selector infected WIXOSS, Episode 11

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Another week, another really good episode from selector infected WIXOSS. Have I said enough times how pleased I am that WIXOSS is turning out to be good? Suddenly, we’ve moved from having characters that are essentially faceless to characters with defined personalities and desires, and character growth happening all over the freaking show. Man, stuff like that gets me excited to watch a show. And WIXOSS is now at the level where I wait to watch it when I’m not exhausted, because I want to have the best experience I can.

selector infected WIXOSS

It doesn’t really fit into anything else I want to talk about, but this was such a lovely moment between Ruko and her grandma.

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Monogatari & the Extinction of the Harem (Part 1)

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With my completion of Monogatari Series: Second Season (Monogatari), I have watched over 50 episodes of Nisio Isin’s Monogatari franchise. That’s a lot of time to spend with the same group of characters, and yet my experience of watching Monogatari Series: Second Season (SHAFT, 2013) was utterly unlike my previous encounters with Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, and Nekomonogatari: Kuro. Part of the tag for Monogatari Series: Second Season was as follows:

 “Their soliloquies, confessions—and goodbyes.”

If the previous entries into the franchise were beginnings, Monogatari Series: Second Season was most certainly a story of seperations, of departures, and of change.

Monogatari Series: Second Season
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selector infected WIXOSS, Episode 10

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If you had asked me after week 4 which anime would be the most consistent through the rest of the season, I probably would have told you Ping Pong, and I would have been right. If you had asked me after week 4 which anime would show the most improvement over the next six weeks, I would not have said selector infected WIXOSS, and I would have been wrong.

I am genuinely impressed with WIXOSS currently, and it has done a ton to restore my faith in Mari Okada’s skills after Nagi no Asukara went off the tracks in its second cour. For a long time, WIXOSS has essentially just been running on having a twisted plot and a foreboding atmosphere, and that’s been enough to keep me interested. Now, though, Okada is starting to weave in some truly fascinating character threads and is slowly deepening both the characters and the pit into which they are descending.

selector infected WIXOSS

If you were doubting at all that WIXOSS was calling for Madoka comparisons…

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Nisekoi Review: Bright Colors and Shiny Eyes

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I’ve said it before: I’m quite susceptible to pretty colors, cute things and fun. Niskeoi (SHAFT, 2014), based on the Weekly Shounen Jump manga by Naoshi Komi, has all of those things. Now, having all those things in your show does not a good anime make, and at times Nisekoi kind of teeters on the edge between being a good show and a not very good one. But, fortunately, Chitoge and company land on the good side more frequently than they do the other. And so, for looking pretty, being pretty and for having Nao Toyama as Chitoge, Nisekoi garners a fluffy 6/10 from me (Ranking).

Nisekoi, Raku x Chitoge

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One Week Friends, Episode 9

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There were a lot of dangers for One Week Friends coming into this episode, and, sadly, it seems the show just couldn’t avoid all of them. As I go on here, keep in mind that One Week Friends has been in my top 4 shows of the season since week one, and so I hold it to a higher standard. I’m about to be somewhat rough with this show, and its because my expectations were not met and I felt the show got away from the things that make it exceptional, tumbling into the mundanity of the rom-com-drama genre in places.

One Week Friends just isn’t built to handle big drama, but that’s what the show tried to pull off this week.One Week Friends Continue reading →