this is all over. She doesn’t seem to be of the sane mind, after all.
httpss://twitter.com/vinhnyu/status/571360553043668993
The only time I’ll ever say white and gold.
“It figures, she is from France.”
So far, season three has been sort of episodic and slice-of-life really, even down to each episode pretty much just being one big back-and-forth trip between countries. But with Leo’s excellent marriage brawl last episode and Adel’s flashback story this episode, it’s still all good to me. I actually found myself wanting to watch more Flashback Dog Days, involving characters from before. I still haven’t quite figured out how old they actually are, and what generation we’re on currently. Certainly, they don’t really say how old they are or where they come from. You’d assume some furries got into the pile and made some kids, but you never see any of the ruler’s parents or grandparents. Not required viewing, but if you’re going to do flashback episodes, fuck man, now I have to know.
“Fat Bottom Yamato, you make this rockin’ ship go’round.”
Folks who know their fleet girls could tell you better…
I’ll make it clear right here and now that it ain’t no Garupan. If you’re looking for a show that appeals to a broader audience while maintaining its original military niche spirit, I’m afraid your ship is in another dock.
…but considering I am probably that “broader audience”, I have to say that I have comfortably found the KanColle anime to be just as enjoyable if not more as Super Robot Taisen OG: Divine Wars, as they’re both based on gaming franchises. While the latter positioned itself to act more as a serious giant robot show, the point is more that even if you’d never played any SRT games, you’d still find yourself at home with the series. KanColle is broad enough to allow me, who has never played the game, to still emotionally invest in many of the characters and the story, while having plenty of little things that hit the buttons of current players. The 3D animation bothers me at times, mainly in places where it wasn’t needed, but the overall quality is still a peg higher than Arpeggio’s attempt last year.
I also rather like how they do aircraft carriers, the whole arrow-to-plane and landing on their deck. Cute touch. Yeah, I used the word cute. Deal with it.
More hopefully later this week. Or maybe tomorrow since we’re due to get another snow storm. Really, really done with winter now.
httpss://twitter.com/vgc_scott/status/569303576364879872
