Category: Anime

S.W.A.T. Reviews: Winter 2012 Pt. 4

Leave a comment

The premise of these reviews is simple: watch the first episode of a series and then immediately sit down to record a review mini-podcast. The reviews are five- to ten-minutes long and entirely off the cuff. As always we only review new shows (so no sequels or continuations) and try to avoid anything that just looks outright awful. These are the last two of the new season:

RSS Feed     –     iTunes Feed

Listen – Episode 1 of Black Rock Shooter from Ordet with the opening “Black Rock Shooter” by Supercell and sung by Hatsune Miku is streaming on Nico Nico Douga.

Listen – Episode 1 of Smile Precure! from Toei Animation with the opening ”Let’s go! Smile PreCure!” by Aya Ikeda.

Ongoing Investigations: Case #155

Leave a comment

All good things must come to an end and so I wrapped up Carnival Phantasm season 3. Last week I wrote about Fate/Prototype but it was just an extra added in with the last disc of Carnival Phantasm. Otherwise the last 4 episode stick to the comedic tone of the rest of the series. We start with the best new episode right out of the gate. The Holy Grail Grand Prix is just amazing. The Lion-Go will win your heart with its cuteness, Gilgamesh pops in during the middle to ruin everyone’s day (like he always does), and it is nice to actually see Assassin get to participate in a sketch. A good deal of joke time bombs in this episode. The Akiha story is straight out of Take Moon with Kohaku up to her normal tricks but the Brainwasher Detective skits that end the episode were the star of the show. The third episode is a Final Destination homage all around Lancer and his Kenny like tendencies. The final episode wraps everything up with the conclusion to the dating plan from the first disc and a round-up of all the pieces of the Type-Moon universe. While they were not voice acted they included characters from Fate/Zero, The Garden of Sinners, the Mobile Site, and even Notes. I am sad to finish Carnival Phantasm but maybe one day down the road we will get another season after a few more games come out. Surely Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, Fate/Apocrypha, and maybe even Girls’ Work will warrant revival of the carnival.

Thermae Romae came to an end just after three episodes. But a delightful three episodes they were. In each subsequent adventure Lucias spent more and more time in Japan soaking up the culture. Because he celebrates each new experience in Japan with such enthusiasm, it spills over to the audience (maybe because so many of us non-Japanese fans long to go as well). And each time he returns to Rome things get weirder from smelly bandits to being courted by the emperor to a village of baths. Perhaps a few more episodes wouldn’t get stale but I definitely think they let the series go out while it was still a quirky surprise and that’s a good thing.

Continue reading →

Let’s ratchet up the drama in Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% S2!

2 Comments

My first reaction after finishing Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% S1 was hoping they would make another season. It is a completely open-ended finale to the romances and there is plenty more that can be done with everyone’s music careers. Luckily just this past month another anime (Love 2000% ?) was announced for it but with no real details. That being the case, I came up with my own ideas.

Since we ended S1 with the group debuting, they will now try to navigate the waters of the real idol scene. But since the headmaster is also the president of the talent agency, he will still keep up his crazy games because let’s face it, the show wouldn’t be nearly as good without Norio Wakamoto. We can add a new guy to be the agent/manager of ST☆RISH though. The group would get to travel a lot for appearances causing bonding and drama. The guys would be gaining a fan following that would lead to plenty of trouble, too. Some international traveling would be a lot of fun as well as paying a visit to relax at Haruka’s grandmother’s in the country.

At the top of my list though is a scheming rival boy band. They can all be similar to the main cast but done in a darker coloring of our guys, kind of like the alternate costumes in fighting games. These guys would conspire to steal away Haruka to be their songwriter. For good measure the lead in the rival band can also be a childhood friend of her’s. This will make Haruka naturally torn between new and old. This could even build to Haruka being blackmailed to leave ST☆RISH creating a supremely melodramatic climax! As far as the romances between her and our bevy of suitors goes, again I doubt we will get a conclusive pairing at the end of the season.

Anyone who has played the games have a real idea of what we may have in store for S2?