I just want you all to know that, while I do really like the current season, I’d give it all away to have Macross Delta airing right now. Well, except maybe Konosuba.
As I noted in my APR ballot for the week, most of the best episodes of the past week involved suffering—explicit or implied or inbound—in some capacity, which again provides me with a chance to remind people that despite my love of cute and fluffy things, my all-time favorite anime’s premise is founded on a huge tragedy. Of course, while I won’t say this is all coincidental, I will note the reason all this suffering has been compelling to me is that it’s in the service of deeper human elements. Suffering on its own, for its own sake, is just gratuitous—but suffering that reveals something about the human condition or prompts us to care more about things beyond ourselves…that’s the kind of thing I was talking about in my Hanekawa piece from a week or so back. That’s something worthwhile.
The standouts in the suffering department with Rakugo Shinju and Konosuba, and as I usually open these posts talking about Rakugo, I’ll continue that trend. Episode six of this (still sublimely excellent) show may seem like a weird one to count in the suffering tally thanks to Kikuhiko’s triumph of self as performer, but Rakugo—like life—is never purely joys or sadness. Kikuhiko can find himself as a performer, but he’s still lost as a person to a great extent and the impending tragedy of his soon-to-dissolve relationships is certainly not going to do him any favors in that department. Or maybe they fill, since they seem to be the formative elements of the Yakumo we saw in the show’s opening episodes.
Life is equal parts tragic and triumphant—that Rakugo recognizes this would make it special on its own, but combine that with the show’s amazing execution (seriously, how is the cinematography so perfect each and every week?) and we’re halfway through a bona fide masterpiece, my friends.
Konosuba, on the other hand, is probably not a masterpiece—at least by my definition of the word—but I do love it a whole lot. This week’s focus on Aqua, who is hands down my favorite character of the season bar none, was simultaneously exciting and excruciating for me. I’ve probably got an entire post in me about why I resonate so much with Aqua, but I honestly think there was something in this post for every millennial out there who is dealing with the harsh realities of the world. Just think about the structure of this episode: Aqua finds what’s essentially a “dream job” for her, and then finds out that the real world experience of that dream isn’t as glorious as she expected. In fact, she finds out that the real world is actually quite scary, scary enough that she’d rather be locked up in a literal cage than go out and face it again.
Heck, that’s not even a millennial thing—that’s just what it’s like being out there in the real world. And throw in Kazuma’s musings about money and purpose in life…Konosuba is a scary show, guys.
Of course, I don’t think I’d enjoy any of this as much if it didn’t end with Aqua bouncing back from her trial like a champ. In that recovery is probably one of the fundamental elements of why I find Aqua so wondrous and relatable, but like I said, that could probably be an entire post on its own. While I still find Megumin very funny, Kazuma servicable (sakuga creepy fingers O.O), and Darkness less of a drag than expected, it’s still Aqua that makes the show tick for me. Konosuba without Aqua wouldn’t be a show I love the way I do.
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash was also included in the suffering tally, although my vote for it was dedicated to episode 5—and episode 6 was somewhat different in nature, although still very excellent. Of utmost priority is the fact that the OP got upgraded and now the marbles look even prettier, but the show proper continues to be extremely good in many different ways. Guy over at Geekorner wrote an interesting piece this week on Grimgar‘s direction, which actually expresses some of the things I both like and dislike about Grimgar. There’s a gentleness to the show that’s often compromised by its otaku-pandering aspects, which is unfortunate. And, as Guy says, the direction does feel oddly placed (a sentiment I expressed back when I watched the first episode in my rant about being confused by the show). Yume still best, though, and she got some chances to show it this week in her efforts to reach out to Mary.
Akagami no Shirayuki-hime is not the show I’d expect to be on a list of shows with “suffering,” but the latest arc has shown that Ando has a few more tricks in his bag for this show than we may have expected originally. Again, that vote was for a week ago’s episode—and yesterday’s episode was something different: something more like the Shirayuki-hime we’re used to seeing. The show’s base strength has always been its depiction of relationships between people who trust each other, and we got to see a lot of that this week between Zen and his attendants, as well as (from a distance) Shirayuki and Zen. Also gratifying was seeing Shirayuki return periodically to her normal, confident, and compassionate self, even in the midst of her trying situation. To be honest, I am sort of feeling that her characterization hasn’t been entirely consistent as of late, but I’m not thinking about it too hard right yet.
Now we switch over to the “shows with characters I compulsively screencap” category to visit Mahoutsukai Precure‘s lovely second episode and Phantom World‘s surprisingly good sixth episode (the first episode since the premiere that I’ve watch in full). MahoPri isn’t really doing anything remarkable, but the Precure formula is a solid, well-polished one, and the show is running through the tracks extremely well right now. Yui Horie is a complete Angel as Riko and the overall mood of the show seems slightly more whimsical than I’ve been lead to expect from this franchise.
Phantom World also hit a bunch of whimsical notes this week courtesy of episode director Naoko Yamada (oft referred to as “the genius director behind Sound! Euphonium“), who I’m glad got a chance to work on Phantom World‘s best material yet. Guppy still beats out Kurumi in terms of overall screencapability, but Kurumi is, truthfully, very cute and not so bad so watch as I’d expected. However, I also feel we’ve just seen Phantom World peak, and with Riko and MahoPri here I’m not really feeling the need to keep up with Phantom World anymore, even for Guppy’s sake. So it goes.
And with that, I’ve pretty much covered everything that really stuck out to me. Haikyuu!! S2 was back to its lame, meandering, focusless ways this week; Durarara!! x2‘s likewise mired back in not really doing anything significant (Mikado got a gun, okay, will he use it, probably, I guess, unless Kida stops him); and Dimension W is something I’m really only watching because I like Mira both as a cute and as a character when the show’s not treating her like crap and because the art design continues to impress despite Kyouma and the story being nonsense. Oh, yeah, and ERASED isn’t out of my doghouse yet—I cannot tolerate the way the show treats Airi. I can’t. It makes me mad, perhaps specifically because it ought to be so much better than this.
GATE seems like it might be headed interesting places, by the way, if only because Lelei seems like she’ll be taking a bigger role. And holy moley, she looks so great in her academic robes!
And I’d like to finish up this week by giving a shoutout to RWBY, which I’ve been keeping up with and not talking about. But the show does deserve to be mentioned here, because Volume 3, which finished up on Sunday, has been a tremendous improvement in basically all facets from the first two seasons. The attempts at comedy are still terribly unfunny, but in terms of overall writing, scripting, tension building, and even cinematography, this season was an obvious and significant step up from anything RoosterTeeth have managed before. I’m kind of intrigued by how big the story is getting at this point, but I have a lot more faith that they’ll be able to actually capitalize on things in a meaningful way than I’ve ever had across the show’s run. Keep up the good work, guys—I want to see you succeed and make something really good.
Mage in a Barrel 
Konosuba’s episode was surprisingly heavy. “The world outside of this cage is scary.” (And then Aqua is saved by her champion, but not quite in the way said champion would have imagined.) That was really an excellent episode. (I do like this series, with a set of main characters that frustrate heroes and villains alike. Heh.)
I find Dimension W quite entertaining. Good old pulp SF, anime style. Beyond that I have little to say.
Shoujo tachi has delivered a beach episode that was even worse than I expected, which has quelled my enthusiasm significantly. They had minor good moments, so not all hope is lost, but…
I didn’t like this episode Phantom World any more than I did the others. I sometimes wonder why I’m still watching. Also, anime seems out to instill an aversion against teddy bears in me: I didn’t like the bear in Shirobako, and I don’t like this one either. There’s also an annyoing bear in Nurse Witch Komugi (so its role is very minor). Maybe I should re-watch Danganropnpa. Monokuma is despicable, too, but at least he’s supposed to be. All the good teddy bears I can think of come from western animation. (Pooh!) There have to be good teddy bears in anime. There have to!
LikeLike
I liked Teddie in Persona 4 myself. Technically he was a video game character first, but it still counts, right?
I was going to add Moffle from Amagi Brilliant Park too, but then I remembered he’s actually a giant mouse. He kind of looks like a teddy bear, though, albeit a rather grumpy one.
LikeLike
Ah, yes, Teddie is okay with me. (I dropped Amagi Brilliant Park after one episode and I liked very little about that.)
LikeLike
I cant believe it’s halfway .
Oh my a week when we are in a lot of agreement.
But I have placed RWBY ay my Top of the Heap. Despite a lot of naysayers an Amreican project can compete with Japanese anime. I dont even get in the debate about what;s anime. You could call some anime comics or cartoons . It just crossed over completly.
RWBY just grew up sdo much in VOl 3 . To be honest I knew RWBY had a dark side from the het go and glad it has turned dark despite good people hurt / dying. One thing RWBY has it is not dependent on Fan Service like so many anime are. Yes there are light moments but for now is deep down serious.
The vast amount of revelations . Qrow emerging almost like a Harrison Ford / Indiania Jones / Hans Solo type of Hero / anti-hero. Gees yet there is much intrigue with his old team STRQ .
But Ruby turned to be a quite a rare hero . I always thought that the outcomes lies with her.
The intro of Salem Oh My ?
But to think RWBY is based off of so many Great Fairy Tales is a nice homage by itself.
I think the music rivals any OST’s and is Overlooked by the snobbish anime purists.
I wiil do my usual thing just posting my Top TIER / Episodes of the Week
EPISODE of the Week POSTED BELOW / EOW on RANKINGS
44 SHOWS / 33 Full RWBY finished / 12 SHORTS TKZ Finished
WEEK 6
TIER 1 TOP FAVORITES
RWBY earned the TOP spot IMO
1 RWBY VOL 3 Ongoing Anime GREAT SEASON-Finish EOW
3 Way Tie for 2nd-4th
2 Ajin – Demi-Human
2 Assassination Classroom 2 EOW
2 Heavy Object Ongoing Anime EOW
4 Way Tie for 5th -8th
5 Dimension W EOW
5 Erased (Boku Machi) (The Town Where Only I Am Missing EOW
5 Haikyuu!! Second Season Ongoing Anime Standard EP
5 Durarara!!×2 Ketsu Ongoing Anime Standard EP
4 Way Tie for 9th -12th
9 Snow White with the Red Hair 2 / Akagami no Shirayuki-hime EOW
9 GATE 2 EOW
9 Dagashi Kashi OFF This Week
9 HaruChika [ EOW
13 Mobile Suit Gundam/ Iron-Blooded Orphans Ongoing Anime
14 Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
15 World Trigger Ongoing Anime
16 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku (Give Blessings to This Wonderful World) EOW
17 Bubuki Buranki Original TV Anime
18 Divine Gate
19 Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note SHORT FINISHED / 16 EPS
20 Lovely Muuuuuuuco! SHORT Ongoing Anime
21 TEEKYU 7 SHORT
EPISODE of the WEEK 6 EOW
KONOSUBA -God’s blessing on this wonderful world! EP 5 / A Price For The Cursed Sword
The Group is low on funds so they take on a job with Aqua to purify a lake is which she has to be put in a cage because there are monster alligstors . It takes a while to purify the lake in which the cage is attacked constanrly and. is PTSD byt completes the task but doenst want to get out of the cage .They get to town where Kyouya received a sword from her and thinks she is mitreated . He Bends the cage and aqua snaps out of it being called a godness Kyouya challenges Kazuma but he easily stealsthe sword with his stealing magic. lots of funny scenes. One thing the party was going to let Aqua keep the 300,000 award but was charged 200,000 .Kyouya come back and Aqua decks himm for the money she lost . She gets 300,000 from him but finds his sword has been sold. Meanwhile a emergency happens when dullahan returns because nobody wants to fight him.
Haruchika – Haruta & Chika EP 6 / Springraphy
This has turned to be good Slice of Life with a little mystery and great human life lessons!
On Spring Break some body is using the music room only the choir and the band is around
A girl Serizawa has invaded the music room . She is smart but has home problems and picked a broken Clarinet to fix ,She was looking to fix the drums or a friend who is truant
Her hearing Aid got broken so Chika uses paper cups, They try to get her to join but says not now. But gives them advice to compete in the B Division w/o the minimum 35 for Div A
Assassination Classroom 2 EP 28 / Before & After Time
I liked this when I read the Manga but a very nice job making it animated. Life lessoms abound
Koro is funny teaching the students individually at break neck speed for the midterms.Some of the students are tyring out their Roof Top Skills and when they jump down they land on ( Matsukata ) a prinicipal of a small pre-school fot poor students breaking hisleg and puuting the school in danger as there are only two people. Kore is enraged and forbids then to study for two weeks time for Matsukata tp heal and help the school.and also be more responvile. Karasuma also has to smooth things over. When Cllass 3-E gets to the school they see it is tun down . At first the pre-schoolers are not sure of them but slowly warm-up to them playing studying / putting on a play and ysing their skills to rescue a cat .
But one student Sakura is a little older and having trouble with math. Nagisa wants to help ans as she ?? his sincerity / abilitly she falls thru the floor showing how bad the Bldg, The students decicde to fix eberything and expand. Ritsu draws up plans theu make use of culled wood and get supplies probally from Karasuma building a splendid nulti use BLdg even with an indoor playground –
most of the Class finish at the bottom of mid-terms and is mocked by Asdano and his gang except Karma came in 2nd place bursting their bubble.
ERASED EP 6 / Grim Reaper
A lot or reveals and a possible new ally
Satoru rescues Airi,she slips him her phone to keep the cops from seeing messages that imply Satoru did it. The pizza mgt interferes and takes credit.Satoru calls a number his moom left behind a reporter Sawada that his mom knew and thinks all the murders have not been solved and there are more.Airi / Satoru mett up only to have thev cops shoew and get arrested. As he is being led away he see the man in ? that murdered his mom.
Gate 2 EP 18 / The Magic City of Rondel
Itami gets suspended for 2 weeks but recives all kinds of awards from Japan and the Special Region. Then is also given a special assigement to look for resources.
Lelei is trying To me A master of Magic andgoes to the city of Rondek to be approved by other masters . There we meet her stepsister Arpeggio who is Jealous of Lelei for having her needs taken care of while she suggers in Poverty.
Sugawara is at the Empire Region to conduct negoitations with Pina Sheery who has crush on Sugawara breaks the Ice with the Japam eniisaries and the populace,
Meanwhile Zorzal / Tyuule plot to disrupt the talks.
The Dragon Head Is dropped bt The JSDF and Molt wants to know who put it there and defeated it.
Shandy / Rose-Order of Knights gives the story but in a slightly different vesion giving the Itami’s party credit But Lekei is made out to be The Hero as she is a citizen of The Empire
When Molt gives a Toast he is poisioned by Tyuule much to Zorral’s delight.
Heavy Object EP 13 / In a Cavalry Battle, Knock Down the Foothold – The All-Out War in Amazon City I
Was Heavy Object ahead of The Current News ?? I think so. When Havia talks about the Intercide shell he has to fight off Mega Virus,The Zika scare going on now
When this anime first started I kinda compared it to Catch 22 / Mash
So Froylatia calls The Situation Catch 22 !
[blue] Heavy Object EP 18 / The Coal Mine Littered with Stacks of Money – The Kamchatka Peninsula Nighttime Blitz II [/blue]
I just like this anime / yes it has pitfalls here and there but the animation is really good .And this episode reminds me of current events like Blood Diamonds and Innocents like in Aleeppo Syria caught between ISIS . Syria Regime . Russia / US other countries bombing away.
Nice touch at break with Froylatia / Milinda
Starts out with Monica complaing about everything then says where is that Handmaiden Bastard Qwenthur which catches Froylatia by surprise. BTW Monica owes Qwenthur her life!
Qwenthur / Charlotte survive and the safe place is the mines as UVA’s cant fly down there.
Havia / Myonri / Cookman are pinned down by the Wing Balancer when it’s not suppose to be there Bad Intel or Nutley told The Faith Org.
They think it can build a bridge so they will fire missles at it but instead it flys and knocks Cookman / Westie to their deaths.
Havia / Myonri make it the mines where discover a spy or miners trying to learn the language of the Letimacy Kingdom French that was a surprise.
Qwenthur / Charlotte / Charlotte are in the mines and discover a girl carrying first aid and Charloote tries to kill her but Qwenthur stops her ans she is made as hell.Qwenthur picks up coal but it is more than that. So there is no Uranium LN / or coal but diamonds but Havia / Myonri show up and Havia is mad at him and Charlotte has to intervene
They think things over and the niners are Anti-War but are willing y=to be a pArt of A kingdom that wiil protect and Diamonds are prize. Bit The Faith Org wants to lure Baby Magum to blow up the mine which Milinda is being led to do by The Wing Balancer
They decicde to take out the Radar by hand so Babt Magnum goes after Wing instead of the mine.
Then Nutley shows up in A powered suit like Index has and Takes Qwenthur prisoner,
Durarara!!x2 Ten: Onoroke Chakapoko Special
Celty / Shinra are on a a / Shooter / Coach geraway with Celty changing clothes(Even brief nudity ) per Shinra requests but gets slappeu quite often. This where Shinra gets a bunch of calls like from Izaya when he is in the hospital . What is suppose to be an abandoned area id not as Yuhei Hanejima is shooting a horror movie. However some actors are waiting at different locations including a group of guys who are to be werewolves but things get behind at the other shhot and the cellphones dont work . So one goes deep into the woods trying to get a signal and gets Shinra. BuT Celty senses his prenscene but doesnt find him with her web.Some how they get into real wolve area and chases them and the actor see this asnd thinks it’s his buddy. He catches up to the couple having lunch bu they both get freaked out when he slips and the fake wolf head is on him and he sees Celty’s headless body.
I laughed at Shooter
Dimension W EP 6 / The Wind of Africa
A much better episode with all kinds events going on! I think the rush was to get to the real problems of illegal coils.
Prince Salva with his bodyguard / procurer Lasthi arrive in Amreica but his elite Robot Lwai, who loves Japan but is on the run
Kyoma visits a cemetary to pay wishes to Miyabi a female in his past !
Kyoma then runs into Lwai who is beiing pursured by Salva Motorcycle Security and takes out the bike with his skewers. He takes Lwai to a festival where he gets by scoopping / destroying the Goldfish booth Kyoma takes him to Tsubaki who has a clothing shop . They dress Lwai in new clothes but Lasthi storms the place thinking Lwai is in danger with Kyoma scolding him but syops after seein they are takking care of him. Before Lwai leaves he launches a Fan ay Lwai as a gift which Lasthi tries to get for him but floats direvctly to Lwai.
Earlier Mira is being prbed by Mary / Koorogi to see what she is crerasted for but ti no Avail and Mira dont know either.
Salva is having dinner with Claire Skyheart ans says it may be neccesary to start a war to stop a war.
At Tcubaki’s Mira shows up and gets a Kimono and goes to the festival where she likes the Fireworks.’
At about the same time Salva says lets make Fireworks and sends Lwai to mary’s where he destroys 4 ( Mary’s Bot) and leaves invites to collectors at Easter Island . Kyoma shows up and knows Lwai did this and back at his garage he is not going to go. umlees he fixes aproject and refuses Mira’s help t starts raining and a mysterious girl shows up.
In another segment Loser? is looking for one more illegal with a new partner (female) They talk about The Grendels
Snow White with the Red Hair EP 18 ./ Many Different Resolves
The animation was easy and aattractive to the eyes. That was a a big opening recap also.
But the episode was solid.
Shirayuki and Kazuki try to escape craeting smoke but are stopped by the Sea of the Claw . She whips her nen for alloweing it tyi haoppen then she has them basically “Waterboard ” Kazuki
Obi finds Itoya and they meet up wuth the Mountain Lions to rescue Shirayuki and Kazuki.
Zen and his party catch to Mikaze / Itoya and Obi because he used POPO Kiharu meesenger bird.
Then is tension as Zen finds out The Mountain Lions kidnapped her thinking she had no free will in Tanbarun but then taken by The Claw of the Sea. An temp alliance is forned as Kiki vokunteers to be taken captitive.
Shirayuki and Kazuki somewhat come to better terms as they needto be free, but Shirayuki is teleived when Kiki shows up and even more when she knows Zen is trying a rescue,
RWBY VOL 3 EP 12 / End of the Beginning
That was quite Impressive / Reveals / Sadness and a diiferent future way different from when I first started watching.I
The Song Cold sung by Casey Williams / timed with the Tribute to Monty / A nice Touch / SEE BELOW
Select Highights / Thoughts/ Facts-Links
Ozpin vs. Cinder.was intense / “Ozpin Result Unknown”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Ozpin/Battles_and_Events
Bartholomew Oobleck and Peter Port / Beacon Rrescue
Good to see they survived and in charge of the Rescue.
Ruby comes on scene finds Weiss who has to show Ruby her defeated friends and Yang wounded. Nora Ren want to go find Juane / Pyrrha but Weiss / Ruby go despite objections by Sun.
Jaune and Pyrrha farewell / Pyrrha- Cinder Battle
Pyrrha wants to go help Ozpin but distracts Juane by Kissing him and then sends him away in a locker.In what is another intense battle Pyrrha is somewhayevenly matched but Cinder usee her power and the Dragon to kill her with an arrow as Pyrra tals about destiny . Ruby arrives just in time to witness Pyrrha’s death.
Ruby / White Light
You see Ruby has just been so powerful it was no surprise that she may be the key to save the world. She unleashes a white light with Cinder quite surprised knowing Silver Eyes is powerful.Ruby engulfs the Dragon and Cinder.
Cinder Status
“After Ruby unleashes her power, her fate is left unknown.”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Cinder_Fall
Aftermath
“Ruby awakens slowly at home where her father Taiyang is happy to see she has no serious after effects . Ruby asks out Yang saying she wiil survive / is strong but will need time. Also he gives the update of Beacon / Vale and says The CCt is down and Ozpin has not been found.He also tells her he unleash a power to freeze the Dragon and Qrow rescued her .”
“At this point Qrow come in the room and wants to talk to Ruby as Taiyang walks by their gazes are not that friendly He explains to Ruby she has Silver Eyes like her mother and is indeed a very special person.that existed before Huntsmen. He also explasins his away missions led to Haven Academy .He has to take over for Ozpin .”
” Ruby visits Yang in her room, but finds her despondent over the loss of her arm, the destruction of the school and the deaths of Penny and Pyrrha. Yang tells Ruby that Weiss returned to Atlas with her father, and Blake ran away after the battle. Yang bitterly states that she doesn’t care where Blake went, and claims that bad things can happen for no reason at all. She asks to be left alone. Ruby tells her sister she loves her, but receives no reply. ”
“In “End of the Beginning”, following the mass Grimm invasion of Vale and the destruction of Beacon, Weiss’ father personally comes to Vale to collect her and bring her back home, where he believes it is safe. Weiss is seen sitting with him morosely on an aircraft the way back to Atlas. ”
” As winter sets in, Ruby leaves home with the three remaining members of Team JNPR. Together, the four depart for Haven, which is their only lead in their fledgling investigation. Weiss is seen with her father, heading back to Atlas, and Blake is seen running across the rooftops of Vale alone. On the way to Haven, Ruby visits the grave of her mother, Summer, as the snows of winter fall. ”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/End_of_the_Beginning
“In “End of the Beginning”, following the mass Grimm invasion of Vale and the destruction of Beacon, Weiss’ father personally comes to Vale to collect her and bring her back home, where he believes it is safe. Weiss is seen sitting with him morosely on an aircraft the way back to Atlas. ”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Weiss'_Father
Blake / ” Personal Status /Running”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Blake_Belladonna
Salem / Wild Spectulation / She is Weiss’ Mother ??
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Salem
QROW
” In the episode “End of the Beginning”, after the credits roll Qrow is seen leaping from a cliffside with a black bird in his place, which would suggest that he has the ability to become a crow. ”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Qrow_Branwen
TEAM RWBY / JNPR Status
“RWBY disbands with Weiss going back to Altas, Blake running away, Yang resting in Patch and Ruby going to Haven with Jaune, Nora and Ren”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/RWBY_%28team%29
” After the death of Pyrrha Nikos and the fall of Beacon Academy, JNPR was disbanded though Jaune, Nora and Ren would later go with Ruby Rose on a journey towards Haven.”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/JNPR
ED SONG’s for RWBY VOL 3 EP 12 / End of the Beginning
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/End_of_the_Beginning
“Divide”
“Composer(s) / Jeff Williams
Producer(s) / Ben Zecker (Orchestra)
Vocalist(s) / Casey Lee Williams
“Divide” is a song from the RWBY Volume 3 soundtrack. It is the first song played over the credits of the Volume 3 finale, “End of the Beginning”.”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Divide
“Cold”
“Composer(s) / Jeff Williams
Vocalist(s) / Casey Lee Williams
Cold” is the second song played during the end credits of Volume 3 of RWBY, after the episode “End of the Beginning”. It played at the very end, over the “Special Thanks” section and tribute to series creator Monty Oum.
Composition
“Cold” is a soft song, featuring only piano and vocals in the episodic version. It is sung by Casey Lee Williams.”
These lyrics are unofficial and based on fan interpretation.
“I never felt
That it was wise
To wish too much
To dream too big
Would only lead
To being crushed
Then I met you
You weren’t afraid
Of anything
You taught me how
To leave the ground
To use my wings
I never thought a hero
Would ever come my way
But more than that
I never thought you’d be taken away
Now it’s cold without you here
It’s like winter lasts all year
But your star’s still in the sky
So I won’t say goodbye
I don’t have to say goodbye”
http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Cold
LikeLike
I appreciate that Konosuba’s creative team are good comedy writers, and understand how to maximize leverage from each situation vis-a-vis its characters. A lot of the jokes in this episode worked as well as they did because we know these characters pretty well by now. Like Aqua not hesitating to extort an extra hundred grand out of the other guy, or Darkness’ tossed-off comment that the guy’s attitude makes her want to beat him up. Even the scene with Kazuma threatening the haremettes works as well as it does because we already know the punchline. Many lesser anime would’ve simply repeated the joke and had him Steal again, but the way Konosuba sets it up makes it obvious he’s bluffing and doesn’t intend to follow through, leaving us free to laugh at the setup with his over-the-top theatrics and everyone’s reactions (including Megumin’s) instead.
LikeLike
This week’s unofficial APR:
1. (-) Erased
This episode was one of my favorites since the first episode, if for the last couple of minutes alone. The body of the episode was handled competently as well–things made sense, and I don’t remember too many instances of overwrought direction or anything of the sort. Airi’s backstory was elaborated on well, making it more compelling, and the suspenseful moments (fire, arrest) were suspenseful without being too heart-jerking. Really, the entire last scene was fantastic, though I did find Airi’s emotions a tad over the top, albeit believable.
(+3) Nijiiro Days
This episode of Nijiiro Days really impressed me, but it’s also partially up here because a couple other episodes I watched this week lost a bit of their bite. This episode was what Nijiiro Days does best–chill interactions between the main four guys, this time well-applied to a festival episode. What made this episode particularly impressive though, was the way it handled Natchan and Anna’s small misunderstanding–it wasn’t overdone, and it did feel like a small conflict between two people crushing on each other. (small tangent: I do appreciate that a show is displaying a guy crushing on a girl.) Also, cross-dressing is always nice to see 😛
(+1) Rakugo Shinjuu
Solid episode as usual. I enjoyed the rakugo performances quite a bit, but I still can’t say I’m terribly /invested/ in the show. One thing I don’t remember if I mentioned last week–I think the narration works very well. I also don’t particularly “get” the cinematography in Rakugo–I do notice some shots working particularly well, but I don’t see how others are any different from what other anime put on, but then again that could just be because I don’t know anything about cinematography, and probably shouldn’t be speaking on it
(-2) Aokana
Honestly, this episode was pretty solid, but it wasn’t /as/ great as some of the previous episodes have been. I almost feel like the show’s lost a bit of it’s charm from the previous episodes, but one thing it’s still doing excellently is relying on its character dynamics, and matches to a lesser extent. I can’t say I enjoyed the matches this week as much as previous weeks, though that might actually because they both involved annoying super good dude who somehow pulls special moves out of nowhere because he wasn’t performing at full strength?? Anyway, the scene in the middle of the episode with Asuka and Misaki was probably the highlight of the episode, with the ending looking like it’s going to set up some drama that will hopefully be resolved well–it makes me a little unconfident since it hasn’t handled anything similar before yet, but it certainly is possible that it’ll go well.
(-2) Shirayuki-hime
A wild and entertaining ride of an episode, for sure, but a lot of it was…cliche? is not exactly the right word I’m looking for, but it was rather dull I guess for Shirayuki-hime. I don’t have any problems with the show introducing an action arc, but basically all of the stuff that happened on the pirate ship wasn’t great. The episode had a couple notable moments–Obi’s anger, Obi and Zen reuniting, Raj being Raj, but on a whole, a weaker episode compared to the previous ones.
(+1) Grimgar
Typical episode of Grimgar, in that it continues to have a good atmosphere, character moments and interactions continue to be its focus, and it throws in a boob joke here or there. I didn’t find Mary’s story very compelling, but seeing her slowly warm up to the group through interactions with them throughout the episode was good. The show still seems to be plodding along quite slowly, which isn’t exactly a bad thing for it, but does frustrate me somewhat in watching since I expect it to be doing things that I’m not getting. It is starting to grow its characters a bit–Yume and Shihoru stepping out of their comfort zones, Haruhiro stepping up, but as a whole not too much has changed.
(-1) Shoujotachi
Eh. The body of the episode was fine, if extremely fluffy, and the humor was relatively on point throughout the episode, but the drama at the end kind of killed it for me. The story and characters were holding up pretty well up to that point if not tenuously avoiding dropping into romance drama, but this week it fell and as a result, left a bad taste in my mouth. Hope it resolves quickly.
I should really take brief notes on the episodes after I watch them so I have more to say
LikeLike