Observations on Space Dandy Season One

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How to Do Exposition Right, As Seen In Zankyou no Terror Episode 2

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Analyzing What Good Directing in Anime Looks Like via Zankyou no Terror Episode 1

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Log Horizon – Review and Analysis

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Revisiting That Vampire Loli In the Crazy Bathroom (Nise 4 Redux)

Omo and ghosty are right, Nisemonogatari is porn, but you know my corner of the blogosphere isn’t going to let the discussion end there. Whereas my first post on episode four chronicled the chaotic confusion that came over me when I watched it, today I’ll be examining what it is I really saw, and determining how I want to see it from now on. It will be uber-kimoi—I’m not fucking kidding.

A lot was going on when I watched episode four the other day. Before I started, ghostlightning had hyped me up like crazy on how badly I needed to watch and post about it. From the start of the Shinobu scene, I was already thinking about how I was going to post about it, while also being overwhelmed both by what I was seeing and by the facts of what I was seeing—one of the most relentless onslaughts of fanservice which I’ve ever witnessed. I quickly lost track of the subtitles and didn’t know what the characters were talking about anymore, so I started messaging ghostlightning to share my incredulity. The result of everything was exactly what you saw days ago.

Now that I’ve rewatched and really taken in the scene, I can react to everything and figure out how I feel—and there’s a lot to figure out. The sheer density of happenings in this scene is more than enough to make it the most memorable scene in anime I’ve watched since… well, Bakemonogatari.

Fate/Zero Episode 2 – Cthulhu Reigns

I didn’t anticipate how awesome this episode would be. The hour-long debut set a high standard for the series; episode two showed that it would go above and beyond maintaining it. To start, let’s talk about my favorite scene—the one starring Uryuu Rinnousuke and Caster, which is some high octane nightmare fuel shit.

A psychotic serial killer is in the midst of painting magic circles with the blood of his victims. He’s not killing people for the purpose of doing so—it only happens that he discovered a summoning manual and thought that following it would make for more entertaining murders. He thinks it would be interesting if he summoned a demon, as he narrates to the tied up little boy that he hopes to sacrifice in the event that he does.

Wouldn’t you know it, the summoning works. Uryuu is surprised, somewhat dumbfounded as he introduces himself to the demon, and then remembers his excitement as he offers the sacrifice to said demon.

As Caster is closing in on the kid, I think, “how refreshing. A psycho who successfully summons a demon that is successfully going to eat his sacrifice.” I was excited—then Caster unties the kid and tells him to head for the exit. I was a little disappointed, though unsurprised, expecting that Caster would say something to the effect of not minding what his master does, but not preferring to kill of his own accord.

But something wasn’t right. The shots of the kid heading for the exit were lingering just a little too long. Suddenly, it was like, “is he gonna let the kid go? Isn’t he?” And then, the money shot:

The tentacles drag the kid off-screen, but we see more than enough. Horror and blood. Then we hear utterly grotesque tearing and screaming noises which last for quite a while, or at least seem to, transfixed as we are in shocking, smirking terror. Caster, it turns out, is a connoisseur of murder, and Uryuu is totally impressed. He wants to follow Caster into this holy grail war, despite having no idea what any of it’s about. He just wants to see awesome murders, and I gotta say, I’m in the same boat with regards to Caster. I look forward to his and Uryuu’s involvement for the sheer gleeful terror of it all.

This scene also contains Urobuchi Gen remembering love for Mr. Lovecraft, with Caster going so far as to name-drop Cthulhu for some reason. Caster explains his brand of horror, like an author insert for Urobuchi writing the scene in question. This took me right back to Saya no Uta, and the whole scene from the untying to the grisly murder is like a microcosm of Madoka Magica. Brillant, brutal. Ishida Akira is excellent as Uryuu, seeming to channel a bit of Kamiya Hiroshi playing Orihara Izaya, but creepier.

Besides this, the episode contains lengthy scenes of brilliant characterization and animation respectively:

Waver’s partnership with Rider is hilarious. There’s a definite sense that Waver doesn’t have control over his situation, and that he’s gotten in over his head with a servant that has no interest in his personal desires. It’s genius especially because Rider is simple-minded and kind in a way to where in spite of finding Waver weak and annoying—no, because he finds him weak and annoying, he’s willing to just let him do as he pleases. Of course, the control glyphs(?) Waver talks about pose a big, frightening problem. Every sign points to this bastard attaining victory through his idiotic selfishness.

The brilliant animation sequence involves Assassin sneaking into the Tohsaka compound at the end of the episode, only to get mercilessly slain by Archer. I’m more than a little curious about Kotomine’s intentions in sending Assassin to his death, because it seems very likely that this was intentional.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 1st Review

(I found myself in the mood to write reviews of my favorite anime in the style of Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies” articles, and having just rewatched the Nanoha movie, this happened.)

Nanoha The Movie 1st is sold on one fantastic battle scene and one fantastic dialog scene that wouldn’t be possible without the rest of the movie, even though they overshadow it in such a way that they alone deserve rewatching again and again.

A Study of Pantsless Nanoha

Nanoha Strikers has a relatively bad rap compared to its predecessors, but with my having two Nanoha installments on my favorites list, it seems remiss not to give it a shot. Whether the series eventually amounts to something good or bad doesn’t matter right now (hint: don’t bring it up)—after three episodes, I’ve found more than enough to be fascinated about in the show. For starters, pantsless Nanoha.

It's okay, they're 18 in this show.

Suite Precure♪ and the Perfect Way To End A Dramatic Scene

This is a general post on the first three episodes of Suite Precure; the other part of the title I’ll save for the end. (Edit: Fuck it, using subheaders.) I’m enjoying it a good deal so far and finding that besides the character designs, the series is no weaker than its predecessor, Heartcatch Precure. (That’s not to knock the designs, but Heartcatch had some of my favorites.) Much like Heartcatch, Suite has shown a surprising level of writing depth, and actually has a more mature air about it as well, with the girls even looking older than the average mahou shoujo protagonistas.

On the Ninth Day of Kurisumasu My Imouto Gave to Me: “…Yes.” From Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin Episode 11

(Lol late again, but I have an excuse. I was in the middle of writing when Funeral found out that Black Swan was finally playing in our city, so we immediately rushed out and saw it. I highly recommend you do the same if you can.)

Images courtesy of otou-chan's now-defunct tumblr. Go see him on his newly re-active Shameful Otaku Secret! http://www.shamefulotakusecret.com/

Occult Academy was easily the most disappointing TV anime that I finished in 2010. I got a bit excited for it because the A-1 Pictures “Anime no Chikara” project had turned out the amazing Sora no Woto earlier this year (I didn’t see Senkou no Nigth Raid until later, but it was still better than Occult Academy), and because the character design and animation directing were being handled by Chiba Takahiro, who was also responsible for Kamichu and worked on Read or Die. (The team from those 2 shows seems to work together a lot, and I’m a big fan).

Much in the vein of Futakoi Alternative or Angel Beats, Occult Academy sought to blend together utter silliness and bouts of seriousness together at random to create an unpredictable experience. Whereas those other two series did this to great success, Occult Academy utterly fucking failed, and wound up as terribly boring trite for most of the show.

The series’ only saving graces were the occasional hilariously over-the-top episode and one of my favorite Hanazawa Kana performances. I was actually considering dropping it 10 episodes in, but I thought I may as well finish.

I’m glad I did, because the last three episodes were so brick-shitting amazing that they made up for the rest of the show sucking dick.