#plus it already feels weird enough seeing him without his blue colour scheme

[flyermagic]

Vigil from Arknights!

Determined to do this edgy dude's much-maligned wolf-stacking resource generation justice, he deserves a win

Art Source

[eye-of-enigmatic-thought]

Ben 10 alien design reviews – Diamondhead

The third review will be the buff rock, Diamondhead! Sorry for the delay!

Original Series

Diamondhead’s in-universe alien species are silicon-based lifeforms called Petrosapiens and they are entirely made of a green crystalline material. Silicon-based lifeforms have always been a fascinating concept, though very difficult to apply in real life as silicon when oxidised becomes the solid silicon dioxide called Silica, thank goodness for cartoons making anything possible! :D

I like the blockiness of Diamondhead’s design! It fits for his crystalline body and his blocky arms and legs are especially fun and amusing to me; they look like full on gem blocks! The smooth dorsal crest on his head and the two spikes from his back are also neat details that fit well with his design and nicely express his ability to shoot crystalline projectiles out of himself! I notice that he amusingly looks like a goofy superhero in a way with that silly chin, and even acts like it within the show too as you may have seen in that clip! Also, that mint green colourisation of his crystal body is a really nice colour choice, and it stands out really nicely from his black and white suit!

I do however, find something to be kind of lacking in his design and I feel there’s a whole lot more you can do with ‘big crystalline alien man’. Whilst I usually like more non-humanoid designs better it’s not that he’s necessarily humanoid that makes me go ‘meh’ as there are plenty of humanoid character designs out there that I like (Heatblast has really grown on me!). Maybe it’s said superhero influences as whilst I find their inclusion amusing and can see why they would be there, I’ve just always been kinda blanded out by superheros unless if they are the more comedic parody or somehow hit my aesthetics (which are hard to describe, but are basically the opposite of the ‘clean and glamorous’ style of most superheros, so pretty rare honestly unless if you can give me some good recommendations!). His design just feels a tad bland to me and I’m overall just pretty neutral to it, Diamondhead has some cool concepts here and there but he’s overall not really my thing.

Ulitmate / Alien Force

UAF’s Diamondhead shows an interesting take by having most of his body be rockier with his arms, face, and the various spikes around him be crystalline! I think it really adds nicely to how crystals work and grow and how they also appear to be growing out of him and it gives Diamondhead a more unique design! There are however some things that bug me about Diamondhead’s design, one of them being his thinner and less bulkier legs that I feel are disproportionate for a seriously buff crystalline character, now, a buff body with disproportionate skinny legs isn’t always a bad thing, but in my opinion they work more for comical designs or to imply that the character’s arms are an especially important trait, and it doesn’t really fit so much here.

Another thing that bugs me is the colour scheme; the colour schemes of his crystalline parts I feel are too dark here, especially in contrast to his darker rockier body, so it ends up clashing a tad.

To let you all know what I mean I went ahead edited his crystalline colours to be lighter, it’s only just a few shades of difference and maybe all that the previous one needed was more darker shading but I personally like it a lot better and I feel his crystalline aspects stand out more, tell me your thoughts as well!

Omniverse

Oh DANGET and I just finished UAF’s recolour! I’m sorry but Omniverse Diamondhead’s darker green/blue of the crystal does noooot fit well with that green, I’d do another ‘fix’ of this but I think you guys get my point already, it’s not the worst colouring ever and maybe could be fixed with darker shading on the crystalline body but UAF’s contrast was much better in comparison. Also AGAIN with those LEGS, those are some seriously skinny thighs! I’d make a leg day joke but below the knee is weirdly thick; guess Diamondhead skipped uh... thigh day???

There are still some things I do enjoy about this design though, I think that oversized chin is funny and the larger spikes are cool, though I do miss the rocky texture of UAF Diamondhead. To be honest I actually quite like his more bulkier lower legs, if Diamondhead’s thighs here were bulkier I’d actually say the proportions are decent, though then I’d maybe complain about the upper arms for being a little too skinny for my tastes.

Reboot

Oof ouch, yeah uh, I am SO sorry to say this, but this one’s WORSE. I need to be honest and say that the colour scheme of Reboot Diamondhead is even straining on my eyes a little as that green and blue doesn’t go well with that mustard yellow at all, maybe if the yellow was lighter and that weird greenish shading wasn’t so saturated it would be more bearable. Ok, y’know what, this design hurts my eyes enough that I’m gonna recolour it so I can at LEAST talk about the good bits without having to rest my eyes every minute, it may be just the white background of this word document that’s making my eyes hurt, but OFF I GO ANYWAYS.

HUZZAH! Much better! Well, better for me and my sensitive eyes anyway, changed the yellow to full-on white as I couldn’t figure out a way to make it look good. Now with the unfortunate eye strain outta the way, reboot Diamondhead is blockier and is less muscley looking than his previous incarnations, I personally like the more organic designs, but the more cubic elements fit.  His head and jaw are also now connected together which makes him look like he’s wearing a helmet! I like that! Unfortunately his signature crest is now more like a spike growing out of the back of his head rather than looking like that previously nicely smoothed crest, which is kinda a shame as it now looks less something really growing out of his body and more like something that was stuck on there. I also don’t mind the legs too much here compared to Omniverse’s as Reboot Diamondhead is now more noticeably less buff and the legs still look solid and proportionate, and the Reboot’s more simplistic style helps anyway.

Overall

Again, I like the original design best though the UAF design had some really cool ideas going for it and I wish said ideas had been picked up by the other later incarnations. Still, like I said Diamondhead’s design overall isn’t really my thing but his original design is still pretty solid! Plus, the original design doesn’t make my eyes bleed! :D

Intro

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[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga 12 (FINAL)| Classicaloid 25 (FINAL)| Boku no Hero Academia 14 | Kado 0 - 1 | Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine 1 | Sagrada Reset 1

Update: I apologise for all my updates within the spring 2017 debuts. I had stuff due prior to the spring season and so I’ve gone all out in compiling my thoughts and then comparing my thoughts to ANN’s.

(Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga 12)

“Monkey”? I thought it had to do with Todo (whose first name is Saburota, remember, and so could be mangled to become saru or monkey) but I guess…not…?

I thought Shiemi was gonna do a love confession! Where’d Nemu go while all the action was happening though? Plus, Nemu reminds me of Yuji Yata (Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service) and vice versa.

Super Coke and Panta, LOL.

I can’t believe they’re so willing! I remembered this happened but now that I see it animated, it seems a little too fast!

Anmitsu is a red bean dessert – you hear about it for the Kashuu/Yasusada ship in Touken Ranbu (it’s what the ship is called, due to kanji readings). Kuzukiri though…I haven’t heard of it, so here you go.

I never knew you could use the fact Rin is the son of Satan for humour. I never knew it could work, either.

If kemono = pickles…then what are Kemono Friends?! *gasps* (LOL, I kid, I kid…)

Okay, now the “son of Satan’s gonna torch you” gag is tired. That was fast.

What’s a Tawawa? Isn’t that “Tawawa on Monday”?...No? I guess it’s the name of the tower’s mascot then.

Yukio with his straight face, LOL.

Is it “quality brother time” or “brother quality time”? I think it’s the former.

I can finally read Rin’s shirt now. It says “teriyaki” in katakana.

Well, that’s the end of Blue Exorcist for now. See you some other time.

(Classicaloid 25)

Oh, that’s why there are aliens in this show…

It’s interesting to note they used the Bird’s Nest for Beijing rather than Tiananmen Square or the Fobidden City.

So Kyougo was in China. Geez, these stereotypes are a bit hackneyed…

Tchaiko’s so depressed when Bach appears. It makes sense though.

“It just doesn’t strike a chord.” – Perfect phrase for a Classicaloid.

Disco Bach. Now that’s something you don’t see every day.

I haven’t noticed there were white musical notes on the eyecatch until now.

I was wondering why Hasshie, Pad-kun, Kanae and Sousuke were rigged up like how they were in one of the s2 visuals. The reason…let’s just say, I LOVE IT! I’m not entirely a fan of 6th rangers in general, but I love transformations, remember? Rare transformations are all the better to watch again and again!

Doot-doo-doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo-doot-doot-doo-doo-doot-doo-doo. It’s Ode to Joy!

Like, look at it. The October airing was definitively confirmed! See you again in October, then.

(Boku no Hero Academia 14)

I skipped the simulcast commentary on the recap episode, as I always do. Disclaimer: I wander around the BnHA wiki a bit so expect to see “I knew that already”s all over the place.

Dang, Deku looks eeeeeeevil in that one intro scene where he’s all lit up.

Those taiyaki (fish-shaped buns) look tasty…

I’ve seen some spoilers so I know Toshinori Yagi is All Might’s real name and All Might’s predecessor (who I thought was the recipient of the letter) was a woman named Nana. Thus, beard man must be Gran Torino, All Might’s mentor.

Katsu, LOL. Ever since YoI, I can’t stop thinking about Yuri K after seeing a pork cutlet.

Best Jeanist (1st person in background), some guy I don’t know…and Endeavour. Spoilers can be annoying like that.

I knew why Ochako became a hero too, but...her name means “carefree”? Never heard that one before.

They say that if there’s a leaf sticking up in your tea, it’s good luck…I think that’s how it goes with green tea, anyways.

I don’t think I’ve seen BnHA go and do a fanservice thing with its girls until now, which 1) is odd for a show with a teacher called “18+ Only Hero Midnight” and 2) simultaneously makes sense as an all ages hero anime. The emphasis in this show is on the action and on Deku, not just the girls, but going to the girls for fanservice only now does kinda show how the audience has grown up enough for this ED trope to be ued.

(Kado 0)

I’ve been hyped for this ever since I found out it was coming. I do have my doubts about the CGI, but somehow I know this work will be good. Besides, it’s my first fully CGI work in the simulcast commentary – I can’t really let that sort of chance go while I can still do it (because most 3D CG anime are Netflix exclusive). Update: Why have I covered an episode 0? This one seems important to the plot, that’s why. (Well, admittedly...they had to have an episode 0 for a reason, right?)

Ooh, that OP’s real pretty and the language (the one “Ninovo” is written in) intrigues me.

I knew I’d be fine with the CG – if there’s CG everywhere one instance of CG doesn’t stand out – but I wasn’t expecting to be dipping my toes in something so…adult.I was expecting the government affairs, but land restitution? If it weren’t for Shizuna-whatshisname and what came before this, I’d be gone, y’know? (Come to think of it though, anime can make even adult things like taxes engaging, so if you gave me an engaging anime about taxes, I’d take it. After SGRS, I’m more open to this sort of mature content, too.)

There’s been a picture on ANN of Dantalian no Shoka and the dude in it looks like Masayoshi (Samurai Flamenco). When Hanamori is shocked and leaning to the side, he looks like Masayoshi too…

I’d like to know how to make those pleated tail birds.

Strangely, this anime is more flat than I thought a 3D CG anime would look. Update: I raised my eyebrow at the part where Shindo pulls the suit pants off Hanamori, but it kinda made sense to me since Hanamori was drunk...at least it’s better than lucky underwear (Marginal #4).

What could be bigger than a land reform project? Oh, I dunno, aliens? (clearly sarcastic)

It’s not even Google, it’s Setten, LOL.

Chicken nanban. Seems tasty. I also didn’t question this until now, but this is MLIT.

Mac laptop! Dangit!

Hanamori is such a shonen protag, I swear he is basically Masayoshi in disguise as a Cabinet worker.

Hanamori’s face in the commemorative photo, LOL.

Uh-oh. Things are starting to look more CG now…

The ED is kind of a disappointment after the wonderful showing I got from the OP and the episode…plus Hanamori is kinda annoying with his “Shindo-kun!” “Shindo-kun!”…one thing’s for sure, this is one show to keep an eye on…for the moment, at the very least.

(Kado ep 1)

UN?! Wow, Shindo’s crazy good at his job…

Sometimes opening sequences of shows (not the OP, but rather the opening few minutes of the show) can be recap-heavy, but at least Kado doesn’t do that.

Interesting to note CR chose metres as opposed to miles, as I have huge gripes about Detective Conan getting all its measurements turned into miles and inches…

Tokyo Netro and NNK, LOL.

“Have there been any casualties so far?” By the way, the government uses Windows. I wonder if any Japanese people use Linux? Update: I did find Kanata Shinawa at odds with how she lead the government, but at least she knew what she was doing.

Ferrofluid.

Overtechnology – it doesn’t seem to be a dictionary word, but it seems to exist in Macross. To quote this page: “Many of the technologies of Overtechnology are stables of Science Fiction, such as Hyperspace and Artificial/Anti-Gravity.”

AP rounds. The AP stands for “armour piercing”.

Yay! Finally whatshisname appears! (I’ll just call him Shunina for now, since I can’t keep typing out his name or “whatshisname” all the time…) Update: I knew Shindo was the protag, but if you went in without that knowledge, you’d mistake Hanamori to be it. Huh. It’s sort of a good twist, but if they could do without Hanamori, that would make the show even better.

(Haine 1)

Why am I interested in this? It’s obvious from the key visual…

Nice use of perspective/camera tricks to fool the viewer, eh? The show really is kinda charming in a Kuroshitsuji-type way, actually.

Leonhard gives the burn straight! Ow!

Leonhard is basically the twins from Boueibu…? Especially Haru.

Licchie? Or Licchan? (did not use volume) I wonder if CR’s getting in on making English equivalents of Japanese nicknames now, too. Update: Licht is ri-hi-to, so it might not actually be CR’s fault there…

Playboy??? *thinks about the magazine* Ew.

Strangely, Kai’s was the funniest introduction out of all 4. (Or was that not strange…?)

Basically Nanny McPhee but with a teacher and students…LOL. Actually, it’s more Denpa Kyoushi, but Denpa Kyoushi doesn’t seem to have this atmosphere.

Come to think of it, maybe this was adapted because of the popularity of Osomatsu-san?

Tschuss.

This is…actually pretty funny, but it seems a tad lackluster because of the dulled shoujo-esque colour scheme. On the other hand, Leo really is both twins from Boueibu in one!

Sachertorte. I’ve heard of it before but I forgot what it was. Also, I didn’t think Japanese people would’ve heard of sachertorte. Witness the mighty skill of the internet to connect the world!

I had a vague suspicion that the reason Leo didn’t like teachers was because of how they treated him (specifically put him on a pedestal) because he was a prince, but there was always this sad feeling lingering since the interview began, as if I understood him.

I have the feeling the word for “language” specifically was kokugo, but since they speak Japanese and don’t confirm their setting is German in any way, shape or form (even though there are hints to the contrary), let’s go with “Japanese” as the national language.

Wiener melange? Or just a melange? By the way, tagebuch.

It turns out I do understand Leo…”I’m not good at socialising” is me to a tee.

Notice Leo called the tutor “Heine”, meaning this may not run off Japanese honorific standards.

GDI, priest guy (Bruno, since his reading a book there makes him look like a priest).

Ooh, the Alphonse Mucha style ending really does the show a favour, although Heine singing makes this a lil’ cliched in a weird way you just don’t expect from this show. Apart from that, I’d never think people would idolise Germany the same way they do Japan…unless 1) they have a person related to them who is/speaks German, 2) they like German food or 3) they like German technology (which is top-notch, to my knowledge). I’m kinda neutral on German stuff myself, so if I follow this I wonder what’ll become of me. Update: Oh yes, no. 4) They are German themselves.

Carrot, bell peppers and sachertorte? Ew.

Well, I’m keeping this show on. It better not let me down even though I only narrowly decided not to pick it for the ANN streaming stuff. It’s not a groundbreaker, but it’ll definitely be nice to have around…

Update: I forgot to mention I was vaguely disturbed by Heine’s reading of Leonhardt’s diary (mostly by the fact Heine found the diary in the first place - who puts an unsecured diary in a place that’s a little too accessible?), but since it didn’t do much damage to anyone but Leo and it was entirely played for comedy, I wrote it off. If it were a serious show, I may have had to bail.

(Sagrada Reset 1)

I dunno why the English translation is Sagrada when the Japanese is Sakurada. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Didn’t the character descriptions say Sumire was gonna die???

David Production – those Jojo’s guys? I don’t think I’ve seen anything from them until now.

Ugly CG cars, ick.

Haruki’s power reminds me of Erased except this exposition dump here makes her sound pretentious.

I would expect Haruki to be the android.

Was the “please let go” meant to be funny? I almost laughed before realising how serious Sakurada Reset is.

(without volume) Haruki’s so lifeless I expect her to disappear any moment now whenever Kei looks to the side. (with volume) I still think she’s lifeless…

Well, at least they explain why she’s so lifeless…by the way, I seem to remember I wrote a story like this: Next to Me.

August 14th, the day of Kagerou Project, LOL. I watch too many time travel shows.

No one rides swings.You sit on the swing!

Even though I can tell this show will go through some themes very thoroughly and the animation is consistent, it’s a bit of a chore to watch. I was waiting for the end of the episode about 17 minutes in, so I’ll put this on hold (because of the Mari twist near the end – that at least shows promise). The Sumire part doesn’t seem as convincing animation-wise though, which is disappointing as that’s the main plot of the show, right? Update: The reason why I label it a chore is because it’s hard to read the subs on this sometimes, the animation is limited and because it’s easy to miss Haruki’s resets - I actually missed the first one.

Update: Just a note on my preferences - the reason why I think such a show is a chore to watch is because I prefer shows with a distinct personality and/or charisma. Sagrada seems to have a personality, but it hasn’t become fleshed out yet because of all the potential under the surface, and it lacks charisma because of how serious it is.