Category: Anime

Alderamin on the Sky Is Actually Pretty Good

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hisui_icon_4040_round I have been catching up on series that had some promise from SWAT reviews but I never finished for one reason or another. There are some shows we watched as a group thanks to SWAT Reviews and others that we stayed away from like the plague after seeing a single episode. But there are a few anime that were in a decent middle ground where they looked promising but due to time we just could not fit them into our schedule. Alderamin on the Sky was one such show.

Let me be up front. Alderamin on the Sky is not a MUST SEE HIDDEN GEM THAT ALL THE SMART PEOPLE ACCIDENTALLY MISSED. It more a surprisingly strong show that is easy to dismiss because of its flaws. A fairly brief if a little minimizing summary of the show is “A very simplified fantasy light novel version of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.” It was a show that Kate and I saw a good deal of potential within but also saw some major warning signs that could easily sink the whole concept. While the flaws of the show never go away they also never grow in a way to ruin the strong points. Also, Alderamin on the Sky actually goes to some interesting places that you might not guess from the start.

So what I’m saying is let me make my case on why this show is pretty good but not excellent.

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Fate/Stay Night Movie: Heaven’s Feel – II. Lost Butterfly

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hisui_icon_4040_round Watching the first Heaven’s Feel movie with an audience in a theater was a fun experience. With the right audience, when you watch action scenes you can feel the excitement of your fellow theater patrons and dramatic scenes can also be amplified by the collective investment in the emotional swell of a scene. The problem is the wrong audience can jar your out of a scene just as easily. While I enjoyed the hell out of Lost Butterfly in the theater but during certain scenes the audience reminded me they were also there in the worst possible ways.

I recently wrote up a history of the adult scenes of Fate/Stay Night and how they have been adapted into anime over the years. I know some of my readers know this all so better to put it as is own footnote for those who are not Type Lunatics. So if you don’t know what Realta Nua is you might want to at least skim that post. Otherwise, let’s continue.

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Kunihiko Ikuhara: The Intro is Never the Beginning

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hisui_icon_4040_round Sarazanmai just kicked off and it is 1000% Ikuhara from the start and shows no signs of stopping. At this point you can pick out some of the major themes he is going to examine and guess and some others but betting on details specifics is a fool’s wager. Heck, even after an Ikuhara show has finished fans will be debating points about it until the end of time. I myself have watched the first episode of Sarazanmai three times in an attempt to try to find some of the obvious threads to pay attention to as well as hopefully catch some of the more subtle paths as well. I did notice something I was not excepting that gave me a new insight into Ikuhara as a storyteller.

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