After two transitional episodes things are finally starting to pick pace. This was definitely a Dot Pixis episode, showing the nice quirkiness and the strong leadership capabilities of the seasoned old commander. Two things to note is that there was quite a lot of dialogue (talking) and lots of stills in this episode but the stills really worked well in the episode.

Eren becomes becomes a Kyojin as planned and suddenly attacks Mikasa! What happens next?! There’s the next episode for that.

For the most part, it was a slow paced transitional episode; Honestly, this episode didn’t felt up to par compared with most of the earlier episodes. Am I the only one who’s beginning to feel that the atmosphere is forcing the atmosphere of fear and Verman’s (and other cowardly leaders’) dick leadership into our throats that it’s becoming very tiring?

TL;DR – Armin was awesome, the episode wasn’t.

The episode felt transitional, as the episode introduces Levi and his crew as well as showing Eren and his friends’ trouble with Verman and other people wanting Eren dead. We get to see how Eren became first a titan and him being able to master his ability to transform into a titan which was adapted from the manga nicely. Verman is our weekly reminder that there are leaders who are total dicks. I guess the majority of people who saw Eren back in his kyojin form are just so afraid that they ain’t thinking the situation thoroughly. Great ost and adaptation from the manga as usual. Overall, this episode serves to introduce chaos and make the audience question what are the kyojin exactly?

The best part of the episode? Freddie Mercury Kyojin.

This episode was good. Sure, there were a few stills but the nice BGM and the action scenes saved this episode. Sasha had her fair share of screen time so I’m a happy camper. I never actually thought I’d be happy to watch Mikasa’s tears of joy; For once she wasn’t boring. Oh, Eren is the friendly kyojin.

Will Eren be locked up for good now that people know he’s a kyojin? Until next episode!

Mikasa getting herself back on track after being motivated by her memories of Eren. As much as this episode was meant to show how cool Mikasa is, I can’t help but say that she’s such a boring character. She really hasn’t got much dimension to her character other than she’s a beast among her peers and Eren is the only presence that keeps her going. I’d go so far to say that Sasha Braus has much more potential to be a better character than Mikasa will ever be. Sasha’s presence brightens every scene she’s in.

How boring Mikasa is aside, this episode has a few good things: Another awesome insert song, awesome kyojin slaying action as usual and that suicide scene early on was nicely adapted from the manga.

Oh look! A Titan beating up other Titans! What a surprise! Well, not really for those who read the manga as they pretty much know this turn of event. The next episode will focus on the special Titan, it seems.

That feeling of crushing hopelessness during a Titan attack – check.
The usual person of power being a selfish dick – check.

I personally felt that this was the anime’s weakest episode as it had to go full shonen just to show how OP Mikasa was and how badass 9 year old Eren was. No normal 9 year old would be so gung-ho about killing adults that much I can say. Mikasa being OP as fuck felt underwhelming. I felt that the meat of the episode was overwhelmed by how crappy this episode was. I really don’t care much about the adaptation issues.

TL;DR – This episode sucks, hoping the next episode would be better as it should be.

Each episode really has to show a powerful figure who’s willing to forsake the people for his own safety. I’m kinda getting tired of the reminder that there are scumbag people in power.

The one thing that I really liked about this episode is that it established a lot about Eren’s character. He might be an OP MC but he’s no Gary Stu. His reckless attitude has caused the deaths of his comrades except Armin and had his ass handed to him, in the worst manner as shown by this episode.

Next week will be Mikasa’s backstory as the battle of Trost continues.

I really like how the anime through Annie points out that most capable people who can accomplish great things are the ones that are living the easy life, sheltered from all trouble. If one thinks about it, almost every person aims to be the best so that he/she can be away from all the trouble and do the least work while living the good life, despite being capable of doing more. While this is human nature of wanting to improve one’s own status of life, I think that everybody should aim to improve everybody’s status of living.

The BGM continues to be amazing and that nice build-up of that nice warm feeling at the near end only to be shattered by the sudden arrival of the Colossal Titan was done very nicely. The atmosphere building of this anime is totally top notch.

Next episode will be chaos as the Colossal Titan attacks again. Will Eren be able to do something?

That said, this episode felt like I was watching a standard training episode from a shonen anime. My greatest peeve in this episode was that Eren’s faulty equipment was used to show that he was actually good with the wire-gear because it wasn’t his fault, it’s his equipment’s fault and he was able to come through despite the handicap. Faulty equipment being the source of the main character’s troubles and showing the MC as actually pretty good by being able to use it properly is a pretty old shonen trick.

I’m hoping that the next episode would be better.

I really like how this episode highlights the worst of humanity, discrimination at its finest. Forcing refugees to eliminate the giants which was a total suicide mission to alleviate food shortage by was totally a dick move. What I really like in this episode is how the argument between Eren and Armin is so symbolic in my opinion, with Eren being humanity’s will to fight and Armin being humanity’s will to survive. Armin could also be interpreted as humanity’s complacent nature, content to survive while living in fear in that scene. I also like how Mikasa is level headed, being able to temper Eren’s fire while stressing the need for survival.

After everything has passed, Eren finally begins training for the military which will not be easy… but that’s for next episode.

Main character is bullied and totally hates his predicament so he wished to disappear from this world, his wish was granted and he is swapped with a guy who has the same name as him to magical China world and upon arrival and after a bit of ruckus, he activates a rusty sword which is really a magical sword that is a god. Oh, the guy who MC has swapped with is now in the real world.

The whole “transported into magical China world” premise is something that Yuu Watase would come up with as she used the premise in her previous work, Fushigi Yûgi. The only differences between Arata from Fushigi is that the main character is a guy and the celestial warriors are the villains.

I’m kinda okay with this since it looks something like an adventure story and my only concern is that hopefully the anime won’t become utterly disappointing like Ayashi no Ceres.

My only complaint of Kaji Yuki whining voice aside, it employed the earlier said trick to perfection to the point that the first episode was a statement in itself about human fear, complete with concluding narration of how humans lived in fear and all that. That said and the source material being about human complacency symbolized by walls vs. the human desire for freedom by the MC, I’m really looking forward to this anime and add to it the gorgeous animation that emphasizes on action scenes and nice BGM. The first episode was already a statement and hopefully the episodes that follow will have the same kind of intensity and quality.

I really like this, I really do. I really like how the anime takes its comedy seriously. Taking the miscommunication jokes seriously allowed for the unforgettable Khatsu-dum joke to really hit home and the execution of failed magic by Maou’s underling and that the great demon lord becoming just another grunt part-timer at MgRonald was perfect. Add the fact that the Hero(ine) will potentially join Maou and his underling in their human world woes opens up a whole new dimension of comedy waiting to be explored.

I’m really looking forward to this anime, it shows a lot of promise.

By the time of this writing, the anime is drawing lots of flak from anime fans because they see it as ugly. Nice judgment you have, anime fans.

My first reaction when watching this for the first time is that it is aiming to be different and it is somewhat reminiscent of some 90′s anime, it kinda gave me that Satoshi Kon feeling.

The first episode basically took the rosy high school life setting that many anime fans cherish and hold dear and crushed it under its foot. It showed the real mundane boring daily life, as real as it gets. We see the male protagonist just living his daily life monotonously, simply going through the motions. Dude can’t even confess to his dream girl. He only has his books as his sole solace.

Hiroshi Nagatama’s rotoscoping of the characters greatly enhances the mundane real life feel of the anime in my opinion and simply goes straight into showing what Aku no Hana really truly is, not even bothering with false pretenses the way the manga did. The soundtrack for was very fitting for this anime, adding an unsettling feel to it. The OP theme feels like some generic bad Jpop shit you’ll ignore while the ED theme accentuates the unsettling feel of the anime as the flower blooms, both uniquely fitting in this anime.

While a few say that nothing happened on the first episode, I think in my opinion, Aku no Hana’s first episode basically says to anime fans “your dream rosy high school life is shit.” It was a bold statement and many may have not taken that too kindly.

And so the Flower of Evil blooms and I’m very much looking forward to how this anime will unfold.

For the past six months, this anime has got to be one of the most enjoyable anime I have watched. Set in a speculative future where humans with the power of cantus live peacefully, the story is about five young children who live peacefully in their community and soon discover that not everything is what it seems.

I’ll tell you this, it is anime like SSY is what has locked me into watching anime in the first place. I like anime that makes one think about things that they may not have normally thought about and there is no clear hero and villain. I like anime that draws you in with nicely executed suspense and great story. I like anime that doesn’t shy away from controversial issues. I like anime that has awesome soundtrack. This anime is all of that.

Perhaps for me the greatest strength of this anime is the social commentary it gives to the issues it presents such as human identity and other issues that is present in today’s society where there is no easy answer.

My only complaint about this anime are the bit of pacing issues and bit of animation inconsistency which are minor bumps while watching this anime.

This is really a gem of an anime and I honestly think that this will be a classic. Some controversial scenes that have caused violent reactions among anime fans aside, I think every anime fan should watch this and hopefully, you’ll be pondering about a few things. As an anime fan, I seriously think that this anime is a must watch.

Finally figuring out the akki is not really an akki, The gang comes up with a plan to deal with the not-akki which involves Kiroumaru’s sacrifice in exchange of the Giant Hornet colony’s safety. The not-akki kills Kiroumaru and with the reveal of it killing a bakenezumi, death feedback kicks in and kills the not-akki and Yakomaru’s defeat. This also showed that the death feedback is a mental phenomenon.

The scenes that followed which involved Yakomar-I mean Squealer are perhaps the best part of this episode. We finally learn the motivations behind his orchestrating the massacre of humans. With Bakenezumi chained to the fate of being forever seen and mistreated as lower beings and beasts of burden by humans, he only wished to free his kind from their destiny of eternal servitude. During his conversation with Saki and Satoru and during his trial, Squealer brings up fine points that we should think about. Squealer is in my opinion, the best character in this anime because depending on how you look at things, he could be a hero or a villain. At first it’s easy to hate him since we relate ourselves with the humans but once you get to know the truth about the bakenezumi and their plight, his actions for me are perfectly justifiable.

The final moments of this episode finally resolves Shun’s question back in episode 4; the answer is that bakenezumi are basically mutated non-cantus humans. Mutating humans who can’t use cantus to the point that they don’t look human anymore ensures the safety of the cantus humans. I think it is interesting here that Saki sees them as humans while Satoru disagrees with that. The anime poses the audience this question – what truly makes a human being?

Overall, this has got to be the best finale I’ve seen in this anime season. I think this finale is way better than Psycho Pass in that it was able to resolve everything satisfactorily. The ending just felt right. Shin Sekai Yori has been a long and satisfying journey. This anime was truly an amazing experience.

Ever thought of Minchi from Hanasaku Iroha as a hot bishounen?

I’ll make this short. I have mixed feelings regarding this. The first episode wasn’t stellar, yet not repulsive, it’s just okay which is a fine thing for me I guess. The thing I felt while watching the whole episode was this is Hanasaku Iroha V2. Remember Ohana’s first meeting with Minchi where the latter was totally very abrasive to the former? That with fantasy powers and bishounens. The ED theme totally reminds me of jinrui wa Suitaishimashita’s ED theme.

Since I wasn’t exactly bored or repulsed by the first episode I think I’ll give this a chance. The worst this could be is become another Hanasaku Iroha which I might be okay with.

Aside from clearing doubts regarding Kiroumaru being a good guy, I think the episode showed other things too.

After all the trouble they went to obtain the psychobuster, it was just burned by Saki in an intense display of human emotion. Actually that confrontation with the Akki was an amazing emotional display by both Saki and Satoru. Satoru’s resolve to sacrifice himself to destroy the akki and Saki’s fear of losing another person in her life. That scene was just priceless. Also the scene proven the fact that indirect ways of killing a human does not trigger death feedback.

I think the anime is finally beginning to show the central theme behind the novel – The relationship between humans and bakenezumi. Both races just want to ensure their survival and with how both races try to achieve it, conflicts happen thus they are now in this desperate situation. Ultimately, it is human hubris that brought both races to what we’re watching now.

It was a very intense episode. Here’s to hoping that the next episode will be an awesome blast!

Man, for the majority of this episode, Inui was the man! The episode made a good job of making me like him in the span of 17 minutes. He dies as the story dictates, but I really liked the guy! I kind of felt that Saki was made to play the “damsel in distress” card while in Inui’s presence in this episode but that’s okay since this will be the last we’ll see of Inui.

The episode dropping a hint again that the akki isn’t exactly an akki; This isn’t new. Saki finally acquires the Psychobuster. I wonder what’s the letter with the Psychobuster. I’m pretty sure it’s hugely plot related.

Finally, Saki remembers Shun! As much as this was a joyous event in the episode, I was kind of underwhelmed by this. If one has been paying attention to the anime, one can deduce that this is just Saki’s subconscious talking to her. I guess this scene just showed how strong Saki’s mind is, being able to overcome the mental barriers preventing her to remember Shun.

The episode gave doubts regarding Kiroumaru’s true allegiances. I don’t know, as much as I think Kiroumaru hates Yakomaru, I get this feeling that his loyalties lie to the bakenezumi. With the next episode preview showing that Saki and Satoru have been “played”, I wonder how will things shape up as we’re nearing the confrontation with Yakomaru’s human weapon. Where does Kiroumaru’s true allegiances lie? Here’s to looking forward to the next episode!

I don’t know, I came to like and love Mimori as Mimori, then succession comes and now she’s Mariko. I’m really happy for Mimor- I mean Mariko that’s she’s finally given a break and her succession episode was pretty awesome, but I like Mimori as Mimori. Well, She’s Mariko now and the anime clearly shows that point.

But I don’t know, but working hard to become somebody else really doesn’t sit well with me. I like being me and wouldn’t want to become somebody else.

I like that the anime shows that even if she is Mariko now, she is still Mimori deep inside and that she treasures her friendship with her understudy friends and for that I’m really grateful and I still love her.