Magical Girl Madoka Magica 11, 12 (END) – It All Comes Tumbling Down, Tumbling Down, Tumbling Down…

So the phenomenon that was Magical Girl Madoka Magica is finally over. From the start, many had compared it to Neon Genesis Evangelion with its genre subversion and psychological themes, and the ending provided plenty more fodder for this comparison. The final 2 episodes tried very hard to emulate great endings that had come before it, but, lacking the focus and cohesiveness of such works, it ended up merely stumbling its way across the finish line.

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control 3 – The Rules of the Info Dump

Let us imagine an imaginary organization that gives actual awards for anime, and this organization gave awards to individual episodes from the aforementioned anime, and one category of awards was for the best info dump episode, then this episode of C would most assuredly, in all likelihood not win the aforementioned award. That said, it didn’t do a bad job of info dumping either, for the four following reasons, which I hereby refer to as the Rules of Info Dumping (feel free to add more).

Weekly Highlights 01 – This Might Become “A Thing”

When you watch anime there are always little moments that stick out to you.  Maybe the actors delivered a particularly funny line, the animators drew up an amazing action sequence, or the writers tug hard at your heartstrings.  In the interest of getting out of my writing rut, I’m going to share a few of my highlights from the last week.  Who knows, this might become “a thing”.  Over the past week, I particularly enjoyed some moments from Gosick, Nichijou, Steins;Gate, and AnoHana.

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control 2 – Explaining the Open Deal Battle System, and What C May Mean

That was one hell of a battle, right? First, I have to say I’ve seen some chatter online the past few days about how this show reminds people a lot about Yugioh, and quite frankly I’m appalled at the rush with which people assume all shows with cards are alike. Most will likely quietly move away from these idiotic assertions over the next few days, but many might say what is up with that whack battle system. You’ll deride the show for its lack of explanation, or the fact that Mashu didn’t sustain any real damage during the battle. But, with a quick lesson, you’ll be up to speed. (Partially talking out of my ass, but I do almost have two degrees in this general area, so, you know, not really.)

Not that this necessarily applies, but this post in no way constitutes financial advice.

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control 1 – Because Super Long Subtitles Must Mean Something, and I Am Offering An Explanation

For an opening episode, C did an excellent of setting up its world, detailing its characters, and opening the door for many potential avenues the show could take in the future. All that said, the most interesting part of the episode was its opening 5 minutes or so in which some poor sap who loses a battle in the Financial District, for one reason only: The concepts of chance and collateral.

[Review] Star Driver

When I look back at Star Driver a few months from now, I’ll probably think about how the show straddled the line between seemingly gratuitous, entertaining action and actually telling a story. A show that can actually pull both of these things off is a pretty rare thing. While Star Driver was at points able to do both of these things quite well, it never seemed able to do them at the same time. This ultimately keeps it from being great, and instead relegates it to the land of pretty good.

Star Driver 25 – Let the Real Battle Begin (END)

For everything that happened in Star Driver’s hectic finale, the episode pretty much focused on two tried and true anime themes, youth and friendship, and in that order. Though there were a few things that made me question how the series was written, the copious amounts of action, the levels of character growth, not to mention the background music made the conclusion to Star Driver a satisfying one that clearly does NOT need a sequel.

Least Important Part of This Episode