Alright, gotta make sure we’re ready for the new season by clearing out the trash!
Tougen Anki Ep. 24
Some brilliant storyteller decided to stick dry, boring exposition in the season finale just so you can truly understand what a kishin is. To make a long story short, kishins die young, so Shiki should have to grapple with his mortality sooner or later. “Should” only because he’s a shounen protagonist, so all of this talk is moot anyways.
Afterwards, he and what’s-his-face…– god, I can’t remember their names anymore. Look, I just don’t care. It’s the guy who’s always wearing a face mask. There’s always the protagonist, then there’s the best friend-slash-rival-slash-primary-yaoi-partner that always butts heads with the protagonist whether the protagonists wants it or not. That’s the guy I’m talking about. Gachiakuta had the same shit with Zanka. They’re not always all the same in personality, but they serve the same boring ass function in every fucking show: “BRO YOU BETTER GET STRONGER, CUZ IM GONNA GET STRONGER YOU BETTA NOT BE SLACKIN GET STRONG.” I don’t know how many times I gotta hear the same boring ass motivational speech at the end of every major arc of every shounen. We get it, you boys have gotta get stronger and compare biceps and gains. We watch the same shit year in and year out, then clap like trained seals. “W mentality!” cries the reactor, “He’s cookin’! I love this guy!” Then next season, they immediately watch the same exact thing but with a different coat of paint.
For me, Tougen Anki is a hilarious flop, because it’s just so ugly. The character designs are ugly, some of the female character designs are ghastly, the battles are ugly, the backgrounds are ugly, everything is ugly. It’s just one of the ugliest shows I’ve ever seen. And like most shounen ever, the girls did jack and shit. Seriously, Homare or Kuina literally did nothing in the past… fuck, eight to ten episodes? Probably more than that. I wish I had positives to talk about, but what positives? The deep characterization? Hah.
“Hey, do you know why my teacher is always such a jerkass?”
“‘Cause his comrades keep dying. I mean, he gets to extend his sick tats every time it happens, but like… bummer, man.”
Characterization complete. Anyways, hard pass on any sequel for this series. It’s not like it’s hard to find another painfully generic shounen anime to replace it.
Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right Ep. 12
To celebrate Otori’s birthday, they eat cake, reminisce over the previous eleven episodes, and promise each other to continue having more fun times together. That’s it. That’s the episode. There really isn’t much to this show. No real romance, just some ship teasing. No actual drama to speak of. Yeah, Luna used to be a shy, shut-in, but it’s all in past tense. This is a show that is destined to fade from memory. It’s funny to finish with this and Tougen Anki. I’ll forever remember the latter was one of the ugliest shounens I’ve ever seen. Meanwhile, I won’t remember this show at all. Au revoir!
Whoa, since when did Otori have a mouth!
Alright, let’s see how many break days I get until the new season starts, which should be relatively soon. I think a couple of shows start on Wednesday. It’s NYE, so maybe subs won’t be done right away, but we’ll see.
As for Octopath Traveler 0, I believe I’m in the final arc. Story-wise, it definitely feels like four full games squished into one, which is a damn shame. The problem here is that the game feels both too short and too long at the same time, because it has serious pacing issues. The first 75% of the game was full of super basic, super linear dungeons that you can breeze through in about ten minutes. As a result, it feels like you’re just sitting through cutscenes after cutscenes of undercooked villains and hammy voice acting performances (especially from Auguste). But then in the last 25% of the game, the dungeons are three to four times longer, so I now feel as though I’m playing through a dungeon crawler. As for Sazantos? Good lord, I feel like the story is just belaboring the point with this jerk. Enough said for now, though. I want to wait until I’m completely done with the game to collect my thoughts.
