All posts by draggle

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka! 11

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka,

Ok, this was awesome! So often comedies will devolve into an attempt at being serious in the last episode for the finale and fail miserably. Kore wa Zombie Desu ka has taken the opposite approach and turned the ridiculousness up a notch, and it’s paid off handsomely! It didn’t make any sense, but who cares?

Where to begin… we have Haruna talking with her chainsaw, Ayumu’s body rebuilding effort and walking around the house naked, the return of the well dressed ghost whales in the sky (an entire fleet this time), Haruna and Ayumu’s double transformation for extra cuteness, the vampire ninja meido orchestra… I was cracking up the whole time. I wish more comedies would realize that it’s ok to just be funny and not try to tell some “point” or in general have an actual plot. But with that said, in spite of (or perhaps because of) all the ridiculousness, the story was actually pretty solid. Which in turn served to make the other zombie’s dying words even more hilarious….

It seems like next episode will be a trip to the hot spring. I think that this show should be able to put an interesting twist on the usual formula, so it should be good. And the plot seems to be done with so we don’t have to worry about the creators holding back. Maybe Yuu will call Ayumu “onii-chan”… I was waiting for her to say that in the tower and for the episode to end, but it didn’t happen. At least the preview didn’t disappoint in this regard.

Lulz Tomonori is on triangle. Somehow I found this the funniest part of the meido orchestra.

Dragon Crisis Review – F

Reviews,

I’ll admit, from the minute in the first episode when a girl came out of a suitcase who could do nothing but say the main character’s name and hug him, my expectations were very low. And they weren’t disappointed.

The biggest problem is that the characters are completely one-dimensional and boring. Case in point: Rose, the aforementioned suitcase girl who is actually a dragon (the main difference between dragons and humans is that dragons go into heat frequently). She quite literally does nothing the entire show except obsess over the main character, Ryuuji, and act cute. Cute as in act like an annoying three-year old cute, except somehow she’s in middle school. Ryuuji is even more annoying: the generic harem lead, his only role is to be indecisive enough so that a hoard of pubescent girls can fight over him without his notice. Then there is Eriko, Ryuuji’s cousin… all I can really say about her after twelve episodes is that she shoots butterflies, used to live in America, and has breasts.

The supporting characters are a bit less annoying (probably because they showed up less). There’s a stereotypical mad scientist, complete with lab coat and spectacles; another mad scientist, who is also a pyromaniac; a European young lady, complete with parasol; the girl in class with a crush on the main character who is to shy to tell him; the girl of tragedy who underwent human experimentation to become a fox girl; the tomboy; the evil black dragon who *gasp* wants to build his own harem, and the priest who struggles over his duty. The priest was the most interesting character, so of course he didn’t show up after episode four. Each haremette starred in a couple episodes and otherwise didn’t have much of a role in the show.

The show seemed to have an interesting setting, but didn’t do much of anything with it except make BS up as it went along. The series seemed to get worse over a time, with the last episode almost reaching the point of so awful it was funny. The climax of the show comes when Ryuuji and Rose upgrade their power to “love engage” by kissing on the mouth instead of the hand, and the enemy is defeated by a pink heart. Seriously.

  • Plot / Script – 4 / 10 – Gaping plot holes… like in one day Rose goes from saying one word to complete sentences and no one notices. The main sources of tension are going into heat and ten minute bursts of amnesia.
  • Characters – 3 / 10 – Cliched and annoying (esp. the main characters)
  • Production – 7 / 10 – Nothing special, but not bad either. The music is ok.
  • Overall – F – Don’t watch it unless you’re really bored.

Recommendations – any of JC Staff’s other shows with the same premise (this is one of the worst) – Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, Yumekui Merry, etc.

Star Driver 24

Star Driver,

Pwnt.

In this episode, we learn the history between Keito and Sugata, and how Keito helped save Sugata together with Wako. Keito and Sugata go public with their betrayal, and Keito’s seal is broken. Sugata is the final boss.

But this only raises more questions: what is Keito’s power of eternity? Honestly, I have no idea. Probably something to do with either memories or preventing change… But also, what are Takuto and Wako’s first phases? From what Wako did to Sugata, I’m guessing that she brings sections of zero time into the real world, but I’m not sure as to Takuto’s.

And why is Sugata even working with Keito? He doesn’t seem too into the whole kissing thing. I would guess that he wants to break the seals so that Wako can be freed from her responsibilities and go to the mainland. Hopefully he has a plan to prevent the world from being destroyed. And hopefully it isn’t “Takuto will think of something.”

Speaking of which, Kanako has officially become awesome (well, even more so). The creators have developed her from a crazy lunatic, a child bride with a pet alligator who kisses random people through the glass, into one of the most well grounded, prepared and selfless characters in the show. Those episodes focusing on Simone and Takashi are paying off in spades now. (and yes, I shared Simone and Takashi’s reaction below)

Another unanswered question: what exactly is the angle behind Sugata’s maids? They’re supposed to kill him if he joins the Hiraboshi? So who are they working for…? And why did they let Keito go in the bed with him, and what did she do? They still haven’t even answered that. Or, for that matter, what the goal of the Glittering Crux and the maidens are. We still know virtually nothing about how and why they were established.

Sugata, you player.

This has set everything up for a fantastic finale and final episode. But there are still so many unanswered questions that I have my doubts about whether they can all be answered satisfactorily in the space of a single episode. I can’t help but wonder if this series would have been better off taking an extra season. It certainly has a strong enough cast and plot that it wouldn’t get boring. But I’m sure the ending will be satisfactory, even if it only manages to answer some of the questions.

Fractale 10

Fractale,

Luke, fire the proton torpedos!

Fractale has begun to pick up the pace and seems on track to deliver an excellent finale. It had a deep dip in quality in the middle, but seems to have recovered once they came back to focus on the heart of the story.

In this episode, we witnessed the assault on the main temple, and Phryne’s failed attempts at negotiation. Clain even makes his own attack with Sunda and uses a gun, although he misses everyone, but they’re slaughtered a few seconds later by Dias anyway. I was impressed that the creators refrained from even a single “Clain is a pervert” joke! What a refreshing change.

It's a trap! It's a trap!

Probably the biggest surprise for me this episode was that Dias doesn’t seem headed for final boss status. It seemed like the creators were setting him up to betray Lost Millennium and rule over the Fractale system for himself. I mean, he wanted to make the assault on the temple, eagerly followed Phryne and Nessa’s movements, seemed intent on reuniting them (the key) within the temple, and still had his terminal in spite of removing the refugees’. It seemed reasonable that he planned to reunite them to reboot Fractale and seize control for himself. But he actually just wants to find Nessa so that he can kill Phryne. It speaks to how cliched the betrayal and rise of the new final boss is that the uneasy, evil ally Dias acting  and believing exactly how he claims comes across as unexpected.

Phryne sure had it tough this episode. A near suicide attempt, being strangled, biting people, being licked, dodging bullets blocked by old ladies. Not to mention the two attempted rapes in the previous episodes. I think Nessa may go on a rampage after seeing Phryne being licked…

Hourou Musuko 10-11

Hourou Musuko,

This was Maho’s episode of awesomeness. In spite of staying in bed and telling Nittori she’s not going to school because she’s too embarrassed of him, she is actually really worried about him and even tells Anna to go cheer him up. Her ambush hug of Seya (whose support of Nittori is equally admirable) was great too. It’s rare that we get a show with so many characters of such depth. The only other show I can think of which has so many well-developed characters is Simoun – but there they had over twice as much time to do it in, and tended to focus on only a few characters at a time. In Hourou Musuko each episode is divided more evenly between all of the characters, so it needs to pace things tightly. It never wastes time – every moment is well spent in showing something new about the characters.

Chi was also awesome in this episode. I would have expected Takatsuki or Sasa to come cheer up Nittori, but having Chi go together with Momo was an excellent choice. Her optimism and Momo’s embarrassment at being seen as a “freak” make for an interesting combination. Chi’s response to Momo that she already was a freak was nicely done as well, especially with Makoto’s comment.

And Shuu is beginning to stand up for himself, even telling Doi that he hates him. Still, I don’t think Doi was really trying to be mean – he is just insensitive.

Obligatory Chiba shot.

Apparently this episode was a combination of episode 10 and 11, which will be separated and longer on the blue ray release (not clear as to why). It was patched together quite well and I could hardly tell that anything was missing. I assume they will spend some more time on Shuu’s breakup in the full episode though, since this was only seen as a flashback. The setup of multiple short segments does lend itself well to adding and removing bits and pieces.