#First Episode Review

[iconuk01]

Icon_UK watches the debut of Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger

Or "Burst-Acceleration Team BoonBoomger"

Well, this was... a trip (apporpirately enough for a series whose themese are racing and cars)

In the first episode Taiya, a cool, good looking (if a trifle smug) guy in a very snazzy red car (and wearing a lot of red because branding is everything)

shows up at a fancy wedding where the bride, named Mira, is clearly reluctant, and the groom is a bit of a dick, and basically grabs her and races away in the car with her.

Turns out he's a courier, who has been hired by her real boyfriend to abduct her from the wedding. It's not stated outright, but it looks like she was being forced to marry the son of a big time gangster, an idea supported by the number of shades and guns that suddenly appear as the red car is chased by a number of cars. Truth be told, Mira doesn't look too pleased about being delivered to her boyfriend either, which Taiya notes, but says nothing about as it's her business.

Mira is, understandably, in a bit of a panic, what with the wedding/not wedding abduction/rescue and being pursued by gun wielding gangsters

Her mood is not helped by the sudden arrival of a couple of mechanical looking aliens,

driving what appears to be self aware monster truck, which ploughs through the gangsters cars like they were skittles, and which Taiya not only recognised but reveals his car has got some unusual features to escape from, like the ability to launch itself backward into the air for a couple of miles to escape the aliens, who are fascinated by Mira's wedding dress (Hey, we all have our little obsessions)

Deciding that she needs at least a change of clothes, Taiya takes her to a boutique, which he casually buys the entire stock of, and tells Mira to help herself to a new outfit. That's cool, but a little OTT, verging on the creepy, but he seems sincere.

Mira selects a rather pink outfit for herself (Ooooh! Foreshadowing?) whilst Taiya has a chat with someone over comms who turns out to be Jou, a rather strait laced type in an impeccable suit. (There's also a curry obsessed robot in the background of wherever Jou is, who is important, but let's leave that to one side for now)

Then the aliens show up again and in a truly inspired moment of weirdness, turn Mira's wedding dress into a Monster of the Week whose deep voiced battlecry, as they smother everyone within range with wedding dresses is, according to the fansub I watched, "Get Hitched!!" (Which actually sounds like a pretty good expletive when said properly... or improperly)

Taiya changes into Boon Red.

and does some fancy fighting with the aliens and their grunts, which impresses Mira more than a little.

Boon Red hands Mira off to Jou to take to the airport instead, which he does.

Then, in my favourite moment of the entire episode, about halfway there, Mira basically says, "Stuff this, I am tired of being driven by other people and of getting no say in my fate", and sneakily presses the "Fly backwards a couple of miles" button so that the car flies back into the middle of the battle, to Jou's annoyance.

There she tells Taiya that she wants to fight too and "I want to deliver MYSELF to where I want to be" which is a pretty cool way of saying she wants her autonomy, so more power to her.

Impressed by her decisiveness, Taiya agrees, giving her a BoonBoom Changer of her own, so she can become Boon Pink, and to the surprise of nobody watching this far into the episode, Jou is Boon Blue.

There's a lot more after that, with robots and what appears to be a Hot Wheels videogame level before combining into the Mecha form we've been waiting for and taking down Wedding Dress monster

Full marks to whichever designer decided that the ideal weapon to equip a giant robot, which is going to be fighting mechanical monsters a lot, is a giant screwdriver.

Things go boom, (see what I did there?) and the episode ends with Mira explaining to her rather dull (and not overly bright by the sound of it) actual boyfriend that she's not leaving with him, she's becomign a Boonboomger instead, whether he likes it or not.

As Taiya (being very smug again) notes to Jou whilst watching this exchange "The delivery was made, but the package was redirected to BoonBoomger", which is either stretching an analogy to breaking point, or completely undermining the "Self determination" arc of Mira's story.

All in all, this looks like it's going to be one of the sillier sentai in a while, and whilst I have a fairly low tolerance for that, let's see where it goes.

Alas though, I'm afraid that I just cannot get past how ridiculous those helmets look.

I can see what they're going for of course, but the spoked tyres/hubcap look would probably make a better chest design than a helmet one. The tyre moulding sticks out in front of the actors faces by several inches and looks clumsy unless they're looking right at you.

Aside from the fact that Boon Orange looks like either a showerhead or the handset of an old landline telephone, the lack of a coherent pattern to the styling annoys me.

I mean, look at OhRanger (aka Power Rangers Zeo)

They all share the concept of geometric shapes that increase in the number of sides involved as you go up the apparent chain of command: Pink is a circle (which has one side), Yellow is two parallel lines, Blue is a three sided triangle, Green is a four sided rectangle, and though that should mean Red has a five sided pentagon, I can see why they went for a five pointed star instead. Also, their Sixth Ranger has a symbol which has both six "points" and is also the kanji for "King", so that has a consistency to it.

Likewise MagiRanger (Power Rangers Mystic Force), has a pattern linked to the characters age order (they are all siblings in MagiRanger)

Green, the first born, has one horn on each side of his Minotaur emblem

Pink, the second oldest, has wings with two segments on each side of her Fairy emblem.

Blue, the third oldest, has three flukes on each side of the Mermaid tail emblem

Yellow, the fourth oldest, has four feathers visible on each wing of the Garuda emblem

Red, the youngest, has five feathers on each wing of his Phoenix emblem

And their mother, whose magic is connected with snow and ice, has a six pointed snowflake as her emblem, so it's continuing the pattern, albeit in the opposite direction.

But BoonBoomger has no pattern that I can see

Red has five spokes

Blue has three spokes

Pink has six spokes

Black has eight spokes

And Orange hasn't even got spokes, but seven holes instead

There's no logic or pattern to them that I can see and it irritates me more than it should.

Oh well, let's see how it goes with the next episode!

[phantomchick]

Kino's Journey First Thoughts

So re: the first episode the country of visible pain.

I love how much this opening story establishes Kino's personality. They're stubborn to a fault.

Clever; possess a dry sense of humour, compassionate but not to the point they'll compromise their own boundaries or desires, practical, a little traumatised judging from the obsessive gun-drawing practice, self-possessed, free-spirited and in their own chill way insecure. They don't trust themselves not to settle down and stop being a traveller if they found a nice enough place so they have to stay on the move or they'll get anxious. But what motivates them to be a traveller so much? Is it just plain old longing or is it something to do with their mysterious backstory?

In just a few scenes the creators managed to present a nuanced and unique character. It's really cool!

The story draws you in, you want to go on the journey with Kino and experience all these strange places but you also want to know what makes them tick. And what Hermes' whole deal is too!

Spoilers:

I have to admit I was frustrated by the ending of the episode. I found the fact he just left the country to its pain, a passerby who doesn't get involved was both really compelling and interesting for a protagonist/made perfect sense for their established character thus far but I also really wish that he had offered the man to bring a letter or one of the flowers to his loved one, something because just leaving him to his pain and obvious loneliness was heartbreaking. The moment where they and the man experience a moment of mutual understanding, no magical concoction necessary, was really sweet but imo didn't make up for the frustrating feeling of absence. It wraps up the episode by saying, the world isn't beautiful and therefore it is beautiful which I do get. The poignant sound of the woman still playing her records and the image of the man still watering his flowers as Kino and Hermes ride off into the sunset is impactful in a way a straightfoward, hero solves all the problems story can't achieve. But aaagh. I both really like it and I feel conflicted by it.

In a land of visible pain even without telepathy. Kino and Kyoshi were able to see each other and communicate without words.

And there's something quietly powerful about the weight that's given.

Spoilers end here.

I'm definitely engaged and looking forward to the rest of the anime. More of these vignettes and glimpses into the strange lives and countries Kino will explore on their journey, with no idea what comes next. There's so much potential already.

We've got two great characters that bounce off each other in interesting ways and the slow, steady poetic build of a story toward conveying a specific message or a feeling to the viewer is executed so well in this first episode that if the rest of the series is as well-written I know I'm in for a treat.

[fireworkmaker]

Nier Automata [First Ep Impression]

First Impression: Man, they're focusing in the story and speedrunning the playable segments.

Review: First thing, I love Nier Automata as a game. Its easily one of my favorite games ever and I never get tired of replaying it.

That's why I'm trying to not get my expectations too high with this anime. Videogame anime adaptations have always been notorious for not being exactly the best, with clear examples like Danganronpa, Divine Gate, Devil Survivor, Diabolik Lovers… And that's just the letter D!

For every 10 horrid adaptations, we get one good videogame adaptation, something understandable that many of these adaptations are trying to fit in 12 episodes over 20 hours of content that we originally find in the source material.

That's why there isn't much I can judge from one episode, specially one that adapts what in-game is a tutorial to help us learn the controls (one that for someone like me who isn't too used to playing bullet hell games took me over 2 hours to reach the save point the first time, I don't even want to imagine how long it would have taken if I had picked hard mode).

Something Noteworthy: Dear lord someone please put some shadows in that CGI… I'm incredibly glad they kept the game's OST too, it's one of my favourite things about it! Expectations: As I said before, I'm trying to stay with low expectations. There are many scenes I look forward to seeing animated, but I can't help hut worry that the story will be rushed and they might sacrifice many of the plot details…

It's also going to be a pity the fact we very likely won't be able to see most of the side quests, and even less likely that Emil and the side quest with the flowers won't make it to the anime either, as those are mostly a call-back to Replicant.

Will I keep up?: Ride or die, even if it turns out to be the hottest garbage of the season I'm gonna stick to this show simply because of the sheer love I feel towards the source.

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Love seeing how confused many Rings of Powers haters are that there is actually a lot of hype and excitement for season two. They're discovering in real time that the majority of the hate for season one was just massively inflated.

[t-hirstreview]

[aroaceleovaldez]

they girlbossed Sally Jackson

[cottoncandysprite]

Honestly the best part of wwdits is that, after seeing all the bajillion spoilers in the reviews, I feel even less confident predicting whats gonna happen this season. I'm so terrified

[seeminglydark]

What do you get when you mix a mom and pop gas station, some slightly ominous woods, a mixed-up teenager and a Datsun? Well I don’t know but I guess you'll find out soon enough! 

Mil-Liminal Episode 1: CONSUMED is now live! You can listen on Youtube, Podbean, Spotify or your favorite podcast service right now!

**mild feelings of dread and claustrophobia**

**transcripts available where they are supported and cc and transcripts available on Youtube**

What is the Mil-Liminal Podcast?

Mil-Liminal is a cozy horror podcast featuring the charming and slightly unhinged Caro Greene, an employee working the counter during the night shift at a tiny gas station in the middle of the woods. Join their journey of witnessing the unexplainable! Liminal spaces, ghosts and ghouls galore, there won’t be any jump-scares or hopelessness, just unsettling vibes with moments of comedy to lighten the mood. The podcast is in canonical order, meaning the first episode is Caro’s first ‘episode’ as well, learning as they go to create their podcast. 

Please Share on any social media if you like it! You can find me under raptorjules on most, and I need help conquering algorithms and imposter syndrome, a share means everything to me! -xoxo Caro and RJ

[lazysublimeengineer]

So I just watched the first episode of Ranma 1/2 which is a remake from Mappa and third cour of Bleach TYBW arc.

Both of these animes were part of my childhood. Honestly, I'm not really keen on remaking the classic animes as they should only apply to franchises which didn't accurately captured the source material back then.

But for Ranma 1/2... It actually works.

I don't have any big expectations around it but man, when I saw the scenes and the style of the anime, it brings back the nostalgia and the classic sense of humor in that anime! God, it reminded me why Ranma 1/2 is one of my favorite romcom animes back then also I'm quite excited to see Shampoo again in the big screen (best girl in the franchise).

Now for Bleach... I now understand why it was rated high online.

Yes, the first few parts of the episode were a recap but the half part of the scene is really intense and the ending of that episode....!

Also, I highly appreciate the crisp and great animation from Pierrot studio. It's really astounding especially the fight scenes of Senjumaru and Uryu.

But I don't want it to be a remake.

Yes, for the 20th anniversary of Bleach the studio has shown a trailer of its amazing episodes in the earlier seasons with the new animation but that's it. No remake will happen. And I appreciate that.

Bleach has been successful on its own and its old animation has its own charm so leave it as it be.

I prefer to what they're doing now.

Just continuing on where they left off with the franchise.

[taraxacum-vulpes]

why is everyone pretending like cyberpunk edgerunners is good. the writing is so bad i hate it

[astro-duck]

The finale of DuckTales is deeply flawed

I don’t know if I’m alone in thinking this, but I’ve always wanted to explain this to someone.

It’s not all bad. It’s actually an enjoyable watch, it’s fun and charming like most episodes are. The animation is incredible, even more so then it usually is, there’s lots of great moments that are really beautiful. I also enjoy a fair few of the plot moments, the one that stands out most to me is Scrooge immediately surrendering to Bradford the second he threatens to kill Donald, saying “it’s not worth the risk.” Really, all of Bradford’s eventual surrender to petty villainy is well done.

I will likely end up making a post talking more in-depth about why the finale is great, but that is not this post. This post is strictly about the flaws in the plot of the finale.

A few important notes:

I am not a genius media critic, I’m an asshole on Tumblr. This is entirely my opinion and if you love this episode/this one is your favorite I am genuinely happy for you. I understand that it can suck to have someone criticize your favorite piece of media, and if you don’t want to hear this then I don’t want you to hear it either. (/gen)

I, as a person, am very resistant to change. I find it difficult to cope with extreme changes to form in the media I love. I tried to look at this from a non-biased perspective, and I think I did a good enough job, but I’m sure my personal bias slipped through the cracks very frequently.

The very final episode made me cry, despite all this. I cried because the end credits were so sweet and I cried because it was over. I was watching the end credits and I cried. So, that’s something.

I will refer to the three part finale as “The episode” throughout, because this is the easiest way for me to understand it. I will specify if I am talking about a specific part, but for the most time it is just “This Episode” or “The finale”

Actual Episode Criticism:

I think May and June were a terrible idea. I think that the reveal that Webby is a F.O.W.L clone of Scrooge was also a terrible idea. I think the episode has too many plot twists and characters thrown in and it means hardly anything truly meaningful happens.

I believe that May and June were a harmful addition to the finale and the overall canon of the show. Strictly speaking from a finale perspective, they are completely new characters who take up a large portion of the finale of a show, especially in the first part. The episode should not have centered around new characters, but instead been a grand final adventure with the existing characters all having their moments, but especially showcasing the McDucks.

They divert so much of the time of the episode away from other characters that nobody else really gets to shine. Huey, Dewey and Louie sort of get replaced by Webby, May and June. They feel like the new triplets because it’s literally Webby and two clones of her. However, instead of being three distinct personalities, they’re all just literally clones of Webby, personality and all. I have nothing against Webby, but I don’t think having three of her running around taking up 60% of screen time in the finale was good.

The “Webby is a Scrooge Clone” thing is dumb as hell. Especially because Webby calls Scrooge “Dad” at the end of the end of the episode. I’ll get in to this more in a second, but it sort of shits on the message that family isn’t blood. I don’t think Webby needs to see Scrooge as a father. It also doesn’t make sense that they made her a girl, even though trans Scrooge/Webby is a good thought, it’s not canonical.

This is also another twist that they shouldn’t have thrown in last second, because it’s such a large idea to flesh-out. I’m glad they kept it for the finale though, strictly because I would not have enjoyed the arc of Scrooge and Webby being Father/Daughter. Especially because it doesn’t make sense, like if May and June are “sisters” to Webby and they’re clones of her, wouldn’t Scrooge be more like a brother? At least save Webby calling him “Uncle Scrooge” for this grand moment at the end, if you’re going to go to this terrible twist.

These two plots shit directly on the face of whatever message the show was saying up to that point, that “Family is just the people who love you.” Because when May and June show up, Webby immediately begins calling them her sisters because they have the same blood as her. She goes directly against the wishes of the people who, up to that point, were her actual family. Just for two girls who are F.O.W.L spies and who she doesn’t know.

Webby being genetically identical to Scrooge also flies in the face of this a little, because it makes it so that the Papyrus appearing to her, and Webby and Scrooge being family, arguable as being because they are genetically related. This is not the point the show is trying to make, but it still is an argument to be made. Why do they have to be biologically related at all? Why can’t they just be family?

Especially because this show had, for a while, done such a good job portraying non-standard family dynamics. An uncle raising his sister’s kids? A grandmother raising her (adopted) granddaughter? Both in non-standard environments? We don’t often see things like this casually portrayed. But with the return of Della and the Dad-ification of Scrooge it almost feels like they’re saying families aren’t complete without a mom or a dad. Even though they aren’t saying that, it’s still there.

Gosh this post is getting long. Last thing, nobody gets any screen time. So many characters are in this episode, and they had 60 minutes to use them all, but so much of it was dedicated to Webby, May and June that it’s nearly impossible for anybody else to get a complete arc. Webby and Huey are separated from the rest of the McDucks for a while, which would be fine except they don’t even really get a proper reunion. Webby doesn’t get one at all, and Huey gets a quick “I’m so happy to see you, I used your book to find you.” Before they are immediately captured again. Most of the cast actually spends a large portion of the part just before the climax in cells, not being a part of the action.

I mean, Gyro has a few references yo feeling like he’s “losing his touch” before it’s never a big deal again. Della is mad that Donald is leaving but they don’t ever talk about it and then Della just decides it’s okay. Donald never interacts with May and June before deciding to take them on his boat with Daisy. B.O.Y.D, Goaslyn, Violet and Lena don’t really do anything at all, except for B.O.Y.D and Lena having some plot point that no one else really would have been able to do (Reprogramming the Gizmoduck armor and making the ship invisible.) I think that the addition of these characters feels forced, when they should have been a natural addition to a grand adventure finale.

Overall:

May and June are unnecessary and hinder the other characters relationships and I don’t think Webby should be genetically related to Scrooge because then it feels less like “Found Family”. I think nobody gets enough screen time except Webby and her clones, but I don’t think they should have been the focus of the episode.

I’m sorry this post was so long, remember that I don’t hate watching this episode. I just think that the finale of my favorite cartoon should have been handled better.

[the-paris-of-people]

I'll never not be mad that most PJO TV show watchers clearly don't understand Annabeth's character arc and that Leah's performance is slept on

[fireworkmaker]

Spy Classroom [First Ep Impression]

First Impression: Mary Sue meets Gary Stu!

Review: If I'm quite honest, there isn't much I can say yet about this anime. The first episode shows us the travel of Lily, alias Flower Garden, to her new school after she graduated 'early' from her current one after 8 years of training in which she showed no signs of having a promising future as a spy. When she arrives to the school, she discovers that her classmates are all in similar situations and they will all receive classes from the Best Spy In The World, all so they can participate in what is considered a suicide mission in the future.

Now, the premise sounds good. We could have an Assassination Classroom-like anime in which the girls have to improve themselves to defeat their master, or something more dramatic in which the girls have to put their lives on a stake for the sake of the mission, a "learn or die" kind of environment.

However, what this first episode shows us is... The story of a cheerful girl that never gives up and wants to unite the classroom. There was a point in which the anime finally seemed to show its true nature, with Lily attempting to murder her master because she doesn't want to be a sacrificial pawn, showing us that she's the sole survivor of a town that was raided with poison and killed everyone--except her, who's immune to poison. But then turns out that the master knew that she was trying to kill him and planned a counter measure for that, because if this episode tries to focus on something, other than how cheerful our main girl is, is that Klaus, the teacher, is absolutely perfect and perfection comes to him as easy as breathing does for regular humans.

Something Noteworthy: The girls' designs are cute, too bad we didn't get too see much of them.

Also, if a girl in my class went alone with the teacher on a "date" and then she suddenly became the class leader, I certainly would think that something is going on there.

Expectations: While at first I was hoping for some more action packed story, this episode has shown me that this will very likely be a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime with each episode focusing on each girl probably.

Will I keep up?: 3 episode rule, I will see if it catches my interest with that.

[the-gayest-show]

I watched the season 4 episode Day of The Sorcerers and... SJEJJEJRJFBCRYIBG SOBBING ON THE FLOOR SOBBING WEEPING

Live me reaction

You better believe I was screaming my heart out and shaking the damn screen I watched it on

CEDRIC!!!! YOU ARE SUCH A CHARACTER I LOVE YOU SM PLEASEEE

CEDRIC REDEMPTION ARC REAL!!! I KNEW HE HAD IT IN HIM!!!

Damn shame he doesn't appear much in s4 like once every 10 episodes when I checked on Disney plus but ughhhhh I fucking loved this

The song was great, I loved cedric's dilemma, some of the scenes went SO crazy, and overall Im a little insane about it

[canonically47]

sending the request for a review in now so you have time to prepare!

OUGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHHG GUYS...

DCAS episode 6 spoilers!!!

(but you knew that)

i surprisingly don't have much to say about this episode despite being a musical nerd but.

never expected to... genuinely care about connor, but he's a good guy. i really wanted yul gone, but i know his arc isn't quite finished yet.

the yellow team's number was surprisingly underwhelming, i think my favorite was cyan team's, IT ATE SO HARDDD

i love that aiden is chill about the kiss like "anyone can tell it was just acting lol" and it cuts to jake like "I FUCKING KNEW IT."

also. wh. why did this episode have me actually caring about jam again. like. i want them back. wh. what is happening to me

FORGET JAM OH MY GOD GABELLIE. GABELLIE I FUCKING LOVE YOU THEY SLAYED SO HARD THEY LOOKED SO CUTE AND IN LOVE AND. AURURURUGHGGHGHGH GABELLIE <333

jake and ally ate. idrk guys. also marcus and nina. fuck yeah. fiore's outfit was underwhelming but going full glam on a child must be hard so i get it. ashley on the other hand had no reason to not eat

conalec vision is getting to me and of fucking course it also happens to be connor's elimination episode. ourhg

kinda sad that the episode had to be premiered early, but i ultimately don't regret staying up for it. now excuse me as i pass out (it's almost midnight)

[t-hirstreview]