Ric: A Ric post, (Almost) on time even? I can imagine you’re all quite shocked. (Then again, this is a monthly show…)
With this series being such a delightful change of pace from the mostly awful shows this season (Excluding the excellent Durarara!), I think I’ll give you my opinion on this now, and rather than spoiling it all with my usual reviewing style (I want you all to watch this, rather than taking my word for it, after all.), I’ll just tell you why you should all be watching this.
Ric’s Rating for Episode 01: 10/10
Ric’s Anticipation for Episode 02: 10/10
(Hint: This episode is getting 10/10 for a reason.)
The Art is Beautiful:
The art to this series is absolutely gorgeous, yet delightfully simple at the same time, letting it be a treat to the eyes, while also fitting the setting of the series fantastically. This is made better by the fluid animation that you would expect from a series like this.
It helps that the art reminds me of the excellent Okami, as well as the Phoenix OVAs from the 80′s. (Watch these too!)
It doesn’t know the difference between a sword and a gun?!
So, Togame goes into this explanation of these twelve supposedly all-powerful “swords”. It appears she doesn’t know that swords and guns aren’t the same thing, I find this to be delightful for some weird reason. Maybe that’s just me being weird, but I like that.
SOUL CALIBUR 5: SWORDS THAT AREN’T REALLY SWORDS
Togame is the animated incarnation of this ENTIRE TEAM!
Seriously. This line sums up the entire team. For those not entirely in the loop, the “Boss” has got us all working on a video project and- What? Not relevant to the post? Bah!
Okay, a real reason then.
Ninjas are actually Ninjas!
Seriously, this is a sickeningly rare thing in anime nowadays. What happened to Ninjas using the shadows and trickery to their advantage? Not being stupidly flashy and so on and so forth. WHAT HAPPENED?!
I DEMAND REAL NINJAS FROM THIS POINT ON, DAMMIT!
Seriously though, this Ninja was great. Fought like a Ninja, didn’t do anything stupidly flashy, and the fight scenes in this episode managed to be incredibly entertaining without having to resort to attacks brighter than a disco ball in a laserbeam factory for cheap addons. (All those out there that do this…YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.)
The lead being a bit dim actually works!
I love how Shichika somehow “outsmarts” the Ninja in this episode, completely out of luck. I’m not gonna say why, because it’s brilliant, but you’ll probably end up with the same sort of grin that I did when you see it happen.
Togame is adorable!
Seriously, Togame is just so cute. While she’s something of a klutz, falling down like, three times this episode alone, as cliche as that is, she makes it fun. I also like how she carries on speaking when she gets excited, only to realise halfway through that noone knows what she’s talking about. (I do this too…)
I also have no idea how the hell she managed to get herself into the position in the above picture, but god, watching her realise that she can’t get out was fun. <3
She’s also an interesting character outside of the cuteness as well, but as I said earlier, I don’t want to give spoilers.
The main pairing is cuuute~
Now, I’m going to tell you that it does in fact come pretty much out of nowhere, but this pairing is so cute that I actually don’t care. Hell, they even get Shichika’s sister’s blessing too.
It’ll be interesting to see what they do with this, so if it goes well, expect the next posts to essentially be Minmin posts, only late and full of very awkward puns. (If not, expect it to be…late and full of very awkward puns?)
Anyway, those are all the reasons I can give you that don’t come with the awful taste of spoilers. I hope this has convinced you, as this is quite easily one of the best anime this season, and is pretty deserving of any attention that it can get.
Oh, music’s great too, so go look up or download the OP/ED for this one at first opportunity.
Goodbye, and may your God go with you.
-The Lean, Green Tangerine
