Musaigen no Phantom World – 02
…all in a day’s work…
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So, did they or didn’t they misuse the a term in the show? That UFO by the show’s end was most certainly Identifiable, or do I niptick? I certainly do get partially upset when people refer to alien outer space-craft as UFOs, as that, too, shoots the U right out of it….In a show about language and it’s uses that might be important. |
…this world, like language, changes…
“language is a virus…from outer space”
Thematically, this show does like to point out how we shape the world around us via the feedback we get from our own senses and perceptions. It dresses it up a bit too much, and set’s it up for a joke way to much, but there is quite a bit to explore in Ichijo’s trivial lore. But for all that this episode did rather underscore what happens when our “flapping meat”, making “meat sounds” * goes into high gear.
…it makes me wonder if her own earphones are noise cancelling, or if she even needs that…
We got our proper introduction to the next main character, Koito Minase and her crazy new sound. She better have a very powerful ability, cause it takes quite a bit of time and effort to warm it up and fire it. I do like the rhythm, and Maayu Uchida’s delivery of the chant and the actual “Ahhhhh” was quite….well, I’m sure the British would call it, “a brave choice”, but I thought it worked out really well for the character and the ability in the long run. Koito isn’t a performer, she’s an exorcist of sorts, so I’m sure she’d rather do good than sound super awesome. But this was a solid introduction to a taciturn, laconic character. We’ve yet to see if still waters run deep, but we’re still at head of the stream.
A lot of the focus was again on Ichijo in the second and third sections as well. With his huge, very enviable, library and his lexicon of a brain informing the other characters of the show’s oncoming nomenclature. There really is such a thing as a Parole, not that either Mai or Reina care that much; nor does the audience for that matter. But I eat it up, and think that it’s rather important on the thematic sense of the show. How we perceive the world is down to language, and why is a thing called what it is anyway. You can own quite a bit owning the language.
But the major fun comes in the final section with a all the groundwork the rest of the episode laid down given fruit. Ichijo’s struggle to prefect his Book of Thoth routine was fun. I don’t know if he is that bad an artist that the rest of the phantom world can’t quite get what he is drawing, or if a cute little puppy with wings is what he really wanted in the first place. It hardly matters, as the show has it’s new mascot, and with that Ichijo has his first major summons and thus is proving “useful”.
Other themes
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KyoAni keeps on making exactly the show it wants to make. While it doesn’t have as tight a character narrative as Hibike! displayed, that doesn’t mean it’s approach is any less valid. They’ve tossed their hat into the harem, ecchi ring and it’s a good toss. They’ve laid down some interesting mystery to go on with the Alayashiki and what went down in their main factory. Why was it hit by terrorists in the first place, what where they working on, and what is going on with the rest of their facilities. At this point the phantom world looks like it makes some of our hopes and our dreads manifest, but what of UFO’s and security drones? And odd-ball old school looking modems?
So what did Ruru find?
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: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, that was chaotic and random. If not for the title info, I wouldn’t even know what this episode was supposed to be about. It was amusing so I’ll give it that.
Looks like Koito has quite the strenuous ability since her voice is needed. The trouble is I can see that repetition chanting Parole to release the ability will get old real fast.
Then there’s Haruhiko. Blood needed to initiate a summoning. Didn’t recall this show being Naruto. Strange… Aside from that, somehow, a part of me knew the result of his summoning ritual was bound to screw him over. Whenever a male character asks for an epic looking creature as its guardian/partner, they have to get further screwed by getting the exact opposite of what they hope for. Clearly an unwritten law in the anime world.
Someone tell Mai that is Chun-Li’s special move from Street Fighter! That is copyright infringement!!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
LOLWUT!? Since when does Naruto, or even the medium of anime, have exclusive rights over blood magic. That’s been a horror/supernatural staple for centuries if not millennia. I mean you might as well accuse them off ripping of Shin Megami Tensei by using Marchoiasas. Geez. Oh, so I guess no one is allowed to use martial arts now? Cause of MFing Street Fighter! LOL!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I said that mainly because Naruto is where I’ve seen that stuff done the most. So the moment I saw Haruhiko doing the summoning, not to mention the condition for it, Naruto immediately popped into my mind.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
And FMA! Ed has to use his brothers blood to create a symbol to bind Al’s soul to the suit of armor, but I figured Haruhiko would get the puppy because of the OP there is a quick shot of him doing the classic I choose you pose from Pokemon where you also see the squid thing which I will say looks so cute! Oh and the puppy looks a lot like the cat with wings from Chuunibyou xD
POWUH: iLurker with 13 comments
I wonder why Reina just sucked on Haruhiko’s bleeding finger without even thinking about it (she didn’t seem to know that she had the power to heal it by doing so)?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
…the first thing that comes to mind is…FANSERVICE!!!! The second thing that comes to mind is “watch this space”.
POWUH: iLurker with 13 comments
I don’t quite understand the second answer.
If I personally had to think of a reason why Reina felt compelled to do so, her simply being a compassionate individual would probably be the most likely answer (as sonicsenryaku said on Random Curiosity).
Honestly, I think she’s probably my favorite girl in this show because of that. Really, she comes across as the girl who treats Haruhiko the best (I’d actually go so far as to say she’s the only one who has shown any respect towards him).
If I were more of a shipper, I’d probably want those two to be a pairing. Sadly, there are two things that make me lose motivation: 1) His treatment in the show makes me feel like the odds of him getting a girlfriend are slim to none; 2) Even if he did get one, she feels like the least likely choice.
P.S. I found the part of the OP where she kneeled down to look at his drawing as if she found it interesting, as well as his reaction, kind of cute.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
“Watch this space” basically means keep watching and answers will probably happen.
Yeah, it’s really easy to ship these two, and the show has been making it that way. So, of course it’s not going to be that easy! Cause anime!
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
thanks for the shoutout man :D; it wouldnt have cared even if you didnt mention my name but that’s respectable that you did
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I’m hoping it has something to do with Kurumi. She’s not shown up yet..
POWUH: iLurker with 13 comments
Going by the opening, it’s probably another one of Haruhiko’s summons.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I hope the squid summons squeaks like the alien from Sidonia no Kishi!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Digivice from Digimon! I’d bet that’s where the squid comes from cause boy does it scream Pokemon/Digimon to me, but of course Haruhiko can already summon his own creatures so it’s probably something that will be used later? I almost bet we’re getting a beach episode next week.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
It’s likely it could be a database, so Digivice yes, and no. This episode did show Ichijo accessing it, and those do look like USB ports on the side.
Beach episode? Did I miss a clue?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Oh I imagined them needing a water based creature for something beach/pool related next time hahaha.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
…that’s fair…
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Minase was a big flop for me. They introduce her as some solo badass and everything and the first scene we get of her ability is seeing her being completely helpless.
OK… way to build a character up and then turn her into absolutely nothing. And frankly, by the third time she did her chant I was like “Alright already! I heard you the first time – get on with it!” It’s boring kills the pace when they do these massive chants. Listening to Tinkerbell (I’m just going to call her that) recite her entire name was pretty funny though.
Really, the animation is cool, the visuals are fun, and the character concepts and design are all totally good for me.
But this show is just boring! I don’t know how else to say it. Nothing is happening between these characters. The encounters are being done just on script-writing autopilot.
It’s like they had this cool setup, and then just inserted a paint-by-the-numbers script to take us… I don’t know… somewhere, I guess?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Minase is the acquired taste I guess?
But yeah, around and about the third time she went into her own “parole” I found it was over kill. Hopefully they’ll edit around that in future as we can take it as one and done now.
I have to disagree, I found plenty going on the with the characters. They’ve tracked it out that even with something as unusual as phantoms, it’s “all in a day’s work” for them. A touch of then mundane is nice to give a book-end to the more outrageous stuff that is probably to come later. It’s only the second episode, give it some time, yeah?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
The thing is, I thought that the repetition was actually pretty good character setting with Minase, especially with Haruhiko’s mentions about shortening his own ‘parole’. One got the feeling that this might have been the first time, or at most a rare time, that she’s had to go through the whole cast more than once. She certainly seemed to be getting frustrated / anxious about it, and while I’d agree that it would have been better if they’d set her up a bit more before knocking her down, it would have more impact, I’m not too worried about that.
ETA: To me it was akin to the same thing in Chaika, or in Harry Potter when Harry was trying to learn subvocal casting.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Thank you! I was having a brain-fart and I couldn’t remember which show had the shortened casting! This is horrible, as it was a show I covered…. ::head desks:: So, thanks for making me feel bad…..I’ll be here all day…
Anyway, yeah, I agree with you that the repetition was going into characterization for her…but I felt they sold it the second time. A third time felt like overkill…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
And personally, I think that was the point. It’s not like they wasted a lot of time of the viewer for her to say the whole litany, perhaps it took her 3-5 seconds max. I think the point was to make a progression for the viewer as follows:
First round: “Wow, that’s a kinda neat incantation, seems to take a little long.”
Second round: “Oh, she has to say the whole thing every time, that could be a bit inconvenient.”
Third round: “Geez, is she even going to finish before the thing gets away or recovers? That could really be a problem.”
In other words, the first time was to introduce it, the second time was to establish the unwieldiness, and the third time was to establish the large degree of unwieldiness. But it also feels like it allows for some interesting storytelling in the future if they go that way, such as her effort to shorten it, or even their efforts to coordinate timing.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
But the second and third round are so close as to be the same; you could easily append the third part to the second and only miss a half beat….Unwieldiness is as it does, larger scope is just that, and felt unneeded here…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, I’ll have to just stop telling you you’re wrong. 😉
I thought it was a fine storytelling trick, all the more effective for having as big of an effect as it did on you guys.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I don’t think either one of us are right or wrong, just stating what we value.
A fine trick doesn’t annoy, which is what we’ve stated…
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
also notice that it’s only the first part of her parole that’s truly repetitive; the second part of the parole explains the effect she wishes her voice to do. So it’s like saying ‘Bibiti bobiti bo” at the beginning of every spell, but then exclaiming afterwords what you are trying to do with the spell. koito at one point summons flames with her voice because the second verse of her parole called upon it….technically highway is right but i see why some would find it tiring. however, yes it points out why having an effective parole is necessary as haruhiko later implies