MetaFap: Fall ’14 – 10 [NSFW]
Who let the dogs out?
Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu – 10
At this rate, poor Aika’s gonna get all wrinkly at a young age. Which will be just another source of insecurity, making her even angrier and increasing her wrinkles even more… Thus goes the circle of life.
Yikes, talk about an ugly episode. That makes 2 in a row, which means my hope that we would see some sort of bounce back like after the ugly episode 6 was dashed. In fact, one might say this was a step down; the off-model faces and static figures weren’t quite as bad as in the previous episode, but the action scenes were almost unimaginably terrible. I’m not inherently against motion blur, which can be alright when used sparingly, but it was just overbearing during the Spider Guildy fight, presumably to camouflage the poor animation. Terrible. Not only that, but the 2nd half of the episode had flashbacks to this very same fight (thankfully without the blur this time). Really getting their money’s worth from your animators, huh? I know not to have high expectations for animation quality in late night otaku anime, but I also have some minimum expectations too, and this definitely didn’t meet it.
The story wasn’t much to speak of either, as it continued to go over very very familiar ground. Another Guildy with another wacky fetish, more of Aika blowing up at the slightest mention of her glorious S-class DFC, more of Erina wanting to be dominated by Souji. We’ve seen more than enough of those for the season; either do something new with them or stop chewing up time with them. The one exciting story point was Souji’s newfound awareness of Aika’s lips, as well as his now involuntary transformation into Tail Red. The former seems likely to have been caused by his kiss with Dark Grasper in the previous episode, as figured by Aika, and the latter seems likely to have been caused by the hit Spider Guildy landed on him during their fight. Spider Guildy is the Otokonoko master, after all, and his attack name “Serpent Slayer” sure does seem to imply the effects seen here. Both are promising threads to explore, and this episode should have lead with them from the start. But what’s done is done, and all there is left is to hope that next episode can have fun with these threads.
You look a bit, um, unshaded today, Tail Yellow.
St. Ahdnagar? I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that one.
Damn, I hope Souji’s getting a cut of the action with all this merch. Gotta love the random angel winged figure.
Gonna be the Blurred Tail!!
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Madan no Ou to Vanadis – 11
For all the hate directed at each other, they work together very well. Really should just fuck kiss and make up.
Well, this was the strongest episode of the show in a while. The story’s just barely hanging together, and I can’t say I approve of the childhood friend (or perhaps was-nice-once-as-children, which is perhaps its own trope separate from the childhood friend one) reveal of Regin, but the show finally managed to have some solid War Maiden action. It wasn’t exactly ufotable-level gorgeous animation, but Eleonora and Ludmila versus the dragons got most of the things right. The 3 dragons presented an increasing sequence of challenges, forcing the War Maidens to get creative with their attacks, and the shots were framed well both for showing us what was going on and for delivering the visceral excitement of the combat. It’s so wonderful when characters in a combat sequence move and behave in ways that make sense, and they’re fo by immediate payoff. So much better than the energy-blast battles we got back when Roland was the enemy.
With just 2 episodes remaining, I’m still not sure where all the pieces will fall. I feel like I have a very loose grip on the war story, but at least it seems like things are centering around Brune’s king and Regin being the rightful heir to the throne. Seems likely that if this ends with any meaningful end to the war, it will involve some sort of big reveal by Regin and summary execution of that one nobleman who is pulling the strings and poisoning the king from behind the scenes. If only the show had spent as much time presenting us that villain as it did with all the minor sub-villains along the way. Well, regardless of what happens, I hope this isn’t the last of the War Maiden fighting we’ve seen, because I don’t have a lot of confidence in the show’s ability to ratchet up the tension or excitement in other ways.
Gotta love that little diamond on her dress just to guarantee that she won’t be the one War Maiden concealing her navel. (Click for stitch)
Oh, that smug Eleonora’s face. Poor Limlisha.
This was a totally appropriate and productive use of the cold open.
Holy crap, actual good cinematography and direction to action scenes.
What I want to know is, who was the lucky medic that put the bandages on Eleonora, and why wasn’t that scene shown in an extended real-time sequence? (Click for stitches)
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Grisaia no Kajitsu – 10-11
Well doesn’t this suck?
I figured Grisaia had saved the best arc for last, but it turns out Amane’s story wasn’t particularly inspired either. From the very beginning, we have the idea that she will be the only survivor out of the group since that’s the kind of tone the show has. So it’s not like there’s much of a real story to tell when all we can do is wait for the girls to start inevitably dying one by one. And that doesn’t make for a very entertaining experience. The tension is superficial and the whole setup exists only to make you feel bad. Seriously, these last two episodes were some of the more uncomfortable episodes of anime I’ve ever sat through. It’s almost comparable to the entirety of Terra Formars. Except with that show you can at least get some chuckles out of the over-the-top gore and also detach yourself from the discomfort thanks to the shear absurdity of how shitty that universe is. But I digress.
This would be cuter if the rest of the situation didn’t suck so much.
So anyway since I don’t particularly want to talk about the little death camp down in hidden valley, I will instead focus on the introduction of Kazuki. Yuuji’s talented older sister, she is perhaps the inspiration for the way he acts as we know him. Calm and seemingly detached, yet with a strong sense of duty and compassion hidden underneath the cold exterior. As per the usual tropes, we’re told that Yuuji was overshadowed by his sister and strove to be more like her due to the constant comparison made between the siblings. Nothing surprising there. What I do find interesting though, is the implication that Amane is approaching Yuuji to make up for everything that Kazuki did for her. And considering we already know that Kazuki isn’t around anymore, it isn’t too hard to believe that Kazuki might have made the ultimate sacrifice to save Amane’s life.
An older sister.
Now, I have no idea how sexual advances on your savior’s little brother constitutes a repayment of sorts. But if we again stick with the good ‘ol tropes, most likely Kazuki’s last wish was for Amane to look after her little brother. So at least Amane had good reason to approach Yuuji and demand that he let her be his sister, if not girlfriend. From there, it’s possible that Amane’s romantic interest in the hero is purely her own personal feelings and more or less unrelated to the incident and Kazuki’s passing. Love at first sight is always possible, and especially so if one’s eyes are already trained on the subject for other reasons. Or at least, I really hope that’s the case. Because it would certainly suck if Amane’s love were anything less than genuine. This whole arc is already depressing enough. Please at least make the relationship part of it genuine so that there’s something to take our minds off the undue suffering of little girls.
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Tags: grisaia, grisaia_anime, madan_anime, ore_twi
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Spider Guildy likes traps. What a tangle web he weaves. Also I expect his Trump Card to be a Servant. I do feel that the show is running out of steam (not THAT kind of steam!) after they went all out in the beginning.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
What kind of Servant are you expecting? Saber? Archer? Rider? Caster? 😉
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
You can guess by his voice. 😉
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’m willing to forego the guessing. Tell me who it is!! 😉
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
*rips something from a post a few levels down*
There.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Thanks.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu – 10: So now there’s a Guildy that’s into traps. Great… Then all we need is a Guildy that has an affinity for yuri! Come on! Come on! Come on! This is a must!
To be honest, the series’ appeal is gradually waning so it’s good knowing it’s almost at the end of the rope and can save face by ending on a high note.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I think zztop did post a link to the chart in one of the previous posts. I might have seen yuri in that chart of guildy fetishes. 😉
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Please unspammy my reply. -_-
TQ.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Because spammy ate the original reply:
Enjoy your Tyrano Guildy brother-in-arms. 😛
from zztop:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5341347&postcount=699
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’ll be grateful if they squeeze him somewhere in the last two episodes.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Grisaia no Kajitsu – 10-11: The previous episodes tried their hand at emotional depth in their arcs to grab me which mostly ended up a burned out attempt but these last two really struck a chord. Color me surprised. It was a lot to take in watching these girls who grew up in a sheltered lifestyle endure such harsh conditions. And for almost two weeks, no less. Even resorting to eating a recently deceased pet just to get what little food that was available.
Seeing this made wonder just what kind of school system do they have in place. A planned field trip with no one arriving or returning on schedule. You’d think after at least two days without contact, there’d be an effort to issue a search and rescue mission. I don’t want to believe there are people that cold in not inquiring in the well-being of more than a dozen young girls who’ve gone missing.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
I think there is an ongoing search, as we saw that helicopter pass overhead. Most likely it’s just very difficult finding people in that area.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
What confused the hell out of me is that the girls didn’t start a fire and keep it going continually. That’d be a good thing to do even before that helicopter appeared, and there’s little doubt a helicopter would’ve seen the smoke. Kazuki seems like a smart girl, so it seems really odd that this tactic for getting discovered never occurred to her.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
There were many ways they could have tried to attract the helicopter’s attention, and I’m also not sure why they didn’t try any of the effective ones. For starters, they should have been going for a visual cue like smoke as you said instead of audible ones. What makes them think a anyone in the helicopter can hear a bus horn?
But anyway, I think we can only chalk this up to plot.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Grisaia: We also know that Amane’s the only survivor, because she said that before she started recounting the story, didn’t she? I’m expecting some big sacrifice from Kazuki to keep Amane alive so she can get rescued. I’m gonna say that’s where Amane’s affection for Yuuji comes from, rather than a promise made to Kazuki.
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Ore, QUALITY ni Narimasu: What an ugly episode. I kept facepalming at the deformed figures that it took me quite a while to finish the episode. And to think this is airing on the same day as Shirobako, who stressed the importance of animation quality just a few weeks ago.
At least we got a Hayami Show Guildy. One thing’s for sure is that they invite good seiyuus for the Guildys. Still waiting on that Wakamoto Guildy. Though that’s probably a tall order so I’ll settle for a Nakata Jouji Guildy.
Seems Red developed some breasts there. More suffering for Aika then. Keep hearing some hype for this fem-Souji so let’s see if it delivers.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Between the recycled animation and the unfinished/subpar new ones, I have to agree that Twintails is starting to go down a slippery slope. I’m not sure which of money and time they are short on, or perhaps both. But whatever the case, this consistent low quality in the more recent episodes worries me that it might continue all the way to the very end.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Having read around after watching Shirobako, I think it’s pretty clear that the ‘run out of money’ thing is only a reason if they have to lay off all the animators. I would guess that the far more usual reason is lack of time, either because of excessive retakes on the key frames, or because of schedule compression due to changes or delays earlier in the process.
Maybe you could make the argument that ‘time = money’, but that assumes you can just hire more workers, which doesn’t work in any field, despite some managers thinking that you can. There are always time-based critical paths that can’t be multi-threaded (we have joked that a VP in our company thinks that you can make a baby in one month if you put 9 women on it).
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
LOL!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Quite a bizarre joke. That would be something, though.
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Grisaia: This was much more uncomfortable in the VN, where it told the story for each day. And we’re already in Day 12 here. I almost gave up playing this because it just dragged on and on and the situation was pretty hard to swallow. It didn’t warrant taking up half of Amane’s route and it wasn’t worth the climax of this flashback(which anyone can guess already). That’s why I’m in the minority that didn’t like this route while others seems to regard this as the best one. Different strokes.
As usual, they skipped some stuff in between. After that French kiss(the branch off to her route; alternative is ignoring her) and them hooking up somewhat, Yuuji and Amane did some boyfriend-girlfriend stuff first, including fucking like rabbits everywhere. Once Amane got deflowered, she was thirstier than ever for the Juicy Yuuji that she even crept in his room at 4am to wake him up with a BJ. During their time as a couple, she grew to love Yuuji instead of feeling responsible for him losing her sister. But she still felt that she didn’t deserve this happiness and felt guilty for hiding that she knew Kazuki. The flashback was told later after Yuuji overheard some girls in town whispering about how Amane was a cockroach and was still alive after this incident. She came out after he confronted her about that.
One last thing, Kazuki is a massive brocon. She said she couldn’t resist kissing Yuuji on the mouth, with bonus tongue. Kazuki even mentioned that her mother told her to not do that outside, meaning it was okay in the house. Kazuki also took baths with him, educated him with the female anatomy and she played with his penis every once in a while. Funny part is, she wasn’t joking when she was saying this and said she was proud of how she raised Yuuji.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I was thinking while watching these last two episodes “Is this a VN for masochists?” It doesn’t really seem like a fun thing to read. Especially if the did all the ero stuff before this.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Yeah. I can understand why people might call Amane’s story the “best” one since it’s certainly the most extreme out of all the others, which makes it stick around more in your memory. But it’s still so uncomfortable to watch that I have a hard time believing anyone actually enjoyed it. And if they claim they genuinely did, then Highway already said what needs to be said.
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Vanadis: You had one job Satelight. If you’re doing fanservice, then deliver it properly. What a waste of opportunity to see Regin’s back and Tigre wiping it thoroughly. We did get to see her front in the water’s reflection but that was still too weak.
The meetup during childhood thing did come out so suddenly so I have no defense for that. It’s a way to move the plot I guess. Though Ellen did make a point. Regin has those Regins that she really would have had trouble hiding them as a male. Ellen even joked that Regin should have it chopped off.
The show definitely did a poor job of building up the enemies that this confrontation feels too weak. They skipped the part where Ganelon actually planned the burning of that city with the excuse of madness for losing to Thenardier and his dragons. Ganelon kind of resembles Matou Zouken from F/SN and it’s a fair comparison really.
That’s also all we’ll get for Valentina for now. One missing piece of info for her is that she’s ‘sickly’, emphasis since she’s just pretending. That’s why Sofya was surprised to see her in the castle since her territory is far even if she has the teleportation power. It can tire the user if one travels long distances and given that she’s ‘sickly’ and rarely ventures out of her territory. There’s a reason why she’s overseeing chess pieces of the characters in the ED.
That’s around half of the volume already. They could actually pace the remaining content to fit the last episodes. Though don’t expect a second season. This is volume 5 out of 10 currently out and they already left out a valuable plot point in the last episode, even though they showed the guy who gave Thenardier those dragons. One would wonder where he got those dragons in the first place and where he got those special chains that can nullify a Vanadis’ special skill.
Wouldn’t the one that bandaged Ellen be either Lim or Titta? I don’t think any men would even be allowed to get close to do that. I admit that it kinda looks weird even though it covers the same amount as her usual outfit.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought they were going for that ‘bound’ look that you always get when the girl warrior tries to pass herself off as a guy. Except that there’s no way that Elen could manage that. Maybe Ludmila could…
Vanadis continues to feel like it’s showing the boring parts and skipping the good parts. And even the ‘good’ parts it shows are not that good. That cold open was just so bad this week: A rote completely random boob grope of a character we’ve never seen with no reaction whatsoever. Just have it in there to have it in there.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
I prefer to think that they decided to play it safe by relying on an expert and made a medic have a very, very, VERY good day.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Grisaia: Really, what messed this arc was the fact that we already know that Amane was the sole survivor of the incident. I can guess by what Kazami said, what she’s going to do. She’s probably going to sacrifice the whole camp for Amane alone. It would be awesome if we couldn’t predict it, but they made this job waaay too easy.
Anyway, I can’t look at Kazami-sister and not think about Yumiko, who reminds me of Senjougahara, from Monogatari. But it’s probably just me thinking too much about Monogatari stuff.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Yumiko definitely give Hitagi vibes, and it’s not just the box cutter and hairstyle and Akio Watanabe. She’s very guarded, presenting a very hostile exterior so that no one can get close to her,much like Hitagi at the start of Bakemonogatari.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Whining time about spammy being spammy. Someone, pls.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
We all know about that kind of whining because we’ve been there. 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Madan no Ou to Vanadis – 11: An interesting turn of events. I’d heard Regin would be important to the story the moment she was introduced but it never crossed my mind that she’d be royalty.
Lackluster battle here but the Eleonora/Ludmila tag-team was a good watch. They’re more productive as a team than rivals.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
Vanadis: OMG, a good battle!And excitement is over…Guys please, if you want to use fan-service do it right! i like the new girl…Milla still wins the best girl award