GOSICK 3
after a schedule packed week and taking time to watch a suspense filled episode, it didn't turn out to be THAT mysterious and was slightly disappointing.
after the cliffhanger from the gunshot, the poor man who lost his mind now lies in a pool of blood, a bullet fired from the lady behind Kujo and Victorique. now THAT'S suspicious. well, she pulled it off by using an excuse that she had obtained the pistol somewhere in the ship too but from that moment on, i was pretty sure that she was the one behind the whole ship mystery. furthermore, the way Victorique examined the lady's handbag, it was quite obvious that she wasn't just an ordinary person.
and the mystery of the ghost ship continues!
down the hallway, a piercing scream echoed through the corridor, leaving one victim lying dead on the floor. No. of survivors: 3. Kujo did went to test the man's pulse to confirm if he's dead and immediately after, Victorique expresses her fear and pulls Kujo over, telling him to be careful. Victorique then urges the rest to leave this location as the murderer might still be nearby. normally a good hiding place would be where they had hid themselves, in a room, but the murderer is rather clear minded and found them due to Victorique's dress sticking out. and with that, the heroic Kujo arrives! fully equipped with brass knuckles, Kujo tackles the fierce opponent who's wielding a ... polearm. Normally, with rational thinking, facing a polearm with a brass knuckle isn't a good choice and rushing in isn't too. But Kujo managed to pull it off and smacked the murderer's face on... well, in his face. Ouch.
Incidentally, the murderer that Kujo faced was the same dude that had "died" near the corridor but Victorique was able to notice that the dude had used a baseball and gripped it tightly under his armpit to prevent a pulse from being detected. That is some awesome trick but i doubt it does work in real life, have yet to test it out =X
Well, our genius Kujo assumes that it is absolutely safe now to discard the brass knuckle after knocking that dude out but unfortunately, the assumption made was wrong. Wrong move Kujo... From then on, Kujo became a punchbag after forcing Victorique into the radio room but thankfully, the woman earlier was able to swing the polearm back onto (into would be a better word) the man's back, hurling him into the sea due to a change in his center of gravity. Basically, he fell. Back in the radio room, Victorique did expressed some relieve when she saw Kujo still alive but soon went back to her cold self and the mystery of the ghost ship has ended, with the "hunting dog" now in the sea and the main culprit captured. The woman. Victorique had already suspected that the woman was the one behind everything when her previously heavy handbag that hit Kujo's head when they first awoke into the lounge became as light as a feather when she picked it up afterwards.
And a flashback occurs. Seems like she was one of the children that were placed onboard the ship with a hunting dog in the midst of them and they were all hares on the "game". Roxanne predicted through looking at the survivors of the hares which turned out to be accurate in determining the outcome of the war in the past. Victorique got to share on her past as well, and that it wasn't as pleasant too. She was held captive most of the time, even until now, and her brother wasn't her real brother too and being unable to move freely outside, she gets easily bored but this time, Kujo promises that he'd love to have another trip with her again.
With the mystery of the ghost ship revealed, it wasn't actually that mysterious to make me go "WOW". the build up in the 2nd episode made it evident that it could turn out to be a splendid mystery but the 3rd episode just doused the burning flame. the theories used were simple and the culprit was rather obvious and could be guessed right at the start of the episode, or even maybe the start of the mystery for those who're good at these. i'll definitely prefer mysteries that holds its suspense longer and with more complicated scenarios that aren't easily guessed too. I'd see how the next few mysteries go (or maybe just the story development)
P.S. Victorique is still cute when she's bored :)
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 3
Honestly, i did not expect such a twist in the plot such early into the series and things just got darker, no more cute little Mahou Shoujos running around just trying to save the world. This series means business. And i'm jolly well placing this series under the highest priority for this season. I mean, you rarely get such a series which such a good plot and twists.
At the beginning, we're all given a glance of Miki's crush in the hospital and that could have hinted her into choosing a wish to be granted. For the benefit of someone else. Under the contract, making a wish for the benefit of others does not breach it but for Mami who had heard about it, feels that it's an important choice and the girls should think about their wishes carefully. Madoka then became curious about Mami's wish and we'd get to see Mami when she was young, injured in a road accident.
Guess who tagged along while Mami could be approaching her end? Small little Kyube. His appearance at such places might hint that he might be near to locations where bad things happen, similar to witches. Since the series is getting darker, this possibility isn't zero. So in the meantime, let's assume that our little animal is still good :) From here, i'm guessing that Mami was "forced" to make a wish of saving her own life (just my own assumption) and that was why she wanted Madoka and Miki to be given a choice in their wishes.
Akemi wasn't just going to give up on stopping Madoka becoming a Mahou Shoujo just yet, even though she had met up with Kyube. However, Mami didn't have the intention of becoming friendly with her at all. Seems that Madoka wields some great power if she becomes a Mahou Shoujo and Akemi could be aware that a strong opponent could be born. Mami then warns Akemi and hopes that it'll be their final meeting.
A Grief Seed planted itself onto the pillar of the hospital where Miki's crush was in and unfortunately, with the lack of telecommunication, Miki and Kyube decided to keep and eye on the seed first while Madoka would go locate Mami by herself. Entering the barrier, Miki and Kyube locates the seed and thankfully, the witch has yet to be born. Mami and Madoka arrives later in the scene and follows into the barrier, only to be stopped by Akemi further in. Akemi warned Mami about the danger ahead as the witch this time was different but Mami decides that the best option was to tie her up and hang her in midair while the duo continues in. Approaching the inner depths of the barrier, Madoka decides that it was the right time to suggest a single wish to Mami, which was simply to become a Mahou Shoujo to protect the ones she care for. Mami was indeed happy for her as she'll finally become her comrade but felt that she could just put in a little more effort into thinking about a wish. Risking your life for nothing or even for a cake of celebration doesn't seem quite worth...
And then, with a duo partner of Mahou Shoujo about to be born, the twist arrives. Seriously, this turn point was just expected and epic.
Guess what?
Mami just got her head snapped off.
Yeah, bitten off could be another way to describe it.
Rest of the body? Eaten.
O_O
Bet you had not expect that. Neither did i.
Rewinding back to the scenes before, Mami was still happy about Madoka finally becoming her partner and wanted to end the fight with this particular witch as soon as possible to celebrate with her, until THAT had to happen.
Mami was still showing off her amazing shotgun stances and Finale shots when the witch "shed" off it's previous skin and bit Mami's head off before finishing up with her body.
I may be cute, but in a while, i'll bite your head off! :(
Behold, the elegance of shotguns
At that exact moment, Akemi had noticed about Mami's death after the seal on her was broken and during the grave decision of Kyube pestering a shocked Miki and Madoka to form a contract as soon as possible, Akemi comes into the scene and with her speed and skills, she managed to triumph over the witch with little effort made. Guess Mami could have been too happy after hearing about Madoka's decision and had became a little inattentive. I was quite sure Mami was stronger than Akemi though =X
What had happened had happened. And as Akemi retrieved the Grief Seed, Miki attempts to stop her and asks her to return the seed to Mami, as it was supposed to be hers. Akemi ignores her and walks away with the seed, leaving Miki and a tearing Madoka behind.
Honestly, i didn't expect Mami to be finished off, like that. I didn't even expected her to die at all after seeing her appearance on the OP. Having witnessed such a scene, Miki and Madoka would definitely have some 2nd thoughts on becoming one, or maybe Madoka could use her wish to revive Mami and contracts into a Mahou Shoujo to prevent another similar tragedy from happening. That might seem possible but i rather the plot to be different. Not that i hate Mami or anything (although i personally quite like her character), but those that are dead, should not revive through some lame old method. It just feels weird == And with this episode concluding, the plot does not seem to be as simple as it seems and is definitely way better than Lyrical Nanoha, which a much much deeper darkness lurking in its plot.
Welcome, to the world of Puella Magi Magica Madoka.
.Will miss her.
Kalafina's Magia is now incorporated into the series's new ED, which already features the dark element of the series:
Honestly, i did not expect such a twist in the plot such early into the series and things just got darker, no more cute little Mahou Shoujos running around just trying to save the world. This series means business. And i'm jolly well placing this series under the highest priority for this season. I mean, you rarely get such a series which such a good plot and twists.
At the beginning, we're all given a glance of Miki's crush in the hospital and that could have hinted her into choosing a wish to be granted. For the benefit of someone else. Under the contract, making a wish for the benefit of others does not breach it but for Mami who had heard about it, feels that it's an important choice and the girls should think about their wishes carefully. Madoka then became curious about Mami's wish and we'd get to see Mami when she was young, injured in a road accident.
Guess who tagged along while Mami could be approaching her end? Small little Kyube. His appearance at such places might hint that he might be near to locations where bad things happen, similar to witches. Since the series is getting darker, this possibility isn't zero. So in the meantime, let's assume that our little animal is still good :) From here, i'm guessing that Mami was "forced" to make a wish of saving her own life (just my own assumption) and that was why she wanted Madoka and Miki to be given a choice in their wishes.
Akemi wasn't just going to give up on stopping Madoka becoming a Mahou Shoujo just yet, even though she had met up with Kyube. However, Mami didn't have the intention of becoming friendly with her at all. Seems that Madoka wields some great power if she becomes a Mahou Shoujo and Akemi could be aware that a strong opponent could be born. Mami then warns Akemi and hopes that it'll be their final meeting.
A Grief Seed planted itself onto the pillar of the hospital where Miki's crush was in and unfortunately, with the lack of telecommunication, Miki and Kyube decided to keep and eye on the seed first while Madoka would go locate Mami by herself. Entering the barrier, Miki and Kyube locates the seed and thankfully, the witch has yet to be born. Mami and Madoka arrives later in the scene and follows into the barrier, only to be stopped by Akemi further in. Akemi warned Mami about the danger ahead as the witch this time was different but Mami decides that the best option was to tie her up and hang her in midair while the duo continues in. Approaching the inner depths of the barrier, Madoka decides that it was the right time to suggest a single wish to Mami, which was simply to become a Mahou Shoujo to protect the ones she care for. Mami was indeed happy for her as she'll finally become her comrade but felt that she could just put in a little more effort into thinking about a wish. Risking your life for nothing or even for a cake of celebration doesn't seem quite worth...
And then, with a duo partner of Mahou Shoujo about to be born, the twist arrives. Seriously, this turn point was just expected and epic.
Guess what?
Mami just got her head snapped off.
Yeah, bitten off could be another way to describe it.
Rest of the body? Eaten.
O_O
Bet you had not expect that. Neither did i.
Rewinding back to the scenes before, Mami was still happy about Madoka finally becoming her partner and wanted to end the fight with this particular witch as soon as possible to celebrate with her, until THAT had to happen.
Mami was still showing off her amazing shotgun stances and Finale shots when the witch "shed" off it's previous skin and bit Mami's head off before finishing up with her body.
I may be cute, but in a while, i'll bite your head off! :(
Behold, the elegance of shotguns
At that exact moment, Akemi had noticed about Mami's death after the seal on her was broken and during the grave decision of Kyube pestering a shocked Miki and Madoka to form a contract as soon as possible, Akemi comes into the scene and with her speed and skills, she managed to triumph over the witch with little effort made. Guess Mami could have been too happy after hearing about Madoka's decision and had became a little inattentive. I was quite sure Mami was stronger than Akemi though =X
What had happened had happened. And as Akemi retrieved the Grief Seed, Miki attempts to stop her and asks her to return the seed to Mami, as it was supposed to be hers. Akemi ignores her and walks away with the seed, leaving Miki and a tearing Madoka behind.
Honestly, i didn't expect Mami to be finished off, like that. I didn't even expected her to die at all after seeing her appearance on the OP. Having witnessed such a scene, Miki and Madoka would definitely have some 2nd thoughts on becoming one, or maybe Madoka could use her wish to revive Mami and contracts into a Mahou Shoujo to prevent another similar tragedy from happening. That might seem possible but i rather the plot to be different. Not that i hate Mami or anything (although i personally quite like her character), but those that are dead, should not revive through some lame old method. It just feels weird == And with this episode concluding, the plot does not seem to be as simple as it seems and is definitely way better than Lyrical Nanoha, which a much much deeper darkness lurking in its plot.
Welcome, to the world of Puella Magi Magica Madoka.
.Will miss her.
Kalafina's Magia is now incorporated into the series's new ED, which already features the dark element of the series:
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Quick Update
added 3 new entries and sorted them out with labels >>> on side bar
easier navigation through the series. shifted episode 1 reviews into the new entries as well :)
shall settle the relinking in the near future, still lacking some new entries...
easier navigation through the series. shifted episode 1 reviews into the new entries as well :)
shall settle the relinking in the near future, still lacking some new entries...
Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu 2
Welcome, to another year of a wonderful class with burning photos with fire on your table is treated as a norm.
Hitoha's expression while holding hands with Gatchi Red was of a norm too. Was surprised that the cameraman didn't actually freak out when he saw that. Being overprotective of that photo and avoiding Mitsuba, the occult-loving classmate sprang into action and judged the photo to be cursed. Finding another photo to be a scapegoat didn't turn out good, even if she tried to point to herself in the photo and said that it was cursed. Too bad it didn't work and her photo got purified into ashes.
Horse-riding fitness machines do seem similar to those children rocking machines but Mitsuba was more worried about her weight gain than thinking off it's resemblance and when acknowledging the fact that a small girl like her would never be able to afford it, she cleverly chooses a free and easy alternative. Futaba. Riding on your sister isn't something kids should learn and running at top speed with your sister on top of you isn't recommended either. The Futaba weight-loss machine is designed not to have any brakes and Mitsuba had to do a X-styled stop in an aisle to protect her pride of being seen riding on her F1 speed sister.
Christmas has arrived and poor Yabe is alone, again. Having tried to invite the school nurse, Kuriyama sensei over, the accidental loss of her specs made her view Yabe as a mortally wounded individual with red clothing depicted as blood and the invitation failed terribly. Poor poor Yabe gets to celebrate his christmas night alone with a homemade doll that burned up when it collapsed on his christmas cake. Talk about pitying...
With the triplet's dad not being able to make it to being Santa this year again, Mitsuba and Hitoha decide that they should get Yabe to stand in as Santa. Similar to last year, Futaba locked her grip on Yabe's santa suit, forcing him to get stripped down to his underwear just to escape from being found. Yabe must be the must unlucky guy now, even as compared with Touma (from Index), where he was in his underwear in front of 2 small girls and their protective father was back. And for the poor suspected lolicon, Yabe returns to his home on christmas night, injured and in his underwear. Poor guy =(
Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu 1
it's not midway, nor was it near the end, but at the beginning, we're viewing what Hitoha likes to watch, Gachi Rangers.
Unlike any other Power Rangers, Gachi Rangers are EXCEPTIONALLY phail. Yeah, phail.
According to Hitoha, the episode just had to be THAT bad when Futaba and Mitsuba decided to watch Hitoha's favourite show with her.
Like any typical Power Rangers, the evil dude would send some monster down to wreck havoc which in Gachi's case, it was a crab aiming to bubble kids to death ._.
So, here's the list of the few epic scenes:
Phail 1: Apparently to the Gachi Rangers, having a secret base about 30 meters above ground level is considered to be secret. *facepalm X 1*
Phail 2: A informative Blue Gachi Ranger gets lost in his own town. *facepalm X 2*
Phail 3: A 30minute time bomb was set off (which was way enough time to throw it elsewhere) , Red Gachi Ranger and Yellow Gachi Ranger had a dispute over which wire to cut since the 2 available choices are Red or Yellow wires. The Red wire is cut and the bomb explodes, creating fatalities in the kindergarten. *facepalm X 3*
Phail 4: Pink Gachi Ranger infiltrates the school bus and takes on the crab who plans to hijack the bus, but was clumsy with the wheel and the bus falls off a cliff before exploding. Fatalities again. *facepalm X 4*
Phail 5: A typical large cannon from the 5 Gachi Rangers is just a magnifying glass which helps in concentrating the sunlight onto the enemy. *facepalm X 5*
With Mitsudomoe being a rather successful comedy, it was indeed hilarious even though 90% of the episode was featuring the Gachi Rangers. Seriously, it couldn't get any far worse than that if there were really Gachi Rangers in reality...
Hitoha didn't like how the episode turned out to be either and was exceptionally pissed about how it had turned THAT bad. Next week we should be getting back the triplets screentime with their own hilarious antics.
Welcome, to another year of a wonderful class with burning photos with fire on your table is treated as a norm.
Hitoha's expression while holding hands with Gatchi Red was of a norm too. Was surprised that the cameraman didn't actually freak out when he saw that. Being overprotective of that photo and avoiding Mitsuba, the occult-loving classmate sprang into action and judged the photo to be cursed. Finding another photo to be a scapegoat didn't turn out good, even if she tried to point to herself in the photo and said that it was cursed. Too bad it didn't work and her photo got purified into ashes.
Horse-riding fitness machines do seem similar to those children rocking machines but Mitsuba was more worried about her weight gain than thinking off it's resemblance and when acknowledging the fact that a small girl like her would never be able to afford it, she cleverly chooses a free and easy alternative. Futaba. Riding on your sister isn't something kids should learn and running at top speed with your sister on top of you isn't recommended either. The Futaba weight-loss machine is designed not to have any brakes and Mitsuba had to do a X-styled stop in an aisle to protect her pride of being seen riding on her F1 speed sister.
Christmas has arrived and poor Yabe is alone, again. Having tried to invite the school nurse, Kuriyama sensei over, the accidental loss of her specs made her view Yabe as a mortally wounded individual with red clothing depicted as blood and the invitation failed terribly. Poor poor Yabe gets to celebrate his christmas night alone with a homemade doll that burned up when it collapsed on his christmas cake. Talk about pitying...
With the triplet's dad not being able to make it to being Santa this year again, Mitsuba and Hitoha decide that they should get Yabe to stand in as Santa. Similar to last year, Futaba locked her grip on Yabe's santa suit, forcing him to get stripped down to his underwear just to escape from being found. Yabe must be the must unlucky guy now, even as compared with Touma (from Index), where he was in his underwear in front of 2 small girls and their protective father was back. And for the poor suspected lolicon, Yabe returns to his home on christmas night, injured and in his underwear. Poor guy =(
Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu 1
it's not midway, nor was it near the end, but at the beginning, we're viewing what Hitoha likes to watch, Gachi Rangers.
Unlike any other Power Rangers, Gachi Rangers are EXCEPTIONALLY phail. Yeah, phail.
According to Hitoha, the episode just had to be THAT bad when Futaba and Mitsuba decided to watch Hitoha's favourite show with her.
Like any typical Power Rangers, the evil dude would send some monster down to wreck havoc which in Gachi's case, it was a crab aiming to bubble kids to death ._.
So, here's the list of the few epic scenes:
Phail 1: Apparently to the Gachi Rangers, having a secret base about 30 meters above ground level is considered to be secret. *facepalm X 1*
Phail 2: A informative Blue Gachi Ranger gets lost in his own town. *facepalm X 2*
Phail 3: A 30minute time bomb was set off (which was way enough time to throw it elsewhere) , Red Gachi Ranger and Yellow Gachi Ranger had a dispute over which wire to cut since the 2 available choices are Red or Yellow wires. The Red wire is cut and the bomb explodes, creating fatalities in the kindergarten. *facepalm X 3*
Phail 4: Pink Gachi Ranger infiltrates the school bus and takes on the crab who plans to hijack the bus, but was clumsy with the wheel and the bus falls off a cliff before exploding. Fatalities again. *facepalm X 4*
Phail 5: A typical large cannon from the 5 Gachi Rangers is just a magnifying glass which helps in concentrating the sunlight onto the enemy. *facepalm X 5*
With Mitsudomoe being a rather successful comedy, it was indeed hilarious even though 90% of the episode was featuring the Gachi Rangers. Seriously, it couldn't get any far worse than that if there were really Gachi Rangers in reality...
Hitoha didn't like how the episode turned out to be either and was exceptionally pissed about how it had turned THAT bad. Next week we should be getting back the triplets screentime with their own hilarious antics.
GOSICK 2
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
That's possibly the most memorable scene in the episode. Victorique's laughter. So you might wonder how does it really sound like: take santa claus's "ho ho ho" and swap the "O" for an "A". Well, that's practically what it sounds like.
Having boarded the ship using Roxanne's invitation, the first regret our poor male protagonist had, was to have ransacked Victorique's luggage, and removing useless things which coincidentally contained, food. At least Victorique did stuff a loaf of bread into Kujou's hungry mouth. Having done that, everyone in the dining hall collapsed soon after due to the consumption of drugged food at the dining table. The passengers of the ship were all moved to another room unknowingly and that's when Victorique notices that there was one extra person in the room with them and that person is the one responsible for moving them in. The room's locked in with everyone trapped inside. Kinda Umineko-like eh? Good kids should learn not to touch random things around especially when you're trapped but Kujou wasn't one and attempted to touch the miniature model of the ship they're in and was nearly nailed in the head, well literally.
With a near attempt of having a hole in your own head, Kujou began to recite his well rehearsed ghost story of the ghost ship, the Queen Berry, which is the one they are on board now. That's where Victorique's epic laughter comes in. Believing it? Hell no for her.
A sudden blackout followed by the appearance of red works over a canvas is enough to induce fear into anyone who's on a ghost ship but escape isn't so easy. One tried and got nailed in the head. Kujou had almost become it before though. Another lesson to learn while on a ghost ship, or any other ship in a bad storm. Panic and fear is overwhelming, but attempting to escape with a lifeboat in such storm is practically impossible. The lifeboat was engulfed by the waves and the number of survivors left: 5.
And so the rest return back the room where they were and everything seemed to have turned old, but that didn't made Victorique quite believe that they were really on a ghost ship. A brief history of the Queen Berry was also given with a Battle Royale happening right in the ship full of children. Victorique's genius abilities broke through the mystery with old room and noticing that the vintage wines all have their labels swapped. It appears that one's instinct was to enter a room with its door opened but it was all planned and tricked and Victorique just strolled on in to the previous, new and the original room. The blackout was also possibly to give time for a cloth covering the prepared red words to be revealed. Now that's some detective work.
Being trapped in some ghost ship does test one's endurance and one of the 5 had his mind, well, crushed by the influx of information over the ghost ship and points a gun at Victorique which Kujou stands and defends her. Now now Kujou, giving your body another chance to be holed? That isn't a good choice but protecting an adorable Victorique is a rational one :)
And... a shot is fired.
Lots of detective work going along here, might see some awesome planning of a crime sometime soon so i'm having rather high hopes in this. Good series :)
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
GOSICK 1
We are now greeted with a lolita girl who's extremely clever and hates to be bored, right at the top of a school library. Victorique is a mysterious girl with probably some foresights that she's able to tell our male protagonist, Kazuya Kujo, the exact time he would appear in front of her and when he'll come to her again, regardless of his decisions. Victorique has both the ability to communicate at her age and also at the notch of complicated words, accompanied by a smoking pipe.
While being first introduced to Victorique, the way her eyes were drawn was awesome. The shades and all was beautiful. Animation quality was alright through the episode as well.
OK, that was random...
Being a lonely girl whom only gets a visit from her brother, who has the most unique haircut i've ever seen, who turns to her for help in solving crime. And a typical closed room murder was given to her on her very first appearance to us. Taking no time to ponder at all, Victorique easily solves the mystery behind the muder and solves the case. But as a morally just student, Kujo, who happens to form ties with Victorique, rushes to find her brother when he read the news of the brother hoarding all the rewards to himself for solving the case, which was a private boat.
Being able to leave the library, Victorique does not seem to leave the library often and knows little about the world around her, which is totally unlike the knowledge she has in solving crimes. Kujo still managed to bring her to her brother's new private boat but when the criminal of the case escaped, Victorique and Kujo were left behind.
Victorique locates an invitation being sent to the victim of the crime and decides to use that invitation instead and with Kujo, the duo boards an unknown ship.
Looking at how the criminal managed to escape and the invitation being left on the boat, it could either be that the boat was given with or without the knowledge of the invitation and had hoped for Victorique's brother to realise instead but Kujo and Victorique had boarded the unknown vessel instead. Things might go on OUT of the ordinary looking at how this series is heading but this is one good series i'm looking out for :)
+1 for BONES animation~
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
That's possibly the most memorable scene in the episode. Victorique's laughter. So you might wonder how does it really sound like: take santa claus's "ho ho ho" and swap the "O" for an "A". Well, that's practically what it sounds like.
Having boarded the ship using Roxanne's invitation, the first regret our poor male protagonist had, was to have ransacked Victorique's luggage, and removing useless things which coincidentally contained, food. At least Victorique did stuff a loaf of bread into Kujou's hungry mouth. Having done that, everyone in the dining hall collapsed soon after due to the consumption of drugged food at the dining table. The passengers of the ship were all moved to another room unknowingly and that's when Victorique notices that there was one extra person in the room with them and that person is the one responsible for moving them in. The room's locked in with everyone trapped inside. Kinda Umineko-like eh? Good kids should learn not to touch random things around especially when you're trapped but Kujou wasn't one and attempted to touch the miniature model of the ship they're in and was nearly nailed in the head, well literally.
With a near attempt of having a hole in your own head, Kujou began to recite his well rehearsed ghost story of the ghost ship, the Queen Berry, which is the one they are on board now. That's where Victorique's epic laughter comes in. Believing it? Hell no for her.
A sudden blackout followed by the appearance of red works over a canvas is enough to induce fear into anyone who's on a ghost ship but escape isn't so easy. One tried and got nailed in the head. Kujou had almost become it before though. Another lesson to learn while on a ghost ship, or any other ship in a bad storm. Panic and fear is overwhelming, but attempting to escape with a lifeboat in such storm is practically impossible. The lifeboat was engulfed by the waves and the number of survivors left: 5.
And so the rest return back the room where they were and everything seemed to have turned old, but that didn't made Victorique quite believe that they were really on a ghost ship. A brief history of the Queen Berry was also given with a Battle Royale happening right in the ship full of children. Victorique's genius abilities broke through the mystery with old room and noticing that the vintage wines all have their labels swapped. It appears that one's instinct was to enter a room with its door opened but it was all planned and tricked and Victorique just strolled on in to the previous, new and the original room. The blackout was also possibly to give time for a cloth covering the prepared red words to be revealed. Now that's some detective work.
Being trapped in some ghost ship does test one's endurance and one of the 5 had his mind, well, crushed by the influx of information over the ghost ship and points a gun at Victorique which Kujou stands and defends her. Now now Kujou, giving your body another chance to be holed? That isn't a good choice but protecting an adorable Victorique is a rational one :)
And... a shot is fired.
Lots of detective work going along here, might see some awesome planning of a crime sometime soon so i'm having rather high hopes in this. Good series :)
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa.
GOSICK 1
We are now greeted with a lolita girl who's extremely clever and hates to be bored, right at the top of a school library. Victorique is a mysterious girl with probably some foresights that she's able to tell our male protagonist, Kazuya Kujo, the exact time he would appear in front of her and when he'll come to her again, regardless of his decisions. Victorique has both the ability to communicate at her age and also at the notch of complicated words, accompanied by a smoking pipe.
While being first introduced to Victorique, the way her eyes were drawn was awesome. The shades and all was beautiful. Animation quality was alright through the episode as well.
OK, that was random...
Being a lonely girl whom only gets a visit from her brother, who has the most unique haircut i've ever seen, who turns to her for help in solving crime. And a typical closed room murder was given to her on her very first appearance to us. Taking no time to ponder at all, Victorique easily solves the mystery behind the muder and solves the case. But as a morally just student, Kujo, who happens to form ties with Victorique, rushes to find her brother when he read the news of the brother hoarding all the rewards to himself for solving the case, which was a private boat.
Being able to leave the library, Victorique does not seem to leave the library often and knows little about the world around her, which is totally unlike the knowledge she has in solving crimes. Kujo still managed to bring her to her brother's new private boat but when the criminal of the case escaped, Victorique and Kujo were left behind.
Victorique locates an invitation being sent to the victim of the crime and decides to use that invitation instead and with Kujo, the duo boards an unknown ship.
Looking at how the criminal managed to escape and the invitation being left on the boat, it could either be that the boat was given with or without the knowledge of the invitation and had hoped for Victorique's brother to realise instead but Kujo and Victorique had boarded the unknown vessel instead. Things might go on OUT of the ordinary looking at how this series is heading but this is one good series i'm looking out for :)
+1 for BONES animation~
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 2
This literally blew me off. Where else would you be able to see Mahou Shoujos blasting rounds of shotgun, and cool stances to boot too.
Being totally invisible to other commoners, Kyube is now safely out of reach from girls who love cute animals and also cute animal hunters, one of such being: Akemi. Communicating through telepathy is indeed cool for the girls, imagine being able to chat silently in the class, and even with friends on the upper floor. It's like wonderland :) Unfortunately, only Mahou Shoujos and Mahou Shoujos-to-be have such a privilege. Cute animal hunter Akemi seems to have removed her pursuit for Kyube after it successfully made contact with Madoka.
With that aside, contract rules were introduced by gun-wielding Mami, and the rules are as follows:
RETURN: A wish
GIVE: Risking your life
Apparently, the trade-off between a single wish and risking your life in return doesn't sound tempting enough for Madoka and her friend Miki to oblige to the contract immediately. What Mahou Shoujos are to fight were witches, which is like a complete opposite of Mahou Shoujos. Mahou Shoujos are born with hope whereas witches are born from curses. Some explanations were also made, including the small egg-shaped object that Mami holds, which was a Soul Gem and it holds the magic power of a Mahou Shoujo.
With that, the story gets to move after Mami decided to give Madoka and Miki a glimpse of a witch hunt and now things gets settled down. Mahou Shoujos are born to fight against cursing witches. Simple. As a commoner, tagging along for a witch hunt would prove to be dangerous, and that's were a baseball bat comes in handy, which Miki brought, unlike Madoka who went to draft out her image of herself as a Mahou Shoujo. Not that i detest what Madoka had drawn, but i thought at least the main protagonist could think of making her armour more cool-looking? Maybe that's where the Mahou Shoujo (Girl) comes in place i guess.
According to Mami, since witches are like curses, the first few locations to search would be vacant areas where suicides could be done and witches could appear anytime and anywhere which she had let one go while rescuing Madoka and Miki previously. The trio soon encounters a woman attempting suicide and Mami spots the Witch's Kiss on her neck. It doesn't suck the soul like a Dementor's Kiss but in this case, makes someone commit suicide unknowingly. Which is still, rather bad =/
Mami gives the baseball bat a magic makeover before proceeding in the hunt and again, the trio gets into the witch's dimension with unique animations. Although i wasn't expecting a witch to be of a human form, i was still surprised on what exactly WAS a witch. A gooey headed creature with long legs and butterfly wings. That's the kind of witch we'll probably see for the rest of the season. Oh well, at least they're the ones getting wacked so the uglier the better i guess.
What comes next could well be the coolest gun-user stance seen yet. Mami did pull out a magician-styled appearance of making her shotguns appear, with 2 "dropping" out from her skirt and a hell lot more from under her hat. With the countless shotguns standing still on the ground. Mami takes aim, fires, throws it away, retrieves a new one and continues.
That was just pure epic and so darn cool. Yet the monster witch denies the shots and tries to turn the table but gets head shot with a finishing move from Mami, a freaking enormous pistol. BAM!
Now, that's a hell of a fight.
Subsequently, Mami retrieves the "heart" of the witch, which is a Grief Seed and it allows one's magic power to be restored A.K.A., restoring the Soul Gem's power. Akemi seems to have been watching them throughout Mami's fight and returns the still-usable Grief Seed to Mami, claiming that it was her win. So adding on to the equation, i suspect a Mahou Shoujo's power doesn't last forever and needs to be replenished through the Grief Seed and with that, Mahou Shoujos are fighting with each other before fighting the witch and claiming the Grief Seed. Now that's complicated. It won't be long before Miki and Madoka joins in the fight, but with just plain staffs, it could take me a while before i get out of the norm of watching guns owning witches' heads.
This would definitely be the series i'll be following closely. Awesome art plus animation and music? Definitely :)
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 1
WARNING! video contains slight fanservice
Do all Mahou Shoujo series have something to do with injured magical creatures that seek help from a small girl through telepathy?!
Apart from the Nanoha series, here comes Madoka Magica.
The start was awesome. Honestly, the way they opened up the series was really great. With the wonderful BGM playing at the back and we see a Mahou Shoujo tackling an unknown enemy + superb background animations, it kept me glued to the screen for that few moments.
Our main protagonist had dreamed of seeing a Mahou Shoujo engaged in battle and wanted to do something as that girl wasn't going to hold out long and that's where the magical creature places the ability to change things onto Madoka, to turn her into a Mahou Shoujo. However, that was just a dream waiting to become a reality.
And so it begins, Madoka's normal school life, chatting with friends and being envious of others receiving love letters. All was normal for Madoka until the girl whom she saw in her dream appeared right before her, named Akemi.
You got to have a cool-looking mage around in any Mahou Shoujo series, together with a more innocent one, which in this case, would be Madoka. Akemi seemed to have sensed Madoka's presence, probably in the dream, and prompts her later to not get herself involved in things that does not concern her if she still does treasure her friends and her family.
Akemi's athletic ability surpassed many others and was getting most of the attention in the school, yet she holds a secret of hurting cute animals at night.
The magical creature, well, does not know about Akemi trying to not get our protagonist involved and calls out to her, asking her for help which Madoka responds and locates the hurt animal. However, an Akemi she doesn't know stands before her, asking her to leave it behind.
How could one leave such a cute creature behind!? D:
Madoka responded morally and together with the help from her friend, the duo managed to escape from Akemi but was soon thrown into some alternate universe. It proved to be dangerous to all beings being trapped inside but a mage who knows the magical creature turns up with her sky of guns (literally), guns down all the enemies and confronts Akemi. Sensing the difference of abilities or not wanting Madoka to be involved any further, Akemi leaves and the creature introduces itself as Kyube, and wants Madoka to become a Mahou Shoujo.
It really had a good opening to the series until the back where it started to become like any other typical Mahou Shoujo series which i'm bored off already. Thank goodness at least there weren't loaded fanservices in henshins and hopefully there wouldn't be any in the future. The animation quality was great in general, even the alternate dimension had a certain 3D feel to it and with the rather cool execution scenes, i wouldn't mind continuing this series at all, the negative side of typical Mahou Shoujo storyline was kinda neutralised by the epic fighting scenes (including the very start, which is epic enough alone)
To add on, being a production from SHAFT, their previous work on Bakemonogatari had captivated me and i hope this wouldn't disappoint me either. Love their art too :)
P.S. had noted that the BGM of the starting scenes were Magia by Kalafina but i'm 100% sure about it, nonetheless, that song is great!
This literally blew me off. Where else would you be able to see Mahou Shoujos blasting rounds of shotgun, and cool stances to boot too.
Being totally invisible to other commoners, Kyube is now safely out of reach from girls who love cute animals and also cute animal hunters, one of such being: Akemi. Communicating through telepathy is indeed cool for the girls, imagine being able to chat silently in the class, and even with friends on the upper floor. It's like wonderland :) Unfortunately, only Mahou Shoujos and Mahou Shoujos-to-be have such a privilege. Cute animal hunter Akemi seems to have removed her pursuit for Kyube after it successfully made contact with Madoka.
With that aside, contract rules were introduced by gun-wielding Mami, and the rules are as follows:
RETURN: A wish
GIVE: Risking your life
Apparently, the trade-off between a single wish and risking your life in return doesn't sound tempting enough for Madoka and her friend Miki to oblige to the contract immediately. What Mahou Shoujos are to fight were witches, which is like a complete opposite of Mahou Shoujos. Mahou Shoujos are born with hope whereas witches are born from curses. Some explanations were also made, including the small egg-shaped object that Mami holds, which was a Soul Gem and it holds the magic power of a Mahou Shoujo.
With that, the story gets to move after Mami decided to give Madoka and Miki a glimpse of a witch hunt and now things gets settled down. Mahou Shoujos are born to fight against cursing witches. Simple. As a commoner, tagging along for a witch hunt would prove to be dangerous, and that's were a baseball bat comes in handy, which Miki brought, unlike Madoka who went to draft out her image of herself as a Mahou Shoujo. Not that i detest what Madoka had drawn, but i thought at least the main protagonist could think of making her armour more cool-looking? Maybe that's where the Mahou Shoujo (Girl) comes in place i guess.
According to Mami, since witches are like curses, the first few locations to search would be vacant areas where suicides could be done and witches could appear anytime and anywhere which she had let one go while rescuing Madoka and Miki previously. The trio soon encounters a woman attempting suicide and Mami spots the Witch's Kiss on her neck. It doesn't suck the soul like a Dementor's Kiss but in this case, makes someone commit suicide unknowingly. Which is still, rather bad =/
Mami gives the baseball bat a magic makeover before proceeding in the hunt and again, the trio gets into the witch's dimension with unique animations. Although i wasn't expecting a witch to be of a human form, i was still surprised on what exactly WAS a witch. A gooey headed creature with long legs and butterfly wings. That's the kind of witch we'll probably see for the rest of the season. Oh well, at least they're the ones getting wacked so the uglier the better i guess.
What comes next could well be the coolest gun-user stance seen yet. Mami did pull out a magician-styled appearance of making her shotguns appear, with 2 "dropping" out from her skirt and a hell lot more from under her hat. With the countless shotguns standing still on the ground. Mami takes aim, fires, throws it away, retrieves a new one and continues.
That was just pure epic and so darn cool. Yet the monster witch denies the shots and tries to turn the table but gets head shot with a finishing move from Mami, a freaking enormous pistol. BAM!
Now, that's a hell of a fight.
Subsequently, Mami retrieves the "heart" of the witch, which is a Grief Seed and it allows one's magic power to be restored A.K.A., restoring the Soul Gem's power. Akemi seems to have been watching them throughout Mami's fight and returns the still-usable Grief Seed to Mami, claiming that it was her win. So adding on to the equation, i suspect a Mahou Shoujo's power doesn't last forever and needs to be replenished through the Grief Seed and with that, Mahou Shoujos are fighting with each other before fighting the witch and claiming the Grief Seed. Now that's complicated. It won't be long before Miki and Madoka joins in the fight, but with just plain staffs, it could take me a while before i get out of the norm of watching guns owning witches' heads.
This would definitely be the series i'll be following closely. Awesome art plus animation and music? Definitely :)
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 1
WARNING! video contains slight fanservice
Do all Mahou Shoujo series have something to do with injured magical creatures that seek help from a small girl through telepathy?!
Apart from the Nanoha series, here comes Madoka Magica.
The start was awesome. Honestly, the way they opened up the series was really great. With the wonderful BGM playing at the back and we see a Mahou Shoujo tackling an unknown enemy + superb background animations, it kept me glued to the screen for that few moments.
Our main protagonist had dreamed of seeing a Mahou Shoujo engaged in battle and wanted to do something as that girl wasn't going to hold out long and that's where the magical creature places the ability to change things onto Madoka, to turn her into a Mahou Shoujo. However, that was just a dream waiting to become a reality.
And so it begins, Madoka's normal school life, chatting with friends and being envious of others receiving love letters. All was normal for Madoka until the girl whom she saw in her dream appeared right before her, named Akemi.
You got to have a cool-looking mage around in any Mahou Shoujo series, together with a more innocent one, which in this case, would be Madoka. Akemi seemed to have sensed Madoka's presence, probably in the dream, and prompts her later to not get herself involved in things that does not concern her if she still does treasure her friends and her family.
Akemi's athletic ability surpassed many others and was getting most of the attention in the school, yet she holds a secret of hurting cute animals at night.
The magical creature, well, does not know about Akemi trying to not get our protagonist involved and calls out to her, asking her for help which Madoka responds and locates the hurt animal. However, an Akemi she doesn't know stands before her, asking her to leave it behind.
How could one leave such a cute creature behind!? D:
Madoka responded morally and together with the help from her friend, the duo managed to escape from Akemi but was soon thrown into some alternate universe. It proved to be dangerous to all beings being trapped inside but a mage who knows the magical creature turns up with her sky of guns (literally), guns down all the enemies and confronts Akemi. Sensing the difference of abilities or not wanting Madoka to be involved any further, Akemi leaves and the creature introduces itself as Kyube, and wants Madoka to become a Mahou Shoujo.
It really had a good opening to the series until the back where it started to become like any other typical Mahou Shoujo series which i'm bored off already. Thank goodness at least there weren't loaded fanservices in henshins and hopefully there wouldn't be any in the future. The animation quality was great in general, even the alternate dimension had a certain 3D feel to it and with the rather cool execution scenes, i wouldn't mind continuing this series at all, the negative side of typical Mahou Shoujo storyline was kinda neutralised by the epic fighting scenes (including the very start, which is epic enough alone)
To add on, being a production from SHAFT, their previous work on Bakemonogatari had captivated me and i hope this wouldn't disappoint me either. Love their art too :)
P.S. had noted that the BGM of the starting scenes were Magia by Kalafina but i'm 100% sure about it, nonetheless, that song is great!
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