So besides saving Zhu Li, what was the point of Bolin being in this episode? He didn’t really prove his worth or show off any lavabending moves. Instead, he’s just the comic relief in a recon mission. And while that would be just dandy in the first season, but we already had over 40 episodes to deal with that. I don’t think the writers know what to do with Bolin anymore. They keep throwing him around as a failed movie…
Cross Ange is a show that is either run by sadistic misogynists or the maddest set of geniuses. This episode is a tense affair, because it is already established how hated Norma are on the mainland. All that needs to be done is to show how awful the aftermath is, once the steel-toed shoes drop on the baby Norma surreptitiously placed in its descent path. Mark my words, it is quite awful, and yet somehow establishes a thematic consistency, reconnecting…
So I know that he’s an established character because of his appearance last season, but why is Napoleon Dynamite here? It would be fine if they just got Jon Heder to play a random Air Nomad, but they literally cast him as an airbending Napoleon. Even his dad acts like Kip. It’s like going to a Buddhist temple and hearing the monks quote Ferris Bueller. The writers probably thought it would be funny to have a Napoleon Dynamite reference (in…
I don’t even know where to start with this episode. The very beginning of it, right after the intro, gave me such dread, discomfort, and possibly made me dyspeptic. For some reason, the humans of the world have deigned to give one public holiday for Norma to enjoy without having to worry about killing DRAGONs, and true to Japan it necessitates a swimsuit festival episode. All the Norma doing happy things, with gaudy Hawaiian BGM playing, brought memories of those…
I thought this season would be 12 episodes. I remember it saying so on a few preview guides. Turns out, it may as well have. I’d hope that a lapse in an episode’s budget would just allow the creators to make something like the last two Evangelion episodes instead of what we’ve got here. Some of the best-animated works happened because the studio didn’t have enough money to do what they originally wanted, so they were forced to adapt to…
What the fuck is all this convergence, Cross Ange? You’re not only your usual self with all the crazy fanservice, catfights, and so forth this week. You also have an actual mecha battle, character development, AND allusions to plot movement. This is freaking me out, because I anticipated another load of nothing this week with the only two highlights being Ange with a cold and this girl, Salia, being well— I had to watch this episode twice before I could…
So this episode’s one about the heroes getting back on their feet. Korra and friends try to act like they did in the old days, while Bolin and Varrick recuperate from betraying Kuvira. After the last outing with Kuvira taking Zaofu to complete the Earth empire, Korra’s situation now carries too much of a calm air to it. Yes, they have to save the prince from kidnappers, but that doesn’t have the decisiveness that should come after a dictator consolidating…
Yep, my suspicions were true. We’re back to Arzenal again this episode, Not-Kira’s absent, and to top it all off, we have a maid episode. Turns out that strange maid person in the intro (noticeable in the first shot after the title and in one shot with the dog), smuggles herself into Arzenal this week to… I’m not really sure. I guess she’s been having a sad because the mistress she’s been servant to for ages is gone missing and…
I’m struck by how shiny and clean the Earth Empire tanks look, not like the black iron of the Fire Nation vehicles. They would be horrible in camouflage situations and the like, and it’s probably another propaganda tool for Kuvira to use, but there’s something endearing about someone who cleans their tanks so they can see their face on it before going to war. A bit egotistic, sure, but it shows there’s care to that personality cult. A shame they…
We’ve reached a singularity on Cross Ange. After the shaming, laming, and taming, of the show’s titular shrew, she undergoes an event that includes the word ‘inflaming’. This is either due to the snake venom Ange readily receives very very near her nether-regions or her ignited passions because of the Not-Kira Yamato (aka Tusk/Tasuku/Tosku/etc) who rescued her. Either way, as was stated last week we now have Fukuda’s third island episode where two potential star-crossed lovers have to work together…