We’ve got ourselves another lull episode. True to form, this show spent its downtime efficently, focusing on the relationships of several key players in this game with the titular one.
Seitokai Yakuindomo (SYD, for brevity’s sake) is a very strange beast. At a glance, it looks like a fairly run-of-the-mill comedy, and describing the bathroom humor-littered source material probably won’t win you many fans. As a novel, it probably wouldn’t have many. But, thanks to a combination of ultracompetent soundtrack and excellent comedic delivery, the series actually ends up being quite an entertaining ride.
Now let’s dissect those layers
If the past two episodes were about making Vincent Bold a huge jerk, then this one was all about making him a great, well-rounded character with surprising charm and principle. I’m impressed to the extent that Space Brothers always impresses me.
The characters in this show are basically the inverse of characters like Desert Punk’s Mizuno Kanta and GS Mikami’s Yokoshima Tadao. While those guys are tight in the clutch and useless everywhere else, these guys are clever strategists who manage to screw up at the most critical juncture. I have an overall preference for the former apprach; it works better for all-around shows that mix comedy and drama. Still, the latter approach definitely works for comedy.
Giant Killing is an anime about professional-level soccer that aired in the run-up to the 2010 world cup, which should really be everything you need to know about the savvy IQ level of the ones making it. Being from America, I didn’t follow a particular professional team, and had a passing interest in the upcoming world cup. This anime changed that attitude, mainly by building a large-scale fun cast and integrating realism to a level I’d never before seen from a sports anime.
My image of soccer, post-Giant Killing
I am liking this series appreciation for myths and legends. The villains of the last arc were a group of Greek soldiers and had Medusa as a boss, and one of the villains here is a Will o’ Wisp. They even provide the scientific explanation for what is believed to cause the illusion (natural gas bubbling up and igniting from swamps). And then we get the main villains of this arc, who are based on the legend of the Pied Piper, and the show goes the extra mile once again by basing the villains on some natural disasters that are believed to have caused the incident. It’s a small touch, but I really enjoy it.
This episode was okay, with some great parts and some bad parts. The great parts were the designs and ideas; we got some really cool villains in the Pied Piper and Jack o’ Lantern characters and the ideas behind the challenges were cool. Izayoi was awesome as always, which is a plus. There was also a really funny scene at the beginning about skirts and why it’s better to never quite see the undergarments…
…and the image of the scrolls landing all around the town was really cool.
The kids were actually the bad part of the episode this time. Yo appears to be starting an arc about having to rely on others, after making the stupid decision to not bring in a teammate to a match and ending up having to surrender, and Asuka is in the middle of an arc about how she feels weak compared to the others. These are both really generic plots, and it’s annoying to see them resurface here.
Just a few episodes ago you were perfectly fine with being the distraction
Particularly exasparating is the unwillingness of Yo to bring a teammate in; there is no drawback to bringing a teammate in, and she should be smart enough to understand an advantage when there is one. Her blunder just seems out of character and makes her appear stupid.
THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IDIOT
A minor complaint, but the way that Izayoi explained what they meant by “reveal the true legend” five minutes after that was introduced was baffling; the tension is gone, and if you were really going to go for any mystery, it’s all dried up.
The episode was still good, but not as great as earlier episodes. Hopefully this show gets back on track.
Live from what may or may not be a filing cabinet, we bring you the Animetics Podcast, a (presumably) monthly recording of our panelists jawing over various topics. If the very thought doesn’t scare you, you can download it from the following link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?dtwsd2810g366d0 (94 minutes, 85 MB)
In this inaugural episode, we’ll be talking about the Winter 2013 Anime season. This discussion is a two-pronged assault. First, we cover the shows we’re watching, trying hard but not too hard to stay on topic. Second, we discuss the season in historical context with recent previous Winter seasons, taking on the oft-disseminated “worst season of all time” rumors.
If you’re strapped for time or only want to follow a certain portion of the podcast, you can find each particular segment at the times listed below:
Tamako Market [0:50]
Maoyuu [5:58]
Blast of Tempest [12:13]*
Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman [17:05]
I Don’t Have Very Many Friends Next [20:07]
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai [26:42]
Cuticle Detective Inaba [32:38]
Senyu [35:40]
GJ-bu [41:12]
Koutoura-san [44:12]
Mangirl [54:00]
Problem Children [55:24]
Puchimas [58:32]
Vividred Operation [60:56]
The Unlimited [63:30]
Comparison with past Winter seasons [72:47]
Seasonal Charts We Used:
Winter 2011 full chart (w/ Madoka)
*Blast of Tempest is technically a Fall 2012 show. It’s in there mostly because Sam and I wanted to hash out a topic we had argued over the past week. One that I proved myself wrong about 2 days after emphatically declaring that studios didn’t really matter.
No matter what happens in the ending of Psycho-Pass, Urobuchi Gen and his star power will get too much credit, and the director, Katsuyuki Motohiro, will get too little. Considering this episode was almost all dialogue, half of it internal, it’s easy to see how the things it’s doing visually right will be overlooked.
Blast of Tempest is a very entertaining show, but sometimes it makes odd choices that don’t really seem consistent with how good it’s capable of being. This was, by and large, a solid episode, but also a reminder of how peaks-and-valleys the show can occasionally be.
When I saw the first couple episodes of Blue Exorcist, I got the impression of a show that would be right at home on adult swim. It had flashy priests vs. demons action, decent drama, and a somewhat over-the-top plot (satan’s son on a quest for revenge against dear ol’ dad). That is pretty much how it played out, and the result was a notable, if imperfect show in one of the greatest seasons in recent memory.
Key art always looks like this, but A-1 makes the actual show look almost as smooth
Animetics 
