The spring season has started. I’ve got no shows continuing from the Winter season, but there are quite a few shows worth looking at. I’m of course watching the second season of shows I’ve watched previously, like Fate/Stay Night. There is also an OVA-turned-TV show of Ghost in the Shell that I would watch even if it was awful. The rest are new series that seemed interesting; Kekkai Sensen because of the weird setting, Owari no Seraph because the animation looked good in the previews and because I like “historical” anime, usually.
Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works] (Crunchyroll), Ep 13
It’s back!
And Rin lost Archer! Well, Archer decided to switch sides to Caster (aka Medea) because he wants to be on the winning side. He comes off as such an ass.
Shirou saved Rin though and then he confessed. I just can’t believe it. He confessed he “felt for her.” She was all *blush* afterward and “tsun, tsun” lol. That ended the episode, too.
Looks like the show keeps the super awesome animation from the first part. It also doesn’t hide Archer’s identity that much. Especially not with the “I have another one just like it at home from when Lancer almost killed me.” Rin made the connection that Archer was a Protector spirit (a spirit screwed to protect humanity from itself by killing lots of people) and now she probably made the last connection.
Now the question is, what are Rin and Shirou going to do? They don’t have Servants anymore, but they still want to kick Medea’s butt.
Ghost In the Shell: Arise (Funimation), Ep 01
Cyberpunk! I love cyberpunk, although this first “episode” was a bit hard to follow. You get dropped hard into something as if it was already midway into the story. Anyway, this story is pre-Major joining Section 9. She is technically working for them, but as a “consultant,” and this being cyberpunk, it means evil corporation deals, shady military members, terrorists, and hacking. We got all that in this episode.
Japan made a water deal with another country and it appears that some people aren’t too happy about it. Some terrorists take this opportunity to hack the cops and cause what is basically a mass slaughter. Meanwhile, the Major and Section 9 try to avoid too much blood everywhere. The end result is Kusanagi killing someone while under optical camouflage and finding a girl called Emma with heavy cyber-ware that apparently hacked everyone.
Of course, everyone wants the girl now and the Major decides to “dive in” to find out she has two Ghosts. In GiTS, a ghost is basically a cyborg’s soul. The Major is kind of obsessed with her own and her memories, especially once they discover that there is a virus that can alter the memories of someone with a cyberbrain.
Finally, the full title is Arise Alternate Architecture. Someone liked “A” a bit too much I think.
Kekkai Sensen, Ep 01
That was, hmm, special. I really like the setting with bizarre New York that is now called Jerusalem’s Lot, or at least part of it. Full of depraved monsters with super powers and the group Libra who try to remove the worst of the bunch using basically was is called blood magic.
The MC isn’t that bad so far; the bad guy is a self-called depraved guy who just wanted someone to shoot a monkey. So weird. It looks more like a comedy than anything serious at this point. I’ll keep watching, but for some reason I don’t think this show is going to stick with me, despite the awesome setting.
Arslan Senki, Ep 01
This was a slow first episode, although there is lots to digest here. Fake countries, gargantuan ensemble cast, and weird names all around. It’s apparently based on the real Persian legend of Amir Arsalan.
Arslan is the crown prince of the country of Pars. His dad is full-on testosterone, and his mother doesn’t care about him or his father. Arslan also looks like a girl.
Pars helped defeat an invasion in a neighboring country by some religious-focused country that seems to be based off the Crusades more than anything else. Going by the look, Pars would be a Middle Eastern country.
Seems like Arslan is going to be a runaway king at the age of 14. I also think the story is a rather typical coming of age. I’ll give it a few more episodes; if it stays slow like this, I might drop it. I don’t think it will be able to reach Twelve Kingdoms-level of awesome.
The show made bad usage of 3D mixed with 2D, which results in a scene like this:
Owari no Seraph, Ep 01
This was creepy and sad. All adults over 13 years old died and some vampires rounded up lots of kids to grow as livestock and slaves. The main character, called Yu, simply hates it, but his best friend Mikaela (he is really a boy?) thinks he is smart by letting himself get abused so he can get nicer food for the other kids.
The MC and his friend were part of an orphanage before the “virus,” but it looks like there was a bit more behind it, going by the ending: “This is like the prophecy said. One of the test subjects from the Hyakuya Laboratories appeared.”
This is an anime about revenge and I guess secrets. The first episode wasn’t bad; let’s see where it goes from here.