Yu Yu Hakusho (Dub) Status: INTERESTED
Episodes: 57-58
Yu Yu Hakusho manages to be immediately predictable in this episode which is an unfortunate change of pace. Kurama loses his fight on a technicality, rationalizing the remaining 1v1 fights. Once again there wouldn't be anything to rationalize if the 3 out of 5 wins rule was never mentioned. It's just... kinda stupid. It's an excuse made for no other reason than to justify a plotpoint that had no business existing in the first place.
Points for this amusing exchange between Yusuke and the ref though:
"Hey! You with the big fish ears, I got a bone to pick with you! How does a dead guy win!?"
"Hold it, I'd like it if you removed your hand."
"I'd like you to remove your head from your ass, BUT I DON'T SEE THAT HAPPENING ANYTIME SOON!"
Hiei goes on to fight Bui (whose name I remember because it's so short and simple) and with Episode 58 we break into a whole new animation style for the reveal of Hiei's new "dragon of the darkness flame" move. The animation is a LOT better for the vast majority of this episode, but it unfortunately comes with a sudden shift in art that makes all of the characters, Hiei included, look significantly more childish and cartoony at times, which seriously conflicts with the increasingly mature tone of the anime. I liked the wealth of visual effects, but at this point I just would have preferred some visual consistency.
Hiei completely owns Bui in the most DBZ fight yet and wins without injury. He just needs to take a nap afterwards. Next we have Kuwabara versus, who I'll from this point on refer to as, Shoulder Monkey.
Kimi ni Todoke (Sub) Status: LOSING INTEREST
Episodes: 19
We just outright ignore Sawako in this episode and focus purely on Yoshida's love triangle with Ryu's older brother. He eventually shows up with a fiance later in the episode resulting in both Yoshida and Ryu having their love unrequited. All that really needs to happen here is have Ryu friggen' spit it out and tell her he likes her, but I guess it's "too soon".
Yoshida monologues about always wanting to have been Ryu's brother's bride which makes me throw up a little bit my mouth. Unlike most people, I don't find social institutions romantic which is why so many anime manage to put me off LONG before this point.
Kimi ni todoke was best when it was simply about characters coming to understand and learn about each other, not awkwardly tussle out monogamous relationships from some stupid competition to capture dates and win a spouse they can dress up in a black tie or white lace. Just... end. You know what? Just end. The best part of this series has passed already and introducing Sawako to her first sleepover isn't upping the ante.
Devil Summoner 2: The Animation (Sub) Status: LOST INTEREST
Episodes: 2
I'm not really sure what I expected from this one. I've never liked any Shin Megami Tensei game I've played, so what makes an anime adaption worth the time?
Well, Devil Summoner 2 manages to accomplish one thing: it makes me think I could be playing a much more enjoyable game than watching it. It doesn't even have a catchy soundtrack, which is about the one thing I can expect to get out of anything SMT-related.
Episode 2 spends well over half it's entire run time just spouting exposition and yet all of the dialog only manages to raise many many MANY times more questions than it actually answers. When it takes 20 minutes to say what little it does here, then it'll take an HOUR to actually make sense of any of it. I'm not looking forward to that.
The best I can say about Devil Summoner 2 is that it at least has an interesting and unusual premise, which is typical of SMT stories and none of the characters annoyed me, which is atypical of SMT stories, but simultaneously none of them seem to have any personality other than Stock Protagonist 1, Stock Protagonist 2, and Stock Protagonist 3.
I was similarly disinterested in Persona: Trinity Soul, but at least Trinity Soul gave us Reverse The Destiny:
Episodes: 57-58
Yu Yu Hakusho manages to be immediately predictable in this episode which is an unfortunate change of pace. Kurama loses his fight on a technicality, rationalizing the remaining 1v1 fights. Once again there wouldn't be anything to rationalize if the 3 out of 5 wins rule was never mentioned. It's just... kinda stupid. It's an excuse made for no other reason than to justify a plotpoint that had no business existing in the first place.
Points for this amusing exchange between Yusuke and the ref though:
"Hey! You with the big fish ears, I got a bone to pick with you! How does a dead guy win!?"
"Hold it, I'd like it if you removed your hand."
"I'd like you to remove your head from your ass, BUT I DON'T SEE THAT HAPPENING ANYTIME SOON!"
Hiei goes on to fight Bui (whose name I remember because it's so short and simple) and with Episode 58 we break into a whole new animation style for the reveal of Hiei's new "dragon of the darkness flame" move. The animation is a LOT better for the vast majority of this episode, but it unfortunately comes with a sudden shift in art that makes all of the characters, Hiei included, look significantly more childish and cartoony at times, which seriously conflicts with the increasingly mature tone of the anime. I liked the wealth of visual effects, but at this point I just would have preferred some visual consistency.
Hiei completely owns Bui in the most DBZ fight yet and wins without injury. He just needs to take a nap afterwards. Next we have Kuwabara versus, who I'll from this point on refer to as, Shoulder Monkey.
Kimi ni Todoke (Sub) Status: LOSING INTEREST
Episodes: 19
We just outright ignore Sawako in this episode and focus purely on Yoshida's love triangle with Ryu's older brother. He eventually shows up with a fiance later in the episode resulting in both Yoshida and Ryu having their love unrequited. All that really needs to happen here is have Ryu friggen' spit it out and tell her he likes her, but I guess it's "too soon".
Yoshida monologues about always wanting to have been Ryu's brother's bride which makes me throw up a little bit my mouth. Unlike most people, I don't find social institutions romantic which is why so many anime manage to put me off LONG before this point.
Kimi ni todoke was best when it was simply about characters coming to understand and learn about each other, not awkwardly tussle out monogamous relationships from some stupid competition to capture dates and win a spouse they can dress up in a black tie or white lace. Just... end. You know what? Just end. The best part of this series has passed already and introducing Sawako to her first sleepover isn't upping the ante.
Devil Summoner 2: The Animation (Sub) Status: LOST INTEREST
Episodes: 2
I'm not really sure what I expected from this one. I've never liked any Shin Megami Tensei game I've played, so what makes an anime adaption worth the time?
Well, Devil Summoner 2 manages to accomplish one thing: it makes me think I could be playing a much more enjoyable game than watching it. It doesn't even have a catchy soundtrack, which is about the one thing I can expect to get out of anything SMT-related.
Episode 2 spends well over half it's entire run time just spouting exposition and yet all of the dialog only manages to raise many many MANY times more questions than it actually answers. When it takes 20 minutes to say what little it does here, then it'll take an HOUR to actually make sense of any of it. I'm not looking forward to that.
The best I can say about Devil Summoner 2 is that it at least has an interesting and unusual premise, which is typical of SMT stories and none of the characters annoyed me, which is atypical of SMT stories, but simultaneously none of them seem to have any personality other than Stock Protagonist 1, Stock Protagonist 2, and Stock Protagonist 3.
I was similarly disinterested in Persona: Trinity Soul, but at least Trinity Soul gave us Reverse The Destiny:
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"Well, at least your intentions behind the UTTERLY DEVASTATING FAULTS IN YOUR LOGIC are good." - Captain Steel
Movie Reviews | Anime Reviews
Top 100 Action Movie Countdown (2015): List | Thread
"Well, at least your intentions behind the UTTERLY DEVASTATING FAULTS IN YOUR LOGIC are good." - Captain Steel