Endride – 02 – 03
How not to raise your kid
Two weeks (or three?) since Endride airs and I only post this now. I’m planning to do all my posts once every two weeks because there are some anime that has little to talk about for one episode, especially with Endride. Besides, I don’t think I can handle posting every week.
So, after a bland first episode, we are presented with more explanatory regarding the characters and the world. Basically, Endora is the world inside the Earth. That’s right, instead of Mordor, a huge Eye on a tower, and rings, our Earth actually has a world inside it. And how do they get the sunlight? From the North Pole. Apparently the crack is so huge it gives light to the world under us, and the light is scattered all over Endora by this crystal-looking sun? How they get that thing hanging, I don’t know. Maybe they got the trick from Tegami Bachi. Oh, and there is this Warp Particle who is maybe a cousin of Minovsky Particle but instead of messing up radio/signal/whatever it is called it creates a weapon when they hit each other! Did I also mention that wild boars here have crystal horns? They die when the horns are shattered too. Wow! Two episodes and I already passed the Science of Convenience! Above here are some of the benefits when a series is based on a pure fictional world. Everything is possible. They are trying to make the world of Endora to be as fantasy world, hence the beautiful scenery, the crystals, and so on. Plus, the background music is a dead giveaway of the kind of ambience they attempt to create – a fantasy world with a touch of legends here are there. Y’know, the kind of world in adventure games. After all, some called Endora as the “paradise named Shambala.”
But sometimes it doesn’t work this way. Yes, playing around with lots of things in a fictional world to make it as “fantasy” as possible is fine. However, there is a limit to do things. At least do it in a way where everything doesn’t look downright ridiculous. Beautiful scenery? Yes. Colorful? Yes. Wild boars with crystal horns? NO. Illogical explanation of a random particle? NO. The fantasy aspect of Endora is being pushed too much to the point where it’s beyond ridiculous. But there are some good points of Endora, and no it’s not the silly religion reference. The world is really pretty! The autumn leaves have many different colors, and I have to admit the crystal sun is gorgeous every time they have this shot of a city or section of the world. They did a good job with the background and everything. Even Pascal’s junks look really artsy with the touch of water color they did there.
I just hope they put as much as effort with the characters. I swear the characters look like as if they just had plastic surgery in South Korea. The characters’ faces in episode 3 are really different from the ones in episode 1-2. Even Alicia’s boobs look smaller in episode 3. Some of the animations are somewhat off too. Only three episodes and they are running out of budget? What are they going to do with the rest of 21 episodes, stick figures? Maybe that’s why they have such repetitive background music. To save money? They can just not use BGM if they want to have money instead of repeating the same things over and over again, not to mention the awkward BGM in some scenes. It’s like watching Cross Ange but with awkward folk song-ish BGM instead of Shikata Akiko’s New Age BGM.
Oh well, despite of the flaws in the world, character, and other things, the information provided was helpful enough to understand the whole situation. To make it short, Endora is basically a world with no contact with the surface, and now the king with horrible shoulder pads wants to come into contact with the surface despite of the warning from the ancient texts. It’s still a mystery why he wants to do that, but I bet it has something to do with his brother. Y’know, the shadow who left him in the beginning of episode 1. I have a feeling that Shun is somewhat involved with the whole Endora founder thing. Pascal mentioned something about exchange, so maybe he was actually the real prince and was hidden or traded to the surface to prevent some kind of war within Endora? His mastery of Warp Relic should be questioned too, making me more and more convinced that he has Endora blood within him somehow. But it seems that we will focus more on the king and Emilio, so I guess the mystery about Shun should be put aside now. There are 21 episode more, so yeah….
Everything was, I don’t know, weird? The episodes weren’t good, and I feel as if something is wrong with the episodes. Maybe it’s because they are focusing on unnecessary scenes, that’s why the execution feels bad. Or maybe it’s because of the unnatural relationship the characters have. I know they want to have this enemy-to-friends basis between Emilio and Shun, but I found their bickering relationship to be clumsy and unnatural. What was the basis of their enmity again? Nothing. Just rude conversations that could have been solved peacefully if they talk properly. Moreover, I still don’t get Alicia’s existence. What in the world is the point of her being there? She shows up out of nowhere, randomly follows the characters without even telling her parents, and that’s it? So far, she is not needed. So why should she be there? The whole flashbacks with Pascal was sloppy too. Instead of sympathizing with him, I was more annoyed with the wrong time they put the flashback. What’s more, the flashbacks showed Emilio’s illogical thinking about his father, making his character even worse. I don’t know, everything was so blah so far. I hope I can survive 21 more episodes.
Preview: Ignatius? Ignaiuts? Whatever its name is, it’s the rebel time!
Next week’s riddle is whether this person is a man or woman
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Could be worse.
You could be watching Cerebus.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Wow, Cerberus is getting worse now? Too bad, the story has potentials. This one has too, but I’m afraid it’s gona be overshadowed if this continues
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
However, if Endride continues to falter, at least you can takeover covering one of the series that has already had a First Impression.
Speaking of FIs, I’ve noticed no one has covered Kuromukuro. Since it involves mecha, I was sure Fosh wouldn’t miss that. Or any of the other bloggers since some are known P.A Works
addictsfans.POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Naw, I’ll stick with Endride.
Didn’t know Kuromukuro is mecha. Looks somewhat lacking and uninteresting.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
I don’t know about originality. But so far I’m enjoying Kuromukuro. Animation is quite good, and the two leads are fun enough to watch. After three episodes, I’m following it.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Really? I haven’t watched the third episode yet but I’m more tolerant watching Cerberus than I am with Endride. At least there’s no aimless, humorless bickering going on from two insufferable characters.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
I prefer Cerberus than Endride. Although the bickering is awkward, they are there for the purpose of creating a “hostile” atmosphere between the characters. It’s there for a reason. It’s hard not to become disinterested with the bickering if there is no tolerance for the purpose of it. And despite of the low animation quality in episode 3, it’s still waaay better than Cereberus’ first episode animation.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I figure I’ll give it another episode or two, but unless things improve that’ll be it. The only thing I’ve really liked is the beautiful scenery. Emilio and Shun are both such jerks that I have zero investment in them. And so far there’s very little about Alicia and Pascal to make them interesting. Nor is the storyline anything more than barely adequate and saddled with some ridiculous explanations.
Is at least somebody in the new group introduced at the end of Ep. 3 going to be interesting?
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
I can’t really say much for the story because they are still building it up. At least they did a good job at putting the elements that would perk some of the audience’s interest (despite of the horrible way of delivering it). But yeah, Alicia and her dragon are annoying.
Weelllll all we know is that they are the rebels, so that might lead to some story about the current shoulder pad king. We know little or nothing at all about him, so that’s a plus… I guess?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
What I can say at this point is Pascal’s foreboding talk about Endora and the surface not allowed to make contact is the only aspect bringing any real interest. I can imagine one or two reasons why he’d insist given what we know of either side’s ways and cultures. Events are being set in motion, however I find myself caring very little about them.
The characters are another concern. Pascal is cool and Alicia is funny as she is cute but they’re unfortunately sidelined to allow more room for Shun and Emilio, whose personalities and constantly needless bickering are quite the nuisance.
I’m on the fence right now. After the next episode, depending on how it goes, maybe I’ll continue, drop it or might come back when all episodes are available for a binge watch.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
I’ll have to admit Alicia is pretty, but she has little use right now except for the obligatory female existence in a series.
Yes, the bickering is getting annoying, but you can see that it is due to the similar alpha personality the two have. If we know more about the characters, we might be able to see the reason of their bickering (except some random bad first impression). Unfortunately we don’t, so the bickering has little use now except for creating the hostile atmosphere between the two