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Black Blood Brothers - eps 1 - 5

On to the next one in my backlog. And I'm finding this one a real slog to be honest - it's like someone took all the worst parts of Hellsing, Vampire Bund and Black Butler in a blender and mixed them together. The end result is something that, visually, looks like a cheap episode of Yu Gi Oh, but feels like it's trying - but failing - to be this slick, modern vampire thriller.

If they'd played the whole thing straighter, and upped the animation quality, it might have even worked, but the whole script feels really loose and unconnected, with some really bizarre tonal shifts. One second they'll be some goofy physical gag comedy, and the next someone will be telling the main girl her blood tastes better because she's a virgin, and that the bite of a vampire feels better than sex. Oh, and then suddenly someone's shoving their fingers down a girl's throat and there's saliva everywhere. WTF.

It's a shame as there's some nice ideas and characters buried in here somewhere, but in terms of the execution, it's been a mess so far.
 
Hunter x Hunter-Episode 74

Well, that was one of the best fights in the show so far. Again, it showcased what I really like about the show and how it sets itself apart from other shows. It's not about sheer power, it's about strategy and planning. My only complaint was that, because of Breath of the Archangel, there was pretty much no impact for me when Gon lost his hand. I have the feeling this was supposed to show that he's willing to do anything to win but I knew that he would get his hand back and lo and behold, he gets it back before the episode is even over. It kind of takes some of the tension out when you know any serious injury can just be dealt with instantly. Kind of reminded me of how little impact DBZ has when it's characters die.
 
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IncendiaryLemon said:
Hunter x Hunter-Episode 74

Well, that was one of the best fights in the show so far. Again, it showcased what I really like about the show and how it sets itself apart from other shows. It's not about sheer power, it's about strategy and planning. My only complaint was that, because of Breath of the Archangel, there was pretty much no impact for me when Gon lost his hand. I have the feeling this was supposed to show that he's willing to do anything to win but I knew that he would get his hand back and lo and behold, he gets it back before the episode is even over. It kind of takes some of the tension out when you know any serious injury can just be dealt with instantly. Kind of reminded me of how little impact DBZ has when it's characters die.
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If that bit annoyed you I think you're going to be very interested in the Chimera Ant arc, as it pretty much focuses around - without spoiling too much - what happens when you can't just magically wave a wand and make everything good as new.
 
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My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU - Episodes 7 - 13

I really, really enjoyed this show, like, a lot. I may have even gone and pre-ordered the really nice looking figures of Yui and Yukino...
This show has also made me realise that I have a preference for Slice of Life shows at the moment, which probably explains why I've been enjoying Umaru-chan so much this season. I'll probably pick up Non Non Biyori soon since I'm somewhat interested in that.

I know I said it before too, but bravo to whoever worked on this show at Sentai for actually giving a toss. Great Audio and Video, perfectly fine subtitles with borderline fansub attention to the subtitling of on screen text and typesetting (considering the limitations of BD subs). This is the sort of quality all Sentai releases should be like, especially their premium editions.
 
Baby Steps s2 ep20.

Nadia: Secret of Blue Water ep32-33.

Non Non Biyori: Repeat s2 ep6.

Pokemon: Zoroark - Master of Illusions. I only watched this to help complete an entry on the MAL anime watching challenge. Not a bad kids movie, fairly typical of the Pokemon movies.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan ep19. An interesting episode showing what the 'other side' are doing. I like all the world building from this episode, but can't help feeling it will be a waste as there's no way the story can be anywhere close to completion when the series ends in six episodes time. I get the distinct impression that this would be one of those super-long running anime if the story was ever fully animated (which is hugely unlikely).
 
Hunter x Hunter-Episode 75 and 76

Episode 75: And that appears to be the end of the Greed Island arc. Whilst it was still really enjoyable I think on the whole I think it was probably the second weakest arc so far. At the moment I'd probably rank them Yorknew>Hunter License>Heaven's Arena>Greed Island>Zoldyck Family. The problem with the arc was it felt like there were no steaks. I mean, right off the bat, Ging says he won't find any clues about him and that's it's all for fun. If the bombers had won the game I feel like I wouldn't have been that bothered. Compare this to what we saw earlier with the Yorknew arc which is centered around Kurapika's vengeance for the death of his people and it seems inconsequential as a result. I suppose it was supposed to be more of a training arc but even then it isn't as good for that as the Heaven's Arena arc. The Heaven's Arena arc introduced a whole new power which greatly impacted the rest of the show and was overall very important whereas here they just kind of improve a bit on their current power. I liked Bisky as a character and I'll be sad to see her go. It was nice to have a fulltime female character in the show for once and it's a shame that she didn't have more of an opportunity to show off her fighting ability. Whilst it would be hard to do so given how much the arcs are tied together and flow into one another I do think I might have liked the arc better if it came before Yorknew then have Chimera Ant. As I understand this Greed Island is sandwiched between the show's two darkest arcs so I think that if went from a upbeat, happy show to a more dark show rather than going back and forth it might have worked better on the whole. That being said, I am quite hyped for the Chimera Ant arc and what they do with that. I also hope it signals the return of Kurapika and Leorio. It's weird having main characters in the show that only turn up for half the arcs. Also, halfway through now. It's not very often I find myself 75 episodes into an Anime and it's certainly not very often I find myself 75 episodes into an Anime and say I'm only half way there.

Episode 76: No Leorio or Kurapika in the new OP so I guess they're not coming back which sucks. This arc is 60+ episodes long so I was hoping they'd return and make up for their lost screen time. Oh well, I hope they at least come back for the final arc.

Non Non Biyori Repeat-Episode 7

Great episode, tons of adorable Hotaru moments.
 
I watched Wakaba * Girl Episodes 1-7.

It's a slice of life/cute girls doing cute things short series (just under 8 minutes per episode). It's reasonably entertaining, although it kind of feels like it's missing something. I'm not sure if longer episodes would mean it would get boring or if it would benefit because it would give it more time to develop stories and such. I think it could easily be the latter because some of the character's traits feel underused and they could maybe use a bit more development.

The show missed at least a couple of potential yuri moments, which is interesting. It even acknowledges the existence of boys and then goes further by suggesting at least one of the girls may have an interest in them. Terrifying.

The show doesn't have much in the way of emotional or thoughtful moments either. Episode 6 ends on a cliffhanger of sorts but it never really develops into anything significant and is resolved fairly easily. It's mostly just light and light-hearted fun.
 
Smeelia said:
I watched Wakaba * Girl Episodes 1-7.

The show missed at least a couple of potential yuri moments, which is interesting. It even acknowledges the existence of boys and then goes further by suggesting at least one of the girls may have an interest in them. Terrifying.
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What is this hell you speak of?!
 
Gangsta. - Episode 07

Terraformars - Episode 01 (Uncensored)

The first episode of this show is a complete trainwreck, and I absolutely loved it...

I made lots of notes, but I feel this entire show can be summed up in one line of dialogue; "Yeah, she's negative boobies"

Best. Putdown. Ever.
 
Hunter x Hunter-Episodes 77 and 78

Episode 77: Well this arc didn't waste anytime darkening the tone. Two kids dead and it's only the 2nd episode of the arc!

Episode 78: Wasn't expecting characters from the first arc to return so late in the game. That was a nice surprise.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX (Sub)-Episodes 13-15

Episode 13: A dueling Monkey? That's so dumb. I love it.

Episode 14: So an evil spirit just tries to take Judai's soul and he barely wins and his reaction is "That was fun"? This kid has issues.

Episode 15: I never would have thought you could have a deck entirely themed around Tennis yet here we are.
 
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I watched Wakakozake Episodes 1-6.

Interesting little short show this one, I found it to be more entertaining than I expected. It's still fairly mild but there were a few good moments and it was generally pleasant, not bad for two minute episodes.

Clearly I need to expand my horizons and spend more time studying food and how best to enjoy it.

I also watched Episode 7 of Himouto! Umaru-chan.

I thought Onii-chan might end up at the Cat Bureau (or possibly an antique shop), maybe if he hadn't given up so easily. Oh well.

Bomber is always fun, I liked the reveal that he has a little sister of his own.

This episode did feel slightly disjointed occasionally. The show has a tendency to give a minimal amount of information and leave the audience to figure things out, it often works but it does sometimes feel like something is missing. The bit with Sylphyn, in particular, felt like it needed a little something extra. That said, the ending of the episode probably worked better by being understated.

This maybe wasn't the best episode overall but it still had some pretty good moments and was quite enjoyable.
 
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