Brave Witches – 03
One Punch Witch
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So yeah, she’s totally not a version of a previous character…and honestly, she actually isn’t. So let’s see how that works… |
In her own way, she’s…
Little more “eyes front” there Georgette…Kanno…
So it’s time for Hikari to get settled into her new digs and meet her new friends, and like a lot of good stories it doesn’t start out as easy as the main character would like. The show was pretty much all character driven, and even the official introduction of a new Neuroi nest – which they code-named “Grigori”- only really served to put wind in the characters sails. Pretty much? Yeah, it’s gonna get more detailed as time goes by in the program, I’m sure, but for now the Neuroi is a big prize/goal they all have eyes on. As for the new digs, I love that gorgeous bit toward the middle with Nipa talking to Hikari about the town of Petersburg, their Orussian base of operation, being a depopulated city, to underscore the stakes. That beautiful place, a not a soul but the fighting forces in it…
Tsun Witch…
So for the character drive we get a nice re-introduction to the whole gang, but this episode will focus on just a few. The crew is fairly open about Hikari being there, serving as a conditional replacement for her big sister. Some of them take it in good disciplined stride, while two outstanding members aren’t so enthusiastic. First is Georgette, who isn’t exactly mean about meeting a potential new teammate, but she takes is rather more to the shyer side. She can barely look Hikari in the eye, yet cannot help but be around her in some cases; don’t’ know that that is yet, but it’s a good planted character seed. The mean seed is, of course, Naoe Kanno, our resident Not-Perrine. She has more tsun than is allowed by the flight manual that’s for sure, and she also has a deep admiration for Takumi, so that tracks with at least two of Perrine’s defining traits. But where the Gaulian witch came from a noblesse oblige and from that standard she drew strength, Kanno is just like the rest of us, and Takumi is a shining example that common can and will succeed. Which is a nicer way of saying that Kanno is much coarser, and it seems her purpose is much more personal than Perrine’s at-home obligations.
Where do their shoes go? Is it like a rack, a basket…?
But you can’t have an ep of the Witches franchise go by without a flying bad thing coming around and tossing a speed bump at all the character moments, and this is not an exception. Now that is a dodge on my part as the introduction of the Neuroi-of-the-Week has always been more about the characters. The Neuroi are literally catalysts, shattering into nothing upon story use/actual defeat. The lather, rinse, repeat is just the way the engine works. In this case it was to test out Hikari’s mettle in battle and her insistence that she has her “sister’s eyes”. The brings her under the watchful eyes off both Alexandra and Edytha; the latter of the two becoming a favorite of mine already. But these two are the right and left hands of Gundala’s command, and they’re calling the shot after orders are given. As for now we don’t know why Hikari doesn’t have the same potential to see the Neuroi core, but in this pivotal battle, the failure is all that counts. But as we saw, leave it to her every-ballyhooed stamina to get her back in good graces. Blame it on the locusts, I guess? Or Nipa’s bad luck?
Hang around for a few more pics….
Speaking of Nipa….
Well, according to some ‘net scuttlebutt, next week is going to be a skip week for this show as Silver Link is pulling/citing a “production value” Actas/Regalia thingy. I don’t really know what it all actually means, but you can be sure people will talk on and on about it. But I’m a fan, and I’ll be happy to wait; I do have plenty to keep me busy after all. Also I’ll forgive some of it’s production foibles, as I pretty much like their output, and I’m not a fairweather fan. There was some pretty decent CGI blending in there to balance out some of the not-at-all-decent, which shows the studio can make some progress. Honestly, Silver Link does love to bite off more than it can chew; if anyone recalls some of the production dips of this and last year; multiple shows per season can do that. But as I said, I’m a fan, and they’re doing fine by my standard. It’s not like they’ve ever gone sakuga mad with this series before. So let’s see it we can get into Nipa’s story when next we meet.
It also looks like sensei has some stuff to teach
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: 400-499 with 462 comments
More about Nipa would be good. I want lots more of Nipa. And I suppose we can have more of the other characters too. I guess. Maybe. 😉
Really they did cut down on it. If you go back and look at the first or second season, the crotch shots were a lot more common, more extreme, and there was a lot more slow-pan when a witch’s crotch happened to be in the frame. In Brave Witches the camera is basically treating it the same way their world supposedly treats it: no one thinks of it as being anything unusual, so no one pays any real attention to it. If we see their panties we see them. If we don’t, we don’t. There’s no focus on them, this time.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I really like Nipa as well. She has a chipper attitude in face of war and fighting that endears her to me. But I think we’ll be getting around to all of the cast soon enough.
Yeah, the focus is actually a lot blurrier and somewhat grainier in many respects as well. So that blunts the attention as well as the amount of shots they have.