Euphonium stays strong. Rinne looks more and more appealing to me.
Another week, another hardware exodus in this house... This time my trusty old Fat Lady (50gb PS3 of first generation) died the dreaded YLOD after running so long. Of course it just had to be on top of everything else... If I am not here anymore at some point my room probably exploded out of nowhere.
Anyway, miraculously my PC is still running (though I dread to expect how long), so let's get to another week of anime. After the highlights of last week, this one was back to a more mediocre pace but nothing that was really dreadful (PM's lowborn attempts of comedy aside) and a lot still very enjoyable.
Assassination Classroom: So... This confrontation seems like it will drag on for a bit. As much fun as the humor in this series, I don't actually mind it. Granted, compared to what it can do on the comedy side, AC cannot quite keep up when it leaves that territory but it's still interesting to watch.
DanMachi: Compared to the last episode following a high point, this one was far better handled. I don't have much to say aside from the fact that I really start to think the series title is so very misplaced... Which girl did Bell even "pick up" in the dungeon? Technically? For real, I mean? Don't get me wrong, it isn't a weak point, it's just rather... misleading.
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Vivid: Miura, rocks! She made an incredible impact, it's just too bad that she doesn't have much depth and character backstory to her, same as a lot of new characters in Vivid (except the "rulers").
Fairy Tail: Finally, this is really Fairy Tail again. The feeling has returned with the last arc that's for sure and it looks like this will be shaping up to be quite the conflict. Laxus and cohorts already taken out in the beginning, huh? Tartarus has obviously not studied recent history well. If you make it personal with FT, it never ends well for you. ^_^
Plastic Memories: Pfft... Moving along. If you want me to comment on all the lame gags, then you are in the wrong place. It is such a shame, especially considering that PM still can do good things when it really wants like the scene with Michiru finding out about Isla and talking to Tsukasa shows. But this potential is squandered under layers of something that the series isn't even good at.
Highschool DxD BorN: Okay, I admit, this felt like a cop-out. I mean, of course, they weren't going to kill Asia... it would pretty much kill the series as well to pull a move like that but the whole "Oh I killed her" and then "We just happened to pass by" routine was very, very, cheap. I have a feeling (and judging by some comments) that BorN is rushing a good bit through its source material and leaving out a lot of details along the way. Certainly some things make very little sense. Still, the entertainment values survives, albeit barely in the face of what happened this week. I hope the last arc of the season turns out big to make up for this part. It felt too cheap all around.
One Piece: What? Did you really think no one would guard an entire level, Rebecca? I so saw that coming. Let's hope Luffy and Law make it up there fast.
Show by Rock!!: Finally some MUSIC! A very nice episode. What irked me somewhat was how a lot of attention was given to Criticrista's leader riling up Cyan (and affecting Chuchu in the process) to a point where one almost expected something would happen during the performance but nothing occurred. Did they just miraculously shrug it off to concentrate on the song? I mean, that's nice but you don't bring it up and then not have it mean anything at all. But that's really everything I have to complain about here.
Go Princess Precure: Geez, they are going through new keys fast... The problem I really have is, these power-ups are vastly the same just with a slightly different key element. Even the new combo stays vastly the same in almost everything but name. Now, if we compare that with, say, Suite, which to this date poured out pretty much the most new finisher moves per season (at least in its first half or so), these were all at least distinctively different enough. Uniformity is nice but at some points it becomes boring and appears lazy from a creative point of view. Our evil Princess also lacks the creativity that made say Regina such a strong character which's appearance and disappearance had such a big impact on Doki's quality. We are steadily nearing the halfway mark and I feel something needs to pick up or Princess Precure may very well have started out promising but will stay in mediocre obscurity. It lacks a certain punch so far since Kirara's glitter can only carry it so far.
Hibike! Euphonium: Lots of great scenes again. While I'm still not convinced about Kumiko x Reina and it probably will not happen (which frankly I don't even really mind that much), their scenes – short as they usually are – pack a lot of impact. The audition results went as expected. Sadly Hazuki didn't make it but with the standard set, that was rather obvious. Euphonium is not K-On! where one simply picks up an instrument like Yui and becomes a genius within a few weeks/months. And as much as I love K-On! this level of realism is what makes Euphonium the best series this season.
Kyoukai no Rinne: I am slowly starting to really like this. It took awhile but after the show has now established its concept and characters, I have arranged myself with it. That has the benefit of appreciating much more what it can do right and I feel a little bad about critiquing it earlier. I actually do have a thing for dry humor (mine is quite often of that variety as well) and more and more Kyoukai no Rinne is making me laugh a lot every episode, this one in particular. I suppose, Sakura is still a badly written character... in any other setting than this. Her deadpan, one-mood setting actually works quite well with the dry humor in this series. So... Yes, writing-wise Rinne is not anything special but the special brand of humor makes it worthwhile to watch an episode each week (in fact I would not recommend watching it in longer sittings).
Mikagura School Suite: So they actually got possible members but Otone scared them away. Heh... A decent episode, not much more to say. I agree that too little has been made on the animation side out of the otherwise good idea with the newspaper girl. A scene like that in anime like this does not work without lots of creative, flashy visuals.
Hougako no Pleiades: So... Wait, is Minato the "enemy" now or not? I am confused. Not that I am not around at least eighty percent confused all the time about everything in this anime with all the half-explanation, reality-bendings and so on... Still, it was a good episode, bringing things back on track with the actual plot (what is there at least).
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