Tag Archives: Anime

First Reactions: Space Brothers Episode 71

Posted on by
2

It doesn’t help that Space Brothers has been in sort of a lull phase recently, but the bad aftertaste from Mr. Hibbit shorts still overshadow the rest of the content in a big way. I’m pretty sure I know why they’ve come into existence, and I’m very sure it’s got little-to-nothing to do with anything other than time constraints. While it’s entirely possible to manage time elegantly (as the first 60 or so episodes of this very show did), that just isn’t what recent episodes have been doing, and the actual meaningful content is suffering for it.

SB-71-3

Continue reading →

Charactology 2012 (Group 2, Match 2): Dio Brando or Jigen Daisuke

Posted on by
Reply

(Check out the stickied post for the full bracket.)

Today’s matchup is a marquee clash between veterans; Dio’s been trying to end the Joestar bloodline since JJBA began in mid-eighties, while Jigen’s been riding shotgun with Lupin more than a decade longer.

Continue reading →

Charactology 2012 (Group 2, Match 1): Saber or Koko Hektmatyar

Posted on by
3

(Check out the stickied post for the full bracket.)

Apologies for the lateness. We’re back on track for now, and the rest of round 1 should be completed without any problems. On a side note, I’m expanding the polls to weekly ones, though there’ll still be a new post every day.

Today’s matchup is all about war at varying degrees of honor. Our second 1-seeded character fights for honor and country, and the scrappy upstart gleefully (and successfully) facilitates conflict for profit.

Continue reading →

First Reactions: Dangan Ronpa Episode 9

Posted on by
Reply

Togami’s been an unremarkable character for most of the series. I say that because this episode he really stood out, pulling a Barry Marshall and drinking what was ostensibly poison to prove his point. Even before I knew what that point was, I was hooked on his presentation there. There’s levels of differences in the body language between a sip and a chug, and this was the latter.

DanganRonpa-9-2

Continue reading →

First Reactions: Free! Episode 8

Posted on by
Reply

So the show did end up relying on the rematch, but it did it in a bit of a roundabout way that allowed for more emotional investment in the interim. Since Gou did the signups without telling any of the guys, we got a lot of footage of them trying their best in individual events. They may all have eventually lost, but they did so in the seven-game Conference Semifinals series kind of way, where one lucky bounce (or something as trivial as Rei’s goggles staying put) would have been enough to turn all of that into a win. In other words, losses providing the perfect narrative building blocks of a relay challenge the next day.

Free-8-3

Continue reading →

Charactology 2012 (Group 1, Match 4): Dekomori Sanae or Emiya Kiritsugu

Posted on by
Reply

(Check out the stickied post for the full bracket.)

The complexity of the matchups continues to increase, thanks in part to Kiritisugu’s mottled moral history and in part to Dekomori’s tangled hair bolos.

Continue reading →

Charactology 2012 (Group 1, Match 3): Sakura Ichiko or Daiki Aomine

Posted on by
Reply

(Check out the stickied post for the full bracket.)

Day 3 of the bracket sees a confrontation between two characters very comfortable flaunting their respective elite statuses. One’s a try-hard ace on the basketball court, the other’s just born lucky.

Continue reading →

First Reactions: WataMote Episode 8

Posted on by
Reply

WataMote is fun to watch when it’s primarily about Tomoko self-destructing on her own. It gets less fun when she gets others wrapped up in her pathetic bluffs, especially when they believe in her. The style of humor this week wasn’t that different from normal, and the episode in general was way stronger than 6, but the subject matter straddled the barrier between funny sad and sad sad.

WataMote-8-4

Though the vacuum scene was still appreciably fun

Continue reading →

Charactology 2012 (Group 1, Match 2): Koyomi Araragi or Shinjou Kanae

Posted on by
1

(Check out the stickied post for the full bracket.)

The first match ended in a tie, something I forgot to make a rule for. I’m going to say higher seed wins by default if that happens again. Anyway, day 2’s matchup gets a lot more comedic, featuring a somewhat oddball straight man up against a straight-up oddball.

Continue reading →

Charactology 2012 (Group 1, Match 1): Nanba Mutta or Fuwa Aika

Posted on by
Reply

(Check out the stickied post for the full bracket.)

In the inaugural matchup of our Charactology feature, we compare the appeal of a character who spends most of the series trying to go to space with a character who spends most of the series deader than a Hokuto no Ken villain.

Continue reading →