white sonata

Potpourri Banzai

Yeah. I'm lazy. And you'll all have to deal with that. Anyway, here are some more quickies.

BLEACH

Enter the Vice Captains! Hitsugaya decides to send Ichigo and company some relief, although things still don't look good. The Bounto, it seems, have managed to grow even stronger thanks to the efforts of their new dolls, which aren't really dolls so much as they are substitute... vampire bug... things. They do all the blood sucking and bring the energy back to the Bounto, who have set up a reitsu-blocking fortress of solitude where they can lounge around all day. Man, talk about stacking the friggin odds. Due to ISP issues, I still have all of July to watch, but I expect more of the same. The filler arc isn't awful, but it's getting annoying. Too predictable. Ichigo and Renji yell at each other. Rukia tells them to calm it. Chad and Orihime sigh. Then OMG BOUNTO FIGHT.

.HACK//ROOTS

We knew it was coming, but apparently it's bound for our shores hopefully by the end of this year. I don't mind, because I really like where this is going! After losing Stellar Shino to the blade of Kira Tri-Edge, hero boy Shinn Haseo goes mad and embacks on a personal mission to grow strong enough to defeat him. I guess this summary makes it sound like I'm annoyed by the story, but no, really, it works a LOT better in Roots. The characters are closer, so it's way more personal, making everyone's reactions seem more realistic and more powerful. Additionally, everything going on behind the scenes - data draining, the mysterious "extra" data in Ovan's character, Haseo's "characteristic" - we've either received plenty of hints to know the connections with the previous series or already know what it's all about. So we know the situation is far more dangerous than they all realize. This adds suspense. And makes me want the next LuPerry release...

HIGURASHI NO NAKU KORO NI

Wow, this show just messes with your head. The question arcs are over, and now I'm waiting for the rest of the series to help make any sense out of it. I'm still not sure what to believe. But I have been very impressed with the depth of the story. It's really weird how all four question arcs tell more or less the same story and are tied together, but the different views sort of present conflicting theories from time to time. Rena was psychotic in the first arc, a sympathizing sleuth in the second. Mion was evil in the first and more evil in the second, or was the demon really Mion at all? Oishi went from good cop to bad cop. Keiichi was a victim and then a perpetrator. Aaaugh, it's all so crazy! But crazy in a good way. And the theme song rocks, too.

posted by newtypezaku @ 5:54 PM