And Fate/Stay Night is going straight to the shelf, where it can stay. That’s one series that was bittersweet on it’s own, but just plain damn bitter once you add in all the canon from the games and novels.
Not really a lot else to say. Maybe I’ll watch the first two Code Geass DVD’s. In the end, for all that I felt like I was laughing at it for being so silly, the show redeemed itself and pulled out a hell of an ending.
I’m not going to get into a series review, or even an episode review. I’m just going to say this:
As much fun as we made of it for having a trainwreck of a plot or going off the rails, or the end of Emperor Charles being disappointing… When the chips were down and it was time for the show to punch all the buttons, hit all the dramatic notes, and go out on top, it did just that and in style. A bit talky in the first half, but I didn’t mind much; they were playing out the central themes of the show across half-a-dozen conversations, with no lack of action at the same time. And in the end, we had, not just one tragic hero, but two. It could have been a huge disappointment, but that bullet was dodged. Instead, I think it was a huge triumph, with pathos, heroism, loss, and victory.
All hail Lelouche. All hail Suzaku. All hail Nunnally.
All hail Brittania.
Looks like the post office is still off its feed from Ike, and I should have gone UPS. My order shipped out from RACS on Tuesday (had to recheck thought it was Monday originally, but it’s only noted as having left the MD facility on the 24th, (Wed.) Since then…
Nothing.
Grumble.
Note: original post was off by a day on each, I was thinking I got the notice of shipping on Monday and it left MD on Tuesday, so I was expecting it yesterday. Based on my corrected understanding, the earliest I could expect it would be today. Is Robert slowing down a bit? I put the order in on Sunday night, and it took until Tuesday evening to get it out the door. I suppose there’s a lot of weekend orders to process on Monday, so I’ll have to stop ordering on weekends.
Steven’s watching it now, and so far, he likes what he sees. I think that he’ll like it in the end, insofar as the quality of the show, but I do worry a bit as to how he’ll react to the ending — he’s not liked similar endings.
I thought F/SN paced things extremely well, if a bit slow at times. You generally got one fight every episode. It might carry over from the prior episode or continue into the next; occassionally it was in the middle. But even the slow exposition wasn’t too bad; it gave a depth to the show that many fail to manage.
If they’d port the original game over for the PC, I think I’d buy it, but J-List only has a non-translated Nintendo DS version. In a nutshell, that lacks (and not just English…I’d bet it even lacks the original “mana recharging” scene in the abandoned house….)
Side note: Per the wiki (don’t read, huge spoilers, so I’m not linking), there were three original story paths you could diverge into. These are the names I chose for them, based on their description:
1. Shirou (altruist), 2. Shirou (selfish), 3. Rin.
We see mainly 1, part of 3, and Shirou’s temptation by 2. After watching the series, check the Wiki out for some eye-poppers — including the identity/origin of the one Servant they never reveal. That actually spoiled the ending for me, and I felt rather negative about the show for a while as a result.
Just ordered from RACS.
DVD 6 of The Third, which I had overlooked. (obligation buy)
Fate/Stay Night thinpack (obligation buy)
Code Geass DVD 1 and 2 (obligation buy)
Notice something here? Yeah, all obligation buys. The meltdown of half the R1 importing industry has delayed the inevitable, but now my anime budget will have to satisfy my sense of propriety. Oh, there’s a few that won’t appear in the purchase list, even though I watched much of them:
Busou Renkin, since it jumped the shark
Karin, for being an angstfest
Coyote Ragtime, for tanking unforgivably after the first episode
And others that got passed for now:
Gurren Lagann, waiting on more to come out, possibly the bilingual version, not decided..
Ouran Host Club, ditto.
Sigh, I’ve been wondering what the Fall season holds (not Haruhi Suzamiya, obviously), but at this rate, I probably won’t watch much anyway.
Edit: and in the comments at Aroudoc’s place, someone links the perfect picture to express how I felt about several of the recent series I have watched.
Ok, I’ve watched it myself. Arodouc is wrong; it’s not introducing new characters at the end; all of those have been shown before, most in that episode.* The problem is, there’s something like five different factions and groups being followed, and it’s hard to follow all the players without a scorecard. I’m still not to clear on who the three “lords” (for lack of a better term) are, though I know we see at least one, maybe two. I had originally thought that these were sub-bosses of the lunatic running MBI, but they’re rivals who also control multiple Sekirei (including a “failed” one).
So we have five groups to follow: the three lords, Minato and his four (or maybe five; it looks like the lush (Uzume) is about to make a play for him at the end), Minato’s sister and her boy Sekirei, whatshisname with the twins, and MBI itself. I’m not sure where the Disciplinary Squad comes into this; technically they work for MBI, but they seem to have their own agenda (at least the Black, Karasuba, does). Then there’s Yume, the destiny Sekirei. What was up with all that?
They definitely want to continue the series; whether or not the break is really to let the manga get further ahead, or if they just couldn’t find sponsors for the 2nd half yet, I don’t know.
As harem shows go, this one had a lot more plot than most, but with over 100 Sekirei and their ashikabi to potentially follow, it’s really hard keeping up with them all, so that kind of ruins any appreciation of the plot.
Edit: Pete reminds me I didn’t link Arodouc
*Actually, after looking at the picture he linked, maybe he’s right. We’ve seen the guys, but who are the two (presumably) Sekirei? We might have seen the orange hair chasing someone earlier….
I was shocked to discover last week that Sekirei was only a 12 episode series. Given that they used 5 episodes to introduce the 4 girls, I didn’t see any way that they could resolve the Sekirei War in less than 24-26 episodes. Sadly, the manga hasn’t gotten far enough, so rather than create an ending, Arodouc says the animators decided to leave it open ended; the war will go on. The current arc, which felt more like a mere subplot. had to suffice for the “ending”, and the remainder of the war itself remains to be fought in future series. Pity it was so lame; this is the first harem series I’ve seen in ages to have an actual plot.
Maybe I should go kill a few brain cells by watching Hakufu (NSFW).
