Category: Anime

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works #023 – Duel at Ganryu Island Redux

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hisui_icon_4040 Que the Queen and David Bowie because I am Under Pressure.

While I got back from AnimeNext in one piece (albeit a very tired one piece) I still have con reports, The Speakeasy, Case Closed reviews, SWAT reviews, Otakon panels, secret projects, my job, and planning my upcoming vacation to work on in between trying to get some small modicum of sleep. So if I am a tad terse and bit late with this post please forgive me.

The end is in sight. After this episode all the dangling plot threads have been resolved. (Unless we consider the mystery of Sakura an unresolved story. If that is the case you refer you to the upcoming Heaven’s Feel movies.) All that is left is the final test of Shiro’s growth. His resolve might be indomitable, his ideals may be tempered, and his power might be far greater than it has ever been but Gilgamesh is still a demigod who is the Servant equivalent of the Wenger 16999 Swiss Army Knife. Rin and Saber are no slouches but the Reality Marble named Unlimited Blade Works is really going to have to pull its weight in this fight if Shiro’s team has any chance at victory.

Spoilers: The route this story is based on is named Unlimited Blade Works. It might just work.

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Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works #022 – Under the Sea

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hisui_icon_4040 I also wanted to call this post “Whisper Sweet German Spell Incantations in My Ear and then Tell Me You Love Me” but I think “Under the Sea” is a bit punchier.

I’m sorry this post was a bit late. A combination of Kate and I covering Special Edition and preparing for AnimeNEXT means that I have had 1,001 things to do. That it turn meant that this post got a bit delayed. That also means that my post for episode 23 is going to get just as delayed. If Special Edition is a middle-distance running race then AnimeNEXT is a long-distance triathlon. Most of this episode is just crystal dolphins so I don’t think anyone desperately needed my analysis but I do regret that my Incarnation post is going to be delayed as well. Hopefully I will be back on schedule after that so everything should be on track for the finale.

The funnest part of this episode was probably the meta comedy around ye olde fluid mana transfer scene. I think most reasonable people realized we were getting the Réalta Nua version of Shiro getting Rin’s magic circuits. There was this somewhat misguided hope/delusion that we would get Bow Chicka Wow Wow version but that was never meant to be. I think parts of Kara no Kyoukai might have given people the impression that Ufotable might throw in a soap opera sex scene but that was always a false hope. First of all being a TV anime makes that very improbable. Sex sometimes happens in TV anime but it is almost always surprising when it does. Other than Garo: The Animation the last time I can remember something like was the controversial scene in Gundam SEED.  Also I think at this point Réalta Nua has become the face of Fate/Stay Night. It is far more accessible which is important because I don’t think they would want to alienate any of the new fans they got from Fate/Zero.

Plus let’s be honest: People actually like to complain about the crystal marine life scene. Much like the CG dragon it lets everyone come together. It lets people complain how corny the original sex scenes are while also letting fans mention how silly the family friendly revisions are.

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DRRR!! It’s All Connected

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SPOILER WARNING FOR DURARARA!! S1-S2

narutaki_icon_4040 Durarara!! vividly depicts the area known as Ikebukuro. We see it teeming with all kinda of people (and those not quite so human) who hurry down its streets. As with any metropolitan area, it seems like a place that swallows one up, where one can look around and only see strangers. And yet . . .

hisui_icon_4040 Durarara!! always reminds me of the Guy Ritchie movies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. These hyperlink cinema stories don’t use a typical linear narrative but instead weave together a single tale by viewing the story from several perspectives that ebb and flow together in a way in which the full picture can only be seen by adding up the incomplete perspectives of all the characters involved. These stories almost always also jump around in the story’s timelines as often as they switch the perspective character. While at times this makes the story a bit confusing this lets the author hide pieces of the narrative so that they can be very rewarding when the audience discovers the whole picture at the end.

I know that form of storytelling is not for everyone. I have even head a few accusations that Durarara!! weaves its narrative this way more to make itself look fancier than it really is or hide flaws in the work. If you don’t like the series because of how it unveils its secrets that is a valid response. It is legitimately not everyone’s cup of tea. The criticism I can’t approve of is the idea that there is no reason for this style at all. Ryohgo Narita clearly structures his books (and by extension the anime turns out this way) for a mechanical reasons in which this method of storytelling reinforces the themes of Durarara!! as opposed to obscuring them. That synergy of theme and form is worth examining for how it enhances the potency of Durarara!!’s overall impact.

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