Zankyou no Terror, Episode 5

August 10, 2014November 1, 2014iblessall 4 Comments

I wonder if I will be able to make it to the end of the episode notes for this show without running out of words to praise it. This was another great episode from Zankyou no Terror, and the most impressive thing is that it was great in a totally different way than last episode. The visual storytelling here is of a quality unlike anything I’ve ever seen in anime before (really, a good season for that, if you include Argevollen)—and man does it make the entire show better.

What a great first shot for the episode. Everything’s disjointed.

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Summer 2014, Week 5: Highlights of the Week

August 6, 2014August 6, 2014iblessall 6 Comments

A couple drops this week (Tokyo ESP, Rail Wars!) mean my schedule is starting to free up for those inevitable midseason pick-ups. Barakamon is probably first on that list right now.

Trending Up: Nozaki-kun, Zankyou no Terror, Glasslip

Trending Down: Free! Eternal Summer, Sailor Moon Crystal

Someone at Rooster Teeth has been watching SHAFT anime.

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Zankyou no Terror, Episode 4

July 31, 2014November 1, 2014iblessall 3 Comments

What did I say last week? “Give me more of the teens,” I said. “They make the show better,” I said. Well, you know what? Zankyou no Terror did exactly what I wanted it to, and turned in the best episode since the premiere because of it. The final minutes of this episode (omigosh that freaking soundtrack) were an amazing ride—yup, I just did that. This is the kind of stuff I wanted from this show from the start, and when I got it…well, you could say I was a bit misty-eyed.

That’s going to look amazing on the BD’s.

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Summer 2014, Week 4: Highlights of the Week

July 30, 2014July 29, 2014iblessall 10 Comments

My week in anime this week was yet another confirmation in my belief that the 3-episode rule is complete bunk and that 4 episodes is a much better standard if you want to box yourself in by arbitrary numbers. Argevollen, Glasslip, and Aldnoah.Zero all engaged me at a much deeper level in their fourth episodes this week, moving each of them solidly into “keeper” territory. By the way, 4 episodes is actually not an arbitrary choice. In traditional three-act structure terms, the fourth episode is the start of the second act. I’m not saying its unreasonable to drop a show because you didn’t like the three episodes of set-up, but waiting to see how the show is executed at the beginning of the real substance seems to be a smarter thing to do, at least if you aren’t just looking for reasons to drop shows.

Rinka and I share the same opinion about her show.

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Zankyou no Terror, Episode 3

July 24, 2014November 1, 2014iblessall 7 Comments

The fault lines in Zankyou no Terror are very, very evident when the focus away from its strengths. One thing I’ve learned from writing fiction is that it’s much easier to write well when writing good characters. Solid characters with depth and emotions of their own naturally support good writing and good storytelling. I said last week that I like the main trio more than I like any of the police officers, and I stand by that this week.

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Summer 2014, Week 3: Highlights of the Week

July 23, 2014August 6, 2014iblessall 8 Comments

This season feels like it’s going by really slowly. There’s only one show (Nozaki-kun) that I really love so far, but there are a few I’m definitely keeping an eye on. We’ll see. It might end up being a really backlog heavy season for me after all.

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Zankyou no Terror, Episode 2

July 19, 2014November 1, 2014iblessall 6 Comments

Well, Zankyou no Terror leaned a bit more on dialogue this week than it did last week, and it showed, because episode 2 was neither as intense or as interesting as the premiere. That being said, this is still an chilling piece of work and Watanabe and company are doing an excellent job of laying out their foundation. Even if parts of it feel a little unoriginal, Zankyou no Terror is still the best currently airing show right now (EXECTUTION, PEOPLE), and I don’t see that changing soon.

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Summer 2014, Week 2: Highlights of the Week

July 16, 2014July 20, 2014iblessall 2 Comments

When does the week start and when does the week end? I’m flummoxed. This is week two for most shows, but then we’ve got the rebellious Zankyou no Terror and Tokyo ESP that just started up this week. Whatever. I guess two shows can be behind or something. It just IRKS me that I can’t have all my shows at 2/whatever on Hummingbird at the same time. I mean, I could if I waited a week for some shows, but HA! like that’s going to happen. Anyways, let’s talk about some anime.

Free!, I may not be in your main target audience, but keep this up and we’ll get along just fine.

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Zankyou no Terror, Episode 1

July 11, 2014November 1, 2014iblessall 4 Comments

So, Zankyou no Terror didn’t make it into my First Impressions post due to a late start, but that’s okay because that was a premiere deserving of a full write-up. This is my first outing with Shinichiro Watanabe and I was, to be frank, hugely impressed with the episode from start to finish. I don’t have any experience with him regarding his style of direction, but if his other work is like this, I’m now much more interested.

Early Verdict: Premiere of the season, and it looks like Noitamina might be following up Ping Pong with another Anime of the Season candidate. Great aesthetics, great direction, great tension building, great everything. A must-watch in my book.