When I did my first writeup for Valvrave (episode 1 for the 2013 Spring Clusterfuck) I simply dismissed it as a standard Sunrise robot show. The plot was pretty basic: an angsty kid’s girlfriend dies a horrible death so for revenge he jumps into a nearby super robot, unwittingly turning himself into a monster as a result. If it had continued in that direction, the show would have probably been ok, utterly unmemorable, but ok. Alas… it didn’t. Said girlfriend…

Read More Read More

So here it is, the final Valvrave. In 25 minutes, writer Ichiro Ookuchi will have to provide an ending that ties up all the loose ends, finally dispatch the villains in a satisfactory way, and explains what the hell was the deal with all those weird flash forwards the show gave us now and again. Unsurprisingly, he utterly fails at all three, suggesting that my fear last week of a Valvrave Final Plus may be warranted. We pick up where…

Read More Read More

2013, when all is said and done, will probably be remembered as a slight improvement on its immediate predecessor. It gave us some instant classics (Kill la Kill, Samurai Flamenco, From The New World); some utter horseshit (Flowers of Evil, Il Sole Penetra Li Illusioni, Unbreakable Machine-Doll amongst other steaming garbage); and some memories that will stick with us for a very long time. One of the latter is the subject of this article, Valvrave The Liberator Season 1 Episode…

Read More Read More

In this, the penultimate installment of Valvrave The Liberator, lots of ground has to be covered. This is not surprising as Valvrave, due to MBS’ apparent policy for Animeism shows to be in the twelve episode range (don’t be surprised if Kill La Kill only has 24 genuine eps) and its own oddball split season sked, is short one episode. Last week’s, while necessary to clear out all the secrets that Haruto, Shoko, and L-Elf were keeping from each other…

Read More Read More

Last week’s episode of Valvrave was the Valvrave for people who hate Valvrave as hundreds of vapid teens were mowed down by underpaid government bureaucrats armed with submachine guns. It was disgusting, it was insipid, it was the most entertaining 24 minutes this morose lumbering trainwreck has yet produced. For my part, I can say that me and my colleagues in the Thaumatroop were quite entertained by the bloodbath, however judging from some random tweet I got after this week’s…

Read More Read More

There were two Valvraves previously. One the batshit stupid waste of time that baffled and infuriated me last spring. The other was the borderline ok, mostly mediocre show the series had turned into in season 2 this fall. When things stood out they were either decent or downright horrifying. Nothing so far has made me go “WOW SHIT FANTASTIC!” Nothing… until episode 21. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOY! So yeah that douchenozzle ARUS president? Well now that he’s got footage of Saki getting…

Read More Read More

Sorry about the delay on this week’s writeup. There was this little thing called “Thanksgiving” getting in the way. That said, there was hardly anything to talk about this week, which is a surprise since we’re entering the final stretch. After successfully disabling the pink space sub from three weeks ago, the kids are finally back home from their little adventure on Earth! …albeit minus Marie, who died ya know (can’t stop abusing that MST3k joke, I’m sorry), and Saki……

Read More Read More

Last time, Sunrise recycled itself for the umpteenth time. This week… EXPLOSIONS! We begin with a replay of last week’s cliffhanger featuring L-Elf and Lieselotte where Michael finally confesses his love to his lost amour (well this isn’t going to end well now is it?). The two attempt to flee the palace but are stopped by Q-Vier who challenges L-Elf to a knife fight… or more precisely a “Q-Vier attacks L-Elf with a knife”-fight. Meanwhile, after releasing all the hostages…

Read More Read More

Author’s note: Sorry about the wait on this one folks. The episode had not yet been made available when I had time to watch it due to apparent system errors over Daisuki. What’s worse, apparently this weekend’s Magi is getting delayed as well. =( When last we left our heroes, they had discovered a large battleship was being sent to destroy New JIOR once and for all… however that’s not important right now. This week its all about Haruto and…

Read More Read More

Last time on Valvrave: Marie died’ya know! …yup I’m not coddling you, she’s dead. Bye bye. This week’s episode begins with the grieving of the high schoolers over Marie’s lifeless husk of a body. Meanwhile Haruto and L-Elf try to get answers from the now very chatty Pino. We learn that once the Valvrave completely sucks up the pilot’s blood and ragging libido, the brain will go next. And shocker of shocks, Haruto is dead man walking! Yay for that….

Read More Read More