Magical Girl Raising Project first reaction/ My thoughts on post-Madoka magical girls
Is Magical Girl Raising Project going to succeed at what it’s trying to do? What that question means is a …
Is Magical Girl Raising Project going to succeed at what it’s trying to do? What that question means is a …
So one of these First Reactions finally took the full three episodes I allow them, and even after that I …
The bulk of article was written with only the first episode of Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue in mind. …
So typically I watch two or three episodes before getting to this, but one point in Divine Gate’s favour is that it gave everything I needed to know and a good idea of where it’s going in just the first episode.
The premise, in a nut shell, is that some people have one of six elemental powers, including wind, fire and water. The World Council has gathered many of these gifted humans, organizing them to use their abilities to maintain peace and stop anyone who abuses these dangerous powers. Meanwhile, there is an urban legend that somewhere in the world the Divine Gate is hidden, and whoever opens will have their wish granted.
This should be the first time I’m putting one of these on The Artifice, so I should probably explain what …
I didn’t pick up many new shows this season, but among them was Rokka –Braves of the Six Flowers-. It was a bit of a mystery going in; the art didn’t reveal much other than that it was a fantasy show, I’ve never seen anything from the studio, Passione. Only the director stood out, Takeo Takahashi, who also directed Spice and Wolf, and as soon as I read that, anything else he had done didn’t matter, he has a golden resume as far as I’m concerned.
I’m not saying that you can’t have a different character. In fact, a different character is required for this, as real-Nagato, as awesome as she is, doesn’t lend herself well to main character status. But you can’t just make her completely different, keep the character design, through her in the role of main character and call it the same.
The other characters suffer different problems. Kyon for instance, doesn’t quite feel like himself. I can’t quire put my finger on it, but he doesn’t seem like the same character. I don’t get why, he’s snarky, inner-monologues in a relatable way, and is bland just like always. It may just be because I never watched Haruhi subbed and I need to hear Crispin Freeman for my viewing experience to be whole.
On the good end, Decim, Nona, a yet unnamed black-haired girl, and presumably more characters as the show goes on actually have some depth. As it’s still early, the only one I can really comment on is Decim. I like him. He’s not the perfect supernatural arbiter who can read people’s souls at a glance that he came off as in the OVA. He’s clearly introverted, and has weird hobbies like collecting mannequins. But most importantly, he can make mistakes, and, trying not to spoil anything, he has made a pretty big one already. The frustrating side to this is that it was a pretty obvious mistake. I understood what was going on right away. While I am happy Decim isn’t a Gary Stu at his job, I would hope someone hired as arbiter of life and death would be more qualified than me.
As for the bad… The first two episodes center around a couple who died on their honeymoon, and they find themselves at the Quindecim Bar. After a little prodding and implied threat, Decim convinces them to play a sadistic game of darts-and-your-organs-are-the-dartboard. While I’m still intrigued by the concept, the execution here is clichéd and predictable as it gets. The two get small glimpses of their memories back, leading them to believe that their partner had been cheating on them.
Ah back again, proving I have way too much free time on my hands right now. Well, we’re almost at the end of First Reactions for this season, so hopefully then I can catch up on some other stuff I’ve been meaning to watch. But for now, my thoughts on the first two episodes of Brain’s Base’s One Week Friends.
Now, I usually like to give some background on the show I’m talking about, whether it’s based on the production history, what kind of response it’s getting from the anime community, or, most often, how it relates to the production studio and their other work. But this time, I cannot not do that, for I have ventured to the page of Wikipedia, I have uncovered the history of Brain’s Base’s work, and with the exceptions of Spice and Wolf II and Baccano!, I saw each title and could only ask myself, “What the heck’s that?” It’s odd because I know I’ve heard the name of this studio before, but have no idea why; I guess you could say I’ve forgotten my past experience with the studio. But fresh starts can be good too, so with that in mind, let’s see if Brain’s Base can become a memorable friend to me, or will just be forgotten by next week.
So I’m having difficulty collecting all my thoughts on this one. What I can say for sure is that, after watching the first three episodes, it’s interesting. To make it a bit easier to explain, I’m just going to divide it into sections (story, characters, technicals, and some general thoughts), and explain each one separately. Sorry for the bad writing, but I really can’t get this one done today any other way.
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Now, I haven’t mentioned an elephant in the room for this yet. It’s by Studio Arms, the same studio behind Ikkitousen, Queen’s Blade, Elfen Lied, and other anime torture porn. At first I thought I would have to credit them for making something that’s not torture porn, but now that I’ve watched three episodes I’ll instead credit them for making torture porn that’s worth watching. I’m going to be doing episode notes on this show now, starting with episode 3, and I’ll explain my reasoning there. For now, I give Brynhildr a recommendation, with the warning that it is, indeed, torture porn.
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