[Locke]

Next up is Kyoukai no Kanata.

This and Strike The Blood are two very similar shows, about the only difference is what the story telling is focusing on. And honestly, I like Strike The Blood's focus more, but this had much, much better animation.

The animation is kind of the biggest strength, and the greatest weakness, of this show. I mean it just seems a waste for such a gorgeous looking show, to put the action in the backseat and to focus largely on some kind of quirky high school drama romance business thing about two supernatural loners. That is why I struggled to get into a lot of the 'classics' like Bakemonogatari or really anything by Shaft.

I don't think I'll bother sticking with both of them, so I'll give them both another episode, to see which one I stick with. Honestly though I think I might end up dropping this one.

[Locke]

Okay, final show Coppelion!

The only thing I was left by the end of this, was a question, the question 'why?'. Why to any of this. Like it makes perfect sense to genetically engineer humans to handle the radiation, if you can accept that internal logic, but why would they make them three high school girls? Including one who doesn't follow orders, one who needs glasses and one who is to busy having an existential crisis to do her job - and complains when she does it anyway. Wouldn't you want someone big, loyal, brave, strong and fit? It just comes across as unnecessarily goofy in an otherwise super serious show.

And I know someone is probably gonna bitch for complaining about something like this in an anime of all things, but just because it's a trope doesn't mean it isn't shit. I thought this was awful, and the animation sucked.

[Locke]

Time for Locke's super epic urban fantasy rematch post to see what the final show is that I pick up!

Strike The Blood's second episode was a weird one, as it managed to be in some ways more focused and yet in many ways way more unfocused... I have to say though, goofy scenes in the hardware store and all, I much prefer the central duo in this show than I do in Kyoukai. Plus, it seems to have set everything in motion for the fact that way more is in play here than we realised.

Probably my only disappointment with episode two was the animation, the fight was big and flashy enough to still be enjoyable but it still felt very cheaply animated full of QUALITY frames and stiff movement. In the first episode the animation was inconsistent for great effect, here it was just...inconsistent.

Overall though, this was a great episode!

Kyoukai 2 goes right in with the action, and what gorgeous action it is! It had a really fun context as well, when she was willing to let it go but when remembering that she has real life responsibilities, she carried on the battle. Even the superheroes have bills to pay!

In seriousness though, watching tokusatsu where brutally murdering the villain of the week is something classed as heroism, it was really fun to see a hero who was reluctant to take the monsters life, simply because it's a monster. It feels even more progressive if you think that she didn't actually need a man to bail her out either, just a man to remind her to pay her bills!

I love this shows attitude in general, honestly, it has such a grounded outlook on life, which only makes the goofball weird comedy sections all the more laugh out loud hilarious.

Honestly, I'm just so much more excited to discover this shows world, I may find Strike The Blood's world more interesting, but I prefer this shows outlook. I think we have a clear winner here. I did enjoy Strike The Blood a lot though, so I might wait until the season has finished and watch it all in together.

[losondro]

C-c-c-c-combo breaker!!!!!!

[losondro]

A grown man on his knees and crying.... because of clothespins :I

[Locke]

Episode 2 of Badly Animated Softcore Porn: The Wrestling Anime.

It was only really memorable in that they turned your typical training montage episode, into basically a series of sexual poses and moves, vaguely masked as training moves. And the show really isn't sexy as I think it thinks it is. Sakura is surprisingly badass though, maybe a little too much...

What I will say is I love how they just get the fuck on with it, some anime will turn training into its own arc, so it was refreshing that the first ten minutes of the episode covered three months of training. And they managed to fit her debut match in there as well, rather than leave it on a cliffhanger!

Sadly, the downright shit animation lets down more than the sex appeal, in principle the idea of the Hell Throw thing is pretty cool but it just looked absolutely horrible in practice and was pretty boring to watch. Her debut match was better, but still had no real sense of style about it.

I just hope that the later, more crucial matches get better animation because honestly this is a show with pretty decent storytelling for something that is basically an excuse for jiggling breasts.

Still, I am kinda glad Sakura lost, they were hyping her up so bad she was becoming flatter by the second, so the fact that she basically lost because she was a naive wimp and the show openly admitted she is a long way off from a victory, really grounded her character and pulled her down a peg. I'm grateful for that.

[Locke]

Third episode of Kyoukai.

Thanks to the Hollow thing coming, this episode seemed to use this as an excuse to plod about, so minus a brief but visually impressive action sequence this was just a long episode of people stood around being 'quirky' and 'animenese' before it all kicked off for ready for the next episode.

Sometimes the conversations would vaguely steer towards on topic, dropping vague and minute hints at the world of this show at large, but for the most part it just involved a guys incestuous feelings that Japan for some reason plays as gags in anime shows.

About the only positive I have to say about this manner of storytelling is dialogue feels surprisingly natural. A big problem with shows like this, is you have a LOT of internal mythology to convey to the audience and getting across that information is always difficult, feed to much at once and it just feels like characters are dumping exposition feed too little and all you do is frustrate your audience. This show strikes a good balance, with the heroes flipping to on topic conversations which are descriptive enough to allow us to understand what is being said, without it feeling like the characters are just dropping fact sheets on the audience.

The same goes for their abilities. In a visual medium, we can see what their powers do, so unless the animation and direction is just balls, we don't need lengthy explanations for their powers. So seeing them just use them as naturally as they would be for their characters was refreshing.

Sadly, the characters abilities are about the only original bone in this shows body. None of the clichés in play here are bad ones, and the show does them really well, but it's still kinda hard to get into something that is so generic beyond its gorgeous animation. Maybe I made the wrong decision after all...

[guncannon109]

Clannad After Story episode 14.

That ending, it killed me.

Oh, and to Tomoya and Nagisa: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

P.S. You're dead!

[Powerman293]

Gundam 00 second season episodes 1-4

This shit starts off depressing. But the plot gets moving along later. This is so good, Double 0 Gundam rocks, the new designs are sick and more mysteries are revealed.

Between G Gundam episodes 1-4 and this, I gotta say this has a better start although, its a continuation of an previous Gundam season.

Episodes 5-7

This shit is even more depressing then the end of last season. Saji being selfish ending up that hundreds or soilders are mudered due to his acts, Allelujah's backstory, and Louise.

Similarly to how Gundam 00 season 1 was a very post 9/11 story focusing on the terror of war, this flips the perspective to the evil government side of things once the terroist bad guys were wiped out. The immoral things that soliders comitted due to the government allowing above the law action to be done (IE the turrets killing innocents) and the emotional uncomfort the federation soliders express when doing this, but the emotionless dickhead leaders said they have to.

Also, the ending of episode 7 is happy unlike the depression and sadness experienced before. Alleujah makes out with Marie which is cool. So I think every Gundam meister except Terria has kissed a hot sexy lady . But Terria's story arc that might be episode, as it might involve clones.

Gundam 00 has some really good symbolism. I hope the show can keep up this level of quality storytelling.

[Locke]

Started watching Hajime No Ippo again. Just watched the first two episodes. It may have been like seven years since I watched it, but I'm still digging it. This is how I think sports anime/manga should be done, grounded enough in the techniques and rules of the real world sport, but stylised enough that it actually warrants watching this...and not just real boxing.

The animation is great as well, this show may be old as hell, but I guess they actually had money for anime those days, unlike now, where pretty much everything looks like total shit. It isn't just well animated either, it's well directed, and it makes a big difference.

I really like Ippo as a protagonist too. He's competent without being 'LOOK HOW BADASS I AM' or just a massive Gary Stu like so many other protagonists wearing similar shoes.

Really my only complaints is this is SLOOOOOW. His first sparring match doesn't start until the end of this episode and across the next, I know it doesn't matter for me, but if you were watching this weekly back in the day it must have been frustrating waiting so long for boxing in your boxing anime.