Weekly Anime Review

So we continue through this season with episodes five to six. Seems like this week was mostly filler with more blah, blah, flashbacks and character exposition than plot advancement or interesting adventures. Fate/Zero and Jormungand had the flashbacks. Eureka Seven Ao was a “welcome to the base” episode and Accel World was more game-rules building.

 

Jormungand ep 5

Koko has an older brother! Although, he could have a better name than Casper. Now I see a bubbly ghost when I think of him. Also, he and Koko were born in containers at sea? What kind of parents did they have?

Also, why do all arms dealers have female bodyguards? Casper’s bodyguard is called Chiquita. And it seems that Jonah – well, Jonathan apparently – knows both of them. Screaming their names and trying to kill them is somehow telling.

Flashback to three months ago, when Casper first met Jonah. I wonder why a general asks for orphans under 15 as reinforcements… The answer is simple: to beats them and use them as expendable items (a.k.a. minefield probing).

I’m starting to like Jonah, killing all the soldiers in the camp was just badass. Too bad Casper showed up right after and dumped him in a container with only water for days. Chiquita looks a lot like Valmet without her mask, a small bit of back story there. Like something that happened in Africa, maybe?

I love this episode, lots of back story, lots of characters…almost no bullets.

Fate/Zero ep 18

You know, if I didn’t see the Fate/Zero logo at the start, I would have wondered what I was watching. It’s another flashback episode, but Kiritsugu just doesn’t look like his adult self. His Dad, though, looks a lot like him.
I didn’t expect this kind of flashback. Well, I did expect to get some explanation as to why Kiritsugu is who he is, but not this. Zombies everywhere (well, Dead Apostle, and the translation says “Vampires,” but really, zombies!) and the one responsible was his father. Whom he ends up killing. He also gets picked up by a badass woman called Natalia who becomes his mentor in the art of kicking ass and taking names.

Unfortunately, now I want a Fate show based on Natalia, the Mage Association and the Church’s Executor against different baddies and not something on the Grail War. You hear me, TypeMoon!

Also, talk about quality animations this week! Or it might just be the beach, sun and sea that make me say this.

Eureka Seven AO ep 5

The Triton got to base and everybody disembarks, including the stowaways.

Ao also gets a check-up and the conclusion is that he is a mutant. He gets a special retinal nerve that allows him to see a wider light spectrum. While he’s under scrutiny, Noah is having fun escaping everybody in the base, though. For a Sloth, he sure runs fast.

So Generation Blue might not be “good guys.” They might actually cause Scub Coral to pop-up to give themselves jobs. Also, seems like the Chairman is related to Fleur; they have the same surname: Blanc. I guess we will get a “Papa, what did you do?” at some point.

Also, GB have more IFO team and spaceships. We get to meet the Medon and the Goldilocks team in this episode. They are all teenage girls who pilot religious-themed mecha (Gloria, Requiem, Credo). Poor Ao. Hopefully, it doesn’t turn into a harem show too fast. The chairman also hired the three thugs from Okinawa. Well, they are not really thugs, I just forget their names every week (Gazelle, Pippo and Han).

The Goldilocks sortie doesn’t end to well, so the Pied Piper team sends in reinforcement. GB recolored the Mark I and registered it under Nirvash. Ao was quite happy.

This was a classic “welcome to base” episode. These haven’t changed since the ’70s. The only difference is that there seems to be quite a bit of history between the Nirvash and Generation Blue.

Accel World ep 6

Taku and Haru told Chiyu everything…offscreen. We missed all the book throwing and slapping. I’m sad now. She also stopped talking to them, as well. Go Chiyu, show the boys how the world works.

Of course, my hope above for Chiyu crashed after five minutes. She asked them to bring her all the flavors of ice cream and then proceeded to eat all of them (well, a third of them; she shared the rest).

In the meantime, Taku and Haru are doing tag-team matches to bring Silver Crow to level 2. Random fight is random, especially when you are just trying to end the fight by timeout and not proper fighting. People just want to fight against the flying avatar.

God, this game has nasty rules. Leveling up to level 2 eats 300 points, but it allows you to level up as soon as you get them. That mean if you are not careful you can end up “losing” by reverting to zero. Haru end up with eight point left and need to seek a “bouncer.” There’s a Burst Linker that likes to team up with players with low points called Aqua Current. Taku proposes that Haru hire her to help him get some points back. That bodyguard is also level 1. Sound like an eternal level 1 player.

The episode ended on a cliffhanger: Taku going to visit Snow Black and moving into Burst Link mode for a fight. Poor Taku.