Musings and Reflections – Summer 2016 Week 12

Orange (Ep. 12)

    Visually the episode wasn’t anything special (again) but the way it handled itself was pretty interesting. To think about it, the first half really was a recap. Still, telling the story from a different perspective both reminds of the past events before the climax of the story, adds more depth to Kakeru’s character and also shows what happened in the old timeline – it’s a win-win situation for the viewers. Would that recaps were all made by this principle – showing already seen events from a slightly different angle. Naho’s desperation in the old timeline was depicted well as she wanted to reach for Kakeru (who himself didn’t find the right words and right people when they were needed) but ended up full of regrets because of missed opportunities. The OST in this part particularly enhanced the visuals though I can only praise it for the job done during the whole season. The time travelling part again is not the strongest point of the show. It had to be explained somehow and, even if what we got wasn’t the greatest explanation ever, there have been worse tries. Still, it’s really hard to believe how fully grown adults so easily believe in such a pseudoscience and worse, it actually works exactly as they want it to.

Tales of Zestiria the X (Ep. 11)

   Clearly, everything is set up for the season finale and I doubt there could be done much more from the technical point of view. The battle did receive a lot of attention and it was depicted with enough gravity and sense of something inevitable that you must stop but just can’t. Though the armies could have at least used formations. Leaving the visuals aside, it was not the first time that I felt very disconnected from the show. Probably the middle season by-product of the Berseria commercial didn’t help either. Well, just everyone shouting shounen-esque attack names whose various effects scream of RPG, trying to fight without killing (especially when the fighting is done by two girls against a multitude of professional soldiers) or purifying a fighting field and thus killing both phantoms and soldiers (or knocking them down? If that’s the case then they will start fighting again after regaining consciousness so what’s the point?). Anyway, I did appreciate all the work done to make the episode look as well as it did but I can’t be positive that I liked it much.

Amaama to Inazuma (Ep. 12)

   Yawn. Yep, the same old formula all over again. Quite unticlimactic as the grand finale, eh? Yes, it’s a slice of life but some closure would have been nice and not an episode that could probably be easily swapped with any other episode. Kotori’s mom finally found time to join the cooking group but apart from a new face it had no effect at all. Some wisdom of life again was sprinkled and, as the saying goes, it was food for thought. Talking specifically about family and relationships felt appropriate knowing that it was the last episode but frankly it was nothing new or unexpected. Tsumugi showed her childish side probably more often as ever but as always all the problems were solved and everything as always ended with a loud “oishi”. I wonder if there was an episode without that.

91 Days (Ep. 11)

    That was anything if not intense. So intense that there are barely any alive characters left and those alive face not the most pleasant future perspectives. 3 of 4 Angelo’s targets are finally dead though the last two died only by the help of Angelo’s machinations and not directly so it’s only up to himself if he’s able to feel at least some satisfaction about that, if there is at all any satisfaction to be had. It’s obvious that while Angelo so far has executed his plans almost flawlessly, he forgets the most important part of any plan – how  to remain safe and sound when everything’s finished. Even if Angelo will be able to deal with Nero, his perspectives hardly look bright as he has made enemies all around, also after the death of Corteo there isn’t anything or anyone left in the world for Angelo to live for save the revenge. If everything will go well for him I doubt he will be able to live a normal life and something like a suicide can be a probable outcome. That Strega guy wasn’t too happy about being only a nephew of the don so even if he overreacted by ordering the massacre of the Vanettis, everything should be going in his favor, but leaving someone as untrustworthy as Angelo alive could become a problem for him, too. So, the bottom line is that Angelo is on the verge of obliterating all the Vanettis and probably dying in the process – he doesn’t look to care about anything else in the world.

Posted by Aldael on September 25, 2016

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