The tale of a boy, his hand, and the trouble they get into together.
I worried during my premiere post that I might not be able to stick this one out, not because it wasn’t good (it was), but because it was a horror series that was hitting one of my major Heebie-Jeebie buttons, as I have a deep-seated terror of mind-controlling aliens crawling into people’s ears (thanks for that one, Animorphs!). So how do we stand two episodes later?
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad fantasy world.
If anyone ever grumbles to you that all fantasy is the same, just shove these two shows into their faces, because while they may share a genre label, that’s about all they share right now. Bahamut is a western medieval barnburner full of heavenly forces, historical figures, and larger-than-life personalities, while Yona is an eastern political drama that spends as much time in the past developing its characters’ histories as it does on the dramatic events of the current timeline. Yes, these two are complete opposites – except, of course, for the fact that I’m enjoying the hell out of both. Hit the jump to see just how much.
The moment of truth.
These two shows have a surprising amount in common for me, despite their wildly different settings, casts, and overall tones. Both struggled to get me invested in the characters and the story during the first episode, both had what I saw as some pacing issues where I kept waiting for them to get to the point, and both kept me watching thanks to some late-episode reveals and ongoing mysteries that held enough promise for a three-episode rule. So did they live up to that potential, or did they lose their futures on my watchlist? Hit the jump to see how they look a couple episodes later.
Trimming the watchlist, one censored mess at a time.
The first pair in our Fall Rule of Three Reviews were both shows that were on my radar going into the season, but which proved less noteworthy than I’d originally hoped. One is more of a tastes thing, while the other is pretty much just awful. Which is which, and how do they affect the watchlist for the rest of the season? Hit the jump to find out.
Please keep your arms and legs inside the emotional roller coaster at all times.
It’s hard to feel tension when you know a show isn’t actually about to end, but I’ll give Sailor Moon full credit for giving its best-known side characters some truly memorable send-offs this week. From Ami’s brilliance to Rei’s toughness and even over to Mamoru’s surprisingly sweet “You are not alone” moment with Usagi, these characters died the way they lived – and died satisfactorily, too, true to themselves and their ideals to the very end.
Except, you know, that they didn’t.
It’s a hectic time in and out of the Moon Kingdom this week.
This would be the week you drop a barrage of plot bombs on me, wouldn’t it, Sailor Moon? It’s not enough that I’ve got Fall anime premiere week, the return of The Legend of Korra, and a mess of family engagements—oh, no, you had to go and add “Moon Kingdom Backstory Episode” to my to-do list, didn’t’cha?
In the interest of getting this sucker out on time (I’ve been trying to make Thursdays my scheduled SM Review day), we’ll be skipping the retrospective and jumping straight into the recaps. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of commentary along the way. Also flashbacks. Sooo many flashbacks.
The Josei Next Door 