New Summer 2015 #2

Ushio to Tora ... not bad. The grumpy son of a local priest is told to air out the storeroom, and he trips over a basement door, goes down, of course, and meets Tora, a demon who's been stuck there for 500 years because of the Beast Spear pinning him to the wall.  Ushio isn't …

Finales, maybe: Aldnoah, Durararax2

Shirobako ended in triumph, Saekano ended with little fanfare.  Let's see what Aldnoah Zero has in store for us. Asseylum's pronouncement doesn't do much at all--everyone's still out warring and having fun.  The only one who seemed to notice was Slaine, and his decision is to abandon the moonbase and blow up everything up, including …

Aldnoah 23, Durararax2 and Maria 11

I suppose with one episode left of Aldnoah Zero, it's good that I don't know what's going to happen. Klancain manages to escape with Asseylum and Eddeltrittuo, and escorts them to Mazuurek's castle, where she meets her grandfather, well, his avatar, and finds out he's, er, unfit to lead. Personally, I would have given the …

Durararax2 10, Maria 9, Saekano 10

Durarara!! has so many characters and so many plot balls to juggle now that in order to keep them all interesting and not ignore anyone (though they still do) that in x2 10. each plot-ball only gets a little nudge. Like a lot of episodes, this one starts with some narration and background, this time …

Durararax2 9, Aldnoah 21

A great episode of Durarara!!, or Baccano! for that matter, leaves me feeling drunk and giddy. Durarara!! x2 9 left me a little tipsy. Good enough. We get, basically, a continuation of the stories from last time. Mikado is still being confronted by Aoba about leading the Blue Squares, Celty, monitoring the situation, is being …

Aldnoah 20, Durararax2 and Maria 8

Aldnoah Zero 20, thick with plot movements on both sides, doesn't lend itself well to any sort of analysis. Not that that's stopped me before ... On the Earth's side, we got the big ship rescuing what was left of the fighters on the ground, including Inaho and Marika just when they were about to …

Durararax2 7, Aldnoah 19

In Durarara x2 7 we get ... more setting up. There seems to be two different stories going on now. One has to do with Mikado and the threat to the dollars. Izaya has conned him into doing something about whatever it is, suggesting that that Dollars would evolve into something beyond Mikado if he …

Durararax2 6, Aldnoah 18, Yuri Kuma 7, Koufuku 6

  Durarara!! x2 6 has its usual lot of scenes, as usual, but very few plot points get covered, and nothing has reached a head yet. The episode mainly sets up the fact that everyone's looking for that little girl, Akane, for various reasons. But we don't know the important thing--why she got attached to …

Aldnoah 16-17, Lie in April 16, Durarara2 5

Aldnoah Zero 16 concentrates on two people. Slaine, of course, because he's arguably the main character now. And, of all people, Marito. Both stories are straightforward. Slaine, the new count of whatever Saazbaum was count of, and a mongrel and mangy cur to his fellow counts, is fully aware of the enemies he has now, …

Yuri Kuma 4-5, Durarara2 and Saekano 4

Yuri Kuma Arashi 4 is basically Lulu's tale told as a fairy story. Naturally, the symbolism gets a little heavy. But some things are explained. Basically Lulu was a young and popular princess in her bear kingdom before her younger brother the prince and heir is born. We watch for a while as she tries …