For those of you who aren’t with it, that’s a baseball reference. After finishing this episode, I couldn’t help but think everything that happened was already hinted at in previous episodes, or was so predictable that a blind man could have seen it coming. Now, I’m all for solid character development, but it didn’t seem to me that Star Driver was the type of show to bash us over the head with it. So in case is wasn’t already clear, both Mizuno and Marino like Takuto.

"You, me, and my sister behind the dugout in five minutes"

That doesn’t mean this was a bad episode, as I thought the whole baseball scene, though extremely awkward for the characters involved, was incredibly well done. The way Mizuno and Simone both went up to bat, but yet didn’t swing was a pretty accurate description of the way gym class is in high school. That, along with a little bit of fan service, made the first half of this episode a nice change of pace from the in-class segments.

Unfortunately though, the opening half of the episode did a little too much in terms of foreshadowing and presenting back story, almost as if the creators were trying to complete a checklist of things that needed to be introduced or expanded upon in this episode. It was too obvious. I mean, who didn’t realize that the “everything will be okay” chant was going to be pivotal to Takuto winning in Zero Time, again? Who didn’t realize that Sugata backing up Takuto on the field showed how much he wanted to use his Cybuddy to impress Wako? Who didn’t realize that Marino continued to fall for Takuto over the course of the game? On the other hand, I thought the revelation that Keito was the one who helped Sugata and Wako raise the totem pole from episode 4 was a nice touch (as it now seems more likely than not that she created the dream world from that episode), but it still isn’t a game changer.

Constipation can really be a killer

Then there was zero time, which itself has become even more predictable over the past few weeks, as the events from the first half of every episode inevitably impact its second. I have to question why Vanishing Age is continuing to fight Takuto if they know that they can’t beat him without unlocking the third phase, though I guess Takumi really wanted to impress Marino/Manticore. It is also interesting to note that he also swung at the first pitch he saw in the baseball game, perhaps alluding to the fact that he would eventually try to impress Manticore/Marino in Zero Time. If the series is doing this on purpose, I really do have to applaud them for their attention to detail.

But even if the show isn’t doing these small things on purpose, there are still plenty of things that this series does well, save the reused animation in the fight scenes. This episode marked the debut of Mizuno’s song, and while it isn’t Monochrome, it’s still pretty awesome, and speaks to the great sound track this series is currently accumulating. I must say that is nice to get music in my anime that is not from a concert scene. Yeah, I’m looking at you Kaminomi and Oreimo.

Just because Mizuno is that cute.

The preview for next week has me thinking that we are shifting the focus of the series back to the Adult Bank, but I hope that the show just doesn’t drop the nice bit of sisterly tension that has developed between Mizuno and Marino. Their relationship, and its possible implications/conclusion is currently the best thing this show has going for it. Though seeing as how they devoted a large chunk of time to their back story in this episode, that is unlikely.

Since school kind of took up most of my time the past week and a half, I decided to combine the past two episodes into one somewhat longer post. While it would seem like a lot of things have happened in these two episodes, and a lot has, it also is clear that for many characters, especially the main ones, change is a slow process.

I guess the biggest surprise from episode 19 was that Tiir wasn’t such a bad guy after all. I mean, sure he has probably killed thousands of people and used the logic that he isn’t human to justify his actions (which I am sure he will reassess at some point), but still not a bad guy. It was also interesting to see that he had run in to and basically been defeated by Lir in the past. So when Lir came back in episode 20, you would have thought that Tiir would have been the one to get revenge, but it seems that he can’t really use his powers to his full effect unless he consumes others, and in episode 20 that would have meant consuming all the children which he refused to do. This kind of puts him in a bind in fights that don’t involve large amounts of humans, so it will be interesting to see what kind of role he can actually have in smaller, one on one type fights, as was the case when he initially fought Lir. (Also, did anyone else get Alien type vibes when he mentioned how he consumed his mother from the womb?)

That brings us back to Gastark, and what better place to start than with what looks to be the death of Sui nii-chan. Frankly, I don’t really care whether he lives or dies anymore since most the characters from this show’s first half, Miran Froaude included, just don’t offer the same level of intrigue and mystery of some of the show’s newer focuses, like Riphal and Luke. In reality, it seems that his character’s only purpose was to fight Ryner a few times, and then mention to Riphal how powerful he was, which would then elicit a response from Kiefer. It will certainly be interesting to see what will happen between Kiefer and Riphal in the upcoming episodes. Since Riphal has been trying to put the moves on Kiefer for the past few episodes, and even going so far as to say he would marry her in episode 19, what will he do now that he knows she is from Roland, his current foe? What will Kiefer do? From the preview, and from the little we know about Riphal, it seems like he is going to do whatever it takes in order to accomplish his dream of creating a peaceful world.

It was also pretty interesting to see that Gastark has a crap load of crystals, which Gastark presumably gained from killing an untold number of magic eye users (which makes you wonder how many magic eye users there really are, but I digress). While I know one of the main themes of this show is supposed to be that there isn’t no good guy, there isn’t no bad guy, there is just two sides who just disagree, it’s hard not think badly of Riphal for ordering his minions to go around the continent and massacre people, but this is something we kind of all ready knew. What we didn’t know was how Gastark was able to crystallize eye users.

Fortunately, episode 20 cleared that up. It appears that Lir’s legendary relic, in the form of a big green ball that allows him to crystallize the powers of magic eye users, which he can then use in the form of a Rule Fragment. While the plot possibilities this relic provides for are interesting, especially if it could take away powers without killing the user, it is in and of itself a pretty powerful weapon. The ease with which Lir was able to kill both Lafra and the Alpha Stigma chick was pretty remarkable. Unfortunately, Luke and Ryner just let Lir kind of walk away after they had him on the run, which was a bit perplexing, as was the large amounts of talking between Ferris and Ryner during the fight scenes in which no action actually took place. Kind of disappointing that episode 20 didn’t handle these timing issues better, but it’s a minor flaw.

However, the real core of this series has been the relationship between Ryner and Ferris, and the last two episodes seem to have finally moved them to the next level, though what that means isn’t exactly clear. That said, the one thing has surprisingly upset me was the limited amount of time Ryner was able to mope around after he decided to leave Ferris and Sion to go with Tiir. I mean is one episode enough time for Ryner to completely change all of his ideals, and did Ferris say anything to Ryner in episode 20, that she didn’t already make clear in episode 10.

I guess that this speaks to a bigger problem that this series has. I really don’t think it was necessary to spend as much time as the series did in having Ryner decide to leave Ferris and Sion, but I do think it should have spent more time in having Ryner coming to the realization that people still care about him even if he is a monster. Ferris’ promise to kill Ryner should he every go berserk again near the end of this episode seems a bit extreme to me, but if this is what it takes for Ryner to feel comfortable around her then so be it. It would be nice to see a bit more comedy put back into this show by having these two together, even if it the series doesn’t really need it anymore.

Speaking of things that have taken this series too long to get to, we finally got a conclusion to the Miran/Luke fight from a few episodes ago. To see Miran just give up on his plan, whatever exactly it was, and release Milk without incident was a little disappointing, but understandable considering he was up against a legendary relic (everyone on this show has a relic it seems, but Ryner and Ferris). It seems like Miran was able to convince Luke to move against Ryner, but given the events in episode 20, Luke now seems convinced that Ryner must live.

Long term, the biggest thing in this series is that Ryner is the solver of all equations. Lir’s mention of this in episode 20 was only the second time in the series (I think) that this has been alluded to. What this means is anyone’s guess, but with Ryner now seemingly capable of holding back the monster inside of him and with the promise he made with Ferris, a bunch of possible pathways have been opened. If Ryner can only access these potentially earth shattering powers while under the control of the Alpha Stigma, it is possible that a situation may arise where his powers are needed to save a large group of people. I guess the real question is whether he would open himself up to possibly being taken over by the monster inside of him (and thus killed by Ferris), if it meant saving others.

One other interesting note was the conversation Claugh had with Calne in episode 19 after they learned about Sion’s use of Ryner. I got the feeling that Claugh was somehow able to understand what Ryner was going through, as a lot of what he said echoed what Ryner had said in previous episodes. While we haven’t much back-story on Claugh up until this point, except for his past with Tiir, it would be interesting to know what he had to do to get the power he had in his right hand. From the previews, it looks as though he is going to somehow get another arm, but if Full Metal Alchemist as taught us anything, it is that something must be lost, for something to be gained. It will be interesting to see if we find out what sacrifices Claugh made in the past, and may make in the future all for the sake of power.

However, with all of these plotlines, I don’t know if the show can adequately wrap up everything that is going on in six episodes without it feeling rushed. At this point, it seems possible that this show will have a sequel. Whether that is the case or not, I hope we get some sort of conclusion to this series, and not a cliffhanger.

10 years ago today, on October 24, 2000 (correction: actually October 25, 2000), the 4th episode of Gainax’s OVA series FLCL was released to DVD. This is part of a series of posts I’m making on this show. In my first post, I covered how I came upon this series and my reaction to the first 2 episodes. My second post was made a day late and covered episode 3, Marquis de Carabas. This one covers what my initial reaction was to the 4th episode, Full Swing. (note: for the purposes of this post, I did not rewatch the episode. The last time I watched it was some time in the summer of 2009)

What is there to say about Full Swing? Quite a lot, probably. I could talk your ears off about this episode. It is unequivocally my favorite episode of any anime, all time (so far). Others have come close, such as The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the final episodes of Gunbuster, Diebuster and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Bakemonogatari episode 12, but Full Swing still holds the number one place in my heart.

The question, of course, is why? As with all of these types of questions, there are many answers. I’m sure part of it is that I was a huge fan of baseball at the time, and the entire episode was about baseball. Or rather, it used baseball as a metaphor for all the events taking place in the plot. In typical FLCL fashion, it was not at all subtle about this, with the ongoing theme of “swinging the bat” which was blindingly obvious and resonated with me. Indeed, I still consider the adoption of Haruko’s attitude regarding “swinging the bat” – that is, trying even if it means showing everyone that you fail – to be a key component for becoming a mature adult. As an episode of a coming of age story, Full Swing hit it out of the park (sorry, this is the one and only baseball related pun in this post).

Then there was the scene in which Naota confronts his father and hits the TV. It was masterfully directed, surreal, hectic, and, yes, haunting. The build up to that was fittingly erotic and inappropriate with Naota watching his father and Haruko at night, the release of destroying his father was fittingly unsatisfying and confusing, and the redemption of finding his real father and bringing him back to life was fittingly wacky and off-the-wall.

This was one of the most hectic and confusing scenes I've seen, thanks in no small part of the events being shown non-chronologically. But somehow it all made sense.

But I think we’ve beat around the bush enough. The real reason I loved this episode so much was the thrilling climax featuring The Pillows’s Crazy Sunshine. That entire sequence may be my favorite in any work of moving picture.

From the very start of that sequence, when Amarao asked Naota to ask Haruko to hit another one out of the park, the scene was just plain cool. The music started off quiet as Haruko quietly contemplated the situation and commented that “doubleheaders are tough,” before taking Naota up to the top of the plant, but it quickly came more into the forefront as the anticipation of the impact kept building.

And during all the intensity, FLCL retained it’s unique sense of humor. There was Mamimi, sitting atop Canti, celebrating the satellite’s fall and wondering whether they’d have school tomorrow. There was Haruko, fitting a shampoo cap on Naota and pulling out his squirming guitar, commenting that “boys feel weird inside.” There were Amarao’s subordinates at his base, inexplicably getting nosebleeds.

Then, as the satellite neared its final approach, it suddenly and seamlessly turned into a gigantic hand throwing a just as gigantic baseball. Amarao called out, “It’s a sinker!” It was hilarious, but I didn’t laugh, lost in the intensity of the moment.

10 years later, I still can't get over just what an amazing scene this was. Kazuya Tsurumaki went on to direct other works with amazing dramatic action scenes (Diebuster and the Evangelion remakes), but I still rank this one at the top.

The intensity just kept building and building, all the way until the release. As the ball became a bigger and bigger object in Naota’s sights and Haruko abandoned him, her comment, “This might as well be goodbye” seemed like it just might come true. Of course, our hero swung the bat, his own bat. But it wasn’t over yet. The music had reached its peak, and there was more work to be done. Amarao watched nervously, knowing that it hadn’t been enough. And just as the ball looked to explode and all had been for naught, Haruko made her triumphant return, giving the ball that extra hit to leave the atmosphere.

It was just… awesome. The visuals were spectacular, true to form for FLCL. The way the sky lit up and shimmered as the ball neared its final approach still sticks with me. So does that scene of the moment of second impact, when we were treated to single-color frames of Haruko, Mamimi, and Naota reacting. The explosion at the end, the air pressure pushing apart the clouds and objects on ground, was just icing. Both the music and the music editing throughout the sequence was masterfully handled. Thanks to this episode, Crazy Sunshine was my favorite for several years afterward. Or maybe it was because of that song that I loved this episode so much. Doesn’t matter.

The episode was nearly over at that point, but the serene denouement made for a fitting finish. Naota lying in Haruko’s Vespa, reveling in the feeling he just had, wondering if Haruko feels like this all the time. Haruko, laughing her ass off for no obvious reason. The soft start up to the now-familiar Little Busters. And the final shot of Amarao’s fake eyebrow falling off. It was bizarre, but just like what Naota was feeling at the moment, it was satisfying.

Maybe it was the fact that this episode followed the 3rd, which had left me a little negative on the series. Maybe it was that I had watched episodes 4, 5, and 6 in quick succession, and I had taken all the positive feelings about the entire last half of the show and transferred it to the 4th. I think it was just that one Crazy Sunshine sequence, one that wasn’t topped even by the numerous other excellent sequences that would come in the last 2 episodes of the show. Regardless of the reason, I still consider Full Swing to be the best directed, most entertaining episode of any anime.

Like Naota, I felt spent, emotionally, but also supremely satisfied. I didn't get to sleep between Haruko's thighs, though.

So now I turn it to you, if you’ve read this far. What do you remember about Full Swing? Did it leave as big an impact on you as it did me? Did you like that song, Crazy Sunshine? Do you still like it? Do you think the show did things better in other episodes, particularly in episode 6, the true climax of the show?

Notes

• This episode featured the entrance of characters Amarao and Kitsurubami. Kitsurubami was played by Chiemi Chiba who, along with Yukari Fukui, was one of the few voice actors in FLCL who remained in the anime voice acting industry. This season, she plays side characters in both Star Driver and More To LOVE-Ru.
• If you watch carefully in this scene, when Mamimi gets up to go to the baseball game with Haruko, you can see her underwear being pulled off by Naota. One of the hints at just how far their relationship went.
• This episode revealed that Haruhara Haruko’s real name was actually Haruha Raharu. Also, it explained the concept of NO, which explained why Naota had been targeted by Haruko and why robots had been coming out of his head.

Don’t let appearances fool you, this isn’t a mecha anime show with high school elements, but is instead a high school anime that happens to have robots in it. After reading a transcript of a conversation between Igarashi Takuya and Enokido Yoji, the director and writer for the series, one aspect of this show that is the most interesting is the fact that no one is going to die. Say what you will about Code Geass, but some characters did die (and stayed dead) in that show. Now by no means am I saying this show is going to be better or worse than Code Geass, or any other mecha anime, because people don’t die.  But when you really think about it, the concept of giant mechas fighting, regardless of the body count, is a pretty ridiculous idea and Star Driver seems to understand that. However, with that said, this series needs something to hang its hat on, and some of the show’s elements indicate that redemption may be a core theme.

On another note, I fear for the future of Cosplay.

Though the scene doesn’t make for an appealing screen cap, or joke for that matter, I thought that the most intriguing scene in episode two was when we gained insight to the life of episode one’s “villain”, George, post getting beat down by Takuto. This is where the concept of no one dying in this show really starts to matter. While many shows have undoubtedly left their characters in a state of dejection (Yugi’s defeat to Kaiba for some reason pops into my head), I can’t recall having someone lose so fabulously in such a public and grand manner. It is relatively easy for anyone to identify with a winner of a battle, and many people have focused much of their attention on the relative ease with which Takuto has defeated his two opponents. Some even lamented at the fact that it doesn’t seem like Takuto is going to lose a battle anytime soon and honestly, I think it will be some time before he does. But that isn’t the real issue.

In defining that issue, I think it is necessary to at least mention the show’s OP, which along with its excellent animation also has some interesting lyrics (you can find a subbed version somewhere on YouTube). Among other things, it seems to be preaching that life is tough and you have to work hard to get over it. I think the real crux of this show is how these defeated star drivers are going to have bounce back from their defeats. Whether or not this will eventually include Takuto is still up in the air, but I do think that it would make for a good storyline.

Of course this whole argument begs the question as to what these expelled star drivers, currently George and Tetsuya, need to get over. On the surface, it is obviously no longer being able to pilot a Cybuddy, but there is obviously something that piloting robots stand for. At this point, it is still too early to speculate on what exactly this is, but the show has provided a few hints, mostly sexual in nature. That aside, the multiple references to glass in this episode would have been difficult to miss, but I thought the show handled it well. Takuto’s entrance into zero time clearly alluded to breaking through glass, which was in stark contrast to Kanako not minding the glass for her kiss earlier in the episode.

I couldn't help but put this in.

At this point, you have to consider the strategic location that is this show’s setting, which is an island removed from the rest of the world. Now before contemplating the meaning of an island setting, we should consider that this story clearly begins before episode 1. The most obvious example is that the Glittering Crux Brigade is without their leader for some reason, and we can only assume that something fairly substantial happened before the Galactic Pretty Boy washed up on shore. Perhaps, Takuto’s purpose is to break down the walls that separate people’s dreams and somehow merge them with reality. Takuto’s third level ability, in which he is able to see the action  from his Cybuddy more clearly than his Crux counterparts, who are only at the second level, might be an indication of this.

I know that sounds a bit too much like Instrumentality, but this offers some sort of explanation as to why the Crux’s members wear masks, even if it isn’t a first level solution. Now that George and Tetsuya have lost their masks, I would venture to guess that we will see their characters, and anyone else who loses a battle, get the most development, while those who are still Star Drivers blissfully go about their lives without any sort of characterization. Getting back to the island, it is cut off from the rest of the world, and perhaps the distance between it and the rest of the world will eventually shrink. Whether this is through an outside influence or character flashbacks to the mainland doesn’t really matter at this point.

Breaking down walls

If you have read this far, I thank you for putting up with a lot of theorizing and an admittedly poorly organized post. Nonetheless, I didn’t just want to write four paragraphs rewording how “fabulous” the show is and asking questions.

You know a show is running on fumes when it employs a nonsensical time skip and uses the old strand our main characters on an island to force character interaction with the hope of moving the story forward routine. Unfortunately, that is where Legend of the Legendary Heroes has found itself after 15 episodes. Despite some new revelations about some characters and few minor plot twists, this episode highlights the glacial pace this series has taken on. To the creator’s credit, I think they know this, and they have tried their best to insert more humor into the series. However, when the best jokes they can muster involve stale Ryner sex fiend quips by Ferris, that increasingly question his sexuality, something needs to happen soon, especially considering the large amount of promising new shows.

This plot line would make the show far more interesting than it currently is.

The one big revelation from this episode is that it appears Milk is destined to marry Sion at some point in the future. There were some hints about her importance in Episode 11, in which I speculated the taboo breakers served no real purpose and that their true objective was to guard Milk, but this revelation seems like it has come a bit out of the blue, and had no real lead up. It also seems like Luke also is quite skilled. While there hasn’t been any hard battle evidence to prove this, he did go toe to toe with Ryner near the beginning of this episode and the first OP did feature him somewhat prominently.

Ferris' facial expressions this episode were a bright spot.

The most confusing aspect of this episode was the relationship between Ryner and Milk’s groups. From what I’ve gathered, it seems like Ryner and Luke are the only ones in the know, given that they didn’t continue fighting each other after they figured out who the other was. Regardless, it seems like all of that doesn’t even matter anymore, since Milk has now seen Ryner and Sion together and now must realize that Ryner isn’t trying to kill Sion, but is instead his (special) friend. While it is nice to see that these misunderstandings are now all cleared up, I have to question what their point was in the first place. For the show to just change this dynamic, without anything of note coming from the old status quo, I really question the need of having Milk in this series at all. Hopefully, the show will eventually prove me wrong.

All those somewhat interesting points aside, this episode also reiterated things we’ve known for weeks, or even months, now. We got more brooding from Sion about how hard leading a nation is and that Gastark poses a real threat, and also confirmation that Miran is going to try and kill Ryner. We were also reminded that consolidating power in Estabul is going to be necessary if Roland is going to have any chance of standing up to Gastark. My episode 13 post was basically about what the ramifications would be for Sion and Roland if he were to invade Estabul again so I won’t get into that again, but they keep delaying this seemingly inevitable conflict.

Ryner, think of Ferris.

Although most of the Sion centric portions of this episode just seemed to rehash old points, it was interesting to note, from Sion’s now weekly musings, that Roland was already collecting Legendary Relics. I say this is interesting because it is my understanding that Miran has not let it be known his ring is a legendary relic, and that he only left the Swordscale on Sion’s desk after reading Ryner’s report. So perhaps some other characters have secretly been gathering legendary relics, because the last time I checked Ryner and Ferris’ grand total is zilch.

For whatever reason, this series seems incapable of putting together two good episodes in a row. Unlike the last episode, which introduced a new character and moved the plot forward significantly, this episode focused on what we already knew and why they are doing what they are doing. With that said, this episode did open a few new interesting doors as Miran finally learned of Ryner’s connection to Sion, and it seems like the Rule Fragment will play some sort of pivotal role in the series.

It seems like everyone in this series loves to hear themselves talk, except for Kuu and that's what I love about her.

One interesting tidbit we got from both the opening scene and the lead up to this fight is that the power of the Alpha Stigma can be harnessed, perhaps in the form of a Rule Fragment. While I suppose you could have inferred this from a previous episode, I believe that this was the first time it was explicitly stated. This information opens the door to a lot of interesting plot twists in the future. While Ryner states that he would like to spare Arua from the life of an Alpha Stigma bearer if he could, there are other possible applications. The most notable possibility is some sort of FMA Brotherhood type of ending where Ryner gives up his powers at the end of the series for some higher purpose, but that would be pretty cheap in my opinion. Another possible scenario is that Miran, who has also witnessed the Rule Fragment’s power, will try to acquire the knowledge needed to use it, should he need to defeat Ryner. These are only guesses, but it is something to keep an eye on given the amount of screen time the concept has received.

One on One training with Ferris. One lucky kid.

As for the fight itself, this episode continued the long running trend of blank spaces, but I suppose this is just something I will have to learn to live with. Perhaps as a result, this “fight’s” focus was not on the action, but an unnecessarily long conversation between Sui and Ryner about their respective kings that didn’t offer anything new. For whatever reason, this series has to make absolutely clear we understand what the moral center/theme of this show is. But honestly, how could you not get it by now?  The actual 5 seconds of the fight with action was pretty good. Ferris using the ice wall as an elevator was actually pretty cool.

Miran interrupting the battle wasn’t that big of a surprise given he was already in Runa, but they way he did so was a bit of a surprise. Perhaps the devil actually has a heart, as I can’t think of any other reason for him to wait until Sui almost killed Kuku to attack, especially considering there were ample chances to catch the pink haired siblings off guard. Looking at the bigger picture though, Miran now knows that Roland and Ferris are working for Sion and vice versa. His reaction to this was a bit perplexing, as I don’t think he understands why Sion has up his sleeve, but to be honest I don’t think Sion actually had any big plan for the legendary relics as he was surprised they actually existed.

One confusing thing for me at least was the timeframe between the beginning of the episode and the fight at the manor. Perhaps the novel draws things out a bit more, but I thought it would take Ferris longer than a millisecond to train Arua to the point he would be able to help them in their fight, even if he was only used as a part of a specially conceived plan. Now that the dynamic duo have saved Kuku, it seems like they want to drop these two kids off ASAP, and I can only saw thank god. Since their introduction, nothing of interest has happened to Ferris and Ryner, which has really hurt the show given that they are its core. Hopefully, they two kids get placed in the care of Milk and her comrades as I can only see hilarity ensuing from that situation.

Leaving two kids with these fools. I smell a spin off.

After six or seven episodes of Sion contemplating his next move, we finally get to see him address the anti-king movement. And what does he do? He gives everybody allied with him promotions. Now while there may be some grand master plan at work here, I was expecting something a bit more exciting to happen. In fact, it seems all this episode did was remind us of the various plot lines introduced in the past few episodes, but tried to make it seem like something new.

I will shake my fist, but not actually do anything. Just like every other politician.

Let’s be clear, if I have to hear Miran Froaude talk about sweet honey one more time, without actually doing anything, I will drop this series. I really don’t know what else to say about the opening third of the episode. Aside from a short description about increasing warfare on the continent, caused by the aggression of Gastark, we have heard all of this before. In recent weeks I have tried to guess the origins of the pink haired siblings, and while Gastark would be my number one guess at this point, I’m not going to bother as this show will probably just introduce a new nation next week. Fortunately, the rest of this episode was fairly interesting, though each of the subsequent scenes offered something different.

It seems like every episode has the exact same shot of this guy.

The last half of the episode focused on Ryner and Ferris trying to save a young Alpha Stigma user from nameless villains inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on the boy. While the dynamic duo eventually rescues the kid, there was nothing in this episode that we haven’t seen before. Ryner used his Alpha Stigma to acquire a new magic ability, Ferris’ skills varied as the situation called for it, Ryner moped over being an outcast, the magic knights died, etc.

Even the episode’s most important point, in which Ryner came to the conclusion that he is more complete with Ferris by his side, seemed rehashed. It didn’t help that this development had absolutely no build up to it. While it seems like the kid they rescued may play some sort of part further down the road, his introduction may herald in a new era of Ryner being too emo for his own good. On a positive note though, I thought the fight scene in this episode was the best yet in this series.

There was absolutely no build up to this moment, which lasted all of two seconds.

Perhaps the only intriguing development from this episode involved the only guy with a normal name in this series. After getting a brief recap of a previous episode from Milk, in which she explained she was completely outmatched by Ryner, only to immediately reverse her position we got to the real purpose of the scene. In a short discussion between Miller and Luke, who from the preview looks like he might actually have some real power, we learn that Milk can’t stay in Roland as she could end up a victim of the upcoming political upheaval.

Thankfully, this scene seems like it clears up a lot of things in this series. Now, I’m not trying to be sexist, but it doesn’t seem like Milk has that much ability, and furthermore it seems like the whole taboo breaker squadron is a farce. Instead, it now seems like Milk’s crew’s real purpose is to act as her babysitting unit and to protect her from any real harm. This is all speculation, but it’s just too hard to believe that Milk has any real power.

Apparently, she is somewhat important.

From the preview for next week, it looks like the much talked about purge in Roland may finally happen, but to be honest I’m not holding my breath. This show seems like it is doing whatever it takes to drag out its story, so I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing of note happened in the next episode either.

The word of the week is anticlimactic. After last week, I was expecting the story to continue all the through to the end of the series, but it all came to an end in this episode. It even omitted the OP, as is common with final episodes. That’s not to say that this one provided closure. No, it seems that J.C. Staff is gunning for a 2nd season, and doing a poor job of it. Hopefully the final episode can provide some lulz before this mediocre series closes out.

By the end of the first half, it became clear that this story was likely to end by this episode. Everyone except Ryouko had been saved, through means that were not made clear. Liszt and Majo somehow magically found their targets, Alice and Otsu respectively, without any explanation. Tarou’s story was more interesting, with him resisting an army of bikini clad lasses to beat down the punks who brought him to Otohime. That and the cosplay obsessed captors of Otsu provided someone laughs.

Product placement? In my anime? Wait, that actually happens a lot. Even Saten had an iPhone in J.C. Staff's A Certain Scientific Railgun. An iPhone that took over her mind. Hey, subtle social commentary?

The second half was essentially episode 5 redux, following the same structure of Ryoushi and company storming the Onigashima High School, aiming for Shirou’s office. Even Momoko was there, along with her posse plus the three pigs from episode 8, speech impediments and all.

To be fair, the fighting animation was the best in the show yet, and it remained consistent throughout the episode, from Tarou’s fight with the punks to the battle in front of the school, all the way to the final boss. I was especially impressed by scenes featuring Neko-san, whose fights involved some classic, fast martial arts choreography.

But Ryoushi’s showdown against Shirou was the anticlimax of the episode. It was just Shirou beating on Ryoushi – beautifully animated, mind you, somewhat reminiscent of agent Smith’s beatdown of Neo in the subway in The Matrix – until Liszt and Ringo showed up and told him to stop. Okay, Ryoushi managed to get a punch in, a la episode 2 against the mid-boss. And the flashbacks – to moments ranging from a day ago to a minute ago – were just tacky. Maybe if Ryoushi had received training from Neko-san throughout the show, it would have worked. In the end, they just left, exactly like in episode 5.

This makes it something like Ryoushi 1, Shirou 143. But at least he made him bleed!

Where was the ending? Where was the conclusion? It was as if every story got its closure except for the main one. You know, the most important one, the one everyone is supposed to care about? Otohime and Usami made up. Tarou showed his monogamous love for Otohime. Even Neko-san redeemed himself for his inaction 3 years ago, a plot thread that was literally introduced halfway into this episode. Shirou? He’s still at large, in charge of Onigashima High School, able to strike at will. And Ryoushi is still as fearful as ever at being seen, which ruined a perfectly good moment between him and Ryouko at the end.

The one positive from this is that it leaves room for an episode about Majo, still my favorite of the cast (at least, looks-wise. Otohime is probably my favorite for her back story, something with which I empathize). But with the preview shot for and the title of the next episode – The Girl Who Didn’t Sell Matches But Was Still Poor – doesn’t make it seem like she’ll be the star. Then again, who knows; if nothing else, Ookami-san and Seven Companions has done a good job mixing various fairy tales together.

I really like the composition in this shot. Even these two got back together in the end.

I wrote last week that I felt more positive about this show than at any other point in the series. I had a feeling, given J.C. Staff’s track record, I might end up eating those words. But I had no idea it would be this bad. This was literally a swing from the zenith to the bottom in the course of one episode. I don’t know what the show could do at this point to salvage what’s left of itself – maybe have the narrator be the only voice for the entire episode? – so we might as well close the books on this one. Ookami-san and Seven Companions was a pedestrian show that showed flashes of brilliance when it emphasized its unique setting, but was far too comfortable with being plain old conventional.

While the resolution to Ryner’s Alpha Stigma outburst certainly wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be, this episode certainly delivered on a few other fronts. Though we really didn’t find out anything new plot wise, as this was more of a transitional episode, the continuing development of three key relationships is what made this episode worth watching. Perhaps the most interesting was the how this episode handled Ferris and Ryner’s relationship in the aftermath their battle.

Don't you just hate uncomfortable silences?

As I mentioned earlier, I thought that the fight scene at the beginning of the episode would be a lot more exciting. While the conclusion was certainly satisfying enough, with Ferris being able to stop Ryner by appealing to his human side and then closing his eyes like Kiefer did in episode 3, I was just expecting more. That aside, I guess the real question is why Ryner didn’t kill Ferris, as she made it pretty clear that it would have been pretty easy for him to do. Though Ryner said that he didn’t want to kill anyone else that he knew, it is reasonable to assume that he has some sort of feelings for Ferris, and vice versa. This is really just speculation, but given the way the two interact later in the episode (which I’ll get to), it does seem like there is something between them.

On another note, this fight scene highlights a noticeable problem with this series. Though I have said in the past I thought the animation in this series was sub par, there isn’t really anything wrong with it. Instead, I suppose that the basis for my complaints is that a lot of scenes feature too much shading and blank space, with the first half of episode 4 exemplifying this point. While I understand that these scenes are designed to add more character, it is something I could definitely do without.

Ferris saying that Ryner isn't a monster...

Though the whole fight scene was certainly well done, I thought the real interesting meat of Ryner and Ferris’ part of the story occurred later in the episode. When the show eventually cut back to the two it seemed like Ferris was having a one-sided conversation before there was a pause in the conversation between her and Ryner. It seemed like she tried to cut the tension with her traditional fallback of threatening bodily harm to him, which seemed to solve the situation. However, when they ran into the little girl whose friend also seems to be an Alpha Stigma bearer, it seems as though Ryner took exception to Ferris’ remarks suggesting that Alpha Stigma bearers really are monsters.

... and then here she pretty much contradicts herself.

As much as I love how Ferris and Ryner’s relationship has grown over the course of this series, one of the weaknesses of the show has been its inability to get me to care about some of its other characters. However, the introduction/continuation of Clough and Noa’s relationship signals that the banter between Ryner and Ferris was not just lightning in a bottle, but something we should come to expect between other characters as well. Mixing Clough’s embarrassment with, from my vantage point, Noa’s feigned ignorance to the situation was just good as any scene between Ryner and Ferris. That said, this has increased my expectations going forward, so I hope this show can keep it up.

I almost like these two more than Ryner and Ferris.

It was somewhat unfortunate then that the show had to complicate matters for Clough and Noa almost immediately. With the dynamic between Ryner and Ferris having seemingly passed the Rubicon, I was hoping that these two could have at least provided a few episodes worth of laughs before things inevitably became complicated. Clough’s Jedi like mind abilities aside, the whole prince rescuing the princess from a bunch of backed up ninjas seemed lazy and cliché, despite the scene’s overall ramifications.

Yes Clough, they're real and they're spectacular.

The final pair of characters, who seem to have a changing relationship, though it is decidedly more professional, is Sion and Miran Froaude. After receiving Miran’s report regarding Imperial Stohl and the after events surrounding Noa Ehn, Sion finally seems ready to make his move against the anti-king faction and unite his kingdom. I say finally, because it seems like we have been fooled in the past into thinking Sion was going to do something, especially after Fiole was murdered back in Episode 5, but Sion doing anything would be welcome news. As for Miran, his motivations continue to remain suspect, but I wonder what it is he wants that only Sion can offer?

Anyway, I get the feeling that shit is about to start hitting the fan as we are almost at the halfway point of this series. I would imagine the next few episodes will focus on Sion eliminating the anti king forces and that Imperial Stohl may become more important down the road. Also, it seems likely that the pink haired siblings, Sui and Kuu, may also be from Stohl. I’m not expecting any answers on this front for a while, but the next episode preview didn’t really offer enough for me to make any other predictions.

10 years ago yesterday, on August 23, 2000, the 3rd episode of Gainax’s OVA series FLCL was released to DVD. It probably wasn’t until a year later that I first got to watch it. I wrote a corresponding post on the 10th year anniversary of the 2nd episode, wherein I explained how I came across this series. I downloaded Marquis de Carabas only after having downloaded the first 2 episodes together and having watched them multiple times. Episode 3 was downloaded by itself, and it would be another few days before I got to see the last 3 episodes of this series. In retrospect, after watching the rest of the series, I can appreciate this episode for what it did. It set up Eri Ninamori as a proper foil for Naota, to show us a different way that someone going through the same things could act. Eri was a kid at an adolescent phase, just like Naota. Though her troubles undoubtedly manifest themselves in a much more mundane manner. However, at the first watch, Marquis de Carabas was a huge disappointment to me, especially after the incredible first 2 episodes this series had had. My main source of disappointment was that this episode lacked that moment. You know, that moment. When it feels as if all barriers between the director’s brain and your heart have been broken down, and your emotions are his to play with. When you feel as if you are at the presence of something great, that you’re lucky to be watching what you are watching, even if you don’t quite know why or how. It’s that moment that makes you want to watch it again and again, if only to marvel at the excellence of direction. These moments are usually fleeting and short. But they are also the ones that can define a piece of work. They’re the ones you remember later and turn to when you think of why you liked a piece of work. The first two episodes had several. The One Life and Never Knows Best scenes in Fooly Cooly. The Hybrid Rainbow scene and the Little Busters climax in Firestarter. Marquis de Carabas had… well, it didn’t really have anything, which is my point. When I think back to the episode, no singular scene or sequence of scenes stand out. Even the climax, with the rare non-Pillows soundtrack – it was actually a piece called Galloping Comedians by a Russian composer named Dmitry Kabalevsky – wasn’t that well directed, and its transition to the denouement and credits was jarring. In fact, the entire second half of the episode felt shoddy and thrown together. It lacked the polish and tightness of direction that had made the first two episodes so unforgettable. What did stick with me from this episode was the character of Eri Ninamori.

I gotta admit, even the first time around, I thought her in the glasses and too-short pajamas was fucking hawt.

Eri was a tough nut to crack. She had been given a few lines in the first two episodes, but I hadn’t expected her to play any major role. But here she was, ostensibly the main character of Marquis de Carabas. My first time watching it, I was surprised at what appeared to be the entrance of a third heroine. What about all the stuff with Mamimi and Haruko that had been set up in the first two episodes? Given that this OVA was only 6 episodes, could they really afford to add another protagonist and spend an entire episode on her? As I wrote above, I realized after the fact that Marquis de Carabas was important in placing Eri Ninamori into the role of foil to Naota. Her story was that of the divorce of her parents. Like Naota, Eri struggled with what it meant to grow up. Also like him, she perceived herself to be more grown up than the kids and adults around her. This despite her still childlike tendencies that were featured heavily in this episode. She cheated to get herself and her crush roles in the school play. She went for the mild Little Prince curry at Naota’s house. She wore a shampoo cap. She hid her need for eye glasses due to her vanity. All the while, she considered herself superior to those around her. Like her father’s cheating secretary. Or Naota for skipping the rehearsals.

The perpetually bored/disgusted/superior facial expressions of Eri Ninamori.

She was the very reflection of Naota. She showed us the ugly manifestations of Naota’s way of thinking. I don’t know that this episode showed her develop out of that immature phase. We were told that her parents divorced, but her reaction to it wasn’t revealed (until episode 6, that is) beyond her cool demeanor at the school play. Most damning is, of course, the final shot, showing her declare her glasses as being fake. It was a sudden reversal after the initial surprise that she had shown everyone that she wore glasses. To the end (of the episode), she remained a cynic, wanting to pull one over on everyone else. That’s probably why, even though Eri Ninamori stuck with me after I watched this episode, neither she nor the episode as a whole left me very fulfilled. I sometimes have a hard time choosing which of the episodes was my favorite. But I can say without reservation that Marquis de Carabas was my least favorite. Even though Eri and the episode were redeemed by the events in the final episode (which I should be writing about around March 16 of next year), it didn’t meet the standards set by the previous episodes, nor the ones that would be set in the coming episodes.

As to be expected from GAINAX, the fanservice was pretty good. Alas, 10 years ago, like Naota, I was not at the age to appreciate it for what it was.

Do you remember watching this episode for the first time? Was it during the Adult Swim run in 2003 that had made this show so huge in the US? Was it before, when you had to scour IRC or one of the filesharing clients for low quality fansubs? Was it after, on that high quality, though expensive, DVD release by Synch Point? What was your initial response to it, negative like mine, or positive for reasons not stated in this post?

Notes:

• A couple months ago, there was a nice little post made on Anime Diet about the 10th anniversary of FLCL as a whole. It’s a nice, quick little read. I added a link to it after putting up my first post, but in case you missed it, check it out.
• Funimation is supposed to release a Blu-ray edition of FLCL some time later this year. Reports of the Japanese release – out last week on the 18th – indicate that the HD versions of the episodes are mere upscales, and poor ones at that. Shame on GAINAX for not keeping higher resolution masters!
• This episode also featured the triumphant entrance of Naota’s homeroom teacher, Junko Miyaji, played by none other than the wonderfully lispy voice of Yukari Fukui. She went on to make a name for herself with two more works by GAINAX (Aim for the Top! 2 and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) and remains one of a handful of FLCL’s cast still in the anime voice acting industry.

This episode offered a lot in the way of political intrigue that in the grand scheme of things really doesn’t seem that important. Suffice it to say, Miran Froaude staged a rebellion in Estabul to and trick Sion into sending forces into other territories and eliminate the anti-king factions. In the end, Sion saw through Miran’s plan but did little in the way of stopping it. Despite my overly simplistic recap, I really did enjoy this episode for a couple of reasons.

I wish I had a nickname as cool as Crimson Fingered Claugh

Though the fighting in this episode wasn’t on par with some of the scenes from episode 3(though it looks like that may be resolved in the next episode) it was interesting enough. For the first time we finally got to see one of Sion’s original generals, in this case Claugh Klom, do something worth talking about. Though the battlefield scenes featuring Klom single-handedly destroying Estabul’s army were well done, I was disappointed we were unable to see Klom fight Froaude. I realize that it’s probably still too early in the series for their inevitable fight, but the way that scene ended, with the princess stopping the fight, was a bit of a letdown.

Without Ryner or Ferris, this was the highlight of the episode

Another thing that made this episode worthwhile was the speed and clarity in which it was done. Though there probably wasn’t enough material to make the rebellion last two episodes, I was impressed with how much was presented in such a short period of time. In my opinion, too many shows spend too much time explaining things to their viewers over and over again, but this show doesn’t stop to explain what is going on, and I admire that. Sure, you could see some of the twists, like Salawell’s betrayal and Miran’s eventual interference, coming from a mile away, but those are minor complaints. With that said, this episode did take a few too many liberties with the plot. Among other things, there was no explanation as to how Froaude or Klom got into the fortress by themselves though I suppose we are to infer they are just that good. This may be a result of the amount of material presented in this episode or just a deficiency from the original source, but it is something that is becoming more noticeable as this series continues.

The Brain Trust

Perhaps the most interesting part of this episode was the last scene featuring Sion in his office. He continues to walk the path toward the dark side, but he seems to understand that. Even though he half heartedly tried to distance himself from the events in Estabul by claiming he saved a few lives by sending Klom, instead of Froaude, he understood that he was just splitting hairs. This was all in stark contrast to the thought process used by Noa Ehn, the leader of the revolt, who was willing to sacrifice her own life for the safety of her people.

Hopefully, she will remain around for a while as she provides a nice contrast to Sion

In addition, Iris’ drawings depicting Ryner and Ferris were cute, but more importantly, they revealed that Sion didn’t actually believe the legendary relics were actually real. This certainly gives more credence to the thought that Lucile is the one pulling the strings, but that was pretty clear to begin with. Despite being mentioned in passing a few times, Lucile, himself, hasn’t made an appearance in three or four episodes, yet his character remains one of this show’s focal points. Even though his only real interaction with the main cast has been with Sion (that we know of), I still can’t go an episode without thinking how Lucile is viewing Sion’s actions. Seeing as how Sion is still alive, it would seem that Lucile still approves of his rule, but I can’t help but wonder when that will change.

The end of this episode revealed a lot about Sion

This episode sees the main plot, introduced in episode 2 but ignored since, return in a big way. Like the previous episode, the humor fell flat most of the time, and the fairy tale adaptation wasn’t anything to write home about either. At the same time, it introduces a couple interesting plot points that make me pause and rethink what I was expecting out of this show.

So I had to read the post on Tenka Seiha to learn it, but this was loosely based on the Japanese story of Momotaro. Not being familiar with the story, I wasn’t able to appreciate it that much. But based on the Wikipedia article on the story, the show laid the analogy pretty thick this time as well, what with the 3 sidekicks named after the 3 animals, “Momoko” being the obvious feminine version of “Momotaro,” and the invasion of “Onigashima” High School, literally the name of the island Momotaro had invaded in the tale.

But Momoko was just a side character in this one, unlike the other fairy tale protagonists who actually were the protagonists of their respective episodes. She definitely got her moment in the sun, mind you, getting to try to seduce both Ryouko and Ryoushi, and having the bouncing of her bosoms accentuated with cartoony sound effects (a lot of people might roll their eyes at this gag, but I like its ironic humor). And her costume design is my favorite in this show so far. Certainly beats the hideous outfit Ringo designed for Ryouko in this episode.

I'm also a big fan of the asymmetrical thigh high sock design. Reminds me of Rita from Tales of Vesperia.

But moreso than Momoko, this episode was focused with the story of the main characters, specifically the past of Ryouko as well as the role of Otogi High School in the city. Ryouko’s story is still very vague and looks to be darker than what I would have expected from this show. Just based on the brief flashback clips, I’m guessing that it involves some sort of sexual abuse from Shirou. Of course, it would have to tie into why she became so dedicated to boxing and acquired that stoic, manly personality that Ryoushi admires so much. It’s a huge contrast in tone from the whimsical and carefree nature of the rest of the show as well as both the OP and ED sequences.

Just what happened between these 2? Something far darker than what I expected out of this show, I hope.

I’m also interested in the bigger picture regarding the roles played by Otogi High School, Onigashima High School, and Otogibana City. This is also darker than what I was expecting out of this show. Like Ryouko’s back story, nothing’s really clear yet, but according to what Liszt said to convince everyone to fight, it seems that the two schools are designed as some sort of grand social engineering experiment. Otogi school is designed to succeed, and Onigashima school is designed to fail in order to help achieve that.

It’s very reminiscent of the Misaka sisters story from A Certain Magical Index, another production by J.C. Staff that was adapted from a light novel series. And just like in that story, it all feels very cruel. The Onigashima students have to play the bad guys so that the good guys can beat them. It’s a self aware look at the roles good and bad guys are forced into in order to produce fairy tales. In A Certain Magical Index, the Misaka sisters were infants, innocent victims of a mad science experiment gone too far. The Onigashima students are gangsters and delinquents, not worthy of our sympathy, but I end up wondering, was this due to any fault of their own, or were they forced into this just so that they can play that role?

Unfortunately, her Christmas tree hair made me think of Amagami SS...

Again, these are thoughts I never expected would be prompted by this show. In fact, thus far, Ookami-san and Seven Companions has not at all met the expectations I had for it after watching the first episode. In that one, the Cinderella story was largely separated from that of the protagonists and stood on its own as a ridiculous adaptation. Since then, all the fairy tale adaptations have managed to weave in the main characters and have the relationship between Ryouko and Ryoushi develop in some way, whether it be as light as the sole vote that Ryouko got during the contest in episode 3 or as heavy as the Ryouko’s past coming back to haunt her in this one. In that sense, the storytelling has leapfrogged my expectation of this being a light, episodic title.

On the other hand, those light and amusing aspects have not been up to snuff. That Cinderella story was a hilarious, twisted take on the old fairy tale. The adaptations since then have varied from amusing, like the tortoise and the hare story of episode 3, to banal, like the hentai-inspired maid set up in episode 4, to being just straight up with no interesting twist, like Momo-chan and her 3 companions in this one. Even the narrator hasn’t been as good since the first episode, as she spends less time making catty remarks and more just explaining the obvious, speaking over someone else in the scene.

I still enjoy the running flat-chest joke. It's banal, but Satomi Arai's delivery is always on the mark.

That said, there’s something nice about having the unexpected. The show had successfully fooled me into thinking that I had a handle on it after a couple of episodes, but now I feel lost, unable to predict what will come. Who knows, maybe the show will return to being a wacky slapstick parody-oriented comedy next episode. Or maybe it will dig deeper into the plot points mentioned above, exploring the ability to tell a coherent central story while using fairy tale metaphors as vehicles. I don’t know which it’ll be, and I don’t know which I would prefer. Feels good man.

Note:

• In a post in Girl Cartoons, JarenL also notes the more serious themes introduced in this episode and explores the way gender roles are played around with in the show.

Keiji has always bothered me.  I see him as the weak link in the chain.  He runs around all over the place, but never really succeeds in anything he does.  Sure, he got the leaders to unite against Nobunaga, but I think they would have done it without him.  He also seems to walk one-step behind absolutely everything in the series.  This week they give him his own episode.  Either my memory is foggy, or he seriously bucked up between seasons.  Since this is my post, I’m going to go with the latter, because it makes me feel better.

Man, even the foot soldiers can't be bothered with Keiji!

Before we get to Keiji, though, I’ve got to talk about Kenshin’s brilliant power play.  If Toshie takes his town, he’ll simply take Toshie’s town.  Fair trade, right?  Kenshin makes him choose between power and family.  Toshie is a good man, not a massive tool, so he takes his ball and goes home.  He walks headlong into perhaps the most obvious trap in the world.  Who needs to drop an army on someone’s town when you can surround him right where you want him?

I can’t believe Toshie never anticipated this.  You just threatened the God of War as his enemy!  You can’t expect to walk away completely unscathed!  While I commend him for knowing he had to walk away before, now I’m going to call him an idiot for not surrendering.  You might lose your “honor,” but Kenshin obviously planned this attack and his forces far outnumber you.  Even if you win, you still lose!  Actually, I find it quite delicious that this mimics a smaller version of what happened to Masamune.

You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Keiji tried to warn his uncle to walk away beforehand, but he got the cold shoulder in return.  Nephew is not happy with you at all, sir.  He drops in and challenges Toshie to a duel.  I have to say, I have never seen so little blood in a deadly fight since I watched Noir.  I can believe it with Keiji, because he’s supposed to walk the path of peace through communication.  Maybe he dulled his blade on purpose, who knows?  But Toshie?  You nailed him dead to rights with your trident and didn’t even pierce the armor.  Maybe this newfangled plot armor is a little too good.

Kenshin knows he has proved his point and magnanimously lets his enemy leave.  He also makes a little observation.  They fight for a common cause, but their methods oppose each other.  Keiji wants to talk, while Toshie wants to fight.  They can’t realistically coexist.  Years ago, the pair forged a bond of blood.  I find it fitting that their bond washes away in the pouring rain.  It’s like the heavens are crying with them.

I'm pretty sure once you beat up your old man, you're done.

Yukimura continues his journey, when he decides to make camp in a town.  Here, he sees what Hideyoshi’s methods have brought on the people.  The men have all left, transcripted into the army and destined to fight until they die.  Only the women and children remain.  Yukimura can’t ignore it, he’s too good at heart.  I wonder, if Toshie saw this scene, could he continue to stand by his master?

In Keiji’s brief flashback before he goes bankai all up in Toshie’s face, he remembers Hideyoshi standing over a dead woman’s body.  He’s smiling.  Whether this is Hideyoshi or Keiji’s love doesn’t really matter, even though I’m interested in the answer.  The point is, he has sacrificed everything in the name of power, in order to enforce “peace.”  Is this really a world worth fighting for?

By the way, you guys forgot to exorcise Nobunaga's castle.

Oh yeah, and Masamune still lives.  He still talks with gratuitous English.  He still wants Hideyoshi’s head on a silver platter, now more than ever.  He has an opportunity to claim it, but he will lose in spectacular fashion.  If he won, we probably wouldn’t have a show anymore.  Don’t worry though, he won’t stay down for long.  He never does.

I am sick and tired of your incessant bullshit, Hideyoshi!

After much delay and, depending on where you hang around, much hype, the 50 minute OVA Black Rock Shooter was finally released yesterday, July 24. Despite the solid visuals and music, the poor pacing and storytelling make this an anime that I can’t recommend, even to die hard fans of Vocaloids or Supercell like myself. You’re better off just waiting for the soundtrack and seeing some of the highlights.

For those who don’t know that much about Vocaloids or Supercell, here’s a brief introduction to Black Rock Shooter. Ryo, the only musician in the now professional band Supercell, got his start uploading his songs sung by Hatsune Miku onto Nico Nico Douga. One of his most popular ones, perhaps second only to Melt, was Black Rock Shooter, a song that he had written based off of a picture drawn by an artist who goes by the name of Huke. It was uploaded in June of 2008. You can see the original video with English subtitles on Youtube.

Some time since then, anime studio Ordet decided to pick it up and to create a 50 minute OVA based on the song – which itself was based on a picture. It was originally supposed to be released in September 2009, but it got pushed to Spring 2010, then again to Summer 2010. And yesterday, on 7/24, it was finally released, for free on DVDs that came with the September issue of Hobby Japan. There are a couple other magazines will also have the DVDs packed for free.

An iconic shot from the original Nico Nico Douga animation, rendered in the anime.

One of the biggest questions I had going into this was what the story would be like. After all, the OVA is ultimately based on an image, and the lyrics to the song don’t exactly build up a cohesive world. Well, contrary to the more fantasy oriented images associated with this production, Black Rock Shooter tells the story of a middle school first year named Mato Kuroi (Kana Hanazawa) and her friendship with classmate Yomi Takanashi (Miyuki Sawashiro). The 2 become friends on their first day of school and grow closer throughout their first year despite their being in different sports clubs (basketball for Mato, volleyball for Yomi). About half way through, the basketball team manager Yuu (Kana Asumi) gets into the mix as well. The main conflict manifests itself as jealousy when Mato and Yuu get put into the same class for their second years while Yomi gets put into a different class, stuck outside looking in.

Interspersed in this story are brief scenes of the eponymous Black Rock Shooter – an obvious stand-in for Mato – chasing and fighting against Dead Master – Yomi’s stand-in – in the dark fantasy world most associated with the work. The action scenes are short and inserted fairly evenly throughout the OVA, and it’s only at the end when Yomi disappears that a clear connection between the 2 settings is shown.

Dead Master looks down at Black Rock Shooter, both about to fight.

The core problem with Black Rock Shooter lies with the storytelling. The pacing is horrid, with pretty much nothing happening in the first half. 50 minutes is longer than a TV show episode, but it’s still not a long time, and you simply can’t waste that much time with the set up. The more action packed fantasy scenes inserted throughout that half didn’t do anything to help the pace, because they felt unrelated – at best, only loosely connected – to the main story in the real world.

The first clear indication that the 2 worlds are connected, about 2/3 of the way into the OVA.

On that note, the story just doesn’t tie together. There is a fundamental disconnect between the scenes in the fantasy world and in the real world. There are hints at how the events in the two settings relate to each other, but it is only at the end that a clear connection is made, and even then, the explanation is unsatisfactory. Clearly, the fantasy scenes were meant to serve as a metaphor for the emotional conflict taking place in real life between Mato and Yomi, but the rest of the connections, including the reason for Yomi’s disappearance or her blank text to Mato at the end, are left as exercises for the viewer. Same goes for the opening fight between Dead Master and Black Rock Shooter, which clearly happened before the events of the show. Having an open ended story up to the viewer’s interpretation is one thing, but this is either laziness or ineptitude by the director.

The orange, yellow desert background contrasts with the dark green castle background of the other fantasy scenes when this character appears. That's about all this character does before she disappears.

Heck, there is even a 3rd character in the fantasy who never does anything. Perhaps the entire purpose of this OVA was to set up a series. At least, that’s what it feels like with its open threads and the cliffhanger-style ending.

Even the fantasy scenes, while containing entertaining, visceral action and beautiful art, suffers from the fact that nothing about these characters’ motivations is revealed until the very end. There were hints here and there at the bigger story, but the mismatching chronology – the fantasy scenes have no connection to the real life scenes being shown at the same time – meant that I was left wondering why Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master were fighting for most of the time. And fights in which you have nothing invested in the outcome just aren’t as fun to watch.

It doesn’t help that neither of the two show any emotion through most of the fight. As they get hit, thrown, shot at, and tied up, their faces rarely change from their monotone dead stares, as if they were both Terminators programmed to fight each other. The closest thing up until the climactic moment was Dead Master’s evil smirk. They don’t talk, and they barely even grunt as they fight. The brevity also hurt these fight scenes, as none of them lasted long enough for a real story to develop within the fights. Just as the fights started to get into their grooves and made me excited, the OVA would cut back to a plain real life scene. There are things that can be done with single long action scenes that can’t be done with many shorter ones. They need time to build a sort of rhythm, something that Black Rock Shooter never managed to do.

The action, while pretty, doesn't make for very good still shots. Hence why I'm showing shots from still scenes.

That being said, Black Rock Shooter is still a very pretty anime. The real life scenes have the level of detail you expect from an OVA, and the stylized animation of the action scenes work very well. Some of the backdrops in the fantasy scenes are obviously created using CG, but they almost never stand out. The use of the color and light, as well as the architecture in those scenes do a wonderful job of creating an oppressive, dark, almost depressing mood to the speechless fights. I’m a fan of the character designs as well. The purposeful contrast between Black Rock Shooter’s tall, lanky, unbalanced design with Dead Master’s curvaceous and symmetrical one was not lost on me. Heck, they even put scars on Black Rock Shooter’s stomach in order to emphasize the straightness of her design (ironically, Yomi is taller than Mato).

And the music was very enjoyable as well. No, there was no Hatsune Miku music; not even Black Rock Shooter was played. Instead, it was a largely classical score, fitting for a school story. In some scenes, the music really took center stage in communicating the emotion to the viewer. One of the first scenes, in which Mato climbs the hill near her house before going off to school, sticks in my mind. In the world of TV shows, where usually some plot has to be fit into a 24 minute less 1:30 OP less 1:30 ED slot, the background music almost always stays right there in the background. Without such limitations (in fact, one might argue that they didn’t even fill the pressure to fit a story into its 50 minute slot), the OVA was free to implement more movie-like usage of background music, to good effect. There were also call backs to Supercell’s Black Rock Shooter song as well, with some of the music, particularly at the beginning and end of the OVA, using themes pulled straight from that song.

This picture kind of summarizes Black Rock Shooter. So much badassery when free to act, but chained and restricted by the plot, unable to fulfill its potential.

Ultimately, Black Rock Shooter is two separate stories connected only loosely by theme and character design, with 80% of the time spent on a, though heartfelt, tragically generic story about friendship, and the other 20% dedicated to the good parts: the fun, even if meaningless, action scenes. The uneven pacing and storytelling unraveled a technically solid production, and as the credits rolled, I felt sorry for all the people whose hard work went into producing what amounted to essentially nothing.

The only way I can see this OVA being somewhat redeemed is if it turns out to be just the 1st part of a longer series, one which explores the fantasy world that this one only briefly touched upon. Both the pre-credits ending and post-credits ending tease a possible continuation. But as a stand alone work, it is incomplete and not worth the time to watch it.

This is when the story finally begins, right? It couldn't possibly be that the ending credits are about to start in less than a minute, right? Right?

Notes:

• As always, screenshots galore at Tenka Seiha and Random Curiosity.
• The free magazine-packed DVDs include 7 different languages of subtitles, including English. The other 6 are Japanese, Chinese, Italian, German, Spanish, and French.
• Other magazines that will have this DVD are Megami Magazine (7/30) and Monthly Animedia (8/10). (source: Anime News Network via Vocaloidism)
• The character Dead Master was never named in the OVA. I got her name from the figures of her they’re selling, such as this one.
• This is the 2nd anime for which Ryo of Supercell did the music. The other one was Cencoroll, and it also starred Kana Hanazawa as a leading role.
• Kana Asumi starred as Poplar in last season’s Working!!, in which one of the running gags was that she would always mispronounce the main character’s name “Takanashi” as “Katanashi.” Her character Yuu has no problem with that in Black Rock Shooter, however. The OVA also made the same pun as in Working!! regarding Takanashi’s name being able to be confused with “Kotori” (Takanashi’s name when he cross-dresses).
• At the point when Mato was giving Yomi the star cell phone strap, I started wondering if the fantasy world was far in the future, given the post-apocalyptic style of the setting. I was hoping that there was some falling out between the 2 that the OVA would show, before they somehow became Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master. I think that would’ve been a better twist than, “It’s a metaphor, lol.”

You never fully appreciate what you had until you have lost it.  You don’t appreciate your financial security until you can no longer pay the bills.  You don’t realize the value of youth until you have become old and gray.  In Masamune’s case, he has lost a valuable ally and a trusted friend.  It sends the world crashing down around him.  Enough with the sorry stuff.  Let’s see what happened and in what position the great One Eyed Dragon has found himself.

Oh get ON with it, Rak!

What is up with villains and other people trying to tell the hero what his odds for success are?  It rarely if ever matters to them.  I remember watching Star Trek as a kid.  Spock would always come up with some ridiculous odds, like one in a septillion, and Kirk would just shrug it off and succeed.  As a more recent anime example, Kamina taught us to kick reason to the curb and go beyond the impossible!

Actually, we have a startling parallel with the latter case.  In this scenario, Kojuurou is simply outmaneuvered and outgunned.  He has to split his attention between protecting the hostages and himself.  Not just that, though, but he also has to restrain himself from unleashing his full power.  All of the hero characters have amazing attacks, which can decimate an entire area.  If he used one, he could injure or kill the hostages.  I half expected someone to use their Big Damn Heroes moment of the season to come rescue him, as happens so often in these series.  It simply wasn’t meant to be.  Shigeharu’s plan to capture Kojuurou succeeds.

Mission failed! Try again from your last save?

While we’re on the subject of Shigeharu, this guy is a more feminine version of Ivy from Soul Calibur.  I suppose it tells you a lot about my opinion of her character, but that’s neither here nor there.  The key feature here is the ridiculous lolhax whip sword.  From a distance, he looks like your normal, everyday warrior of the Sengoku Basara universe.  Then suddenly, BAM, you get hit from fifty feet away by a rapidly expanding sword.  What kind of an attack is that?  Where do all those sword segments come from, anyway?  Does he have his own personal hyperspace arsenal or something?

I do like the relationship Shigeharu and Hideyoshi share.  In the first season, Nobunaga had his generals, but he treated them as a means to an end.  They treated him largely in kind.  By comparison, these two “villains” have a respectful relationship.  Shigeharu wants his master to succeed more than anything, to the point of his exhaustion.  Hideyoshi looks out for the commander-in-chief of his forces and trusts his tactical opinion.  It also gives a sense that they aren’t evil, they simply have different ideals.  I like anime using this concept as it makes for far more interesting conflict.

There's at least 20 times as much blade as should be here.

Poor Masamune, your inexperience is showing.  Losing Kojuurou might have crippled him for now, but I think it will ultimately make him better.  As of right now, he relied on him far too much for advice.  Masamune prefers the balls to the wall, head-on collision style of attack.  It makes for entertaining fights, but very poor strategy.  By the time he engages his real opponent in combat, his troops have had enough.  They cannot fight anymore, even for their enigmatic leader.

Fortunately, he has more than enough hot blood to make up for his weakened troops.  Making him angry achieves the same effect as stirring a hornet’s nest.  Whatever comes out will beat the tar out of you, so all you can do is to run like hell.  Shigeharu obviously did not consider the power of sheer, murderous rage.  Even with the power of GAR on his side, I have doubts Masamune can truly win this fight.  Even if he repels the attackers, his lands remain open to attack.  His status as the main character offers him strong plot armor, but he still needs to learn quickly to protect his soldiers and other subjects.

Guys? Hey guys! I wouldn't do that if I were... oh never mind.