Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. You’ll be pleased to learn that I ran through an absurd collection of features this week, in both live-action and animated varieties, and even finished a full anime series in the bargain. I also checked out the first two Heaven’s Feel movies, along with the usual assortment of horror features ranging from compact new thrillers to an Italian classic. It was actually such a productive week that I’m saving a couple of this week’s films for next week, so if you’ve been following my twitter and are wondering why Magnetic Rose or Touch of Evil don’t show up here, don’t worry. More reviews are assuredly coming, but in the meantime, let’s break down a fresh stack of features in the Week in Review!
Tag Archives: Fate/stay night
The Illusion of Menuing in Heaven’s Feel
Well here we are again, back in Heaven’s Feel. During my previous excursion into Fate’s third route, I got basically no distance into the story itself, because, well, visual novels. I powered through a long expository conversation with Kotomine and a long expository conversation with Rin, and that was about as far as I got. Given that, I spent most of my article running through all the interesting meta-textual concepts and narrative conceits of Fate, leaving very little room for present Nick to do anything but comment on the current text as experienced. Poor form, past Nick. Poor form.
Ashes and Embers in Heaven’s Feel
Alright, I’ll confess: I wasn’t able to get a meaningful distance into Heaven’s Feel. I got through all of the pre-route scenes that involved Sakura, and I had a nice long chat with Kotomine at the church, and then I got nearly murdered by Ilya, and then Rin finished me off with an interminable conversation about magical energy. All of that took several hours of clicking through, but it didn’t really accomplish anything narrative-wise – I’m still basically in the introduction phase of the route, and there’s no indication that that’s going to end any time soon.
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Part Two – Review
Well, I’m sure you knew it was coming. I reviewed the first half about a year ago, and now that the second half’s blurays have finally come out, it’s time to go once more into the breach. I actually really enjoyed UBW’s first half, even if I already felt its writing was somewhat dragging down its fantasy-action appeal. But here in the second half, the turgid writing pretty much wholly sinks the production, resulting in one of the least compelling shows I’ve watched in recent memory. UBW’s second half is a mess, and it’s a shame, because there really are some nice fundamental ideas in there. Ah well.
You can check out my full review over at ANN!
Spring 2015 – Week 13 in Review
The final week has arrived! And there’s… basically nothing to talk about. With JoJo already over and Blood Blockade Battlefront resting up before its oversized finale, the only non-ANN shows I actually had to watch this week were Unlimited Blade Works and Ore Monogatari!! And I didn’t even watch OreMono! Sorry OreMono, I just couldn’t find the time/interest for you – as I’ve said before, OreMono isn’t one of those shows that fills me with desire to catch up when I’m not watching it, and considering the sort of static rhythms it’s gotten into over time, it’s just hard to muster up the enthusiasm. So we’ve got a mini-sized Week in Review this week, but don’t worry – with the summer season about to begin, there’ll be pleeenty to talk about soon enough. The preview guide is waiting. I can hear its call. Soon, soon, all will burn.
Alright, let’s run down what we’ve got!
Spring 2015 – Week 12 in Review
Spring season is nearly ending, bringing with it that seasonal terror of aging and a whole bunch of finales. Spring’s shows seem to be ending reasonably well on average, though this week had its stronger and weaker episodes. The big hit this time was Blood Blockade Battlefront, which rallied back from a weaker episode and a recap with likely its best episode so far. Sound! Euphonium had a stellar episode as well, though it’s hard to pick a favorite in that one. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure also had a fine ending, and Nagato Yuki-chan maintained its streak, though the staying power of its current trick seems like it may be running out. Other episodes were less strong, but nothing seems to be actually falling apart at this point – I’ve dropped too aggressively for that. Anyway, let’s get to ’em!
Spring 2015 – Week 11 in Review
The lack of BBB made for a noticeably lighter week this time, considering I’m only watching seven shows, but JoJo stepped up to the action plate with one of its all-time best and also most ridiculous episodes. Those two things aren’t necessarily the same, either – there were plenty of Stardust Crusaders episodes that, while they were certainly ridiculous, simply weren’t that exciting. No sense of danger, and more just wacky and nonsensical than “goddamnit JoJos that solution is ridiculous.” Here, like with the best of Battle Tendency, the absurdity came from the contrast between the heavy, consistent stakes and the wild, ridiculous execution and solutions. It…
Wait, hold on, JoJo’s gonna get its own section anyway. Alright, let’s get right to that then, and RUN ‘EM DOWN.
Spring 2015 – Week 10 in Review
Another very fine week in a very fine season. Oregairu and Euphonium both pulled off characteristically wonderful episodes this week, but the real surprises were JoJo and – I’m serious – Nagato Yuki. On the JoJo side, the Dio-Kakyoin fight managed to not only be exciting and entertaining, but genuinely beautiful. And on the Nagato Yuki side, an abrupt shift in tone resulted in an episode that was almost equally beautiful in its own way, slow-building and melancholy and just brimming with a compelling, deeply felt sense of atmosphere. Color me extremely surprised!
Alright, enough preamble. LET’S RUN ‘EM DOWN.
Spring 2015 – Week 9 in Review
I should have something piercing and salient to say here, but really I’m just staring at all the stupid faces I chose for the episodes this week and giggling to myself. Goddamnit Takeo. Goddamnit Shinji. Hurray for silly anime faces.
Anyway, some anime came out this week. It wasn’t the best week, outside of Oregairu having one more Holy Shit Good episode, but most of the episodes were reasonable nonetheless. Let’s run ’em down!
Spring 2015 – Week 8 in Review
Holy crap did this week have some peaks. God damn. Not all the episodes here were great, but the ones that were… I’d be surprised and ecstatic to see Oregairu and Euphonium’s episodes here somehow be challenged for positions in the top 5 episodes of the year. They were both just That Good – that full of everything that makes their respective series great, and that satisfying as a realization of everything that had come before. Those two episodes were stunning, and I feel lucky to be watching two shows that good in the same season.
Anyway, some other episodes came out too, I guess. Let’s run ’em down!