Why have I made yet another post with a slash emote in the title? Well perhaps I’ve just been playing too many MMOs lately. Either way, grinding gold is probably more enjoyable than most of this episode, maybe it was because I had just watched Koharubiyori before that and it didn’t have the same level of excitability. Anyways, the center piece of this episode was a Renji x Elis ice skating dayto of sorts, the only real plot development came at the very end.

After an opening of Akari floating in some liquid and getting some sort of maintenance, Akari moves in with the rest of them and they have a welcoming party. During the party Kirihito-douchebag shows up for no apparent reason to flirt with Elis. We eventually move on to a school ice skating trip for the second years (Akari, Renji, Elis). Of course Elis blows at ice skating so she has to get Renji to teach her, and of course she falls on him for an awkward moment. Eventually she skates on her own, and afterwards buys everyone cell phone straps to make them happy. The real action is the last minute or two, as in Anzelotte’s control center we find out shit is hitting the fan. Apparently Devil Lord’s other than Bell Zephyr have discovered that Elis is trying to gather the jewels and they are after her. Her subordinates report that emulators and other baddies are pouring into the real world from multiple points, it’s about to get nasty. Thank god, I was about to fall asleep.

Next Episode:

It looks like Renji and Elis get sent back through time somehow and are trapped there. Hopefully there will be some action there.

Impressions:

Now this show really needs character development, but if they are only capable of development like this then I prefer action every week. Overall it was pretty dull, your standard jokes around and awkward situations, I’m feeling really uninspired here. Seems pretty obvious to me we are looking at a Renji x Elis-type pairing at the end, there has been so little attention to Kureha that it would take a big revolution to get her to Elis’ level. That’s not such a bad thing however, as Kureha is kind of a boring osana najimi type that hasn’t show much uniqueness.

Despite my doom and gloom for the first 19 minutes, the end of the episode got me excited about what’s to come. With the massive amount of baddies invading the real world, I think the rest of the show will have plenty of action. Well, after apparently the next episode where they travel back in time (oooooook). No Yuko Goto in this episode unfortunately, and we have yet to see Kirihito get sliced in half, hopefully both developments come soon. Next week I’ll try to write something longer, assuming the show’s writers give me something to work with.

]]> http://that.animeblogger.net/2007/11/18/night-wizard-7-flag/feed/ 1 http://that.animeblogger.net/2007/11/11/night-wizard-6-even-mini-renji-is-gar/ http://that.animeblogger.net/2007/11/11/night-wizard-6-even-mini-renji-is-gar/#comments Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:00:46 +0000 Calawain http://that.animeblogger.net/2007/11/11/night-wizard-6-even-mini-renji-is-gar/

Mmmmm the gar content of this show doubled this episode, with what sounded to me like Nobuyuki Hiyama providing the voice for the guest character Nightmare. You may remember him from other gar-ish roles such as Viral (Gurren-Lagann) and Ikkaku (Bleach). This episode features him as a dream expert who leads the gang through Elis’ dream world that sure is tasty.

The gang is having another meeting at the castle headquarters where they are introduced to the aforementioned Nightmare, who claims to be a dream user of some sort. Anzelotte proceeds to pull out what looks like another jewel, inviting Elis to take it and when Elis touches it she passes out, becoming locked in her own dream world. Nightmare says he will accompany the team to save Elis, and takes them into her dream world. Bell Zephyr watches what is happening and decides to send her throwaway villain of the week to disrupt their attempt and keep Elis locked in the dream forever. When they get to the dream world they realize that Elis has shrunk into mini-Elis, a child version of herself who is looking for her ojii-sama. When she runs off the gang gives chase, going outside into her dream world which is filled with tasty looking treats. While looking for her they run into my hated enemy Kirihito who acts like a dick as usual and then walks off.

Despite many attempts to chase mini-Elis down and convince her to come with him they have no luck and run into a tall guy in a white suit who claims to be her ojii-sama, which Elis believes at first. It becomes pretty obvious that he’s shady and Nightmare gets his gar on and recognizes him as an outsider who is trying to interfere with Elis’ dream. Renji and Nightmare prod Elis to really look closely at this imposter and she then sees him as the fake that he is and rejects him. Elis runs off, and as Renji begins to give chase Nightmare tosses him a container of tea from Anzelotte. While Renji goes to find Elis, Kureha, Nightmare and Akari stay and fight the intruder. Renji finds Elis inside a door that he is too small to fit in so he drinks the tea he was given, and it shrinks him down to size, and is he ever so adorable. He goes inside and makes a promise to protect her, sealed with their pinkies.

Back outside the team is struggling in their fight against the suit man when Renji shows up and tries to help them. Unfortunately his demon sword is a bit too heavy for him to effectively wield in his current state, and it’s up to Elis to protect the team. The impostor, unable to get Elis on his side drops his disguise, revealing himself to actually be a woman, the evil looking woman Bell Zephyr sent after them. After the emulator wacks Elis’ friends around a bit she gets pissed and shifts into blue eye mode and locks down the evildoer enough for Renji to slice her up with his demon sword. After her defeat, the team is able to return to the real world in their proper shapes, and Elis wakes up with no memory of the events. Afterwards, this scene shifts to Anzelotte on her knees giving a report on the jewel search to a mysterious figure she refers to as Geza, who apparently commands her. Next, we are shown the defeated subordinate of Bell Zephyr wandering into a door in Elis’ dream world and seeing something that we are not shown, horrible enough for her to scream out in terror. Kirihito shows up with an evil grin and finishes her off.

Next Episode:

The next episode suggests that Renji and Elis will be going on some sort of ice skating date and suggested nothing of a new jewel. But with 7 episodes left and only 2 jewels they have to insert something in here, the show is in need of some side character development anyways. So the next episode furthers the Renji x Elis angle, we shall see how it turns out.

Impressions:

It’s pretty obvious now that Anzelotte and Kirihito have some devious agendas of their own and that Elis has something nasty locked up inside of her that both of them have kept from her. I really have zero empathy for both of those characters now, Anzelotte continues to pile on the deceptions and distractions in an effort to get her way. She is apparently subordinate to this Geza fellow, but with what has been revealed about Anzelotte’s character so far I am hesitant to declare her loyalty to anyone. She may be trying to play Geza as well, she definitely has lost the happy feeling I got from her character at the start. Not to say that’s necessarily a bad thing, as plot twists, hidden agendas, and devious scheming have driven many great shows.

Now I liked Nightmare, I enjoy random humorous characters like that. While if overdone it could be a problem, I thought his random occasional insertion or chanting of “dream” was kinda amusing. Plus when Nobuyuki Hiyama gets serious or starts to yell out passionately it just oozes manliness and you get the urge to flex your muscles and punch something. I mean hell, garness and looking pretty was the only reason I watched GL, it sure as hell wasn’t the plot or anything. However, that didn’t take away enough for it not to be an entertaining ride along the way. In addition to Nightmare, Renji got his gar on as well, even when he was shrunk down he was ready to lay some smackdown and be badass doing it.

This show’s plot really exploded for me in this episode. Despite the humorous and silly overtones of the dream world, the revelations about Anzelotte, Kirihito, and something terrifying in Elis’ mind suggest some interesting and dark plot twists ahead. While in the end it will probably be the gang teaming up to protect their friends, defeating the bad guys, and Renji and Elis walking off into the proverbial sunset, I think it will be fun to watch anyways.

This week’s installment of Night Wizard is definitely weaker in original content than previous episodes. Maybe I was just in a criticizing mood tonight, but I found a lot of the plot here cliché and predictable. However, it wasn’t all bad as there is the show’s first momentary fanservice. Read on for summary and comment’s on this week’s jewel searching episode of Inuyasha Night Wizard.

The episode opens with a blue haired girl going to visit the old guy from last episode’s previews, offering him onigiri and he responds by shuting the door in her face. After the OP the scene changes to school, where Anzelotte hacks into the PA system and informs everyone in the school that not only does Renji have to retake a test, but she has found the next jewel. A pissed off Renji and the rest of the squad meet up at Anzelotte’s castle and drink some pretentious sounding tea with Anzelotte poking fun at poor Renji. She tells them about an island inhabited by the previously mentioned old man, a wizard named Andou who, like Renji, uses a demon sword. He has put a powerful barrier around the island to hide the jewel from miscreants such as Anzelotte and Bell Zephyr . Angry Renji (I think he shows more emotions overall here than in any episode so far) leads the team to the island where they encounter the blue haired wizard girl (Mayuri) who has been unable to convince Andou to hand over the jewel.

They meet up with the old codger chopping wood at his cabin who refuses to give them the jewel. Angry Renji pulls out his sword and attacks him, and I know you’ll be surprised, but he effortlessly knocks Renji’s sword away. Andou chides Renji for only fighting for the mission, transforming angry Renji into emo and angry Renji on a beach. Elis then tries to make nice with the man and brings him some snacks (you know where this is going), while Renji chops down some trees while yelling out silly clichés. Determined to recover his pride, Renji attacks the old man the next day, getting beat this by his broom rather than an axe.

Renji is knocked across the island into the onsen where the girls are conveniently bathing, earning him a beating (initiate eyeroll). Afterwards, Elis goes to make nice with Andou again, eventually putting a band-aid on his hand when he cuts himself. After some touching words between the two about how great her friends are and such, the old grinch’s heart grew two sizes and he begins to tell Elis his story. Apparently some years ago he went to retrieve the jewel he holds on Anzelotte’s orders. Renji rudely interrupts this heart-to-heart to challenge Andou again, but that standoff is then interrupted by some emulators that Bell Zephyr sent down to greet Andou. Akari and Kureha arrive soon after to aid them in fighting them off, while Renji asks Andou to take Elis somewhere safe, saying that he’s not doing it for the mission, he wants to protect his friends.

Andou takes Elis to the grave he made for the friend he lost and continues his story from before. During the mission years ago he recovered the jewel and prepared to withdraw. However, his girl was pinned down and about to be defeated, so he prepared to go save her. However, Anzelotte, in the interest of the mission ordered him to withdraw, forcibly teleporting him back and leaving Andou’s friend to die as a result. Andou, now convinced that Renji’s motivations are right, brings his sword back to the fight and tosses it to Renji. He takes the two swords and unleashes their power to destroy the emulators. After the battle Andou takes Elis back to the grave and she retrieves the jewel they were looking for. The gang say their goodbyes and head back home.

Next Episode:

Looks like next episode Elis is going to be trapped in some sort of dream world with tasty-looking sweets and her as a child. The preview also shows my hated nemesis Kirihito, who I hope eventually ends up an enemy Renji slices in half.

Impressions:

As I mentioned at the top of the post, I was less than impressed with this episode. Much of the plot elements strung together here were commonly used plot devices from many other shows. Finding the old man with a cold heart who is deeply moved by the innocent young girl and her friends. Miraculously he changes his ways and helps them out, but not before causing the main male character to question his beliefs and go emo. Seriously, this week’s Renji seemed totally out of character compared to the last four episodes. All of a sudden he turns into an emoblob, complete with the 1,000th time a character has looked out at the ocean at sunset and sliced up trees to get out his anger.

However, it wasn’t all bad as the action was ok and the animation quality was steady as with previous episodes. They haven’t cheapened up on the fight sequences either, showing a good range of effects and motions without too many moving stills and other fake movement. The voice acting for Renji was strong as usual, even in his emo state he sounded badass. Out of the main characters his voice acting shines the most once again, I think he really carries the show.

I was afraid this show may turn into a “jewel of the week” type show, however there are only three jewel’s left if I can count. So three jewels to be obtained over the remaining eight episodes should be fine. Next week’s episode appears to have nothing to do with any jewels, Elis just gets trapped in some dream world. In sum, while the show took a bit of a nosedive this week I think I can survive one bump in the road, it has yet to turn into the catastrophe that Shana II has become.