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03-06-2021, 12:41 PM | #261 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
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Episode 3: The Infection Spreads This episode feels like it's more concerned with setting up more things to come, rather than actually taking the next big step in terms of the story itself. Though it does still take us a slight step forward. Gerd's' body has gone missing, and in his absence, emotions amongst the media, the XAT, and the public at large are running high. Not helped by how Jill(Gerd's' cheating ex) continues to spread lies about Gerd to the media. Many who hailed Gerd as a savior now see him as a Demon(iac). I'm not too opposed to this scenario, as while it's not doing too too much in terms of the plot at large, it does help to further highlight alot of the other characters. The most prominent example(atleast to me) being Malek, Amanda's' little brother. He has a small subplot about looking up to Gerd, ontop of him and Amanda apparently being immigrants to Anime Germany. His scenes also seem to imply that "Demoniac" in this universe is actually used not only as a term for the Amalgams, but also as a derogatory term against people from other countries. It also seems to imply that it's common knowledge that people who become Amalgams gain the marks on their hands previously highlighted with Gerd, and later on in this episode with Matthew(the guy Jill was having an affair with). I do like that it's also established that despite Hermann blatantly being a loose cannon, he's essentially given a slap on the wrist due to a combination of no one having gotten hurt outside of an Amalgam as well as the fact that the XAT is incredibly short staffed, giving the implication that everyone on the team is a sort of super elite that's hard to come by. There's also a very short line from the commander in charge, giving a blatant clue that there's something bigger going on in this entire thing. The other big highlight is Joseph(Sasuke), whose character manages to already be inconsistent despite us barely knowing anything about him as of yet. At the end of last episode, he declared Gerd a lost cause, yet at the end of this one, despite interacting with no one and having not gained any more knowledge on Gerd, says that Gerd can still be saved. He's also given the title of "Blue" by the XAT, despite his color scheme being primarily Black, but whatever. I also like how thanks to his powers as an Amalgam, he can modify his motorcycle on the fly. That's neat. Overall there's... really not much I can say about this one. It has a couple nice character moments, but nothing major and it really does just feel like a general set-up episode. I think of all the characters so far, the ones I like most are Gerd and Hermann, but we'll see how things develop as we go along.
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03-06-2021, 09:49 PM | #262 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,524
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I know you are already 3 episodes in but that Opening. Let's talk about that opening. ONE OF THE BEST ANIME THEMES AROUND.
GRANRODEO really delivered at the time when releasing that song. |
03-06-2021, 10:05 PM | #263 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,401
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Yeah the opening song is pretty solid, and definitely has the sort of rhythm that I feel wouldn't be out of place in a Rider show. Looking up GRANRODEO's' discography though, they don't seem to have made anything else that I recognize, unfortunately.
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03-07-2021, 09:24 PM | #264 |
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Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,401
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Episode 4: Under Siege This episode got really real really fast. Not so much for the events themselves(though that too), but moreso how much of it can be applied to the current time that we're living in. To give you an idea, the title of this episode could've easily been called "Under Lockdown." So let's get started. After the previous episode's' attack ontop of the new potential for an outbreak of the Amalgem Virus, XAT places the entire city under martial law, and demands that no one is to exit or enter for their own safety. All the while there's rioting, blood samples being taken, people's' trust being broken, and the constant fear of abandonment. Sound familiar? Anyway, what really made this episode work was the various different character moments sprinkled throughout. Such as Amanda making sure to check on Malek despite the chaos of her job, ontop of her surprising intuitiveness in discovering that the infection is spread by blood spatter. Speaking of Malek, man, I really felt for this kid. Due to all of the chaos of the world around him and the constant bullying he's been put through, he starts to wonder if even God has abandoned him, since it certainly feels as though society and even his own sister has. Even Yohan, his best friend, betrays him to join the very bullies who've been harassing them both. Heart breaking. Lastly there's Joseph, of whom the episode is none too shy about outright saying that he and Malek are one in the same. And ya know, I feel like now is the time to emphasize this more than ever... I get the feeling that Joseph is meant to be our "real" main character of Blassreiter. Not solely due to his increased focus in these past two episodes, but also due to the very blatant Kamen Rider inspiration that the anime has. Just take a look at Joseph as an Amalgam. He's someone who fights his own kind, rides a Motorcycle that is outright stated to be a unique model, is an outcast of society at large, and his helmet looks to have tears, further representing the inner pain he feels while fighting. Sound familiar? And I gotta say, I really hope I'm atleast half wrong on my prediction. I was actually pretty hooked on seeing where Gerd's' arc was gonna go, so I'm really hoping that he's not going to just be outright replaced by Joseph. If they wish to be co-protagonists, great! But, only time will tell I suppose.
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03-08-2021, 08:47 PM | #265 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,401
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Episode 5: The Disdained Gerd is back, and he's here to prove that he's still got it. He starts off by sticking it to Igor, the man who helped orchestrate Gerd getting thrown off the racing team, by beating him in a clean race. But of course, Igor's' response is to immediately go to the media and say that Gerd attacked him, which is the exact opposite of what actually happened. People are quick to demonize without knowing every detail, don'tcha know. Meanwhile, Jill is on the verge of transforming into an Amalgam at any moment, and she senses that Gerd is near, sending her into an even bigger frenzy. The XAT opts to try and transport her to a more secure location, not that it stops the media from hounding them any. Also meanwhile, Malek is taking care of the wounded Joseph, repaying him for saving Malek from the bullies a couple days ago. Malek also tells his former friend Yohan to shove it when Yohan tries to be all "I know I beat the crap out of you regularly now but we're still cool right?" And ya know, GOOD. Goes to show that despite his issues, Malek atleast has some self respect and common sense. So far so good right? Well, things take quite a turn when Jill's' transformation is complete, and she escapes the XAT to rampage across the city. It's here that I also am kinda confused on if Urobochi is trying to be even-handed about the entire situation or not. Because of course, once Jill begins to run amok, Gerd jumps in to cut her down. Given the reactions of Malek and Joseph, the shows seems to want you to think Gerd is simply out for revenge and nothing else. But the thing is... if that were actually the case, why wouldn't he have also killed Igor? As well, it's entire possible, given Gerd's' visions, that he instead sensed that Jill was about to turn and simply arrived to make sure the death toll she caused was kept at a minimum. Because despite what Joseph says, Jill is in no way innocent, even after turning, wherein she immediately kills a handful of XAT members. I also wonder where Joseph gets off on judging Gerd for killing Amalgams when, you know, Joseph himself does the exact same thing. Regardless, the shining moment in all of this is at the very end, when Hermann manages to reach out to Gerd, and hands Gerd the letter that Malek wrote him. It goes a long way in showing Gerd that there are still people who believe in him, despite it seeming like the entire world has turned its back on him. And it definitely hits home, because Gerd shows that yes, his human emotions are still very much alive, despite his best efforts to close them off. It was definitely the best scene in the episode, but if my suspicions about further episodes ends up getting proven true, well... I'll elaborate when the time comes. Overall, the episode does its job well enough. The over-arching theme of the show appears to so far be about Human Empathy vs Blind Belief, and while that's certainly an interesting topic to cover in a Kamen Rider-esque show, time will only tell if Blassreiter has the chops to pull it off or not.
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03-09-2021, 09:09 PM | #266 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,401
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Episode 6: The Song that Pities the Demon This episode can blow me. Infact, I dare say that I am tempted to write this entire show off as edgy nonsense after this. You know, I had my suspicions up to now, but I tried really, really hard to give this show the benefit of the doubt in terms of things it was trying to do with its story. But we are 6 episodes into a 24 episode show and my patience is dropping. The entire message of this episode is that you're better off never believing in the good of others, and that it's better to suffer in silence because then you're better serving society as a whole, and with the added bonus that you should never seek a light at the end of the tunnel, because it'll just get ripped away anyway. And it's at this point I gotta ask... why should I give any sort of crap what this anime has to say about society as a whole when the show itself offers me nothing to stand by? If I wanna get told how utterly trash life is, all I gotta do is turn on the news, or talk to the racist half of my family. If I feel like being talked down to for DARING to have any sort of hope in life, I'd go to social media. Ontop of that, alot of its events and character moments ring really hallow when this show has so far offered me basically no one to root for. And anyone in the cast who has any sort of redeeming quality is out and out punished for daring to not be an edgy loner piece of garbage like what Joseph is. Heck, the only character who so much as had an arc is now dead thanks to the events of this episode, something I imagine is going to be a continuing trend. So now I again need to ask... why should I care? It's become clear that this show is far more concerned with preaching dread than it is telling a fulfilling story, and that is no more prevalent than with how this very show starts; Just throwing you right into the thick of this world without any sort of easing in or introduction to the characters or the world that they inhabit. I BARELY know most of these characters, making it really hard to say "Wow, that moment really furthered their development" or anything of the like. With this, plus the Netflix Godzilla Trilogy, someone please, PLEASE tell me this isn't the sort of Nihilistic manure I should expect out of Gaim. Because if it is... I... I don't think I should even bother watching it. I am still going to do my best to finish Blassreiter, but man, this episode really tanked my motivation. Actually speaking of which, why in the world would you name your show after a character whom is apparently just completely unimportant to the narrative at large? "Lol you actually liked Gerd well screw you Joseph is the real hero despite having done NOTHING to improve the situation at all! GOTCHA!" Urobochi, or whoever is responsible for this mess, screw you.
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03-10-2021, 09:19 PM | #267 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,401
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Episode 7: At the Ends of Hatred I have ceased caring. Call me heartless, and hey, maybe this show is, infact, way smarter than I am and I just don't understand how "deep" and "complex" it's being. But as soon as you try to preach that you should infact feel sorry for people who abuse you and betray your feelings because hey, they're CLEARLY suffering far worse than you are? Yeah, no, I hate this. I mean really, why should I feel bad for Yohan? His entire setup doesn't even make any sense. If he's poor, how did he afford to buy Malek a new game? We also never actually get to SEE his time spent with the bullies, thus making it hard to believe he just felt oh so bad about abandoning Malek for new friends. Malek doesn't fair any better in this situation either, going on to spout the type of extremist crap that I only need to browse twitter or tumblr to see, and yet he also has the gall to try and act as though he was the only one who fully understood Yohan, when Yohan out of literally nowhere backstabbed him with zero hesitation. Speaking from my own personal experience, this show's' handling of these types of bullying and racial tensions rings really hollow, especially when done with a character who we not only barely know, but goes on to spout the type of rhetoric that racists typically like to use to devalue those who try to stand for equality i.e. "I want to kill everyone who shows prejudice" and other such idiocies. Malek lost all sympathy with me this episode. And to top everything off? The only two characters who show any sort of optimism are either locked out of the show(Hermann) or outright told that they're morons who could "just never understand" (Amanda). AND SPEAKING OF THAT I absolutely HATE when people say "There's no way someone who isn't exactly like me could even grasp my situation." Know why? Because damn near everyone who makes that claim never even ATTEMPTS to bridge an understanding with anyone or explain their viewpoint. But no, everyone else is the close-minded one, not Malek, clearly. This is what I meant when I said that this show is far more concerned with making a statement and trying to prove how much smarter it is than those clearly "unrealistic" shows that dare to have even the slightest amount of faith in people, rather than, you know, actually tell a compelling story with characters of which we have even the basest idea of. Know what? Screw it. You guys want a list of shows that deals with the darkness of people that still manages to actually do things in a competent and compelling way without coming across as preachy? Many even from the same time frame? Here ya go:
Again, I do plan to finish the show off, because hey, maybe it'll surprise me. But I really, Really doubt it, and I have zero faith going forward.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 03-13-2021 at 08:07 AM.. |
03-11-2021, 10:46 AM | #268 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,401
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Episode 8: Weak No Longer It was really easy to tell that Kobayashi was the one who wrote this episode. Because here's the thing, if this show had at all any amount of better setup in regards to the events of this episode, this would've really worked. Why? Because unlike the past few episodes, this one actually attempted to give a crap about its characters, ontop of having an appropriate amount of atmosphere to the carry its emotional weight. It's just that, unfortunately, the character interactions and events of the previous few episodes make those of this episode really ring hollow. Seriously, this episode felt like a continuation of some alternate draft of Blassreiter that never got put to animation. This whole episode is chock full of little character moments that almost amount to something. Like Amanda talking to the guy with hair covering his eyes about why he always wears a bullet on his necklace. This would be cool we ever got any idea at all about who he is. Or like Malek wanting revenge for Yohan, which would be all well and good if not for Yohan being a terrible piece of crap. Heck, even this episode's' whole stint of "Amalgams are people too" would've worked so much better if the last few episodes hadn't gone explicitly out of their way in saying that "all Amalgams are doomed to be monsters." Which, by the way, the origin story of the Amalgams is given a big highlight here, in that it's a huge ripoff of shows like Tekkaman and Detonator Orgun, two other anime you could easily be watching over this one. This episode also got me really wondering about how exactly this anime came to fruition, because outside of Urobochi and Kobayashi, there's a third writer credited as co-creator; Ichiro Itano. So, I looked into his credentials and let's just say that if he was infact a huge influence, then that explains alot, because this guy isn't a writer. From what I could find, this is the first anime he's ever actually written for, as everything else he's done has been animation and directing. And it doesn't seem like he's written for anything else since. If Kobayashi takes over for the majority of the show from here on, I think Blassreiter could be saved, but again, not getting my hopes up for it.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 03-25-2021 at 08:02 PM.. |
03-12-2021, 04:14 PM | #269 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,401
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Episode 9: The Price and the Meaning of Power See, I know the cheap tricks this show is up to in order to try and garner sympathy. Unfortunately for it, I did not infact forget the events of the previous episodes and I've seen this style of storytelling done way better in other shows. See, this episode is trying really hard to make you feel bad for and side with Malek; Going into his backstory with Amanda, as well as him realizing, without any sort of big provocation, that murder is bad. But like alot of things with Blassreiter recently, this is shattered by not only having Amanda insist that none of this situation is his fault(atleast half of it is), but instead blame herself(when there's really nothing she could've done), and then ontop of that having Malek seemingly die. Now, while death certainly can be dramatic and yes, it can work as a form of redemption in terms of certain character arcs, when it comes to characters like Malek, all it really does is serve as a cheap way for the writers to not have to actually write Malek putting forth any sort of effort to redeem himself. It's cheap. It's shallow. It fulfills nothing. Because here's the thing, believe it or not, I don't feel anyone is truly irredeemable. Sure, someone shouldn't be just instantly forgiven, especially if they do something completely heinous(Akane Shinjo), but I really do think that people have the ability to change. The main key being if they show the desire for self-improvement, and then actively working to achieve it in true earnestness. The effect is cheapened in another way too; in that I highly doubt Malek is actually dead. Why? Because when Gerd and other Amalgams died, they dissolved into the air, and Malek hasn't. The show is trying to get us completely caught up in the moment and be concerned for Malek, when there are multiple reasons not to be. Heck, I felt alot worse for both Amanda and Hermann in this, because they've been shown to actually have redeeming qualities ontop of highs and lows in their lives up this point. They have layers. Not many, but they do. That's also not to say that a story can focus on writing for and fleshing out doomed characters; Casshern Sins does this type of storytelling brilliantly, and it came out the same year that Blassreiter did, ontop of being another show headed by Kobayashi. Makes me think once the production of Blassreiter ended she felt like she could do it better, thus leading to Casshern Sins, one of my personal favorite anime. Casshern Sins achieves this by having really tight writing, great atmosphere, and having a host of compelling and likable characters. All things that Blassreiter doesn't have. I know I'm coming across as really harsh, especially given we haven't even hit the halfway point yet, but here's something else to keep in mind: This show is only 24 episodes long. This isn't like your average Shonen or Kamen Rider season where they have 50+ episodes to work with. The shorter a runtime you have, the tighter and much more on point your writing needs to be, because there's alot less room to fix mistakes or expand upon various points of your story. And just to hammer to comparison home, Cassern Sins is also only 24 episodes long, and managed to do everything Blassreiter hasn't been doing in half the time. Oh yeah, we also got introduced to the Big Bad this episode. He's the dude in the first screenshot. He reveals that Joseph is a hypocrite, as it's heavily implied that Joseph wants revenge on this guy. Not that that wasn't already apparent from the entire Gerd situation. This episode wasn't out and out horrible, but it really failed to have the impact that it tried to, and it's just sad, really.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 03-13-2021 at 11:17 AM.. |
03-12-2021, 05:10 PM | #270 |
Veteran Member
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Posts: 2,550
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Well I haven’t seen the show (still) and I can’t really speak for anyone beyond the sample my source collected, but without spoiling anything, Malek is pretty much the main thing people talk about in this show.
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