So, this season we’ll be taking an episode-by-episode look at 86. Because this choice was kind of last-minute, it’s not really a show I’ve researched or know anything about, going in totally sight unseen. And from the first episode, this is actually looking fairly interesting. The general pitch seems to be that our main societyContinue Reading... Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 1Continue Reading...
Apr 12, 2021 • Subscribe
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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 7
The pace of 86, at times, makes it difficult to talk about, or at least to start with. At the bare minimum for the week’s episode we saw…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 2
Plot 101: Introducing some more of our main story. Honestly, one thing I’m enjoying about 86 is how it’s been building up the world. In the first episode,…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 9
The time for the great battle against Shin’s brother’s Shepherd form has come. The episode “feels” short, consisting essentially of two extremely powerful scenes rather than a lot…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 11
The final episode of the cour (special pending) and if you told me this was the absolute final episode of the show and anything related to 86, I…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 3
I hope you enjoy slow burn drama over any general expectation of action. Frankly, I kind of appreciate the approach… at least when there’s been a second cour…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 6
We spend most of this episode with Spearhead, oddly enough including an extended flashback scene to when the formation was first formed, having a fun cookout together. One…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 5
So, to an extent, I was wrong. Shin’s brother got a more detailed address than I was expecting, even if, no, it wasn’t the crux of another transformation.…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 4
86 continues to impress with its humanity, but to an extent much of what was had and needed this episode was highly predictable from the last. That’s not…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 10
No Lena this week. For much of the episode, not really much talking either. This one is very much on the artistic end, trying to convey an experience…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 8
So, this episode is all pretty much ‘gearing up’ for what would seem to be a final confrontation. The Spearhead is down to five, and they’re being sent…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 17 (S2E6)
In the Republic, the fighting has become fierce, with Lena managing a forward command post as the Alba citizens scatter in terror. But more than that, we’re concerned…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 20 (S2E9)
Last week, the show was (apparently) preempted by a holiday broadcast, so after a break once again, we’re back with Shin and company talking about their feelings as…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 18 (S2E7)
86 is a show that knows how to move deliberately. This episode was essentially entirely dedicated to buildup and setting the stage, with the actual attack on the…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 22 (S2E11)
We’re back on the battlefield, here at the end. And it is marvelous. I don’t know if the long pause (for which various reasons have been circulating, the…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 15 (S2E4)
There’s an interesting contrast between 86 and another show I’m tracking episode by episode right now, Scarlet Nexus, and it has to do with the pacing. Specifically, both…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 14 (S2E3)
And here we see Shin rejoining the battle. Not really anyone else; even his fellows are rather scarce this episode, but it’s time for the return of Undertaker…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 13 (S2E2)
This week, we get an episode entirely devoted to Shin’s side of the world; Lena doesn’t appear at all. And, quite honestly, that was needed in order to…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 19 (S2E8)
After another recap break in the action, we resume 86 with the hunt for the Morpho. Uncharacteristically for this show, the episode is mostly dedicated to the action.…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 21 (S2E10)
Can you believe we’ve got more coming after this? Once again, the show has done a pretty good job of convincing you that everyone is dead and all…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 16 (S2E5)
For all that the pace of 86 can be deliberate, when crap hits the fan, the show knows how to show it hitting the fan. The Legion deploys…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 12 (S2E1)
If you haven’t watched 86 yet, do yourself a favor and give it a look. The first cour of the show was a well-paced, emotional, dramatic dive into…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 23 (S2E12) (End)
A whole episode of clean-up off the battlefield and not one but two of those classic 86 “credits roll partway through the episode” fakeouts sees the show off,…
Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 23 (S2E12) (End)
A whole episode of clean-up off the battlefield and not one but two of those classic 86 “credits roll partway through the episode” fakeouts sees the show off,…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 1
Well, a new season is here and despite the fact that some previous Selections are continuing (namely Scarlet Nexus and 86), it’s time to pick one of them…
Seasonal Selection – Scarlet Nexus Episode 1
I love JRPGs. I know as someone who is at least a bit of a gamer that I shouldn’t utter that sentence, but I do. I like it…
Seasonal Selection – KamiErabi God.app Episode 1
So we have a first episode that pitches Mirai Nikki by way of Bubuki Buranki. Done by Yoko Taro and Jin. This is, at least, going to be…
Seasonal Selection – Hell’s Paradise Episode 1
In a sharp divergence from last season’s chipper harmlessness, Spring 2023 we’ll be following Hell’s Paradise, which is anything but either of those if the first episode is…
Seasonal Selection – Chainsaw Man Episode 1
Yeah, I’m doing Chainsaw Man. What else could it possibly be with “more teeth” that I teased at the end of the last seasonal writeup? Often times, when…
Seasonal Selection – Sabikui Bisco Episode 1
Well, I can’t say that this show doesn’t just throw you right into things. In one episode we’re introduced to a post-apocalyptic Japan with loads of details and…
Seasonal Selection – Metallic Rouge Episode 1
Our story takes place in the grungy, noir-ish cityscape of Mars, where humans and robotic persons live side-by-side in a setting that simultaneously evokes 1920 and something more…
Seasonal Selection – The Gene of AI Episode 1
Thus, we embark upon a show for which I can say this: it really wants you to think Isaac Asimov had a hand in it somewhere.
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 7
So, after the big turn of last episode, it’s time for downtime! Actually, I think it is kind of the correct time for this… or at least, a…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 8
So, for those who wanted a darker and more serious episode out of Shikizakura, we have this one And, compared to the bits earlier in the show that…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 11
Because it wouldn’t be a traditional action climax without a big twist and a moment when it looks like all hope is lost… here’s all those things I…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 6
All things considered, this show can be kind of charming. True, just about anybody who’s engaged with any sort of media has seen this plot a million times…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 5
We’re back to standard form this week with a jolly beating of hard realities into Kakeru’s thick head, which oddly enough has things looking up for the show,…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 2
“The one where we actually integrate the main character into the setting” is an important plot beat for a lot of shows, particularly ones in the Urban Fantasy…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 3
I won’t say that Shikizakura exactly did well, but it did display a basic understanding of the facts I was talking about last week. To its limited credit,…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 10
This episode is again a very needed beat in the story, serving as the hero’s darkest moment before turning things around at the climax, and it comes at…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 9
So, I misread things last week – the smooth talker from Black Team wasn’t the big monster; he was in the scene already. In the first couple of…
Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 4
What the hell? So, in this 3D CGI Anime about people fighting demons by using power suits that may also be demons, we have this episode, fully 2D…
Seasonal Selection – Management of a Novice Alchemist Episode 1
Have you ever heard of the Atelier games? They’re a series of JRPG Crafting Sims that see you playing as a girl alchemist, gathering ingredients in the wild,…
Seasonal Selection – Shine On! Bakumatsu Bad Boys Episode 1
Some shows, you watch the first episode, and you’re pretty sure they’re going to suck. Others, you watch episode 1, and you have a fairly strong impression that…
Seasonal Selection – Hell’s Paradise Episode 12
Tensen battle, round 1, fight!
Seasonal Selection – Hell’s Paradise Episode 10
Two episodes left out of this and we still largely feel like we’re in the setup.
Seasonal Selection – Scarlet Nexus Episode 21
Family is happy For a quiet episode Say goodbye to mom So, we start off this episode with… cooking! Yay! Yuito, Kasane, and their mom actually get a…
Seasonal Selection – Chainsaw Man Episode 7
Tastes like boozey vomit. So, Denji battles the Eternity Devil, and finds that he’s rather capable of maintaining things well. As much as he may wear down or…
Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 8
Uninvested fightsCyberspace looks like garbageSurprise villain why?! Ex-Arm once again screws up in ways I wouldn’t even have expected. Pretty much the whole episode is just a brawl…
Seasonal Selection – Scarlet Nexus Episode 13
Flee from Togetsu Tell us something we don’t know And learn what to show I think, perhaps, the biggest crime of Scarlet Nexus is that it doesn’t know…
Seasonal Selection – Scarlet Nexus Episode 18
Flashback time is here Love triangle in the past But enough of that! Most of this episode belongs to a fairly needed flashback to the history of Fubuki,…