Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku – 07-10
Yeah, they just keep trying and trying…
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Well, I promised that I would do an overall review of the show at the end of the Summer season; call this half of that promise fulfilled, as I’d rather do four now, and two/three later. I’ll be brief and break it down episode by episode; Good, Bad, and Ugly style…. |
For Love of Lava Not…
Episode Seven
My So-Called Tragic Life…
The Good: Some semblance of plot got moving via the Black Dragon scale. A possible love interest between Merly and Swallow, with the first impression of the same between Ulirka and Swallow. The later will come into play during episode ten. Cliffhanger ending promises LOLi.
The Bad: There is quite a bit that is bad for this one episode, as it had to buy into the trail of derp the past two episode left in their sloshy wake. But, instead I’ll go for all new derp. That is Swallows “tragic” backstory. It was pretty much a copy and paste job from start to finish, with very few of the serial numbers filled off. It makes no literal sense, and gives us no depth into the Black Dragon Knight’s character. It pretty much just set’s us up for Swallow cashing in plot coupons to his Black Dragon creditor by dumping the Black Dragon scale into Red Dragon’s power center. There was quite a bit of smoke and noise about the Dragons with little concrete exposition. Pick a power/influence set, guys, your writing isn’t that clever.
The Ugly: The combat with the golem was a battle for who could care less. Eiha once again proves to be….like, there, I guess. Lava neither burns, nor chokes, might as well have fought on the beach….
For Love of LOLi (Not?)
Episode Eight
Meet the new boss….
The Good: Chika Anzai as Inori is as close to an Evil Chaika Trabant as we ever will get. She’s also positioned by the story to be the ultimate shadowy power player, which suits me fine. As Ibuki’s twin (but slightly older) she’s also a Child of Contract to Red Dragon, and the push and pull between Ibuki’s reluctance to power, and her mad embrace of it is kinda refreshing and interesting. But see The Ugly below.
The Bad: So, you know that Red Dragon Expedition you’ve been told to buy into all along. Yeah, well, never-mind, that was all just a ruse to get Kouran bollixed with Returned Ones, and to put D’natia into a more powerful position to take over Nil Kamui. Not a bad idea per se, but the execution was poor, and the reaction’s by Lou, Swallow, Kagraba, et. al. was pretty much, “yeah, that was likely to happen”.
The Ugly: Mashiro’s Return as a Returned One controlled by Inori. Again, not a bad idea, but execution is everything, and they play it so fast and loose, and change the rules on the fly. Nothing settles down into a pattern that the audience can care about. Also, watching Ibuki go back and forth from elation to terror was just cringe-worthy. Plus, he’s about a dumb as a box of hammers most of the time. It makes that contrast to her sister derpy and shallow. Good LOLi character that I’ve grown to respect is a diamond set on a tin ring….
For Love of LOLi Not….
Episode Nine
Welcome back Mashiro…now go away….
The Good: Actually this one had decent pacing, and managed to put some rather attractive adhesive bandages on gaping narrative wounds, and leaking character motivations. We got some sympathy for Lou and a touch more about D’natia politics and such. But….
The Bad: It’s not like these character’s or plot’s had any depth to begin with. I said bandages, and I meant that, as this patient is pretty terminal at this point. It’s gonna bleed out sooner rather than later. Ibuki decides, after seeing the horror of Mashiro’s return decides it’s best for him to step up his game and finally become king, as his sister is not a likable option. Really? She’s a ruthless power player that isn’t the least bit afraid to use what she has at her disposal to basically kick Kouran’s ass and wipe D’natia’s in a few swift strokes. Sounds like she is perfect for this job. Too bad they play her off as the crazy one. All Hail Queen Inori!
The Ugly: Mashiro’s return and departure. Yep, third act cheap melodrama to put the would-be-boy King back on the right path. Just like the first episode….Also the kiss between Mashiro and Eiha was just a bit to far…and for me, that is saying quite a bit.
For Love of Lou Not…
Episode Ten
If you gotta die, make sure the music is pretty…
The Good: Chopin’s “Waltz No. 14 in E Minor” was used very well in the main combat scene between Ulrika and Lou; it’s tone did a great job underscoring both the fight, and Ulrika’s feelings and ultimate demise. I like how the writing was actually able to pull of a decent Chekov’s Gun in the Guardian Sprits, giving us a great moment when both show and tell worked well with each other. I liked how we got a contrast between both Ulrika and Lou’s approach to Swallow as a potential lover, with their methods telegraphing the fight rather well. Yeah, lots of good stuff this episode, but…
The Bad: The narrative is still writing checks it can’t cash. Lou’s backstory as presented here is so single note that it barely even registers as anything of importance, but it least it’s a bit more original that Swallow’s. Not that that can say much. Lou’s moves on him were basically the worst excesses of both Nasu and Bocchi given form, and were pretty embarrassing in the execution.
The Ugly: It wasn’t that Ulika death was bad or ugly, it’s just that we had very little in the way of any of her motivations. So the Ugly here, is that with a bit more TLC for characterization in this show, her sacrifice for Swallow’s sense of duty would have had more impact. But then characterization always suffers, as Swallow’s turn to “doing the right thing” for Ibuki is just facepalmy.
For Love of LOLi Not….Part II
Why is she even around…?
Eiha’s story is just tragic as it gets. No, not her back story per se, as she’s a Cursed Being, and that comes front loaded with terrible crap. It’s tragic cause they’ve done squat with her. She has little if any agency, has done nothing that denotes any purpose, and the story keeps playing her as both the most important thing in Ibuki’s life, and a life he cannot sacrifice. It’s an interesting dichotomy to play with, and yet….she’s a cipher of a character. I want to like her, and it’s not hard, but finding a good reason to, beyond her being the semi-broken pet of the party, is difficult. This is the part that I’ll call the Biggest Ugly of the show so far….
Welp, I wanted to keep it short and sweet, and darn it, if I didn’t do just that. Not bad for four episodes. I know that I missed quite a few story elements, but that was on purpose. If you want to bring those up in comments, then I think that’s a fine place for them. Thanks for catching up with the show!
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Nakata Jouji really likes to get casted as a dragon. Peterhausen in Daimaou, Sigmund in Machine Doll, and Rubrum in Amagi.
Nasu’s character just attracts all the girls, especially the Saberclone. He even got to touch Butcher’s boobs a little…Yeah, that didn’t come out right but I wanted to make that joke in the latest episode.
I knew the Saberclone was fated to die when she showed interest in Nasu but I couldn’t care less. I wanted to like her since she looks good but she had too little development.
And I want to say something about the evil twin and the zombie childhood friend but I don’t feel like it.
I’m barely paying attention anymore in this show and just want to see how bad its ending is. I might just look up how the original tabletop session played out afterwards. Might as Grand Order is still taking up most of my time. I might also forget about doing that since it’s the fate of this show once it ends: get forgotten into oblivion.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I think everyone I’ve seen talking about episode ten has made the joke about Bocchi Boobs; it was all over the reddit page. I wanted to, I really really did. But felt like I could take a pass on it this time. The oddest thing about that is that Bocchi’s character in the game was a dude, and got genderflipped for the anime. So yeah….
I would love to tempt you to talk about the evil twin, but you can leave out the childhood friend. She’s gone now…
I cannot make myself forget this show. No matter what the gimmick, not matter what the production, you can cock it all up if you ain’t got any soul. So yeah, forget the show, but not the lesson.
Unless a show this season can not stick a landing, or one of the Fall shows just does a facedive the first episode, I think this one will be known as the Worst Show of 2015. Hands down, worst.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
There were several shows I dropped this season, but that was more because of personal taste than poor direction, plot, characters, everything. I really tried holding on, but after they introduced the twin sister (who everyone thought was dead) I threw in the towel.
They killed off any characters who I might have found interesting, and I dislike Lou, Ibuki, Eiha has no personality, and Swallow is… just full of suck.
Catching up on Highschool DxD instead, now that’s a red dragon I can get behind.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Inori is actually kinda interesting. They are setting her up as the villain, but my take is Inori did Nothing Wrong to some degree.
But yeah, the Red Dragon/Oppai Dragon of HS DxD is a muuuuuch better time.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Pftt, hahaha!! The sheer thought of comparing those two is ridiculous.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
It boggles the mind that both anime can even exist in the same universe!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
George just likes to be good villians. Literally the dragon in the unlimited sharpie works. 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Oh? I thought he played the fake priest. 😉
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
There are a handful of series I never bothered to continue past their second episode but the ones I definitely dropped this season are Chaos Dragon and Jitsu wa Watashi wa.
Chaos Dragon was already a mess that spanned all over the place along with a pathetic lead like Ibuki. Faking the death of the sister passed but showing Mashiro as a more refined Returned One an episode right after dealing with the untamed variety got on my nerves.
Jitsu wa Watashi wa was simply an utter disappointment in my eyes for a handful of reasons.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Chaos Dragon suffers from poor series composition from start to finish. They just don’t know how to pace the set pieces from one episode to the next. That’s why every three episodes have to take time to untangle the developments of the previous two. Then they just add more.
Jitsu wa, however? Most rom-coms rely on absurd set pieces period. They just build up and escalate from those points. Jitsu wa takes time to develop the connective tissue. Some of the quieter moments may not be for everyone, but I think it makes everything in the show much more impacting. Better than Nisekoi’s general feeling of goofery.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Then you’re at a loss because I’m not a fan of Nisekoi, either and didn’t take long for me to drop it.
Jitsu wa Watashi wa has little to no appeal for me. It’s a rom-com, a clumsy one. Not something I’d get hyped about or go out of my way to tell people. I read the manga long before the anime adaptation announcement. At least 5 or 6 chapters but what I saw within them didn’t motivate me to continue reading so it was left alone. I gave it a second chance with the anime but came quickly back to the same sentiment. It felt like forcing myself watching the continuing episodes until I eventually found myself asking “Is this going to be over yet?”. Not a good sign.
The characters aren’t impressive either. I hardly have an opinion on the male lead but the female lead was too much of a ditz and hardly seemed like a vampire to me. Only wings and fangs with nothing else to give the feel she’s a different species, she’d pass off as a bad cosplayer at best. Rosario + Vampire’s Moka Akashiya and Fortune Arterial’s Erika Sendou do a better job retaining their vampiric feel in spite of behaving in a docile manner.