Samurai Flameco ep 9, WTF?! part 2

 Spoiler Alert! This is a reaction, it has spoilers. Read at own risk. 

Oh my god. Holy Jesus. You know when I watched episode 7 a couple weeks ago, I was thinking "there is now way this could get any worse than it is now"  HA freaking ha . No this isn't funny. Do you want to know why? This anime was one of my favorite anime from fall lineup. Every single week I looked forward to seeing Samurai Flamenco. It had realism, good characters, the list goes on. Then a few weeks ago they came out with the seventh episode. You know it feels like at this point they have formed a giant middle finger with this anime. First they formed the middle finger with episode 7, then they shoved it into fan's faces with episode 8, and with episode 9, well you can see the GIF above.    I actually thought that i was beginning to actually like the Kamen Rider arc, and then this episode! I... Okay I need to actually explain myself so i don't sound like a raving madman (though I will undoubtedly still)

If you've read my Freezing review, you know I hate it when i receive mixed messages. Yes a show can be both horror and comedy, it is possible. Mirai Nikki for example, is genuinely funny at times. When it needs to be serious however, it can be, and it can do it really goddamn well. However! Samurai Flamenco is rushed. They're trying to add something to the whole Power Rangers formula. They're trying to make it deep, trying to add meaning. In other words they're taking something out of its target demographic. Power Ranger-type series are not supposed to be mature. They are supposed to be fun! That's it! Every last bit of this episode felt like they were trying to make this show mature. Everything from the ethics of killing monsters, to the superhero's role in society, felt forced.

Next I come to the characters. First up Hazama, who has gone from all around nice guy, to arrogant, uppity asshole, in about one episode. Did i miss something? Was there some crazy time loop? Am I in Steins;Gate or something? Oh right this isn't here for any actual reason this is just here for MELODRAMA! They have to put some stress on Goto and Hazama's relationship, so when Goto comes to save the day, the writers can say "Hey Wasn't that touching! Wow its so freaking amazing isn't it! Bet you didn't see that coming!" Maybe if they had tried to make it a bit more subtle it would have worked, but it feels like it's there, because why not?  Of course they're going to make an ass out of me and not do that, but i don't care.

Next up! That little rich Idol! Okay first off, stop! If you are trying to make a scene horrifying, make it really serious, do not flash boobs at me. I mean this girl has been tortured for hours, you want to make it horrifying right?  Not to mention the whole damsel in distress thing is as old as the hills. if you want to break the whole power-rangers formula, then isn't this first on the hit list?


The henchmen! If this anime wasn't trying so hard to take itself seriously i would be praising this scene. Instead for the entire scene my hand was planted on my face in a face-palm that Picard would have been proud of. Okay you want to add in some commentary about how henchmen aren't really henchmen, but are they're own people too? Okay well the fact that they have gag-balls in their mouths really doesn't help things. Next how the hell does this bring any perspective? Yes, you believe in evil just as much as anyone else. They might has well have replaced the entire speech with a picture of a cheese block, because in all of the cheesy speeches I've heard in my short life, I have never heard one this nonsensical and cheesy. This is as bad as People Die when they are killed! Believing in evil? What?! No! These henchmen are tools, right down to the core. I hope to god that the reason King Torture is doing all of this is because he believes in evil. The humor in this show has never been the highlight. Yes there are times where i cracked a smile, but there are so many more anime that do it better. The recent My Mental Choice, has me laughing my ass off, unlike this! This anime can get me to crack a smile. It can. Yet, they seem to think of the comedy as a central pillar to the series. The fact of the matter is that they are desperately trying to cater to the fans of the kick-ass arc with this humor, while still trying to be dark and edgy in this Kamen Rider arc.

Yes you guys are villain's in you own right! Regardless of the fact that you're wearing a gag-ball and collar!

Moving on to Inventor guy! How the hell am I supposed to take this seriously? What? So in broad daylight this guy is going to make a final stand? Why the hell didn't he call the freaking police? Or forget that ! They're fighting on the side of a road! why doesn't someone else call the police! I mean it's not like the torture tools have any weapons or anything. All they have are their fists! the police could take care of that!


 Now i couldn't finish this rant without including the slime-ball reporter guy, whom is a freaking asshole! Okay, I'm not mad at him for being a traitor, I'm fine with that, i didn't like him anyway! What I do care about is the way he was convinced! Forget the gag-ball guy speech, this one's even worse. Okay the guy is willing to be tortured for hours without giving up Flamenco Diamond. He gets stabbed, put in a spike cage, whipped, etc, but that doesn't convince him. No what convinces him, is not morals, not some grand argument about the nature of evil, not societal commentary, but entertainment. I swear to god, the convincing argument is that if the scumbag reporter gives in, he will be entertained. Okay it's not as bad as I making it out to be, but still, it's a really crummy argument. Oh and here they try to throw a plot twist at us, the reporter guy has been a spy the entire time! he's been working with King Torture all along! Maybe that's surprising, but i really didn't care. Maybe if it had been the martial arts teacher guy, but not the reporter guy. Hell we've seen him in maybe ten scenes, tops. There is not hint of anyone working with king torture, no thought of any information leak. In fact from what I've seen, there was no reason for Torture to need his help. it's not like he did anything with the information other than to get that Diamond girl. The twist felt out of place. Like they were trying to get a shock out of the audience, just because they felt like it. Not only that but once again, this scene strays from the whole Power Rangers thing. It gets really dark really fast. I was more surprised that they had that scene in there, than the actual twist itself. 



Overall the episode felt rushed. They were trying to fit too many things into a short span of time. let me list it out: Tension between Hazama and Goto, Hazama character development, Inventor dude development/ death scene, torture scenes, Idea that henchmen are just as important as the main villain/ have their own goals and feelings, major plot developments, time-skips (lots of monsters defeated in interval?), idea that monsters are not just monsters, but somethings that are being forced to do evil work. Twenty minutes and three episodes is not enough to warrant all of the themes that are going on here.

I'm sorry for two things. Okay first the ridiculous delay here, that was waaay to long and i apologize. The other thing is if you like this show. These are my opinions and I will stick by them. There are people who like this kind of stuff however and i respect that.

Anyhow, thanks for reading! Likes, Follows and whatnot are always appreciated, and I'll see you next time. 

Apology...

Okay sorry sorry sorry, can't get that Samurai Flamenco  rant out today. Unfortunately, I have not edited it yet, and without editing, my rant really will be the ravings of a crazy guy. Sooooo, sorry for saying I'd update yesterday, and going back on it.

Go Watch!

Strike the Blood- Okay I know, I know, vampires and whatnot are as old as Call of Duty's game-play, but don't overlook this one. Okay if you're for the whole action thing, this definitely has it. There are some really impressive battle scenes here believe me. Also, if you're like me and you like the whole romance thing, this is along the lines of something like Shakugan no Shana. Serious plot, little slice of life, love triangle stuff (without Yoshida, thank god), a good, interesting setting, and amazing action sequences.

White Album 2--I haven't seen the first one, but from what I gather, it wasn't that good. its equal however is really good, and i can wholeheartedly recommend it. It actually isn't tied to the first one so you can jump in with no previous knowledge of the series. 

Susei no Gargantia Season 2 confirmed! This is good, really damn good, now all Santa has to do is get Haruhi to do another season, and we've got a freaking Christmas miracle! http://animephproject.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/suisei-no-gargantia-series-gets-second-season/

Oh and I just watched Samurai Flamenco episode 9, and well let's just say that tomorrow, There will be a page of rage for you guys. Anyhow thanks for reading!

Who are you and what have you done with valvrave?

So last week I watched the seventh episode of Samurai Flamenco, and if you've read any of the stuff pertaining to that you know i was absolutely amazed by it. I mean it went from a kick-ass the anime, with complex ideas, interesting characters that lived in a believable world, to motorcycle snake! Screw realism! We have a motorcycle snake.

Okay okay this is actually about Valvrave, and i promise that sooner or later I will actaully get over the whole Samurai Flamenco thing. A while back a show appeared on crunchyroll. Now I'm a huge mech fan, so I was interested to say the least. Then I actually watched the show. It's problem was that it took itself waaaay to seriously. I think it was around the time that a bunch of high-schoolers tried to make their own nation that it lost all credibility. It looked fantastic, and now we know what Hoshino has been doing instead of putting out another volume of D-Grayman. The main character is on level with Shinji Ikari. He's an annoying little prick. He's got a really good voice actor, who voices three of my favorite characters from three of my favorite anime this season (Eita from Oreshura, Staz from Blood Lad, and Sadao Maō from The Devil is a Part Timer), but combined with the script it's just.... Anyhow, going into my opinion of the first season is a whole other story, and will take up all of the space here if I write it.  I wasn't planning on watching Valvrave, because of my impression of the first season. Fortunently the whole left by attack on titan was too great for Kill La Kill to fill, so I began watching this show once again. Thank god I did. The second season is sooooo much better from the first. I mean first of all, there is a lot less 'character development' A.K.A whinny teenager fun. It felt forced. How do I put it? It's like someone tried to dress-up as batman to fight crime, but ended up f***ing it up for everyone. Second the plot actually moves away from bunch-of-highschool-assholes-running-a-country, and into more of the supernatural stuff, the interesting stuff. Next there is a ton less political stuff. Before you start saying "hey wait wait wait, you praised political intrigue in Gundam 00 didn't you?" Well That's because the keyword is intrigue. Valvrave's political stuff was not interesting, I didn't care at all who the hell Dorssia was or the United--You know what? It's Sunrise, let's just call them Zeon 2.0 and Earth Federation 2.0. In the end there was no complexity in the nations and the politics between them, because in the end, they were just two super-powers on the brink war. There were no conflicts of interest or whatever, it was simply a power trip. On the other hand the scenery shifted from space, to a more diverse and interesting background then black with a bunch of white holes poked through. The opening is better, the ending theme not so much. On the whole of things the second season is so much better than the first. Granted it is not perfect, in fact far from it. When I review this anime I'll get into that. However even the fact that it's not perfect didn't change my opinion of the twenty-first episode. So head's up spoilers ahead.

You do not know how much I hate her now.

The Twenty First episode was, in my opinion, the best episode of Valvrave so far. Okay, so on one hand it made no sense. The reactions of the leaders were to rapid to be believable, and the actions they took were too quick and things. i could see the soldiers killing them out of fear, but when they killed one person and found out they were not in fact immortal, it might've just might've been a sign to stop. Nevertheless, the episode was well done, to the point were I actually have feelings toward characters. I feel bad for Haruto, hate Shoko, Feel guilty that I don't know the name of the guy who died. I actually care about the characters, which is somethign I never thought this anime would accomplish. Furthermore, the anime is taking an interesting direction. In other words the plot may very well be interesting from here. Haruto will have to win the rest of the student's trust back, and I dunno. Basically the episode changed the plot direction, made me care about the characters, and made me excited to see what happens next. 

Sooooo, that's it! I know that there is actually an anime that I can review at this point, but considering i have a research paper, and a essay on Human Nature to complete, I'm not sure if I'll be updating again this week. As always, likes, follows and other positive stuff is always welcome! 

Be warned the following image may induce feels

Samurai Girls...it's actually really good.

Okay so I finished the first episode of Samurai Girls, cause I have nothing better to do. Well okay I do have homework, but that's not the point! The point is that I was not expecting this show to be good at all. In fact the only reason I started watching it was because it had 'Samurai' in the title. Okay first of, the art style. It's so freaking good. You know those old Japanese paintings? This anime (characters aside) is rendered with this art style. It takes me back to the days of my PS2 and Okami, something else you need to take a look at. Anyhow, aside from the amazing art style, which really did make me look like Schwarzenegger from Total Recall, the episode really drew me in with it's fantastic exposition. This anime could get a lot worse, in fact most of my positivity here is because I'm blown away by the art, but still! I love alternate histories, and I hope this anime will not disappoint!

LOOKITLOOKITLOOKITLOOKIT

Soooo, This is totally filler I know, but I'm working on a look at Valvrave season 2/ the latest episode. That should be out tomorrow, assuming nothing comes up. Anyway sorry for the short segment, but seriously if you haven't already, go watch this now, and  I'll siya next time!

Mushibugyo Anime review

Oh Mushibugyo, it's sorta like attack on titan with bugs. Oh alright that last sentence was really just so i could tag attack on titan in this post, but my analogy is...wrong, it's wrong. Okay Let's try again Mushibugyo is a 2013 shonen anime where a hundred years ago bugs appeared and killed everyone, who the hell cares, we all know what we came here for!  



Mushibugyo is...well hmmm. After trashing Freezing for its explicit idiotic and godamn annoying fan-service, I can't exactly go in here singing this anime's praises now can I? Except I can! As far as shonen anime go I gotta say, i enjoyed my time with Mushibugyo. It's not deep, it's not tactical, but it is plain, dumb fun.

Story- Story? In a shonen Anime?! You crack me up! Really though, plot in shonens is a rare beast. You have to go hunting in the wilds of obscure anime, and believe me it's a place that few venture. the other thing is that even if a shonnen anime has a good plot, the chances of it keeping it interesting to have the viewer keep watching the show are like hitting jackpot in a slot-machine, okay maybe not that bad, but still! this is because if any kind of shonen anime gets popular they become a 100+ affair. This may get a little of topic, but hear me out. Like a lot of anime fans, i don't have a lot of time to watch anime every week. So therefore, if I'm going to spend my time staring at a bright little screen watching something, it has to firstly, keep me entertained, and more importantly, not waste my time. Even in slice of life anime, more happens than in a shonen. Most shonen are 80% talking about an awesome super move, 5% actually doing it, and the rest being the characters acting surprised as metal clashing sounds appear as shocked faces fill the screen like bunch of sharks in a feeding frenzy. Many other anime do what these anime do in a much shorter time. Take Naruto for example. In the eight episodes it took for Sakura to defeat doll-face or whatever his name was, Attack on titan had already established characters, developed them, and finished two consecutive plot arcs, with another one half-way through. Not to say that Naruto's the exception. The same can be said about Bleach, Gintama, Reborn, definitely one-peice, and totally Case-Closed, which isn't even a shonen and has enough episodes to make an opera marathon look short.  So here we go with the actual review. The plot in a nutshell. Bugs fight humans. No-one knows where they came from. Humans fight back. The end. 

It's like jaws the anime!

When i say that this is only a flesh wound I really mean it.

Animation-Well if you're wearing sunglasses just so you can rip the off, while spouting something to do with mother and god, well you've come to the wrong place. Don't get me wrong Mushibugyo looks good, but not where it should excel, the fight scenes. Some are pretty awesome, where i really feel engaged with what is going on while others are just a bunch of streaked line clinging to a character's fist/katana/kamehameha, like it was a freaking magnet or something. Killing the first few insects was about as easy as beating Contra without losing a single life. Oh and yes, I am also talking about playing with your dick friend, who loves to jump on ahead of you. Later though, the protagonists are like freaking janitors, sweeping insects up left and right. Oh and really there is absolutely no need to worry when Tsukishima, the main character, takes a hit. More often then not he lies down surprised for a few minutes, takes a nap for a few minutes, keeps his eyes closed for a effect and then stands up again, like an asshole. Thanks for worrying about me guys! Though it seems as though taking katanas through the gut has become something of a regular routine, so I'm good. Now we get to the fanservice,  ho ho ho, I don't think it's that bad. No, i really don't. After seeing something like freezing, this looks like Mr. Smith goes to Washington. No, in all seriousness, the anime isn't that bad in terms of fanservice. Yes it has it, but believe me when I say that the manga is much, much worse. The fact of the matter, is that the fan-service is always lighthearted, and never detracts from the battle scenes or tense moments. Now some positive things. Yes i have positive things to say about this anime, my username is Posi for a reason. the backgrounds look stunning, and the alternate Edo is well realized. Oh and if i hadn't mentioned it before, not all the fight-scenes are bad. In fact, I gotta say, at some points I was tempted to run to the store buy some sunglasses and rip them off. One in particular was when a gigantic insect marched into town, leading to a battle of such scale, that my eyes were glued to the screen the entire time. Another plus for the animation is the character designs, they're all really interesting. They look cool. I mean the art style in general is unique, even with said flaws.

Try to argue with me I dare you

Sound-in terms of sound, the anime has a lot going for it. For one thing it mixes rock, standard OST, with traditional Japanese music! What a shock! I would show you said soundtrack, but apparently the anime is too unknown for anyone to upload it! The Openings are pretty good, and props given to them for an amazing second ending. Voice acting is good around the board, but standouts are Tsukishima and Koikawa.  Tsukishima how to describe him...Well hmm Picture the most polite hyperactive six-year old with the energy supply of a fusion reactor. I mean the guy's so freaking polite, you could forclose his house, punch him in the face, and maybe chop a few onions for good measure and his smile will continue to be as big the Grand Canyon. It seems like nowadays it's cool to have the cool detached antisocial types, who can't seem to get over the fact that their parents died, like twenty years ago. So to see a character that is a walking mexican jumping bean is a good change of pace. yes at first it seems he's going to be pretty damn annoying, but he grows on you. He's always so polite, always giving people the benefit of the doubt. Sorta like a certain another overpowered spiky haired individual.

Those eye-brows...

Characters-- Okay so i just realized that part of the paragraph above should've been here, but whatever. Anyhow, Tsukishima is so much fun. I mean i really enjoyed all of the scenes he was in, simply because he was so energetic. Something else that is really unique about him is that he's weak. He gets his ass kicked multiple times throughout the series. I mean I mean i'd call him punching bag except that somewhere along the line he becomes what every shonen character ever always becomes: Chuck Norris. It is fun to see his progression throughout the series, as he gradually becomes stronger and stronger, to the point where he can hold his own. Oh and he doesn't use the super shonen power-up that often, only about two times during the series. In fact unlike a lot of anime which hint at a character's latent BFG abilities, Tsukishima goes through most of the series without such hints. There are other characters, such as the girl with big breasts, the guy who likes disipline, the guy who cuts stuff up, and many more. Character development is present in this show, which was kind of surprising. I can't say more because of spoilers, but it's there.

So, it seemed like I criticized this anime a lot. That is true. However, I can't help but say that i enjoyed my time with this anime. I had a lot of fun. Though I can don my spectacles, top hat, and start swirling brandy while spouting things like "What an incredulous piece of garbage, i have absolutely no clue where this industry is headed, Plot hole Plot hole Plot hole" I don't want to. In the end anime is supposed to entertain, and Mushibugyo did. So this gets a recommendation from me!

As always likes, follows and stuff is always much appreciated! Thanks for reading and I'll see ya next time!

Should you watch Samurai Flamenco?

Samurai Flamenco! One of the most engaging series to come out of the fall series. It's mature, it's got almost no fan service and most importantly it's realistic.

SF is a new fall anime that is currently being simulcast on crunchyroll. The best way to describe it was kick-ass the anime, but in case you haven't noticed from above image, it doesn't exactly stick to that. So let's get started.

First thing you notice right off the bat is the characters; they aren't in high-school. While you pick your jaws off of the floor, let me assure of something else: this also has minimal fanservice, and doesn't have any kind of romance. So what does it have? Well to start, it has Tomokazu Sugita, who voices Kyon, Gintoki from Gintama, and Joeseph Joestar from you-know-what. So he has experience to say the least. In fact the whole anime has a solid cast, hell for star power, the voice actress for Asuna from SAO is here too. In the visual department, things are solid. You are not going to be having eyegasms, throughout the anime, though as far as lighting goes, it's pretty impressive. For the first few episodes the whole thing is pretty slow, and watching the main character go out to fight crime, and get beat up over and over again is pretty painful. In the long run, this is okay, seeing as how the character progresses throughout the series. I mean at first he's like a new fallout player, visiting every little location that he can, until he inevitably walks in deathclaw nest and stuff happens with shit and fans, and yeah...  Later however he starts swinging across buildings with...measuring tape? Okay as much as I like this anime, it is still anime, so I guess it lost a bit of credibility when he became batman with a budget. The pacing of this is sorta weird. On the one hand it is interesting to see him progress, but there are massive leaps in his training. Like episode 4, where despite being a wimp the episode before, is now freaking Bruce Lee. Another example is when he gets the new  utility belt, he adapts to it rather fast, the very next episode being able to use said weapons like a pro. As much as I hate training episodes in anime like Bleach, I would've appreciated at least one.  However this anime does have some entertaining characters. First of Goto, the aforementioned voice actor who does Kyon, is amazing. I mean I guess the cool thing about him is that he acts sort of the same as he does in haruhi. Meaning he is a sarcastic asshole, and yes that is a good thing. He's the straight guy, the one caught up in this crazy world, who is always getting dragged into messes by the other protagonist Masayoshi. Masayoshi is the amateur superhero. He's your typical nice guy, who wants to do everything right, like not smoking in the no smoking zone. Now while in real life, he would be a pain-in the ass, for the beginning episodes, its actually pretty funny. The anime uses a blend of serious and comical ways to portray its message. One episode has Masayoshi running down a stolen umbrella. Now as cheesy as it sounds, they managed to make this feel epic without adding a choir to the OST. Speaking of which, the action, when it happens is pretty well executed. With the boring stuff out of the way, I get to the meat of this Should you watch.

The seventh episode. be warned from this point on THIS WILL BE SPOILER HEAVY, so read at your own risk. HOWEVER! I DO FEEL THAT TO GIVE YOU THE RIGHT IMPRESSION, YOU SHOULD STILL READ THIS! Anyway while I'm waiting for my caps meter to recharge, the seventh episode is, shit. Screw Death Note, Screw Steins gate, Screw Code Geass, in terms of plot twists, this takes the cake. Now when I say plot twist, what i mean is not a cool revelation, but more of the developer taking the plot and turning it from and interesting kick-ass style anime, with interesting ideas, and characters, to what resembles a silly straw. Remember the shock when you got to the third episode of Madoka Magical Girl? It's like that only instead of  commenting "Woah that was amazingly unexpected" You will be shouting "WTF?! WTF?! WTF?!" Over and over at you monitor. Okay okay let me say exactly what is wrong with this episode. The first ten minutes or so are okay, regular Samurai Flamenco affair, but during the next ten minutes, SF goes to work with a Police brigade on a drug bust, and then...there's a gorilla...with a guillotine for a stomach...a functioning guillotine I might add... This...this was the most amazing this I had ever watched. This series then progresses to introduce a new villain named King Torture, who says he will send monster of the week style monsters to fight SF. Seems legit. WHAT?! Oh my god what the hell just happened to this anime?! ARGGHH The best part of this episode isn't even when the gorilla appears. it's when the gorilla beheads a police officer with the guillotine in its stomach. The rest of the characters don't even blink an eye. Because you know it's an everyday occurrence that a gorilla with a guillotine comes in and chops off a person's head. The two main characters just roll with it, really i mean SF even still shouts the name of his attack, which is punching with inflatable fists. I mean for all the character development that has happened over the past seven episodes, you would at least expect him to be shocked, but he just strolls up and starts whaling on him with punches. i could even accept it if this anime had done this from the beginning, but not in the freaking middle. Some say that the series has switched from the kick-ass arc and gone to the Kamen Rider arc, but i couldn't give a shit. I don't care if it's parodying/referencing other fiction, this still makes no sense! Oh and I'm sticking by the idea that Samurai Flamenco is sooooo much better in its 'kick-ass' arc. Maybe in time I will grow to like this arc, but the chances of that are about the same as haruhi coming out with another goddamn season.

No words can describe this

So sure go ahead, watch this anime, it's certainly entertaining, at least for the first six and a half episodes. It's also one of the more unique even with the Kamen Rider arc. Unfortunately, I'm not recommending this right now, though i will do a full review once the anime ends.

As always, subs, comments, likes, all that good stuff is always appreciated!