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Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – Let's Go, My Friends · 24 September 2007
What am I supposed to say? I have no idea…but twenty six has got to be one of my favorite episodes, ever. Essentially, they’re all my favorite episodes, but this one just stands out. I don’t know, but I loved seeing Kamina again, just seeing him, sword, cape and all, I cried just seeing him. There was something wonderful in seeing the Gurren Lagann cutting across the sky, everyone finding themselves again and following after. There was enough abstract weirdness, too, with the sketchy outline of the Anti-Spiral guy and Boota suddenly turning human.
It was epic. It was just epic, not quite the epic we’re use to, but there’s something so nice and so touching and so indecently sweet, like sugar and bittersweet happiness. It was like someone giving that last push right when you need it, telling you to go on. It was like the ultimate inspirational speech. It was the bit in a story where everyone comes together. Guess that’s what this episode was about, the very last moment before the end, going forward regardless of what happens.
“Let’s go, my friends.”
Darker Than Black – Meteor Shower · 23 September 2007
It’s like being hit by a large wrecking ball, all the way out of the park like a baseball, that’s what episode 24 was like. They basically catapult large chunks of information at you, one after one after one, giant masses colliding against weak, feeble fortifications once called my sanity, just chipping it away. I want to watch it again but at the same time, I just don’t have the heart to.
Huang’s gone. I don’t know how else to say it, the opening scenes with Huang in the car, telling them his fishing stories, on the side of the highway, when he lights up a cigarette and Hei stubs it out and tells him to quit and Yin gives him a hug and he ends up blowing himself up in a naval yard. Mao’s gone, too. I don’t really know what happened to him, but seeing the animal that used to be him run off, his last words lingering in the air, makes me wonder. All these people, their lives crisscrossing and intertwining, will they ever see each other again? I just want to throw my head back and weep and just cry and cry and cry, but that worst part is, I can’t.
All that talk about the Gate and the Saturn Ring and all that PANDORA scientific babble aside, there were only a handful of scenes I really like this episode. Huang’s farewell in the beginning is definitely one of them, probably one of my favorite moments this entire series. And the very last scene, Hei and Yin walking across water and the sun comes up, a giant, fiery blaze through the fog, with the stars falling left and right out of the sky. They see Amber, thanks to her remuneration, reduced to almost a toddler, and then she smiles.
And, finally, pretty much everything, everything has been revealed. The only one possible card left unturned is exactly what Amber is going to do. The Syndicate was really a collective of governments and intelligence bureaus across the world. PANDORA is trying to destroy the Gate and every contractor with it. Amagiri destroys the ring, gets killed by Mai, whose very brief appearance all but confused me, only to reveal that the Saturn Ring has a backup and the attack was just a decoy, Amber’s real plan was to guide a mass of dolls inside the gate. The key to positively everything, and by God I mean everything, is BK-201’s powers. It was once Bai’s power and it triggered Heaven’s Gate in South America. Now, it’s Hei’s power and it’s going to do something at Hell’s Gate in Tokyo.
So, exactly, how is this all going to end?! There’s Bai and Hei as kids in the preview, next episode’s the episode with the ominous title, is the dream of a shinigami darker than black? Darker Than Black brings symbolism to a different level, everything in the series has some sort of a meaning and alludes to some or another. The thing that gets me is the whole dreams thing. Yin said it again the in preview, contractors don’t dream. Contractors don’t dream. Maybe the whole thing was just a dream…
Claymore – Episode 25 · 19 September 2007
I’m not sure where to start when it comes to episode twenty five. You have your expected epic battle scenes, the villain totally overpowering the hero. You have the friends coming to save the hero just in time, delaying the inevitable battle and getting slaughtered by the villain who suddenly reveals her true form. You have the hero who also suddenly unleashes her powers, regaining her reason to live and will to fight. And, of course, there’s the minor characters emotionally attached to the hero who also manage to make the party.
Looking at it now, it reminds me a whole lot of Dragon Ball Z, the Frieza bit where Krillin dies and Goku snaps and goes Super Saiyan and precedes to exterminate Frieza. There’s almost a certain formula one can use to create the perfect, cliched shonen ending. (Super Villain) + (Righteous Hero) + (Sacrificial Character that triggers Hero) + (Flashy battle scenes and grunting) = Epic shonen ending. Of course, there are shows like Gurren Lagann that break this mold completely, cmon, who the hell do you think they are?!
Anyways, back to Claymore. Episode twenty five felt just a little bit slow. I mean, there’s a huge battle going on and suddenly it cuts to Miria, Helen and Deneve chatting about how Clare is actually part Teresa of the Faint Smile. Cut again to Raki and Jean, trudging along just barely and how you have to fight for what you’ve lost and to keep what you have, or something. Honestly, its like they’re taunting me with the fight scenes. And what’s up with Easley? He’s just on the sidelines, making little comments, like an announcer at a sports game, Claymore Epic Battle presented to you by E(a)S(ley)PN.
Strange as it may seem, I was a bit gleeful when Priscilla showed her true form and so listlessly and dispassionately destroys Miria, Helen and Deneve. She grabs Miria out of the air like a fly, catches the sword Deneve flings at her like a toothpick and slices and dices all three of them like some stereotypical sushi chef from a bad movie. Stuff like that is just good. I want to see pain, I want to see despair, I want to see flying body parts and blood and gore and screaming and dying and all hell break loose. I’m not expecting Claymore to go any deeper than a whimpering Priscilla, crying “Mama, Papa” while consuming human guts.
Speaking of the whole “Mama, Papa” thing, it’s getting really, indecently annoying. All right, so Priscilla’s lost her memories, all right, she can cry for her dead parents. Priscilla turns psycho awakened being still pining for her dead parents? Every other line she has, it’s about Mama and Papa and youma and how she’s going to kill everyone. What is she? One of those lead paint covered Barbies that can only say two things? “Mama, Papa.” “I kill youma.”
With that said, I’m actually quite partial to the cliche-ness of it all. I’m still a sucker for good versus evil fight, I’m still a sucker for the last minute come of a hero. Growing up with Sailor Moon and DBZ prepares you for shows like Claymore, which is a greater and far superior synthesis of both. You’ve got female warriors in skin tight body suits on steroids with flashy, shiny power boosts and transformations fighting to rid the world of evil and for personal revenge. What’s not to love?
And yes, Clare finally awakens. I’m anticipating the final epic battle in episode twenty six to be non-stop action. Less talk, more kill. Less talk, more kill! We’re past the point where internal monologues and inspiration speeches are necessary, give me action, kill, kill, kill!
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – Episode 25 · 17 September 2007
I really, really, just have nothing left to say anymore. Christ…
And, ha, I put episode 24 instead of 25.
Mental Disorder, and I'm not talking about me. · 15 September 2007
Well, it was a four day weekend thanks to a religion I do not practice and I decided to ignore my truckload of schoolwork to watch anime and blog. Coincidentally, it was also the four day weekend that animeblogger.net decided to suddenly disappear and leave me with error messages.
In any case, ab.net started working again and I changed the theme. It’s called Mental Disorder and I thought it was rather fitting. I replaced the header with a pic of Hei from a fan book that came with this month’s Animage, got the scan off the DtB Livejournal community. It usually takes me a while to decide on a header pic, but after DtB 22-23 all in one day, Hei had to be on my header.
I’ve also got Baccano! 5 and SZS 6 torrenting. Finally, someone picked Zetsubou Sensei! How am I supposed to live without my suicidal, depressed teacher? I’m debating whether or not I should finish that paper first though…No way. Gah, only if it’d torrent faster.
Darker Than Black – Episode 23 · 14 September 2007
Two Darker Than Black episodes in one day, Heh. Anyways, animeblogger finally started working again, so here’s episode twenty three.
In the nutshell: Eric Nishijima, the evil glasses man, is using some particle accelerator to create another South America. Amber gathered a bunch of dolls to stop the accelerator. Nijishima is related to the Syndicate, that phone call about eliminating Hei’s team was between him and some other guy. Hei wasn’t a contractor before South America, Bai was and at one point, he tries to strangle her. Amber sends a message to Hei, telling him to meet her in the Gate. Everybody, Huang, Yin and Mao are all out to help Hei, along with Wei (creep) serving as guide to get in the Gate.
Stranger still is the part that Hei said he was relieved that Bai was gone. I can almost, almost understand why he feels that way, how painful it must’ve been watching his little sister turn into a killing machine and slaughter everything that moved. Bai was only a name before this episode, now she’s a flashback and in this flashback, Hei almost strangles her. What has my ovaries in an uproar is whether or not it would have been a good thing if Bai died back then.
Regardless, I think it safe to assume he inherited Bai’s powers since he wasn’t a contractor before South America. That’s probably even more depressing. I don’t think Hei wanted any part of the whole contractor business and got dragged in anyways. Amber probably used Bai’s powers back in South America, hence that whole scene with Bai handing the meteor fragment to Amber way back when during the PANDORA infiltration episode. So now that Hei has her powers, Amber needs him.
You know what? Hell with the plot and action. I liked the fact that there wasn’t that much action at all. I liked Misaki and Hei going on a date of sorts. I liked Guy and Kiko wandering aimlessly trying to collect a hundred memories for a chubby school boy’s homework. I liked everything about this episode. Too often the series just jumps head first into action, which is probably what a lot of people, but it’s nice to have an episode like this, a nice quite, extremely placid and morose episode.
I’m not really sure what to make of Misaki and Hei, together, anymore. I hate to even think about it, but the more I over analyze Darker Than Black, the more blog entires I read, the more I’m beginning to think Hei might actually die. But they were so cute together, eating dinner, playing baseball, watching the stars. Interesting to note, that nicely drawn, very visible line between Hei and Li’s personality is slowing disappearing, in fact, it’s perfectly non existent at this point.
Hei’s, Hei’s a lot of things. He’s been anything but shallow since the beginning, but he’s a lot more than just deep as well. He’s more of an abyss, deep, dark abyss and somewhere in there is the real him, trying to climb out. You know, you know what, the more I think about all of it, the more depressing it becomes. All this action, suspense, all this talking and jabbering and it’s really just a guy, a perfectly normal guy, possibly Chinese with an enormous appetite, who’s not even in control of his own life. Then again, who really is?
All those people, sitting in parks with their telescopes, standing on balconies, waiting, staying up all night just to catch a glimpse of the real stars. It was right then that I felt some strange pity, like watching ants struggle in an ant farm, examining the pieces of their lives with a microscope. Something that Guy said that reminded me of my own useless ramblings, something about people’s lives not changing whether the real stars are in the sky or not. Mournful reflection of human existence? Something like that.
Next episode is Meteor Shower, which can only mean one thing…
Darker Than Black – Episode 22 · 14 September 2007
November 11 actually died?! The GQ model (that comment was hilarious coming from Huang) actually died! Just when I started to enjoy watching his character, he ends up dying on the side of a road. The guy killed half a dozen armed men with a bottle of cognac. Not even a full bottle of cognac, but an opened bottle of cognac that his boss probably drank from. What do you call people like November? The anti-hero? He went from killing Havoc and trying to run Hei over with a car to GQ model that I wanted to see end up with Misaki.Now, more about Amber. Basically, Amber is not the source of all Evil like Hei believes, but is actually trying to rid the world of the source of all Evil, the Syndicate. The true machinations of the Syndicate are revealed, but that’s not really saying much, I still have no idea what the Syndicate really is. Basically, Amber’s trying to recreate a South America in Japan with Hell’s Gate to save all the Contractors. Heaven’s Gate still exists in what Schroeber calls Neutral space, which means that Bai is probably still alive somewhere in this Neutral space. And, if this be true, that’s why Amber told Hei to follow her if he wanted to see his sister. Amber also didn’t really cause the Heaven’s Gate incident, actually, it was more of Schroeber’s experiment gone wrong thanks to Amber. Strangely enough, Amber claims to have seen the future and proves it to a skeptical November by telling that he will die after leaving the building.
Mao, who was captured at the end of the last episode, learns all of this and is probably spared because he had to relay the information to Hei. Mao, probably the most Contractor-ish Contractor of the group believes that no one’s willing to risk their own life to rescue him, because, well, he certainly won’t, but is proven wrong when he sees Yin’s observation ghost in his water dish. At the same time, July’s ghost finds November and he, April and Misaki also shows up at the scene. Hei infiltrates the building, runs into Wei, who is still as creepy as ever, narrowly escapes with a splatter of blood on his mask and vaults over a handrail. For a better visual, the builing is like a hollow square and each floor has a balcony overlooking the center courtyard.
Anyways, Amber and Brita show up on a higher balcony, but Hei’s distracted by Wei. I’m under the impression that this point, Hei must be sick and tired of Wei. The ex-love of his life and presumed killer of his sister shows up and he needs to deal with the creepy thin man? Brita, also joins in on the fight. Hei misses her the first time, but thanks to Mao’s warning, spins around, reaches for her and almost kills her but she teleports away just in time.
Using the momentum from his previous attack, Hei swings up to where Amber is, grabs her head and demands to know what the heck she’s doing this time, what else is she going to take from him. Amber replies that Mao knows all the answers and suddenly, everything starts to glow blue and the meteor fragment in Amber’s bag lights up. Schroeber, all but forgotten and neglected, watching this in his bathrobe is in absolute shock. Then, Hei hears his sister’s voice and the momentary distraction allows Amber to escape. November 11, in the meantime, makes a break for it as well, entrusting Mao to everything before he leaves. Misaki, seeing Bk201 on the floor, orders him to lie flat on his stomach, but she catches a glimpse of his eyes through the crack in Hei’s mask and undoubtedly thinks of Li-kun. As she approaches him, April suddenly pulls her back to avoid Huang’s flash-bang-smoke-grenade thing.
And, Schroeber, the poor scientist, realizes that Hei’s Contractor powers are at the center of everything and wants to restart research. However, Eric Nishijima, the guy with the glasses tells him it’s unnecessary, knocks him out with a tranquilizer and orders Misaki to take him back to PANDORA. Meanwhile, November 11 shows up back at Decade (his boss)’s office, telling him he’s completed his report on the Syndicate. November states that he was just afraid of spilling his secret, but Decade replies that he was more afraid of loosing his best agent. Cognac firefight ensues, a fatally wounded November calls someone to warn them of the situation but is cut off, coughs up a handful of blood, collapses on the sidewalk, sees no point in paying a price anymore, throws away the cigarette that is extinguished by his own blood.
I’m guessing that somehow, Decade was related to the Syndicate or related to PANDORA. Eric Nishijima, the most suspicious looking character right now might also be connected to the Syndicate. Everything, basically, ties back to the Syndicate, of which we only know what they intend to do. Its difficult to put two and two together because there are a lot of guys making phone calls to other guys and you have no idea what their ‘plan’ really is.
The scene after all of this happens, when Hei and company were all sitting in the park, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen Hei smile as Hei. When Mao calls them all idiots and Huang points out that Hei is the only one, surprisingly, there’s a smile across his face. However, this doesn’t last long after the conversation switches to Amber. Even Yin vouches on Amber, but Hei is adamant in believing that Amber is the source of all evil. I really can’t blame, even if his anger is misplaced. After all, the one thing he cared for in the world, his sister, disappeared because Amber betrayed their organization.
I think it’s also the first time in all twenty two episodes that I’ve seen emotion in Hei’s eyes. Usually, his eyes are a solid shade of dark, navy blue, which for genre renowned for large, sparkling, glittery eyes struck me as a bit odd. It might just be a small thing, but his exchange with Amber was the first time his eyes weren’t calm, placid and detached. Think of it like an ocean, an ocean cold and distant and a sudden storm develops, churning the waters. Something like that.
Basically, to spare you more reading, the Syndicate and possibly PANDORA are trying to erase all Contractors. Amber, since the South America incident has been building a resistance to counter their plans, en massing dolls and gathering Contractors. However, the key (remember she said something about a key?) to all of this is Hei’s powers and Amber isn’t on Hei’s good side. November 11 uncovered some awful secret about Decade and the extermination of Contractors, and died because of it. At the same time, Misaki was basically written out of the story, but Misaki being Misaki, isn’t going to let that slide. Next episode, the first episode not in the bi-episodic format, looks to be about what happened five years ago between Hei and Amber with an appearance by Guy and Kiko.
Well, now, we know everything, almost everything. Is Amber really a good guy or a bad guy? Mao is about the most adorable thing on earth. And, the syndicate is trying to wipe all the contractors off the face of the Earth…Just another episode of wasting time with Hei…(The reference, anyone?)
I love watching Darker Than Black unfold, it gives me just enough initiative to watch the next episode, not too much that I wait restlessly night and day for episode twenty-three, but enough to keep from banging my head into a table wondering what the hell just happened.
Claymore – Episode 24 · 13 September 2007
Well, what can I say? That was good, that was very good. Claymore just went up a huge, huge notch in my book. This episode just knocked me off my feet. To quote, very badly, Easley, a lot of things happened today. The animation, for one thing, was flawless. I loved Priscilla’s eyes, those big, gorgeous orbs, the falling snow, everything just felt right. It’s like pieces of a puzzle finally fitting together.
Priscilla regains her memories, turns from a weeping, moaning child back to an awakened being, horns, wings, that silky, menacing voice and all. I thought that whole scene was incredibly well done. The flashbacks, at first, were pretty annoying, but it also reminded me why I really stuck to watching Claymore. Teresa, hands down, is my favorite Claymore. She’s kick ass, self-explanatory this one. She’s gorgeous, silver eyes and flowing bleach blonde hair never looked so good. Teresa of the Faint Smile is the best nickname. She’s kind and nice, she turned her back on the organization for Clare. And, and, she was just a powerful character, figuratively and literally. The flashback arc, revealing Clare’s past, was probably the true reason why I stuck with Claymore for so long. It was just so tragic, you wanted to see Clare kick Priscilla’s bony, whiny ass into oblivion and avenge beautiful, beautiful Teresa of the Faint Smile.
Claymore, surprisingly, is getting really, really, really good. The Pieta arc was a little bit off, then Ligardes saved the scene, buying time until Priscilla finally showed up. Human Priscilla’s first reaction to Teresa’s yoki is to scream and run away. I was hoping for more of a sadistic smile, a grin of sorts and then something about killing Teresa, again. I was waiting, waiting to see Priscilla transform into her awakened form. Human Priscilla was such a let down with that cave scene. Seeing how things turned out, I don’t even know what the point of that scene was. I doubt, completely, that awakened Priscilla is going to even care about Raki. And Raki, he’s taken over the role of weeping, moaning child. I wanted to slap him, tell him to stop crying and go save Clare. Thank God for Jeane, who got the job in a much nicer way.
Well, Ligardes died back in twenty-three, which wasn’t that interesting of an episode at all. However, compared to scale of things in this episode and where things are heading, Ligardes was but a prelude, a momentary distraction, albeit a very hot distraction. As for Clare, well, she awakened ( tell me something I didn’t know). I wanted to see her awakened form. I’ve always imagined something elegant for Teresa’s awakened form, but too bad they didn’t really show much. She’s begging Helen to cut her head off and then suddenly feels Priscilla’s yoki, goes crazy and pulls a Matrix-Neo-Superman thing, blasts off and goes after Priscilla.
Even more surprising was the supporting cast, the rest of the Claymores actually had substantial roles, well played and meaningful roles. Deneve’s attachment to Undine was just a little touching. I’ve noted before that I don’t care particularly for the pair, but seeing Devene take Undine’s sword gave me a strangely nice feeling. Jeane gives the inspirational speech to Raki and rouses him from his state of weeping and moaning. Helen, Miria and Deneve are out to save Clare, like the rest of the world. Galatea makes a comeback, for God knows what reason, and ends up being an ally of sorts, pointing out to Helen, Miria and Deneve where Clare and Priscilla were.
That last scene in the volcano had such an atmosphere, Priscilla standing on one side, Clare on the other, and Easley watching on the sidelines, Jeane and Raki, Helen, Miria and Deneve rushing to get there, hell bent on saving Clare. The tension and anti-climactic climax is suffocating, you know the fight is coming up, you know in about two seconds they’re going to be at each other’s throat and you also know that in less than two seconds, the ending theme is going to kick in.
Speaking of Easley, I’m not sure where he fits into all of this. I don’t think he’s going to be the major villain at all and I’m at a loss as to why the man’s there to begin with. Presumably, there’s going to be a lot of loose ends from the manga that I don’t think will be addressed in the anime, which may or may not be a good thing. Personally, it doesn’t really matter. Clare’s part of a bigger picture, we’re only seeing a tiny fragment, I’m fine with not knowing all of it.
No matter how different it is from the manga, no matter how cheesy some parts of it are, I have a feeling that the Claymore ending is going to be phenomenal. It’s going to go down in epic shonen traditional, with an unavoidable last showdown, blood, death, gore and a semi-sweet happily ever after.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – Episode 24 · 10 September 2007
You know, somethings you watch and its just, just….it’s terrible, really, it’s terrible because it’s amazing. I say this every week, every episode and I really just can’t get over Gurren Lagann.
This episode was insane, just insane. Nia, giant, naked Nia, everyone dieing, the Arc Gurren Lagann sinking, it’s terrible, it’s amazing. Something big is going to happen, as if we didn’t see that coming already, but after this episode, you can just feel it, like the small tremors before an earthquake. The Arc Gurren Lagann’s final transformation, from that last shot in the preview, is going to be mind blowing. Just the idea, the notion, of the Arc Gurren turning into a giant human form ganmen…my god….
There’s also a little of Yoko and Kittan going on and if either two die, I’m going to pitch myself off a cliff. The fact that everyone sacrificed themselves, Zoushi, Ailac, Kidd, Makken, Jougan, and Barinbou, makes Simon’s impending victory, in whatever shape, form or way, all the sweeter.
It’s like Goldilocks, some animes are too over the top, some animes are too caught up in itself to make sense, Gurren Lagann is just right. There’s enough action, enough craziness, enough over the top Kamina speeches and also enough tragedy and emotion and its the combination of everything, everything that makes it so damn….ARGH!! I’ve resorted to using ‘argh!’ to convey my meaning, because it really is just a lot of ‘argh!’ in a good way. The ‘argh!’, the ‘it’, whatever it is, Gurren Lagann has it and they’re running with it.
Byousoku 5cm… · 6 September 2007
I watched it just now and it was fucking gorgeous. Best looking thing I’ve seen in a while. Strangely, I was moved more by the animation than the story or the characters. I was ready to weep watching that rocket take off, the second episode has got to be my favorite. Just the way it felt, the stars in the night sky, space, that damn rocket reaching higher and higher…If anything, it just looked and felt so damn good. The colors, the colors, how vivid and detailed everything was. I think I’ve missed entirely everything it had to offer emotionally, but fell head over heels in love with everything visually.
I mean, Jesus, it looked something that popped out of a dream. It was like watching someone’s romanticized lamentations about life rendered in jaw-dropping animation. I, honestly, could care less about the story, it just looked, just looked…I can’t even tell you how it looked. The snow, the sakura blossoms, the sky, even the sky…
Maybe the world slowed down a little bit, just enough for me to appreciate how fantastic and breathless an experience it was.
Christ, if life looked even half as good as that…even half as good…