Whoopsies

Haven't been posting in a month or so. Still enjoying da anime...here's a few completed ones...



Nanatsu no Taizai 24! the end. Hm. Nobody is dead...except for the bad guy. Random unexplained magic is a convenient thing. Meliodas and the rest of the sins save the kingdom and venture onward. ~8/10 rating~ for a lightening-paced adventure where the good guys charm everyone and triumph always with luck and magic. Simply fun fluff. I suppose that the lack of the 7th sin and the ongoing manga leaves this open for more.



When Marnie Was There jmovie! was an interesting mystery. A young introvert moves to the country for health reasons and befriends a mysterious girl in a mysterious mansion. With movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, this was a milder Ghibli movie visually and story-wise. ~7/10 rating~ as much as I like Ghibli's past, this is a renter.



Kaguya-hime no Monogatari jmovie! wasn't as enjoyable as other Ghibli movies though the animation style with the brushstrokes was pretty awesome. The main reason I didn't enjoy it was that once bamboo-cutter and his wife took Kaguya to the capitol, the story just got tedious. The ugliness of humans seemed to take precedent and well, zzzz...the story was lacking. ~6/10 rating~

Spring anime

Some of the spring offerings...

Vampire Holmes 1! is another 3 minute gag anime. Vampire Holmes doesn't solve crimes despite how much his assistant, Hudson, pushes him to. It's not really funny nor is it produced well.



The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan 1! is an AU spin-off of the Haruhi series in which Suzumiya Haruhi is not a character (random background street cameo instead). It's a typical shoujo anime. Yuki has a crush on Kyon and plans the literature club's Christmas party. It's quite dull actually and the production is a step down from the original series. Probably not worth the watch.



Kyoukai no Rinne 1-4! has that old-school anime charm going for it. A young girl can see dead people. She meets a cash-strapped shinigami who guides the ghosts to the afterlife. From the creator of Inuyasha, we get another cute male and female lead characters who are instantly likable. The first episode is about a cursed cell phone and the caller who left something important behind. Episode 2 explains how Mamiya Sakura can see ghosts. There's also a cute talking cat...you can't not like him.

and the decent stuff...



Kekkai Sensen 1-5! The citizens of New York City get exposed to some sort of gas/fog and a few citizens gain powers or turn into mutant-like beings. Some are good and some of evil. Libra is an organization that suppresses the evil. A young boy joins to learn why his eyes were replaced by 'god' eyes. This show has a style like Baccano with its sometimes-jazzy music, flow to the scenes and variety of characters, but it's there's also an X-men-action feel, too. The first episode gave the viewer and good understanding of the whole story really quickly, but the plot doesn't progress too much through episode 5. The opening theme from Bump of Chicken and ending theme from Unison Square Garden are fun. I wish FUNimation's stream was sharper...or the production better. Can't tell who is to blame there.



Arslan Senki 1-4! Arslan is the young prince of Pars, a country at war with Lusitania. Pars uses Lusitanians as slaves. Lusitanians believe in a god that teaches that all men are equal...and it's ok to kill for that belief. The King of Pars is of course a harsh, undefeated king...until episode 3. Arslan is depicted as having a very gentle heart and healthy curiosity for all people. The show is the definition of an epic war fantasy..but darn, the novels that this show is based on are not completed, so I assume the anime will be left undone. (Again, I wish FUNimation's stream was a sharper quality..yes, the pirated show is sharper.)



Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 13-17! back for the 2nd part of the story. Yes! My only gripe with episode 13 is the out-of-place fanboy service scene with Saber. But everything else with the return of the anime was up-to-par. Rin and Archer confront Caster only to have Archer betray Rin. We see a glimpse into Caster/Medea's past where she betrays her former master...a blond pimp. In episode 15, Illyaviel and Berserker face off against Gilgamesh and lose pretty badly. Berserker didn't really get to show off any real skill at all. Thankfully, Rin's battle with Caster and Archer versus Lancer were both lovely to watch.



Sailor Moon Crystal 19-21! So Chibi Usa takes Sailor Moon, Venus, Tuxedo Mask and the cats to the future to save her mom. Sailor Pluto takes a swipe at them. It's so sad that the animation quality sucks. They find that Sailor Moon is Queen of Tokyo in the future. When you can live hundreds of years and have the crystal of power, I suppose becoming the Queen eventually happens.