Weekly Seasonal Watches: Fall 2019 Week 2 (Much More First Impressions)

So yes, a lot more honest with First Impressions this time around. I hope this is better. This is where my watch list is going to be until both Chihayafuru’s and Psycho Pass’ third seasons appear. Nothing else is making it unless I drop shows.

Yes, I am going to be a week behind with F/G O: Babylon because that’s the only funimation show that didn’t make onto hulu and I am not paying for funimation. I’m generally ok with that myself. Just need to avoid the spoilers and considering that not everyone I follow is a fate fan, not as hard as it could be.

-Continuing Series Thoughts-

Ahiru no Sora Episode 2

Not much to talk about this episode besides Sora winning nine out of ten rounds of scoring points against Madoka and the other bullies plus joining the team. Madoka is crazy attractive and into Sora’s playing in hopes that it changes the boy’s basketball team around and also into Sora himself. The leader of the boy’s basketball also seems to found some relevance and interest in Sora practicing basketball by himself for hours on end like he used to. Looks like a turn around is going to happen soon where they all play as a club. Who would have guessed that? Not that exciting really. I suppose that next episode will decide if I continue on with this show or watch the other sports show instead. Woo, such excitement.

LOGH Reboot S2 Episode 3

Another round of placing chess pieces, but on the Free Planet’s side with Yang Wenli. The empire did make a presence with prisoner exchange between the two forces. Yang Wenli and Kircheis meet up and Kircheis even meets up with Julian and gives him advice. I suppose that shows Julian that the FPA isn’t just fighting against units. Except for the Reinhard’s push to cause a coup in the Free Planet’s Alliance while the empire is busy fighting their own war. Craziness.

But anyway, Free Planet’s Alliance set up. Yang Wenli spent on their home town on Heinnesen where Yang knows his coup is going to happen but doesn’t know from where. Plus, the large amount of mobs forming around the streets protesting the religion of Earth or Terraism was set up here too. That doesn’t play for a while, but it does become more and more important as the series goes on. So yeah, solid episode. I suppose the insanity is going to start very soon here. I do like seeing all these chess pieces being set up, but motion would be wonderful too.

My Hero Academia S4 Episode 1

Yeah, I don’t think this counts as a first impression considering that this is season 4 of a franchise. First impression is out the door at the moment. But anyway, like other MHA first episodes, this one was to catch up the audience on the material from the previous seasons for some reason. Half of the episode came from footage of important moments and clips telling the audience what 1-A’s powers are again. Boring nonsense. On the other end, the part of a reporter looking into 1-A for All Might’s successor and then talking to Deku about it was fantastic stuff. Very character motivated and thoughtfully written. Our reporter Tokuda is a good guy that is motivating Deku further to become the hero he wants to be. I liked that aspect. So yeah, it was half good and half…..eh…..

Vinland Saga Episode 14

Wow, what a nightmare of an episode that was. In a good way of course. On one side, we have Askeladd and our vikings lost in the snow needing some food and lodging for the winter. On the other side our the Christians living in their homes, telling stories of evil and good Christians while the kids are eating, and all of them having a nice dinner. Except one girl who has a Danish? Ring. I suppose the story is telling us that she invited the vikings to their village where all of the Christians are killed because they are in the way. Gah, such a powerful episode on a lot of emotional highs and very good shadow work for the visuals. I just love how this show despite how much it hurts me sometimes.

-First Impressions-

Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise Episode 1

What we got here was just an ok and solid introduction to the later portion of this world and it’s characters three years after Build Divers In the lead of this series is Hiroto. A guy who is a major loner who searches for an AI girlfriend, uses everyone else as a pawn to figure out what enemy abilities are, and really hates the word Build Fighters for some reason. Maybe he’s the former hero of the Build Divers who went wrong? Who knows. Oh, there is also the guy who over hypes himself, a shy fury girl, and a very competent and stoic female girl. Somehow, all four of these characters are roped into a mission that forces them to be a team after they win. That’s it really. I suppose there is more to come soon.

Oh, the gundam fights were good too. Very fun fights and transformation sequences.

No Guns Life Episode 1

A more then solid premiere episode with some good world building, character exploration, a good sense of stakes, and a very noir style. What else can one ask for? A lot probably, but I really liked this episode non the less. While briefly explained I really like how real this world actually feels with it’s after war attitude, the cyborgs of that war still being thrown around like our cyborg protagonist, and how a company is using profits off that war to create more powerful cyborgs for some reason.

I also like how hard boiled yet moe our protagonist, Juuzo our revolver head, is. Juuzo is that sort of character who tries to act tougher then he is because he’s a huge softy and it shows. He has enough of an understanding of the exile, who can control extended or cyborgs, that showed up at his house to save him and that’s good Plus, very fun action scenes and a competent bad guy force who know how to fight makes this interesting too. A lot of stakes are in play here and I like it. I also like the visual design too with some good animation here and there. Fun stuff.

Stars Align Episode 1

I can completely tell the director behind Escaflowne wrote and directed this story. Why? Because it’s so fast paced yet completely understandable at the same time. Place, not an escaflowne thing, but also pretty unique and well characterized too. There is so much detail in this episode that I almost feel like it was two episodes in one while other attributes are kind of lacking in a way like some characters having connection to each other. Our episode starts with Maki and his mom moving into another apartment which is the eighth floor of a complex this time. There is an elevator, but Maki feels energetic and runs his stuff all the way to top floor while his mom is waiting. A very fun and character energetic opening segment.

Then there is the stakes of the episode that shows up immediately after that. We see the boys tennis team facing against the girl’s tennis team in the high school that Maki just tranferred into. The boys team sucks completely, but they really don’t care about winning at all. The girl’s team shows off how much effort they have and Toma is completely unhappy because he’s the only one trying. Because of this, the student council is going to remove funding for the club if they show no capabilities at all. That leads to Toma trying to force his friend, Maki, who showed how incredibly athletic he is, to just win one game and maintain their funding.

Here are the kicker elements. Toma doesn’t care about tennis at all, just the fact that the tennis team should exist. Why? Because of his brother’s legacy. That’s about it really. He cares so much about that legacy that he’s going to pay for Maki’s entrance into the tennis club himself because of how Maki can’t afford any of it. The worse scene happens in the after credits though. Maki’s dad breaks into apartment complex, takes money from them and considers it “borrowing”. Holy crap. No wonder they moved. I think I’m going to stick around to see where this one goes.

Blade of the Immortal (2019) Episodes 1 and 2

Holy crap, where did this series come from? Like seriously. While it wins no awards for storytelling because it’s very much like True Grit. You know, girl named Rin, who lost her family hires a bodyguard to wipe out the opposing forces that kill her family a couple years ago. Rin hires the immortal assassin who can’t die somehow and the guy defeats the person who killed her parents, and the journey for revenge continues from that point on. Classic and all that, but the visuals are the main driving force for the story and boy are they gorgeous. Why? The innovative direction. Stellar angles, color, and shots are used to frame everything and I just love all of it.

Episode 2 built fantastically on the top of all of this. Maybe not as stylish, but was very character focus on Rin. Both parts established her relationship with her parents and Mr. Manji, her bodyguard. She visited a former sword master who was better then her father, but is just a spy and a painter now. Not much came out of that meeting besides some good fighting, the painter guy showing his skill, and some money to live on as they seek their revenge. The second half had Mr. Manji fighting an assassin for Rin’s father’s sword and also building a character relationship between him and the assassin and one between Manji and Rin in a brotherly way. Wonderful stuff really. It’s bloody, but I really love this series so far.

Fate/Grand Order: Babylonia Episode 1

I know the title is longer then what I wrote, but I am not going to completely write it down here. That’s nuts.

So this first episode was alright. It did a good job of setting up the parties in this conflict. On one side we have Chaldea’s last human mage Ritsuka Fujiwara and his servant Mash heading into Uruk, their seventh and final singularity, to save the human race. On the other side are Gilgamesh and gods trying to eliminate the human race from existence. With their arrival, they find Ishtar the goddess and then find Enuki, a fan of Ritsuka, who explained how humanity is at deaths door because of the three goddesses with the final territory and fortress of humanity in the background. It’s nuts.

Yeah, this episode was more functional then anything else. Everything was set up, we saw some action, and there wasn’t as much fan service as people were complaining about. No serious, their were butt shots but not as leering as I thought they were be. Even if they were in the middle frame. I was happy to see the Rin character design with Ishtar in a leia bikini in some ways because I have a crush on here. DON’T JUDGE ME. So anyway, this was a solid but boring introduction. Good enough to establish everything and that’s it. I hope it gets more interesting as we move on. Oh actually, I’m sure it will.

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