The close of the season has begun, with half of my list ending, and Gundam AGE finally over. It was a wild ride that had some good and bad points, but overall, a good effort for a show made to sell toys. Continue on for that and more good shows I’ve finished as I let the B roll play on my other monitor just to say I saw them.
Forty-nine episode later, Gundam AGE ends on a strong note, but not as strong as I would like to have for a show called Gundam. The idea of spanning a show across three generations was certainly a good idea, but with only 13-15 episodes per arc, there wasn’t enough time to really flesh out the story and many of the characters. The main characters, Flit, Asemu, and Kio, all got a decent story forwards and backwards to tie together in the end, but most of the side characters suffered from short to non-existent storylines, many of whom were killed to elicit an emotional response from the viewer, namely Yurin, Woolf, and Zeheart. They spent many episodes detailing the plight of the Vagan people and the Eden Plan, but not many in space battles or even dialogue through space battles, a sharp turn from SEED/SEED Destiny and 00. Some episodes seemed downright a waste of time that could have been put into better detailing the overall story or a particular fight. Even Zeheart’s final battle was short and un-inspiring, here we have a guy who fought for two arcs to realize the Vagan dream, and in the end he turns over and dies in front of Asemu in the worst way possible. There was no feeling for him. Frankly, the only man I ended up feeling anything for was Obright, the dude lost his girl in the end of the last arc and ultimately his life protecting everyone in the final battle. He had more development for a side character than almost anyone else there. To top that off, we got nothing from characters established previously in the show, Emily, Romery, even Dique. It would have been interesting to get even a short bit on Emily’s take of this massive 50-some year farce Flit embarked on before he realized he was doing it wrong.
The takeaway from this is that by itself, as a title, as a flagship franchise, Gundam AGE is not like your typical Gundam, and ends up being a less functional version of SEED Destiny, where style trumpts substance, the story is made up, and the characters don’t matter. You’ll love the space battles, and the Gundams themselves, and you’ll even do a Data-style fist-pump in the end when several big bads die, but you’ll come away from this show feeling empty and uninspired. It just didn’t do the franchise justice.
Title: Gundam AGE
Sub Group I Watched: sage
Episodes: 49
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Woolf Enneacle
Least Favorite Character: Decil Galette
Favorite Gundam: Gundam FX
Favorite Main Character: Asemu
Why didn’t Flit die? That wouldn’t have been a TWIST I guess.
Yuru Yuri ended on the same note as the first series, without a definitive ending, and with making fun of Akarin’s lack of presence. I’m sure we’ll see a third season probably, unless they just don’t care to repeat it again. I certainly want to see more, it’s easily some of the most fun I’ve had in a show that I really shouldn’t have given it’s genre and format. There isn’t much more I can write about this, you should just watch it really.
Title: Yuru Yuri
Sub Group I Watched: Commie, Horrible
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Akarin
Least Favorite Character: Chizuru
Favorite Episode: Time-Travel Akarin
Not Enough Chitose: Seriously.
Can S3 be about their sisters? That would be fun.
If you’re going to watch a typical shonen fighting show, the least it can do is stick to typical shonen formats, the hero being an everyman who gains powers, wins a bunch of fights, gets his ass kicked, then POWERS THE FUCK UP and wins the day. Accel World possibly changed this up uniquely in that Haru is a short fat unsocial kid who is always beat up. To be taken in by the cute social top-shot girl in the school, Kuroyukihime, is nothing short of a fantasy most people (including myself) will never experience. The premise of a virtual reality fighting game that also doubles as benefits in real life, and the culture around the people who play it, set an interesting story with interesting characters that left me wanting to watch every new episode, especially towards the end. Seeing that smug bitch Seiji get fucked and lose really pleased me in a primal fashion. Perhaps it was me, who also experienced an anti-social life in school who escaped to games and the internet, who really felt this show spoke to me beyond what it should, but excluding that and focusing just on the show, it was pure fun. It’s worth your watch, and goddamn why don’t we get to know her real name? All we know is “Saachan”. Sachiko maybe?
Title: Accel World
Sub Group I Watched: Commie
Episodes: 24
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Haru
Least Favorite Character: Seiji
Favorite Avatar: Silver Crow
Least Favorite Avatar: Yellow Radio
More Accel World? I hope so, they left the window open, and by god I want to know her real name!
If there is one mecha show you should watch, make it Rinne no Langrange. This show does not disappoint, from the cryptic and flashy first season to the gut-wrenching FINAL FORM of the second season. It’s a show where you meet a simple energetic girl and end up rooting for her saving the whole goddamn galaxy from space retards who don’t understand how SUPER SECRET SPACE MAGIC works. The mecha use is subtle and that actually adds to the flavor of the show, because most of the story is in the characters and their interactions, the mechs are really used for them to fight each other, almost like talking to each other, fighting for the sake of reasoning rather than trying to kill one another. It’s subtlety is the secret sauce, and you’ll simply enjoy Madoka just getting plain mad that people are retarded and she hauls their ass in. If you watch nothing else on my lists, watch this, it’s awesome.
Also I cannot see Midori at work without thinking of Madoka’s Vox. Sadly it would be too weeaboo to suggest
Title: Rinne no Lagrange S2
Sub Group I Watched: Commie, Underwater
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Madoka
Least Favorite Character: Moid
Favorite Vox: Midori
Wan: Wan.
Season Three? Could be, or they could animate the Yurikano stuff. That’d be awesome.
That’s all I have for now, catching up on everything else and will review it later in the week. Also will get the new stuff and preview that soon.
