Anime - Kono Dio Da!

[majestic]

Blood-C, Episode 4: Age kind of matters, guys. Sakura is endearing in her inability to understand the feelings of others towards her - and that's because she's 12. Saya on the other hand is denser than Sakura ever was, and not even her sheltered upbringing can fully explain that. Okay, yeah, Fighting Evil By The Moonlight (tm) probably does a number on your brain, particularily in such a scenario, but come on...

Spoiler

Emo McEdgelordface asks Saya how much she "really, really" likes Mr. Café owner, and she immediately runs to Fumito to ask him what she said to annoy Emo McEdgelordface. Sure. Fine. It's kind of funny, Sakura is also fairly aware that there's a huge age gap between her and Yukito that could be problematic, she talks about that with Meiling when Meiling has her sleepover. Saya needs a few things explained to her by her friends.

Also can't shake the feeling that literally everyone she interacts with (possibly except for the twins, her other friend and the class rep) has some hidden agenda. Fumito rings every creepy Pegasus warning bell.

Spoiler

So, yeah. Saya's teacher has already hinted at an experiment going on (well, no, she said she became a teacher to learn one thing she could only learn in this particular job at this particular location), and Fumito... nope, that guy is bogus. I'm not sure what else is going on with her father and the hints at a dark pact that may or may not be violated by him/them, but Fumito isn't the nice guy he pretends to be. He makes Saya "special" coffee she claims "calms" her down, and when her father is with her, he makes him coffee separately, with some stupid excuse that he readily accepts.

That sadly suggests her father is aware of what's going on. Great.

Conclusion:

Spoiler

Fumito is a or "the" bad guy here, and he's feeding Saya something she should probably not drink. Her father is probably aware of it and either approves, or else does nothing to stop it, the teacher is most likely in on it. Not sure what Emo McEdgelordface's deal is.

I'm 11:29 in on the fourth episode at the point of writing this.

[InsaneCommander]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Oh, by the way, as you're already here @Gorth , how about watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica?

Spoilers for Madoka and Steins;Gate*:

Spoiler

* @majesticif you have watched episode 13 you can see this.

[Gorth]

I'll give 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' a look after I've finished Elfen Lied

 

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Gorth said:

I'll give 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' a look after I've finished Elfen Lied

 

Did you go and peek at what's going on or was the trailer that concinving?

edit:

Kind of mini-watch guide:

There are three films and a TV show, the show exist in a TV broadcast version (which is what you get on streaming services) and a Blu Ray version. The BR version has updated animation, but also minor changes here and there (and some soundtrack shenanigans).

The first two films, Beginnings and Eternal cover the events of the TV anime. They're better animated (although how much one likes the CGI-ridden modern looking anime style is an entirely different question) and much better paced than the show (over an hour of mostly redundant runtime was cut), but suffer from a weaker soundtrack and the disjointed feeling you get when watching what's essentially a made for TV anime stitched together into feature film length.

The third film Rebellion is a direct continuation of the anime.

Whatever way you pick to start is up to you, it's hard to recommend fully either way, but the broadcast version is the easiest to access, what with being on Netflix, presumably even in Australia, although who knows, distribution licencing is supremely weird.

BR and movie versions look better, broadcast version sounds better (and with a Yuki Kajiura soundtrack, that matters). Movie version is better paced. Pick your poison, unless you want to experience the full artistic progression, in which case you can go broadcast, followed by a BR rewatch and the films, but that seems awfully redundant, even with the short runtime.

Edited October 16, 2021 by majestic

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

BR and movie versions look better, broadcast version sounds better (and with a Yuki Kajiura soundtrack, that matters). Movie version is better paced. Pick your poison, unless you want to experience the full artistic progression, in which case you can go broadcast, followed by a BR rewatch and the films, but that seems awfully redundant, even with the short runtime.

I positively hate it when it's obvious cgi animation. I saw a Chinese cartoon (or rather the beginning of an episode) once and switched off shortly after start. I prefer 3 frame animations over cgi most of the time. I did a google search (leading to a wiki) for Puella etc. etc. just for the basics and reviews. I don't mind "cute", but not for cuteness sake. It's fine if it's the method of delivering a story. Being from the Nordic countries, I like both my humour and stories darker than pitch black. Besides the aforementioned Blood-C and Made in Abyss (one of my favourite stories of any genre so far), my rather limited exposure to all things anime can be summed by a few movies: Akira, Urotsukidoji and Ghost in the Shell, the latter being a very good story, which I love (at least the first one, not so much the second one). Unsolicited advertising, Steam sells GiS (I bought them)

 

Edit: While NieR: Automata and NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 aren't technically Anime's, I could easily imagine them being an animated adaptation of Manga's (and those two games rank up there amongst my favourites)

[majestic]

Well, Madoka contains some uncanny valley elements, right in the intro - something that was cut from the theatrical realease. Otherwise it's fine insofar as it looks like most modern anime does (i.e. very obviously digitally coloured).

40 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I don't mind "cute", but not for cuteness sake.

Hey look, you made Sakura angry!

41 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Besides the aforementioned Blood-C and Made in Abyss (one of my favourite stories of any genre so far), my rather limited exposure to all things anime can be summed by a few movies: Akira, Urotsukidoji and Ghost in the Shell, the latter being a very good story, which I love (at least the first one, not so much the second one). Unsolicited advertising, Steam sells GiS (I bought them)

Heh. Three films, and one of them is porn... not bad.

42 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I like both my humour and stories darker than pitch black.

[Sarex]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

I don't mind "cute", but not for cuteness sake.

[InsaneCommander]

3 hours ago, Gorth said:

I don't mind "cute", but not for cuteness sake. It's fine if it's the method of delivering a story.

As usual, watch a least a few episodes. Sometimes the story needs some time to get going.

I won't give you any spoilers, but this is not just about some cute girls.

 

[majestic]

Blood-C has one big advantage: It's interesting enough to keep me occupied and therefore not needing to go back to Steins;Gate and Lady Asuka. It does have a disadvantage: It's not going to last very long.

The episodes are showing signs of... let's say, degradation (Saykura's interactions become somewhat repetivite, and there's more AAAAAAAACSHUN than before), plus there's a whole bunch of things that all move along the expected paths.

Still beats Steins;Gate since it doesn't make me cringe and except for Saykura sitting on Emo McEdgelordface for a moment after falling off a tree nothing too fanservicey or ha-ha "funny" (i.e. jokes that don't work) happend yet, outside of the intro sequence. Handily beats Lady Asuka because Saykura's shonen mode isn't permanent, and she's thankfully really silent while it is on.

Which brings me to the other part that's weird, the monsters are all utterly stupid even if they appear to be highly intelligent and capable of speech, or there is some reason for them always toying with Saykura to the point where she goes full evil enraged shonen mode and just straight up murder death kills them. Because they always, ALWAYS just don't kill her in spite of having plenty of opportunities to do so. 

Also...

Spoiler

The "light" she sees was confirmed as repressed memories of her BEAST MODE. Or whatever it is. It might be her actual regular mode, and Saykura is just a personality plant. Even since like the third episode, there's this very clear indication that humans aren't sticking to their end of a bargain struck with the Japanese collection of Cthulhus that keep showing up.

The monsters trying to communicate with her and demanding that the covenant be honored (although I think they're saying protected, alas, the subtitles say honored, and it makes more sense with honored too) seems to suggest that she's more one of them than human. Or some form of hybrid. Saykura kills one of them with her bare hands, something she really should need the sacred sword (tm) for...

The intro song is pretty good too. The English parts make me think that the singer is French. Obviously can't really tell if the Japanese has a noticable accent or not. His French is certainly better than his English, at least.

Edited October 16, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

30 minutes ago, majestic said:

The episodes are showing signs of... let's say, degradation

Uhm:

Spoiler

Anime just started killing off regular cast members, so yeah, this is going down the action drain pretty quickly now, I guess.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 minute ago, majestic said:

Uhm:

  Reveal hidden contents

Anime just started killing off regular cast members, so yeah, this is going down the action drain pretty quickly now, I guess.

 

SHIZAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[majestic]

More Blood-C:

Saykura defeats General Grievous.

Spoiler

Before dying, he tells her that she now feels like her old (i.e. true) self after she activates her blood rage powers. I guess that's one more point for Saykura not being entirely human (or not at all). Emo McEdgelordface shows up and is understandably confused by Grvievous' dead body lying on the ground.

If this were live action - and eh, I think there actually are live action adaptations - Jay would be permanently amused by the splatter stuff going on.

Right, one thing I forgot:

Spoiler

Saykura has an off button that can be pressed by Fumito and her father. Won't that come in handy once she learns the truth and will try to rip both apart.

 

[InsaneCommander]

4 hours ago, majestic said:

Still beats Steins;Gate since...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I tried Clannad again and got to the part where

Spoiler

There was a wedding and star(fish) ghost girl disappeared. I dunno, **** is weird.

I don't think it really works for me. Oh well, it happens.

Now I guess it's time time to watch Cardcap-JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOJO.

[InsaneCommander]

LoGH 79-81:

Three episode battle. Not sure if it makes sense considering the difference in ship numbers, but once again it ended without a definitive resolution.

I'm feeling really stupid because I've been skipping the end credits scene for a while and actually forgot about the huge spoilery implication there.

If anyone here decides to watch this, skip the end credits and the teasers for the next episode if you want to avoid a huge spoiler.

[Bartimaeus]

11 hours ago, majestic said:

More Blood-C:

You know, this doesn't really quite seem like my type of show, all things considered. Not that it sounds terrible or anything, but eh.

8 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

LoGH 79-81:

What's up with the ridiculous amount of anime shows with next episode previews, anyways? Is it like an industry standard or something? I'm trying to think of any western animation shows that do it and I can't think of any...

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

You know, this doesn't really quite seem like my type of show, all things considered. Not that it sounds terrible or anything, but eh.

It's not and it's not. It is quite good in what it is and does, assuming everything that happens has a proper reason that will come out at some point, i.e. the Elder Bairns always toying with Saya until she just murders them (not that they don't deserve it, they almost always make sure to always kill some humans to justify ending their existence), instead of going in for the kill right from the start. That's my biggest worry right now, that's it's just the... katana vs. Cthulhu swordfight version of villain's exposition. I am currently giving it the benefit of the doubt simply because Nanase Ohkawa has co-written the series, and if nothing else, she really knows how to set things up and reap a payoff later.

The one thing that sets it apart from usual shounen animes in the same vein is that Saya is a nice character whose agency in the whole situation is somewhat limited, if it exists at all, and she has no interest in growing more powerful beyond trying harder because she wants* to save as many people as possible.

The story so far is apparently about:

Spoiler

Fumito having a bet with someone whether or not it is possible to change human (?) nature, and they experimented on Saya for that. Saya was in chains at that point, which would not have been necessary if she really was just a regular girl. She also heals her wounds really quickly, more and more pointers towards her being something else.

Things and people regularily die in best splatter manner.

Spoiler

Like the poor twins, one gets her head chewed off and the other is chunked out of existence like a gibberling hit by a two handed sword critical in Baldur's Gate. Except with a fountain of blood to accompany it.

*That want might be brainwashing. If I had to guess right now:

Spoiler

It's possible that Fumito came up with a way to turn an Elder Bairn into a nice girl wanting to protect people and kill its own kind. Hence all the talk about violating the covenant made between humans and Elder Bairns.

 

In a way the setup makes it unique, a bit like X, which has different themes, but a similar action-driven setup populated by more likeable characters than usual in that type of anime. X has more  attempts at character drama though (and twice as many episodes, so yeah), that just feels incidental in Blood-C. They could have done much more with the setup, people keep disappearing in a very small town, after all. Attempts are there, but it's never entirely... the focus. So it waffles around a bit between character driven moments and over the top action with copious amounts of gore.

Neither here nor there, which it does share with X.

Also had a pretty Pegasus/Artemis moment:

Spoiler

Weird talking dog keeps following Saya around, and he shows up while she's taking a bath. She doesn't mind him at all, and he even comments on that. What a weird scene.

  

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

What's up with the ridiculous amount of anime shows with next episode previews, anyways? Is it like an industry standard or something? I'm trying to think of any western animation shows that do it and I can't think of any...

Maybe not animation, but live action TV shows pretty much always had "Next week on <Series Name>" previews. They're often also on the DVDs and Blu Rays.

edit:

One more  thing about Blood-C:

Spoiler

I really hope this doesn't turn out to be Fight Club, and in reality Saya is always there fighting her "true" nature, and the people who die are just kind of in the way. Nene for instance clearly reacted to the Elder Bairn when she saw it, so that would make no sense. Nono on the other hand, when she died, she was "inside" the Elder Bairn. She also seemed unaware of there being a shadow-creature attached to her, and she got chunked when Saya killed the shadow creature. So at least it's... sort of possible.

Saya also keeps waking up randomly in her bed, á la Fight Club. Although it is more like in Perfect Blue where she's aware what was going on, but uncertain what is dream and reality. If such a distinction is at all necessary here.

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Way of the Househusband. He unleashed the greatest yelling move of all time, LED CEILING LIGHTS.

[Sarex]

32 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Way of the Househusband. He unleashed the greatest yelling move of all time, LED CEILING LIGHTS.

It's a fun little show.

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

one gets her head chewed off and the other is chunked out of existence like a gibberling hit by a two handed sword critical in Baldur's Gate. Except with a fountain of blood to accompany it.

lmao, I'm so glad I've played Baldur's Gate way too many times so I can picture the exploding gibberling perfectly

What episode are you on now anyways?

Edited October 17, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

One more  thing about Blood-C:

  Reveal hidden contents

I really hope this doesn't turn out to be Fight Club, and in reality Saya is always there fighting her "true" nature, and the people who die are just kind of in the way. Nene for instance clearly reacted to the Elder Bairn when she saw it, so that would make no sense. Nono on the other hand, when she died, she was "inside" the Elder Bairn. She also seemed unaware of there being a shadow-creature attached to her, and she got chunked when Saya killed the shadow creature. So at least it's... sort of possible.

Saya also keeps waking up randomly in her bed, á la Fight Club. Although it is more like in Perfect Blue where she's aware what was going on, but uncertain what is dream and reality. If such a distinction is at all necessary here.

 

More Blood-C:

Spoiler

An Elder Bairn showed up and slaughtered Saya's entire class. Ms. Teacher-sensei just asked Saya if she killed them all. The class rep is still alive, and Emo McEdgelordface is too. If it really was Saya doing the killing herself, wouldn't class rep guy (I'm sure he has a name, but who cares) say something at that point? Alas, we don't know, Saya conveniently passes out, or else the teacher woman also has Saya's off-switch.

The other solution to the weird behaviour of everyone is that nobody's actually truly dying, and it's all just fake for the sake of Fumito's experiment. Fumito keeps giving something to Saya and she keeps eating and drinking it because she thinks he's a nice guy (and apparently he makes good food). She always keeps passing out and waking up at home, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume she sees things that aren't truly there.

I don't know why, but after Nene died in episode five I had the feeling Saya would return to class only to find here there all alive and well, and to start going out of her mind entirely. Maybe that's what really is going on. It sure makes more sense than to retroactively make her the real murderer in town.

Thankfully at least, Saya starts thinking about how things don't add up.

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

lmao, I'm so glad I've played Baldur's Gate way too many times so I can picture the exploding gibberling perfectly

To be entirely truthful, that's how it looked in my mind. In the show you "only" see her slashing the character stuck inside a web inside the shadow creature thing, an explosion of blood and a lot of chunked human afterwards, but the association came up immediately.

24 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

What episode are you on now anyways?

Just finished episode nine.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Spoiler

The other solution to the weird behaviour of everyone is that nobody's actually truly dying, and it's all just fake for the sake of Fumito's experiment.

Blood-C, E10:

Spoiler

Look at the twins having survived getting chunked out of life and their head removed. Not sure if that means nobody else is dead either, but at least some of the deaths weren't real.

Anyway, some of the monster designs are really neat.

 

Spoiler

Eh, also... looks like Fumito is feeding Saya the remains of the monsters she kills, with creepy spine lady who looks like Reiha tells her she's tasting forbidden fruit and is a puppet of the humans who do not honor the covenant.

Guess that's a nice way to confirm that Saya isn't really a human girl. The teacher decides to end what she calls a farce. Let's see where that leads. Two episodes left.

 

[majestic]

Blood-C, Episode 11:

Spoiler

Things this episode confirms:

• Everyone who regularily interacted with Saya really had an ulterior motive.
• Everything is fake for the sake of the experiment, except for the deaths of the random strangers. The main cast has a charm of Protection from Evil(tm).
• Saya is not human.
• Fumito is drugging her to repress her memories.

Called the first and the last two points after episodes 3 and 4, I think, the other one just before the reveal - a bit too lazy to check now. After that fiasco of the real identity of the agent in Steins;Gate, I got to say that was a very welcome win for me.

Spoiler

That still leaves whatever role her "father" has in this, but I guess that will be revealed in episode 12.

I guess it's time for everyone to...

Spoiler

...die for real now. If that vaguely dog like giant monster thing that just showed up is the weird talking dog that followed Saya, he might be able to overcome the Protection from Evil charms, because he already said he is not an Elder Bairn and might not have to abide by the regular demon summoning rules. *shrug*

Assuming this anime tries to make any point at all at the end, it'll maybe be:

Spoiler

Saya saving Fumito and/or the teacher in spite of putting her through all this crap.

The random boob grab from the trailer is in episode 11. What's up with that? I'm almost beginning to think I've complained too much about Nozomi's random boob attacks in Love Live!, but given the ridiculous prevalence of this in other series, is that actually like a thing in Japan?

Spoiler

Rhetorical question. Pretty sure it isn't.

edit:

In terms of plot structure and pacing, episode 11 was an utter failure. For me, it was still fun to see, but that's me...
 

Spoiler

It takes the form of one giant exposition dump where every character that shows up literally explains their role in the anime. Really. I mean literally literally. They all start talking out of character to explain what is going on, and the entire main cast gathers to tell each other and Saya and therefore the audience what their actual role was in the experiment. As if that wasn't clear enough. Well, if you think Kyubey's exposition dumps are bad, you haven't seen this one.

And yes, they call themselves the main cast. So yeah.

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, majestic said:

is that actually like a thing in Japan?

Nope, just anime that doesn't have the necessary restraint or respect for its characters because the male gaze conquers all, .

I don't mind twists, but eh, yeah, definitely doesn't sound like a show for me at all - way too wacked out.

[majestic]

6 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Nope, just anime that doesn't have the necessary restraint or respect for its characters because the male gaze conquers all, .

It felt really out of place, in Love Live! you expected nothing else, but here it's just really random. Everyone's been pretty creepy to Saya all the time, but not quite like that.

6 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I don't mind twists, but eh, yeah, definitely doesn't sound like a show for me at all - way too wacked out.

Yeah, however, as far as these go, it's only the the extent of the twist that's ludicrous, the rest is fairly nicely set up in a way that's subtle at first but increasingly noticable. It just flies completely off the handle at the end, something Gorth mentioned, I think.

It's one of the better actiony anime I've watched, which doesn't count for much. I don't really have watched many of those. It is also a fairly nice showcase in how you need to do a bit more with your characters to make a twist like that worthwhile, and Perfect Blue showed that you can do that in a feature length film.

Not that I don't like Saya, but everyone else could have done with a bit more... well, everything.

Spoiler

Essentially, all of Saya's friends just laughed at her and called her an annoying part of something they get paid for, and while I do feel bad for her - in some way - the effect isn't nearly as profound as it could have been if they had spent less time making her slash tentacle monsters, lving train wagons, flying spines and whatnot, and more time building/showing their friendships.

Anyway, after Blood-C it's probably Blood-C movie time and then more wrap up. I really need to clear up a few things before picking up something else.

Oh no, wrapping up things includes Magic User's Club. Maybe if I stuff Pretty Cure into my brain, that will fall out? What do you think? 800 episodes of something I'm not very likely to enjoy?