Steins; Gate really stands out for its great dialogue. The exchanges between Okarin and Christina, and the computer guy in this episode were especially fantastic. I could just watch an entire show just about them fighting with each other. They can all push each other’s buttons just right.
However, the second half of the episode was rather disappointing. Way too much technobabble. Time travelling microwaves are only going to make less sense the more you try to explain them. Just allow your viewers to suspend their sense of disbelief instead of trying to explain why time travelling microwaves work. The more you try to explain it, the harder it is to ignore.
The same thing is true about the hacking, although the SQL injection is an improvement over the usual hacking by 3D space shooter. Still, it would be nice to portray CERN as somewhat competent if they are supposed to be the big bad guy. And the ending creepy email message, “Human is Dead”, was just kind of pathetic more than foreboding or worrisome. I’m guessing that it would sound more intimidating if English isn’t your first language.
Next episode it seems that Okarin may meet John Titor, and I’m curious to see who this is. It doesn’t make any sense why people from the future would need an old IBM machine— hopefully they won’t bother trying to explain this too.
Steins; Gate has a great chemistry between the characters and makes great use of it, but is getting too wrapped up in the details of its pseudoscience. Trying to explain illogical things like this only serves to take the mystery out of it and point out to the viewer that it doesn’t make any sense. I personally enjoy watching shows about conspiracy theories because they’re confusing and mysterious and fun to speculate about, not because I like to have them explained to me.
On an administrative note: I will be traveling this weekend starting Thursday, so the site probably won’t be updated until Monday. I’ll be trying to catch up for what I’ve missed early next week.
Woot, more Crystal Dragon Jesus! I have to say: the priest is awesome. Not quite at the level of Father Anderson, but still,he brings back some good memories. He needs to add some more “Amens” to his prayers though.
I had fairly low expectations for this show, but was pleasantly surprised. It seemed like something that would be a standard shounen fighting show, but the characters are actually pretty interesting. I especially like the main character, his brother and the priest: they have a unique and eccentric family dynamic.
This has a lot of potential if it keeps its focus on the characters and not on endless battling and power leveling. I have high hopes that it will though, since this seems more along the line of Fullmetal Alchemist than your standard fighting show. I’m guessing that next we will further develop the demons and meet new exorcists other than the priest. This show will need villains that are actually interesting, since fighting against demons and the devil is generally rather morally unambiguous. I wonder if this Satan will be more along the lines of Milton’s Lucifer, although I don’t have my hopes up.
This was definitely not what I was expecting. I was hoping that Hanasaku Iroha would maintain its good pace of drama from the past two episodes with Ohana, Minko and Nako continuing to fight, but instead we get a fanservice episode with Ohana tied up in ropes, all three girls making out in the novelist’s book, and Nako going swimming with her clothes on. I don’t really think that this is what this show needed…
It kind of felt that everyone was acting out of character too, especially Ohana. I feel like she should be a bit more… concerned… when someone kidnaps her and ties her up. And perhaps the rest of the inn should take it a bit more seriously. It’s kind of hard to believe that the grandmother planned all that out. Also, I wished that they would have waited a while longer to reveal that the grandmother doesn’t actually hate her granddaughter. It kind of removes a lot of the tension.
We also appear to have the novelist becoming a permanent character. Can’t really say I’m looking forward to seeing him every week. Overall, this episode just didn’t seem to fit in well with what the creators had been building up to so far.
We also learn about the economics of war. To be honest, I’m surprised they even bothered explaining it (who wouldn’t want to fight in these “wars”?) but it was amusing nonetheless.
I’m loving our resident mad scientist as well. Almost making me wish I had a tail so I could be this enthusiastic. Speaking of the anthropomorphism of dogs and cats but only tangentially related, I’d like to mention this one verse from the fabulous 
The episode ends with the princess being kidnapped by a very formidable looking ninja. It looks like we’re in for another battle in the next episode. 🙂
Deadman Wonderland begins with a bang, as Ganta’s entire class is murdered by a man in a red cloak and he is framed for the crime. He is sentenced to death and sent to Deadman Wonderland, a privately owned prison where prisoners compete in deadly games for the amusement of the crowds. He meets a mysterious girl, Shiro, who knows him somehow. His fellow prisoners and people associated with the man in the red cloak are all trying to kill him.
This was a good start for the show— there is a good sense of fear and anger at the people who did this to the main character. I think there are two ways this show could go though: it could either examine the conspiracy surrounding how he came to the prison, or it could become an action show focusing on the “games”. I imagine it will try to do both, but with more of a focus on the games, which would be a shame. The first episode was more focused on developing the mystery though, so you never know.
I am looking forward to seeing the interactions between Ganta, Shiro, their fellow prisoners and the guards. There is a lot of potential here especially since Ganta has been introduced with such a huge misunderstanding. The show has a promising setting; let’s see if they can put it to good use.