[Thessair]

Stream of consciousness impressions, so they probably won't make a whole lot of sense.

10:

That Eriko chick was completely obnoxious and the episode itself was more or less a bust, but the characters are starting to feel more like a family. The cactus/insect monster was pretty neatly creepy, but I feel sorry for the suit actor in the costume that had to do a header down that hill. I find myself wondering if Nai and Mea (Mare?) will actually serve a purpose. The splitting into two characters thing just seems pointless from a story perspective. Also, Makito, don't listen to your siblings. That isn't courage, it's being a chump.

This episode seemed pretty pointless, overall, but this moment was awesome:



11:

It seems like when I ask a question about sentai, it's answered in the next episode. Case in point: Nai and Mare actually do something this episode that probably would have been less likely to be completed as Vancuria. I know the bad guys aren't supposed to win, but geez Wolzard walks away from destroying the Magirangers a lot. Sometimes the characters in this series seem awfully clueless, but it's nice to see Tsubasa use his brain to discern the unlikely problem with Houka. The vampire song wasn't too bad and the mockery of MagiPink was entertaining as she and Makito are neck and neck for my least favorite characters so far. Bah! Tsubasa does the mental heavy lifting for the episode and Houka 'earns' the new spell by not feeling sorry for herself. The seeing smells and hearing colors effect makes me wonder if they weren't doing a lot of drugs in the writer's room for this series. I realize we're still getting to know the characters, but the whole series seems like filler episodes so far. I look forward to it picking up as folks have suggested.


12:

Wolzard. Seriously, what's up with this guy? Playing both ends against the middle, he's one of the few truly interesting characters so far. Ah! An explanation of the Vancuria split. Another question answered! I was afraid that we were going to get another pointless ingredient selection montage, but thankfully we were spared that. Tsubasa and Urara (only somewhat, in MagiBlue's case) using their brains this episode. I begin to harbor hope things will improve! I didn't expect them to go for a magical crucifixion of Vancuria but other than that little surprise, her defeat was fairly anticlimactic. New spell! Tsubasa finally earns something by not being as dimwitted as the rest of his family!

I was optimistic when I started the series, but this is becoming a bit of a tough slog. Still, I managed to suffer through Kuuga so I imagine I can make it until the end of Magiranger as well.